Smell that Sweet Charcoal

I know. I'm awful at this blogging thing. I started writing this entry about a month ago and took a big long break, so please bear with me.

So, here I am! In Kazakhstan!

I flew out from Logan August 29th and arrived in Almaty the following day at 11:50 PM. Lufthansa was okay, but the expanse sky, turbulence, Lufthansa's color scheme (gray and yellow???), and I do not mix well. I had a connecting flight in Frankfurt, where I saw green toilet paper for the first time and also met up with a fellow Fulbrighter and new roommate, L.

As the plane descended into Almaty, I started feeling sort of anxious and had a belated "Ahhh! I'm going to be in KZ for 14 months!" moment. Fortunately, L was there, and also, the embassy sent someone to the airport to greet us at the airport. We also had a driver who chauffeured us to our apartment, which was really nice since it saved us from having to negotiate with taxi drivers, plus neither of us knew our apartment address, nor did we have any tenge (kz currency)...

My apartment is wonderful. I only half-believed (maybe even less) the realtor when she said the place was "cozy and cute," but it really is.

The view from my window. You can't really tell, but the mountains are beautiful.

The apartment consists of four bedrooms, a kitchen, a bath/sink room, and a separate toilet room (?). I have an air conditioner in my room, which will become very handy next summer, and I even have a pretty good-sized TV. The TV, however, has a mind of its own and just decides to flip through channels whenever it desires. Sometimes, it even turns on by itself, which is rather frightening. The place is very clean and the second lock is apparently pretty sturdy (more on this later).

My room, plus the innocent looking TV

The first week, L and I walked around our new neighborhood and had our first experience with gypsy cabs. Don't judge, but in Almaty, it's absolutely normal to hail down any car, negotiate a price, and go to your destination. All you have to do is stick out your arm, wait for someone to stop, state your destination and price, and hop in. L and I felt very daring and a bit ridiculous our first time, but we've become very successful gypsy cab passengers since! (update: maybe not so much myself) Also, I've sort of gotten used to the fact that there seem to be no set traffic rules in Almaty. I've seen drivers speeding, crossing over to the opposite side and staying there, not stopping for pedestrians, driving into the side of a bus, etc. One time, L and I were in a car with a freshly licensed 18 year old, when out of the blue, a cop flagged him down. To this day, we don't know why he was stopped. He'd already ran a light, driven in the wrong lane, almost ran over a lady, etc. It's a mystery.

More pics to come!