[as always, you can click a picture to enlarge]
Back in Kazakhstan after being away for 18 months, and it’s…very
similar to when I left. Thankfully, that car sitting in the street on the trip
to work is still there, I was worried it might be gone.However, as noted last post, the construction industry seems
to have gone ahead full steam. The big construction site across the street from
the office with a poor-looking village is now several 15-story apartments under
construction with cranes, as well as a fully completed school.
And in my apartment building, the middle elevator started
working. It has been “under temporary repair works” since I’ve lived here.
Meaning it’s running for the first time in 2-3 years. I refuse to ride on it.
So back in the flat, first things first – put up a Riders flag, then throw out everything food related. Everything, including canned
items and sealed boxes, took on the taste of stale cardboard after sitting in a hot apartment for over a year. So naturally, I
have to start with a food blog.Food Finds
Since I left…way, way more nearby grocery options. I’ve in
fact resorted to cooking for myself more regularly because I have two to three places to
stop and grab stuff on my 10-minute walk home from work. I see this loyal little
guy patiently waiting for his owner on occasion outside the store.
It’s amusing to realize that he only speaks Russian: I said,
“Good Dog” and nothing happens, but he looks at me for “хороший собака!”The mall attached to my flat was quiet for the first week I was here but has
since picked up considerably. You need to scan “green” on the vaccine
passport/negative test app to get in, but it’s been busy.
Office hours changed during the pandemic – rather than 9:00 am
– 6:30 pm with 1.5 hrs. for lunch (since, as previously noted, everyone went home),
with remote work, lunch was cut back to an hour. Leaving the office around 6 pm
(usually to keep working and take North American AM call at my flat during the evening) makes
all the difference in the ability to make supper. A few nights I opted to go exotic:
It might be a little deceiving…but this is equivalent to three-quarters
of a fully trimmed beef tenderloin from Costco. It was $15 – entire meal was
under CAD$20 and the leftover tenderloin was added to eggs benny with caviar,
just for shits. And later, tenderloin taco in a bag.Although fresh food gets sparse into winter, this time of
year is awesome, with farm-fresh markets and produce. No word of a lie: buying
grocery store cucumbers right now is like when I used to pick them fresh from Grandma
Nast’s garden and douse them with salt – no bitter Superstore garbage.
Under the category of “new finds” I have some items to bring
home for the charcuterie board: moose and bear dried meats!
And of course, back to a regular diet of chechil. I’ve
mentioned before, but there is no beating the braided, smoked string cheese to
go with a beer. Best snack ever and I’ve be researching how to bring some back
to Canada without ending up on “Border Security” – but coupled with the bear
and moose meat, might be unavoidable.
A couple of critical items I forgot to bring: buffalo sauce
and Splenda/stevia for coffee…can’t stand sugar anymore. For the buffalo sauce, I attempted to make it from scratch.
While edible and spicy…sadly, whatever the hell I made was NOT buffalo sauce.
Found LEMON coke zero. Great stuff to go with whiskey.
I also found a new-to-me Russian booze called “Hunting”, something
I’ll be bringing back to the collection at home. A 40% vodka with a wild Russian
forest berry flavor that isn’t too sweet…great with tonic.
Another discovery was pre-made pickle soup. North America is
way behind the times on this one.
But every meal can’t be gourmet…and it’s now far easier to
eat garbage, thanks to the pandemic! There is now “Yandex Eats” in my Yandex
app, like Skip the Dishes. Ordering in is far more available than when I left.
In this case, I decided on McD’s. Couldn’t resist ordering the McDonald’s Macrons
but resisted the McShrimps and stuck with McNuggets. In the end, big mac, fries,
nuggets, macrons, drinks, cheese, and garlic sauces all for about CAD$8. The app
tracks the guy walking with his cooler backpack from the restaurant…and I could
watch him approaching - centre, with the yellow pack. Great entertainment since I have little to no life here.I actually watch many things from the window: it’s like I
live in a nursing home where nobody checks on me – like a nursing home in Quebec
or Ontario I guess (too soon, sorry, poor taste). The dogs hunting mice on the mall
walls are always a highlight.Back to the Office
Coming back into the office was eerie…since it’s still
mostly empty. Kazatomprom has some of the most stringent protocols in place,
with most departments still working on ~2 week shifts to minimize the number of
people interacting in the building. To keep it safe, you must either be vaccinated
or pass a weekly test – where the results are tied to your national ID card,
which you must scan in as “green” in order to enter.I've heard of colleagues remaining unvaccinated and having to incur the costs for regular tests, and I'll admit, prior to coming back I thought "rats, must be mistrust of the Russian/Chinese vaccines they have here, or perhaps mistrust of the science." Now I know, it's far more pragmatic. Like in Canada, you only get one vaccine...can take Sputnik now and a something else later. So why would you get one the WHO and European countries won't recognize, and likely something that won't even allow you to do your JOB, if you have to travel? Makes complete sense: wait for Pfizer or something recognized, so a person can go somewhere besides the UAE...
On to the office: first, mask must be on, and you walk through a tunnel that
sprays you with disinfectant. The tinfoil hat crowd would say it’s covering me
in nano-spy bots and micro tracking chips – meh, whatever it is, I cover my
coffee mug with my hand.
Next, you pass the infrared camera hanging from the ceiling where
a guard ensures you don’t have a fever.Then you enter the elevator – with max 5 people, as per the floor
markings, and in a culture shock…nobody is shaking hands. Overall, a safer feeling
experience!The walk through my 19th floor is quiet. At most, 2 other
people around and a few days, I’m the only one there…
First days were to catch up: 100 missed calls…The kids' goodie bag from Christmas…
And the 10-month-old gingerbread cookie. Yes, I ate it! I've been isolated in a fucking pandemic for 18 months, live a little. I'm fine, the mystery spray tunnel cured me on the way out.
And a highlight – I was able to order my custom Kazatomprom
company-branded personal Visa debit card! The perks of a big national company… won’t
be my main debit card, but if nothing else, a cool memento.
A pre-winter Nur-Sultan tour
As usual, weather is the same as Saskatchewan, so it’s been
a fairly long, mild fall. There was a skiff of snow when I arrived October 7,
but it melted and we had a few +10C weekends, so I decided to do a 15 km walk
to see how things had developed around town:
The Nur Astana Mosque and surrounding park.
My Bank, Fortebank HQ (a very cool building – like a building inside a building, with cool night lighting)
Botanical gardens and park – walkways have “lanes”
throughout – cycling in one, green rubber for running, one for walking, and brick
for everyone else. And there’s me, in a t-shirt and vest while everyone is in
full Canada Goose and toques…
The Arch of Triumph…mini version
Some progress has been made on the
75-story Abu Dhabi Plaza, with a big “Qazaqstan” logo down the side. It’s been
under construction since 2011 and is finally due for completion this year…the
tallest building in the country.
Unfortunately, far, far less
progress on the Astana monorail, which is to run from the city center to the
airport. An eyesore down the middle of the city that was meant for the 2017 EXPO,
but nobody wants to pull the plug…the project that just keeps on absorbing money
but showing little to no progress.
And no city walk is complete without
Baiterek Tower and the Presidential Palace!
And then within days – Kim sends me pictures of snow at our front
door at home…and the walk to work turns sour…I have no idea how "Saskatoon, Saskatchewan" and "Nur-Sultan, Qazaqstan" are not sister cities...
Oh well, weather is turning...time to prepare to head back to Canada for Christmas!
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