Three Weeks in February

February 6 - 12, 2017

Another week of meetings, Russian lessons and life in Moscow has flown by. I'm doing some traveling in February and March for work and fun so juggling my passport to get the necessary visas while ensuring I have it available when needed is a challenge.  

My big news for the week is that, as of Thursday, I am now the Event Coordinator for Canada Club! Yeah, I'd been looking for a volunteer opportunity and this should be a fun one especially considering the other folks on the Canada Club Executive. 

Friday, a crew of us trotted over to the Pinzeria for lunch to celebrate that the weekend was coming. I never tire of their thin crust creations and today I tried one of their amazing salads with pears, goat cheese and arugula as a starter Yummmm! The afternoon was short and then it was time for a couple glasses of vino in the Canada Club with the usual suspects.  

Saturday was spent catching up on laundry and vegging. Sunday was all about hanging with friends; breakfast at Cat's, a trip to Dubrovka market with Francine looking at fur and leather coats (I'm still looking for the one I want!) and then a birthday dinner for Alberto catered by Francine and Alain (their pizza was fabulous) and Cat.  Life is good!

February 13 - 19, 2017

There's lots of stuff (good and not so good) happening on the work front this week. On the good side of the ledger, my colleague, Les, and I are putting the final touches on the Program for our Mission to Kazakhstan next week. 

Overall, the week flies by in a jumble of meetings, meetings and more meetings. It's hard to believe when it's already Friday and we are, once again, at Canada Club quaffing wine!

Saturday, I'm up and at it early making fresh rolls to go with the lasagna that I'm serving for dinner tonight as an intro to an evening of cards with a group of friends from the Embassy. Some rosemary lemon chicken wings and spicy grape and ricotta toast for apps and a giant bowl of Caesar salad round out the simple menu. I've lined up a couple of the guests to make something sweet to complete the meal - Kerry's date squares and Alain's sugar pie definitely hit the sweet spot!

Soon enough the dishes are cleared off the table and the cards come out.  

Tonight, we are playing Wizard (again); a great game of skill and luck for 4-6 people! Cat sits out as she's heading home to take care of her fur babies but it is "game on" for the rest of us. The night comes to an end too soon! 

Sunday is the lazy day of this weekend with some dishes and cleanup the most important achievements other than packing for my early morning departure for Astana tomorrow. 

February 20 - 26, 2017

Early morning flights are typically heralded by a night of restless sleep and I wake up Monday morning feeling groggy. The Embassy car picks me up at 6:30 (which is not that early but I've become accustomed to starting a bit later so it's early for me!). Next stop is Les' and then we head off to the airport. Despite the early hour, Moscow traffic does not disappoint and the short trip takes over an hour. Check-in and customs are a breeze and then we grab a quick bite while we wait for our flight to be called.

A freaky new friend at check-in

The trip to Astana is just under four hours but they are three hours ahead of us so we arrive late in the afternoon to be greeted by Mergen, one of our hosts for the week. The drive around town is fascinating as the city is mainly quite new (and located in the middle of nowhere). Astana features an array of strange structures including pagodas, pyramids, the Central Concert Hall, which from above looks like a budding flower, a flying saucer-shaped circus, a presidential palace designed to replicate the White House, and Baiterek, a 100-meter-tall tower that  I think resembles a golf ball sitting on a tee. All pretty exciting for a previously empty patch of land best known as a former gulag prison camp for the wives of Soviet traitors. 

After a nap it is time for or a quick bite. Neither of us is overly hungry so when Les suggests the food court at the mall close to the hotel, I say why not (words that will be regretted later)! The nearby shopping mall is Khan Shatyr which doubles as the world's largest tent.  

Khan Shatyr

There are loads of boutiques and shops inside as well as a small amusement park including a ride up the "tent" pole in the middle that jettisons folks towards the ceiling and then drops them toward to the ground only to pull up quickly - what I'm sure is a stomach churning experience.  

Les indulges me before dinner with a little shopping (a girl needs souvenirs!) and then we head to the third floor to choose our poison. We opted for local cuisine which included a bowl of spicy soup and a stir fry for Les and the same stir fry served with a side order of dumpling that I split with Les for me.  It didn't seem to be a dangerous choice but let's just say neither Les nor I got a good night's sleep as we were overcome with digestive symptoms!

Tuesday we have meetings with folks in the Embassy including an audience with the Ambassador who seems like a very nice guy. It's always nice to meet the people you are communicating with by email and phone face-to-face and I enjoyed meeting our Embassy colleagues.  Next stop was lunch with a colleague from the US Embassy in Astana and followed by a meeting with officials at the Ministry of Agriculture.  

Meetings with government officials in Kazakhstan are very formal and the entry procedures for government buildings are very focused on security.  There are armed guards and scanners everywhere (there is even a scanner at our hotel) to make sure nothing and no one unwanted enters the building. I think it would take awhile before getting saluted every time I entered the office became routine. The meeting was well attended, cordial and informative so it was all worth it. 

Back at the hotel, it's nap time and when I wake up I check with Les but neither of us feels much in need of dinner so a bit of extra sleep wins out!

Wednesday is another day of meetings in Astana with the Chamber of Entrepreneurs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Economy. The security in all three buildings resembles yesterday's routine and all meetings are well attended, cordial and informative.  Another nap, another skipped dinner and it's Thursday morning.  

Thursday we are heading north to visit a large feedlot and a slaughter house/packer that is owned by Kaz Beef. The first 200 Kim's fly by as the highway has mostly been plotted and the traffic is light. The last fifty km is a bit iffier as the secondary roads still show the signs of Tuesday's snow storm. Mergen, our fearless driver and guide, gets us to the destination safely. 

Corn silage and distiller's grain - yum!

Red Steppe Steer

It's great to be on a farm and talk about cattle, feedstuffs and agriculture with the manager who is overseeing what looks like a world-class operation. The cattle are a mix of Red Steppe, White Face (local breeds), Hereford and Angus and they are feeding a corn silage based ration so it's all pretty familiar. 

Next stop is the slaughter plant where we are given the grand tour followed by some fillet cooked on the BBQ outside by none other than the manager. After seeing how clean the operation is, it's easy to enjoy the perfectly rare steaks served with salad and great bread. After a final look at the computer program that helps track the various parts of the operations, we jump back in the car for the three-hour drive home.  

Friday, we are headed to the Annual Meeting of the Kazakhstan Hereford Association. Like all farm association meetings I have ever attended, the topics that engender the most interest (and passion) are those related to money. This means the government official describing the latest changes to subsidy programs gets roasted for over an hour and the Association executive doesn't fare much better when they start discussing changes to fee structures.  

Mergen dropped us off at the airport where we grabbed a quick bite and I bought a few more souvenirs (got to make a contribution to the economy and leave behind the currency I'd had exchanged!). Another smooth flight and we are back in Moscow and navigating the traffic for a couple hours before finally arriving home. 

Saturday is a lazy day other than the laundry as I'll soon have to finish packing for my trip to Miami on Thursday. I'm heading out for a cruise with Sally and Mindi and can't wait to get a dose of sun and surf. I'm also having my first appointment with Mona who provides in-house spa treatments; just what a princess needs! I am having a toe-job aka a pedicure and some facial waxing to trim my stache and eyebrows (I know TMI!). 

Mona is a lovely Indian lady and arrives right on time with her kit. Soon enough my feet were soaking in a bucket and I was in the midst of the most intense pedicure I have ever experienced. My feet were baby soft when the process was completed and then on to the waxing. Apparently, the upper lip waxes that I have experienced in the past weren't complete so the process was considerably more painful that usual as it included waxing inside the nose! Who does that!! Ouch!!! Waxing was followed by threading and I'm cruise ready!

Sunday, my first stop is Dubrovka to pick up my hood for my winter coat which now has a fox fur collar instead of the faux fur collar. Stop two is Ismaylova to pick up a few souvenirs to bring to Florida as gifts for my host. Both locations have an overwhelming array of stuff but I persevered and got what I went looking for.  I'm getting better at figuring out the Metro but I manage to take at least one wrong turn before I get back home!!

Four more sleeps ...