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(This is a continuation of my previous post on my trip to Astana, capital city of Kazakhstan.)
We took a cab from the sparkling new city across the river to the Right Bank, where most of the city lies. Before the beginning of the current remont Tselinograd was a fairly standard Kazakh/Soviet city. From all the pictures/materials that I’ve seen (mainly the odd ‘Akmola Encyclopedia’ published in the mid-1990’s) it had the same square, theater, roads etc that you’d find elsewhere. So heading to the older neighborhoods I was very eager to find that familiarity lost in the plastic grandness of the Left Bank.
Over the next week or so you’ll have the chance to read about some summer travels, about which, nakonets, I’ve had the time to write. In July and August I ventured outside of Kazakhstan and reached two opposite ends of Asia. In the East were Japan and South Korea. In the West was Russia, including Russia proper and its Republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortistan.
I will share with you not only my impressions of these three countries, with vastly different cultures and people, but comparisons to my current home of Kazakhstan. Aside from comparing the characters of each city, on this trip I was eager to learn if the cliche about some ‘generic’ Asian values being part of Kazakh culture had any truth. As well I hoped to see the originating point of the overwhelming Russian/Soviet influence on this country.
Kazakhstan, for those not in the know, is the 9th largest country in the world. Andorra ranks 196th, squeezed between Saint Lucia and some semi-country known as The Northern Mariana Islands. So it was not a surprise to see what would happen when the two countries met in their first 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Match in late August.
Central Stadium at Night
First some background information on both teams. Kazakhstan (which since 2002 competes in European competitions, not Asian) has had some good home form: beating Serbia, tying Belgium, and holding Portugal goalless for about 80 minutes in 2007.
A storm last night brought the first whiff of autumn, crisper air and slightly cooler temperatures. And with autumn comes the beginning of school. September 1st is the traditional day for that in Kazakhstan, and I spent the ‘Day of Knowledge’ in the ‘village’ of Turkistan in the South of Kazakhstan. The main part of the ceremonies concerned welcoming the new 1st formers, and saying Read the rest of this entry »
It’s a 3-day weekend here in Kazakhstan. To be precise, August 30th is Constitution Day, one of the three fall holidays that celebrate the Kazakhstani ’state’ as an independent entity. Prize for whoever can guess the other two. Here is a pic from some of the music/events going on in front of the Republic Palace in Almaty, it’s a little misleading as there are more people watching, but not a whole lot. This holiday in particular doesn’t have a lot of umph behind it (yeah! let’s get together and read the Constitution!) but it provides a nice break at the end of the summer. I’m off on a short trip so my summer travel wrap-up will have to wait a few more days. But trust me it’s worth it!
Constitution Day Festivities
In case you were wondering where I’ve disappeared to, I’ve been traveling for most of the past 6 weeks. There’s a lot to catch up on, not to mention finishing writing about my Astana trip. To hold you over here are some pictures of students watching the solar eclipse on August 1st. They came up with an inventive solution: using an old fashioned 3.5″ disk to view it. It didn’t get quite so dark, more like an eerie dimness, but it was still a fun event.
There’s an interesting article from Reuters on the Olympic construction boom in Beijing (and some great pictures). In preparation for the 2008 Games, China has concentrated on building ‘futuristic architectural statements’ to show off the state’s development. International events like the Olympics have long been used by the host nation as this type of showcase. In heavily ideological countries like the USSR and China, the importance reaches a new level. Tristram Carfrae, engineer and designer of the ‘Water Cube’ building, sees this as exactly the case:
“If you look at Beijing’s history of architecture and design as being about monumentalism, about the grand statement, then why should these sport venues be any different?”
New Opera House in Astana by the Presidential Palace
(For more on my trip to Astana, check out the second part of this post here)
On July 6th, Kazakhstan’s capital city of Astana celebrated her 10th Anniversary. (The President got Astana a new flag. I got her a Bill Cosby sweater. Hope it fits.) So this is a good time to talk about my recent (mid June) trip to the northern city. After 10 months living in Kazakhstan, and travelling exclusively around the south, it was nice to see what all the fuss about Astana was about. I also looked forward to spotting the marked differences between the heavily Russian-influenced North, and the more traditional South of the country.
Approaching Astana
Astana, previously named Akmola and Tselinograd, became capital in the mid-1990’s. Akmola was a medium sized city that grew mostly during the era of the virgin lands campaign. Since becoming the capital, the population has grown to about 600,000 people, still only about 40% of Almaty. Most of the immigrants are from the surrounding northern oblasts, or government workers forced to move from Almaty.
So by now I’ve spent 10 months living and working in Almaty. I’ve had some time to think, what makes Almaty interesting? What sets it apart? Why am I writing about it…besides the obvious fact that it’s the only city I currently reside, and thus my only material for these ramblings.
Before talking about Almaty in specific, let’s consider in general what gives a city it’s character, a sense of place? Certainly there are things that make each city unique. Perhaps it’s quantifiable, e.g. x number of quaint curved streets plus y meters of glittering waterfront times z colorful citizenry. Or maybe its not so specific, an atmosphere, a rhythm. Whatever the case, even without thinking about it whenever you visit a city it doesn’t take long to get a sense of where you are. After some time in Berlin, you are in no way mistaken as to where you are. Tokyo is definitely Tokyo, Paris is Paris, Istanbul is… well you get the idea. The identity of a city is also tied to its country and citizens. Tokyo is quite Japanese, Paris undoubtedly French, modern, sprawling Istanbul is (despite a long and varied multinational history) Turkish.
Kalinina/Furmanova
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