Whoohoo

Fun = Shaking a tree so that loads of snow falls down from the tree onto you.

Photos: Jingzhong

International Day

12 November is International Day so all international regular and exchange students were asked to set up a booth talking about their home countries, cook a national dish and put up a performance. 

The cake looks exactly like the poster! So cute!

We Singaporeans did NOT want to put up a performance, so we just did a powerpoint presentation on Singapore and SMU. We were given 3000 tenge (SGD30) for our national dish, but what EXACTLY is our national dish, may I ask? So we made bak kut teh soup with chicken. It was yummy and many people thought so. Four countries won prizes for the dish they cooked and Singapore was one of them. Yay!

International Day was held at the Fun Club in KIMEP. Not every country had a booth, some people had classes during that time so they couldn’t come to man the booth.

If you realize, the Singapore booth is in the front facing everyone, so when people took pictures of performances, our flag would be in almost every photo. Cool, yes? Hahahaha!

Kyrgystan had a cake with the Kyrgystan and Kazakhstan flags and the KIMEP logo. 

Our Singapore booth.

Jingzhong suggested drawing the outline of Singapore and drawing the crescent moon and five stars inside. He meant is as a casual, we-won’t-be-able-to-do-that suggestion but I thought it would be quite nice so he helped me colour in the red part. It took ages because we were using wax crayons and I wanted the red to be a real solid colour and that takes a lot of effort. But I think it looked quite nice in the end. After the event, all our posters were given to the Office of International Relations. So all our coloring effort didn’t go to waste!

I asked Larry if I could use his Flickr photos of Singapore and he said yes! His photos were really a lot nicer than those we found when simply Googling, so thank you Larry for letting us use your pictures.

Our booth was kind of the least decorated, but it wasn’t our fault. First of all, most of the other countries could find things relating to their countries in Kazakhstan easily like Latvia, Turkmenistan, Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Russia and Korea. Other countries had embassies or areas where there were many people from their country like The Netherlands and Germany, so these people had many souvenirs and costumes that they got from these people. Japan sent their people from their embassy over, as well as lots of cute little Japanese souvenirs.

And Singapore? No embassy, only consulate, no Singapore food supermarket (the Koreans have a Korean supermarket here), no little area where lots of Singaporeans live to borrow costumes (like our German friends did).

Regardless, I think that people found us interesting, because we are the first exchange students from Singapore and not many students know a lot about Singapore as compared to all those other countries listed above.

Professional dancers from Kyrgystan. They won best performance.

Pieter in his crazy bright orange suit.

He said the official colour of the Netherlands is orange because the royal family’s surname means orange but there is no orange on the Netherlands flag and when I asked him why, he didn’t know why.

Pieter performed three songs. On the right is Babsi from Austria teaching us an Austrian dance.

Dr. Bang, the president of the school came to say a few words. He is from Korea, and that is why KIMEP has relationships with so many different Korean universities. That’s why there are often many Korean international regular and exchange students in KIMEP.

On the right are Kyung Min and Ha Neul performing that ‘tiger is in the presence bam bam HEY’ song.

The three crazy Singaporeans pigs who will never go on a diet because we love eating too much.

Singaporeans in Kazakhstan!

 

Thank you Mom and Dad for sending the Singapore flag and the bak kut teh spices and SMU OIR for sending over SMU catalogs.

Photos: Jingzhong, me and So Hyun with Jingzhong’s camera

Kazakhstan’s National Anthem

(Click for larger image.)

We found it in the Miras International School in Astana where we stayed. Here it is translated into English for your reading pleasure.

Rostik’C KFC

I was wrong when I said there was no KFC. There IS a KFC, it is called Rostik’C KFC. Here’s how the story goes. Rostik’C was set up in Kazakhstan and it was pretty much an imitation of KFC and KFC decided to just buy over it and that is why it is called Rostik’C KFC. 

The chicken tastes authentic, it’s just that the variations of meals is different. Also, chicken variety is different. Big pieces of chicken (normal size in Singapore) only come in original taste, while small wings and drumlets come only in spicy, crispy taste.

Regardless, it’s quite yummy.

Next to Rostik’C is King Burger, and if you look closely at the logo, it is very obviously an imitation of Burger King. King Burger, unlike Rostik’C however, has not been bought over by the company that it is trying to imitate. It is very obvious in the menu, they sell things like doner kebabs.

We have not tried King Burger, and I probably won’t.

Photos: Jingzhong

Astana, the Capital of Kazakhstan

A famous monument in Kazakhstan. They are the ‘three sages’ representing the three hordes that Kazakhstan used to be divided into – Greater Horde, Middle Horde and Lesser Horde.

We took a plane to Astana because there was a student fare. The student airfare cost only a bit more than the train fare, and taking a plane meant more convenience and less time spent traveling. Only Jing Liang, Jingzhong and I went to Astana.

Astana is supposed to be much colder than Almaty and it was already snowing way before it did in Almaty. When we arrived in Astana, it was not snowing, but there was snow on the ground. The weather was very good the weekend we spent in Astana, everyone was telling us it would be super cold but it never went below 0°C.

When we first arrived in Astana, we were so hungry we had to go for dinner immediately!

We found a very cool restaurant that the president of Kazakhstan has visited.

The food was good and the portions sufficient, but the prices were pretty steep. I think this is the most expensive meal we have had in Kazakhstan so far.

Before going to Astana, we tried finding some cheap accommodation but all our travel guidebooks said that accommodation is expensive in Astana. We decided to just go to Astana and find someplace to stay.

Previously I mentioned my friend Nadya who gave me some of her clothes to wear during Winter. Her name is actually Nadezhda which is the name of Lenin’s wife, by the way. Anyway she is very nice because not only did she give me winter clothes, she also helped me look for some cheap winter boots (but in the end I found some good ones from a sports shop and got those instead) and she even asked her friends if they had winter clothes to spare me.

Somehow I mentioned to her that I was going to Astana and that is where she’s from. She asked me how we were getting there, whether we had places to stay, if we were meeting anyone there. She told me it can be quite dangerous if we went without knowing anyone. She also said it would be super cold.

On Friday, the day before we left for Astana, Nadya called me and said, “I found some accommodation for you in Astana!” and I was so surprised! All the time she had been asking me about my plans to Astana, she hadn’t been asking merely out of interest. She was trying to see how she could help us out the whole time. I asked her how much the accommodation was and she said it was free, and that it was an apartment as a school where her mother is the principal. She sent me detailed instructions on how to get there.

We were super super grateful because not only had she found accommodation for us, but we didn’t have to spend a cent. We are definitely bringing her out for a meal to thank her!

So here is the school we stayed at.

Only after arriving did we realized what kind of school her mother is the principal of. It is called Miras International School, and it is very famous in Kazakhstan. It is one of the top two most expensive schools in Kazakhstan, and it has only primary and high school. 

We heard that the wife of the president of Kazakhstan owns the school.

Part of the school. It is very pretty. Next to the school there is a small park.

The main entrance to the school.

After dinner, we explored the school. Because we were the guests of the principal of the school, nobody harassed us or said we could or could not go anywhere. 

We learnt A LOT just be exploring the school itself. It was really interesting. It was so clean and well organized. KIMEP is said to be the Harvard of Central Asia, but when we came, we were pretty disappointed by its facilities, buildings and some of the professors. This primary+high school surpasses KIMEP in its design, cleanliness and overallness. THIS is what KIMEP should be!

The hallways are very clean and decorated with artwork of students.

We found an assessment calender and feel it is a VERY good way to plan the students’ academic calendar. This way, the students never have too many exams or big assignments in one day or week. Singapore should totally incorporate this into their primary and secondary schools. 

We were really impressed with the Miras school. There was a system for attendance of teachers and staff. They taught in English and Russian. They had extra curricular activities and classes that really seemed to help make these students more well-rounded. In the lower primary school section, we found news articles on floods and natural disasters pasted on the notice board. Some students in KIMEP know nothing or very little about the world, and if these students at Miras are learning about the world at such a young age, they will be more knowledgeable about the world in future and these are the kind of people Kazakhstan needs. Many times we are shocked by how little the students at KIMEP know about the world. Sometimes they have very skewed views. Those who know more about the world are usually the ones who have traveled, worked and studied abroad.

While exploring the school, we found the dormitory and talked to some of the students. He spoke very good English, with hardly an accent. Many students in KIMEP have strong accents which sometimes make it hard for us to understand their English. Not only did he speak English well, but he also answered our questions really well.

We found out that it costs about US$12,000 a year at Miras, which I think it pretty expensive for a primary+high school! There are only about 200 students a year at Miras, of which 12 are staying at the dormitory.

The apartments for teachers in the Miras school. We stayed at one of these.

When we entered, we were amazed to see how nice and fully equipped it was. It was nicer than any hotel we have stayed in in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. It is nicer than our dormitory. Jing Liang joked and said that if we traveled all the way to Astana just to stay in this apartment and see Miras International School, it would be enough. Hahaha. But we understood what he meant.

We visited the Oceanarium where they had a 5D theatre. It’s pretty much the same as a 3D theatre except they have the added element of touch. They sprayed water at us. The 3D visuals were not very good and neither was the motion stimulator. I thought we could keep the 3D glasses but it turns out they re-use them. We realized this when we wore the 3D glasses and smelt the yucky sweaty B.O. smell. UGH.

Astana is very different from Almaty. It has less people, less buildings. It is cleaner and quieter. A friend from Almaty told Jing Liang, “People from Astana are like human beings while people from Almaty are like animals.” And this is a person from Almaty who said this! We wouldn’t call people from Almaty animals, but it is true that the people of Astana seemed more gracious, polite and overall, nicer.

When you cross pedestrian crossings in Almaty, many cars will drive really fast and suddenly stop right in front of you to try and scare you. Like it’s a crime to cross the road. In Astana, the cars stop way before the zebra crossing.

In Almaty, if you are rushing for a bus and make it to the bus but the bus has already closed its doors, most of the time, the bus driver just drives off. In Astana, we were running like mad for the bus and the bus had already closed its doors and we were still some distance away but the driver saw us and stopped and waited for us.

The people just talk to you nicer and seem more helpful.

Astana is a new city, and you can see it is more organized than Almaty. We think that it is because when the capital moved from Almaty to Astana, Astana was really not so developed as a town and it is always easier to start building with a clean slate instead of something that already has buildings there.

Something I find really beautiful about Astana are the buildings. They are very unique, beautiful and colourful. One interesting thing is that there were often clusters of buildings that had the same design but were not exactly the same. Like they would have stripes, but some were shorter and fatter than others. Like there was a cluster with a black and white design and there were four buildings in that cluster. One was rectangular and tall, one was round and medium height, and the other two were rectangular and short. It really gave a unique look to the city.

I liked this building. It looks like a castle.

This building looked really impressive.

Photo from ftgdevelopment.com

A very famous building is called the Khan Shatyr. It looks like that picture above. When we went to Astana, it already did look like that, but wasn’t entirely finished. It was scheduled to be done in 2008, but it’s now 2009 and can’t be done. Part of the reason is because Astana has very extreme weather, and it is often too hot in Summer and too cold in Winter to do any construction.

When the Khan Shatyr is done, it is meant to be like a place where people can go to swim, shop and have fun, even when it is freezing cold outside.

We found some metal horses and took pictures. They were REALLY cold to sit on.

Having trouble coming down hahaha.

A metal pony.

The Baiterek!

It is a famous monument and is on the Kazakhstan tenge notes. It is placed right in front of the President’s Palace and apparently the president can see it from his living room window. It is built based on a Kazakh legend of the magic bird, Sanruk, who lays eggs in trees.

We totally did not regret going to Astana. We previously considered not going because we felt that we were going just for the sake of being in the capital of Kazakhstan. We felt that it would not be anything special or different. We are so glad we managed to go in the end!

Oh and Astana is more organized as I said. The bus stops have a map showing the bus route, and a list of all buses that go to that bus stop. In Almaty, there are no such things in the bus stop. It is said that this is because the bus routes are not confirmed, they can change. So that’s why no bus numbers are put in a bus stop. That makes it extremely hard to get around if you are a foreigner like us.

Yay Astana!

Photos: Jingzhong