Water Fountain

This year, for the celebration of Astana's founding in 1998, the city installed a water fountain in the Isil River near the Kenesary Khan statue. Music accompanies the light show.

 

Water comes out of the large circle and there is a laser light show in the center of the circle.  The show runs every night until the end of August.

Water Fountain

This year, for the celebration of Astana's founding in 1998, the city installed a water fountain in the Isil River near the Kenesary Khan statue. Music accompanies the light show.

 

Water comes out of the large circle and there is a laser light show in the center of the circle.  The show runs every night until the end of August.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation Part 3

I then traveled to Spokane and Phoenix to visit family and friends, have my medical checkups, and buy stuff.

My little darlins

Hiking Antoine Peak with Debbie and Ben

Peter Rabbit on the Centennial Trail

My 92 year old step mother

Lori and Lea

Special manicure

Pink hats at the lake

 Last stop- Alexandria, Virginia to visit Bonnie and Ryan. We toured Mt Vernon, which was very impressive. I learned a lot about George Washington. A few days later Bonnie and I took the Duck Tour of DC.

Ryan won gold in the Olympic trivia contest

Mt Vernon

Mr Washington's front yard - the Potomac River

The Duck Tour started at Union Station,

Drove past most of the monuments,

And into the river, where Bonnie drove the boat.

And then, I flew back to Astana. I traveled 23,000 miles and visited 4 countries. I think I should take a vacation from my vacation! Although it was a lot, this trip was satisfying. I'm glad I got to visit so many of my friends and family.  I'm ready to start school.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation Part 2

After leaving Kazakhstan, I stopped in Florida to visit my sister Denise and her family. Quite a lovely view they have.

We went to St. Augustine, where one of the re-enactors was quite thrilled to have a picture taken with me.

 Firing the cannon

In the first few seconds of this video you can see in the bottom of the wall a lot of holes. I'm told these are bullet holes. Apparently the wall was the site of executions. This is a long video with not much happening. Skip ahead to 3:15.

Sunrise

Not quite dressed for the beach

It was not quite hot and sticky enough, so we traveled to New Orleans, where it was really, really hot! We ate beignets, I ate alligator and crawfish etoufee, catfish and stuffed quail. Yummy! We saw Queen Latifah filming in the French Quarter. We toured museums partly to get into air conditioned comfort.

Horse drawn carriages

Jackson Square

The French Quarter

The Mighty Mississippi River

One of the above ground cemeteries

The WWII Museum - very nice

Jacques-Imo's where the beer is warm, the food is lousy and the service is poor.

Queen Latifah

The last day in Florida, we took the boat out and saw a manatee (we had gone to see the manatees earlier), and a dolphin.

Lots of fun!

What I Did On My Summer Vacation Part 1

I went to Leh, Ladakh, India to hike.

.

Although part of India, Ladakh has its own language. Many Tibetan refugees call Leh home. As an Indian tourist destination it was popularized by a 2009 Bollywood movie called Three Idiots at Pangong Lake.

I spent two days acclimatizing. Leh is about 11,000 feet high. I visited the Shanti stupa, Leh Palace and wandered the streets.

Shanti stupa above Leh

View of Leh from Shanti

One of the main streets in Leh. This one was having sewer lines replaced. Other streets were paved.

The mosque at the end of the street. Most people in Leh are Buddhists, but there are two mosques and one church.

My guide and I set out early one morning. The goal was 3 and a half days trekking, crossing Ganda La pass at 15,900 feet. We hiked for less than 2 hours and got to a way station outside Rumbak.

Part of the waystation.

  Rumbak waystation

We stayed in Yurutse in a homestay. The mountains are really tall, although it doesn't seem like it in this photo. This area is in a rain shadow, so the monsoons don't affect it. This also means there isn't snow in the summer.

The bathroom. That night I had to pee so badly, but I refused to try to find my way in the dark. It's just an open hole in the floor.

                                                                  Homestay Yurutse
Unfortunately, I got high altitude sickness at Yurutse. We went back to Rumbak and stayed a day, then returned to Leh.

View from my window. There is a monument on top of the mountain. It is there to protect the village.

Add caption

Homestay hostess Ytzing

Ytzing's mother, Dulma, who owns the home. She is 63.

After returning to Leh, I toured some monasteries and the Shey Palace Museum. This was a museum of the royal family when Leh was part of the Kingdom of Ladakh.

A Walk Through the Park

Central Park is in the middle of Astana, not far from my apartment. The online newspaper, Astana Times, had an article about fitness classes being held in the park every Sunday. So Ms Briza Bohne and I decide to go check it out. Briza is very athletic and I pretend to be, so we thought it could be fun. When we got there, however, there was a Junior Olympiad going on with lots of things for kids. We continued to stroll, hoping to find the Zumba class.

...when these guys showed up.

I'd like to see them transform into a car!

And this lovely was on display. I don't know if they were going to demonstrate his hunting abilities. Hunting children?

We wandered around for a bit and stopped at a ropes course, which we decided would be perfect for a last field trip for our students. Please wait with bated breath so see if this field actually occurs!

International Day 2016

One of my favorite school activities is International Day. We all parade with our country flags, embassies come and talk about the countries they represent and give out goodies, and many children and teachers dress in their native costumes. The day has a festive air.

The American girl lived in Yemen for about 6 years. They were forced to leave because of the war, but the family still misses Yemen.

Some of the students in my class.

A beautiful day for a flag parade on the soccer field. We have over 30 nationalities represented.

The 'Merican delegation. Americans and Kazakhs are the two largest populations in the school.

The Indian Cultural Center sent dancers, not all of whom are Indian.

Our librarian, in the middle, is French. She's Indian for a day.