Almaty means apple!

The first eating apples in the world came from the mountains that surround Almaty. They have proven it with DNA testing. Here is a statue of a traditional Kazakh girl with an apple in an Almaty park.

Remember how I told you about Apple Soup that I had in the mountains in Uzbekistan? They had many wild apple trees growing in the mountains here too. I took the bus up to the nearby ski area yesterday and here is one of the trees next to a rushing river (but not the Russian River... I miss that one, say hello to it tomorrow for me!).

There are also these kinds of trees... I think of them as wishing trees. I don't know exactly their history but I have seen them in Uzbekistan too. I believe that in special places that are beautiful, or meaningful (like cemeteries or religious places) people make a wish or express a hope and then tie a bit of cloth onto a tree where other people have done the same. The interesting thing here is that a lot of the cloths are actually plastic bags or baby wipes. I guess that's what people travel with now!

 Speaking of traveling in Kazakhstan these days, I took a picture for Daddy of the top of the climb. There was a man with a little van and a sparkling espresso machine in the back.

Colorful Cathedral

This is one of the oldest buildings in Almaty. It's from the early 1900's. I loved how colorful it is. In the square in front there are many children. There kids can go for pony rides and feed the many pigeons in the park. I liked how these colorful balloons looked with the colorful building.

Musical instruments of Kazakhstan

Yesterday I went to the Museum of the Musical Instruments of Kazakhstan. It was a very beautiful place, quiet and peaceful, the way acoustic instruments universally make me feel.

The instruments were beautiful too. They are mostly string instruments like the violin and piano so I thought of both of you often. Here are some pictures of the instruments most like a violin, the Sazgen and Qylqobyz [pronounced COOL-ko-biz, I think].

The most famous musical instrument here is the Dombra. It is a two string guitar that is in the pictures below. They come in many shapes. It looks simple, but wait until you hear the songs that a university student was able to play on it! They are amazing.

Here is a picture of the student who played a number of songs for me. A lot of the Kazakh music for the Dombra has very complicated time signatures and changes throughout the piece. You'll notice in the background a computer. While he waited for people to come in and visit with him at the museum has was playing videogames. I thought you'd enjoy that!

Korean food - just like in Oakland

Tonight I went out to eat with my friend from Uzbekistan. We went to have Korean food with his wife and 8-month-old son Mark. Here are some fun pictures. Maybe we can go out for Korean food when I get back to Oakland.

What time is it?

It might be hard to tell, but this clock is covered in flowers. What time does it say?

Also, do you notice something fun in the picture that you might enjoy?

The girls that I met at the hostel

Dear Aurora and Amalia,
Today I stayed at a hostel. That's a place with lots of beds and a common room where everyone gathers. So you meet interesting people. There were a lot of young adults from all over the world - Germany, Russia, Israel, Great Britain, the US.

And there was a girl and her mother from Kazakhstan. I spoke to her mother in Russian and learned that they were from a small town on the cost of Lake Balqash. The name of their city is Priozersk. It is about 10 hours by train from Almaty.


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It was the first time that her mother had ever seen people from another country. She told me, "and now I am surrounded by so many of them!" She brought her daughter to see the big city.

Her daughter is 6-years-old and her name is Maria. Her Russian nickname is Mashka. I gave her some coins from the US and Canada, because I know you love collecting coins and I thought she might like them.

A few minutes later she came to my bed with two little stuffed animals. She asked me to bring them to you. They are sewn with thread in a few places because she loved them very much, but she wanted to send them to the USA to you. She liked seeing your pictures very much. Here is her picture with the two stuffed animals I will bring back:

Think about names for your new stuffies! I will help you if you want to give them Russian names.
I love you,
Mommy

Bazaar math

 I went to the bazaar today. Here are some picture from there. The woman with the sunglasses was selling candies. I will bring you some!

 

And here is your math problem for the day: Raspberries cost 900 tenge per kilogram. Strawberries cost 700 tenge per kilogram. What does 900 - 700 = ?