tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81162530126956467062024-03-14T13:09:58.412+06:00Big Beluga BabyBig Beluga Goes Russki! Tales of the trials and triumphs of a British mother-of-four living in Moscow in the Russian Federation. I would love it if you would FOLLOW my blog (since hardly anyone does yet!). If you want to, click on the link down left.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger170125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-60681741924360746922014-06-25T11:29:00.000+07:002014-06-25T11:29:00.037+07:00Big Beluga Baby - coming back up for air
So Big Beluga signed off for ever on leaving Kazakhstan. But she has been thinking of late that there are so many things that she will never remember if she doesn't write them down. To tell you the truth, I rather lost my writing confidence after I got into trouble with the AIWC for having strident views, and I became uncomfortable with the weird sensation of meeting people at parties who Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-61920761426876281412011-04-20T12:15:00.000+07:002011-04-20T12:15:33.606+07:00Bye Bye Big BelugaBig Beluga is signing off for ever. We have moved to Moscow and I am going undercover on the blogosphere there. Email me if you want to know where I am going!
Nearly three years in mighty Kazakhstan and I must admit, I was very, very sorry to leave. We made some really great friends, hung out with a totally awesome crowd of interesting people, tough individuals, no one worrying about trivial Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-18579216885948765362011-03-07T21:50:00.000+06:002011-03-07T21:50:04.694+06:00Worst meal in Kazakhstan and possibly the worldWe had a leaving party on Saturday night which was a classic expat rite of passage. Tons of people, some good friends, some total strangers and quite a lot of booze. Leaving dos are ten-a-penny in our line of lifestyle, and if I were a more sensible and restrained kind of character, I would have probably taken it easy and paced myself. Not being such a character, I had much too much to drink and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-43580276580849653752011-03-07T21:15:00.000+06:002011-03-07T21:15:18.363+06:00My love affair with ChimbulakOur local ski resort, the piste of which I can see when I wake up in the morning (once I have located my glasses), has had a massive upgrade this year as a result of hosting the Asian Winter Games in January. This six or seven nation championship saw approximately 25 contenders in every competition, and there must have been upwards of 200 million dollars spent on upgrading the infrastructure! Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-26338278805066230752011-02-25T17:24:00.000+06:002011-02-25T17:24:25.328+06:00A long long breakWell, the fourth baby did it! Life became too full for a while there, and I just did not have the gumption to get on the internet in the evenings and record my thoughts, observations, frustrations and occasional outbursts in the blogosphere.
But Number Four will be one next week, and I finally feel as though I am getting back to normal energy levels at last. Thank god. I say that with a heavy Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-58840463084130344432010-10-14T12:27:00.002+07:002010-10-14T12:32:29.111+07:00Kazakh road buildingThere has been an absolute spate of road building in town lately. You never know if a road will be open or closed from one day to the next. If roads are bring re-surfaced, then it is up to you to find your way round the problem. Fortunately, our awesome driver Baktiyar is pretty resourceful about these run-of-the-mill issues on the roads.
The other day, facing a blocked route onto the main road Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-68928125993071154942010-10-13T12:55:00.000+07:002010-10-13T12:55:56.378+07:00Over-wrought mother of fourSo it is happening. My prediction is coming true. Life is simply too hectic at the moment. As I always thought it would be with four kids.
There is no slack. The days are long, noisy and full. I am sure one day I will look back on all this time and wistfully wish the weeks could be so full, so unpredictable and so varied as they are now.
Husband thinks I am going mad, I think I am just bloomingUnknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-8296537161639419602010-09-28T11:09:00.000+07:002010-09-28T11:09:26.482+07:00Altyn Emel continued, tourists to Kazakhstan be prepared!Continuing on the theme of the wonderful tourist facilities in the Altyn Emel Park, you can see below photos of the spa and leisure complex at our guest house. Here is the outdoor sauna:
The sauna being conveniently located adjacent to the plunge pool with well ventilated toilet and shower facilities:
This is our guest house, which, sarcasm aside, was pretty comfortable and clean. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-49484114544037093552010-09-27T23:10:00.001+07:002010-09-28T10:43:13.430+07:00The Ying and the YangI have just been to yet another glorious place in the extraordinary country that is Kazakhstan. This place is absolutely amazing in so many ways: one day you may find yourself exploring the stunning country, gazing upon, or hiking through, huge, panoramic unspoilt vistas of untold beauty; another day you will face rotten corruption and attitudes that can make you want to explode with frustration.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-73620326861560217922010-09-23T23:02:00.000+07:002010-09-23T23:02:43.499+07:00How to leave your two-year old on her own in the wrong school for four hoursThe title of this post might make you raise an eyebrow, but I am ashamed to admit that I can now provide a detailed description of just how such a mistake can be made.
On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, the school of the two elder children was unexpectedly closed because the Medeu district water authority needed to connect the Olympic Ski Jump to the water mains. The Olympic Ski Jump is about Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-19926951126054363842010-09-23T22:15:00.000+07:002010-09-23T22:15:34.394+07:00The Law of ThreeThe Law of Three (three things not working or broken in my house at any one time) is back with a vengeance. Even worse, the Unreliable and Incompetent Workmen Equilibrium (UaIWE) has kicked in as well. And as any seasoned housewife will know, when the Law of Three and the UaIWE are added together in an equation, multiplied by the number of children you have and then divided by the number of Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-9612767668478845172010-09-23T22:07:00.000+07:002010-09-23T22:07:17.044+07:00Another rant about TellyOne of the most boring of all expat conversations at dinner parties is about which fecking cable TV company you use. This conversation follows the exact same pattern week-in/week-out. The smug techy person sitting at the table will have bought some massively expensive satellite system and imported it into the country in a way that mere mortals without connections could never possibly manage. The Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-37475315929428182472010-09-13T22:40:00.000+07:002010-09-13T22:40:54.071+07:00My favourite shots of Kaz recentlyNo new places here, but still these easily-accessible parts of Kazakhstan are so stunningly beautiful that every time I go I suffer an almost religious sense of well-being. Practically deserted as well, which is lovely, not so much for the country which could be doing so well out of planned and managed wilderness tourism, but for us. Charyn Canyon was just us - I saw three other people leaving Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-84066861522569738002010-09-13T21:32:00.001+07:002010-09-13T21:32:38.826+07:00Back from the abyssWow. June 23rd last post! That is a manic summer holiday with four children to look after for you. A brief summary of the summer follows. Of course, I have completely forgotten all my insight moments that I wished to record for my memory having not written anything down for ages. I have lost the hilarious sequences of events that happen almost daily with children of these ages and I am annoyed Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-5460895772509658172010-06-23T16:10:00.000+07:002010-06-23T16:10:28.401+07:00Birthday time and sleep deprivationOur second daughter was seven yesterday. We had a party for her at home on Sunday and she got presents and a little bit of special attention yesterday and has since declared it the best birthday ever, and us the best parents anyone could ever imagine (she got a DS game boy machine thing, which she was not expecting at all) - children are so easily bought!
In time-honoured fashion, the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-6999669037076964202010-06-15T00:00:00.001+07:002010-06-15T00:01:55.961+07:00A short moan about BBC WorldWe recently got our telly connected to some channels - it has only taken 22 months since arriving here. What prompted this flurry of technical activity? The World Cup, of course. Not only did husband arrange for some men to come and fit a cable TV connection, he also went out and spent a considerable sum of money on a brand new Sony Bravia flat screen TV to watch. The old tv went to the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-74713223996879556602010-06-14T22:50:00.002+07:002010-06-15T00:04:22.313+07:00Wild flowers in the hillsWe went for a walk up in the hills this weekend. It was the first proper walk we have done since the back operation and the baby was born. And in fact, thinking about it, it is possibly the first hike I have done since about October last year which is kind of shocking. But then in November it was all about skiing, and January until now has been a medical write off. So, anyway, it had been aUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-44571747827525979462010-06-07T16:55:00.000+07:002010-06-07T16:55:55.223+07:00Mother of four goes bonkersIt has been pointed out to me that I am not longer a travelling mother-of-three, but one of four, so I have amended my Big Beluga title strapline accordingly. I am still not completely remembering all the time that this is the case - when will this sink in, I wonder!
The other day, I was lying on the bed with the baby and toddler. The older two were crashing around downstairs making up a (yawn Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-59972692235737438952010-06-07T16:37:00.001+07:002010-06-08T09:54:53.909+07:00Jolly thief manI don't know if you do Facebook and any of its time-passing games? Some of my friends are more than addicted to Farmville, a virtual farm where you can plant, harvest and profit from your efforts on a small holding. In my garden, I have real life farmville (minus the lonely lambs, pigs and horses that are prone to wandering into Farmville smallholdings) - gardening here is like gardening in the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-79676671910316432292010-06-05T23:15:00.003+07:002010-06-07T09:19:05.146+07:00Phewy!Well, after a wait of a few days, during which I must admit I have slightly sweated, I got a message back from one of the girls who had been concerned about my blog posting, and it seems I am in the clear. She agreed with me that my original post had been nothing more than a call to action for people to support the AIWC, and a general comment on the apathetic approach of our small foreign group Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-71702218508794958922010-06-05T22:56:00.001+07:002010-06-05T22:58:56.258+07:00UhOH!Seems like my blogging is going to get me into trouble. I recently wrote a pretty strong piece about people behaving badly in Almaty, since I had been to about three social events in a row where I had come home at the end of the night feeling slightly depressed at the attitudes of a few people who would rather criticise others and spread rumours, than big things up in the name of a happy life Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-72556567970569156372010-06-03T09:19:00.002+07:002010-06-03T09:40:16.383+07:00Browsing Baraholka
After living in Thailand and Korea for 5 years, I found coming to middle earth a very disappointing experience for shopping. Although I had a wonderful time last year when I was in London for a whole week without any children or husband and was able to spend 5 days on Oxford Street, stocking up on everything that we needed and buying myself some threads for the pregnancy, this is not normally Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-92106441071463903362010-05-19T09:18:00.000+07:002010-05-19T09:18:05.239+07:00Mammaries on strike againAfter a whole eight weeks of having to pump one breast or the other for cracked nipples, I put my pump away two weeks ago and was able to live a normal life - baby in her baby bjorn, feeding as I went about my day to day. I thought I had the baby breastfeeding nailed at last, and she seemed happy enough on it.
But the other night, she slept through and so I had an excess of milk following Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-18697247708138895892010-05-18T23:31:00.001+07:002010-05-18T23:49:13.446+07:00Bad Dog DayMonday mornings usually sees me on a power walk up the river behind the house (the site of the infamous pack of wild dogs that keep me awake most nights and live at the bottom of my garden - you can read some of the numerous posts I made on this subject before I gave up here and here (there are others but you will need to browse)). This Monday was no exception, and the boss's girlfriend andUnknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8116253012695646706.post-65952946933822644792010-05-11T09:12:00.000+07:002010-05-11T09:12:14.390+07:00Giving up capital i'sI am typing this with one hand, the first time i have been able to get onto my blog in weeks (boo the kazakh internet censors and the crappy internet service here, although admittedly the weeks are flying and I do seem to be a tad short of idle hours in which to blog away to my heart's content). The baby is firmly attached to me feeding, right hand is occupied holding her. Although she is the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1