We spent the morning in Almaty touring the area around Panifilov Park. There are statues there honoring the contribution by Kazaks towards the Soviet victory over the Germans in World War II, or the "Great Patriotic War," as they call it. There is more historical emphasis on the Eastern front of this war, and the locals explain this by pointing to the casualty count—the Soviets suffered more than other allied forces. We also saw a Russian orthodox church in the park and had a very informative tour of a Central Asian musical instrument museum. This museum had many of the instruments of the region, famous instruments played by regional legends, and even ethnic instruments of other cultures outside Central Asia. At the end, we listened to a musician who played some of these instruments for us. This musician even let us try the instruments out. I picked away at a dombra but didn't sound very good.
(in Paniflov Park, Almaty, Kazakhstan, with cultulral affairs officer Stephen Guice)
Our host, Stephen Guice, who is the cultural affairs officer at the embassy, then drove us to his house, where we had lunch with his wife and their nine children. The children in this family have been born in many different areas because they frequently move depending on where the US government places them. All the children seem to be very mature and polite, and we enjoyed meeting them. We then went to a ski lift on a mountain and rode to the top. From there we could see the whole city, although it was extremely cold. Apparently a lot of famous and important people ski here, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, who apparently skis alongside guards toting automatic rifles. For dinner we went to an exotic Uzbek restaurant, which featured live bands, belly dancers, and tightrope walkers.
- Joe
(with Marie Guice on top of Shymbulak mountain outside of Almaty, Kazakhstan)
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