I am a rock star ...
This weekend instead of writing much I put up some pictures.
The language lesson of the week is that the Kazakh word for "palace" is "sarai". And in Russian, "sarai" means "shack where animals live." I would like to see some research done on this.
The last two weekends have been big holidays for Kokshetau. The 25th was Den' Goroda, or Kokshetau's 180th anniversary. Besides a day off school, this meant a giant parade through the city, with all the students of the city wearing creative homemade costumes and doing dances to techno-pop. It meant old dudes in chincy Kazakh costumes riding in pickup truck beds holding balloons. It meant a strange outhouse float that I got a picture of. It meant a giant "carnival" in the stadium with sports events, falconry, dancing, and, of course, karaoke. The thing was, none of the volunteers could find anyone who knew when or where anything was supposed to happen, and so we missed most of it because we were in the center when the party was in the stadium, and in the stadium when it was in the center. What we did see was cool, though - they know how to celebrate here.
Then this last weekend was "Den' Uchitelya", or Teacher's Day, so there was a big karaoke concert put on for teachers by lots of talented little kids. Besides the songs, one of the highlights of the ceremony for me was a speech by a former soviet education minister who really got into it and said that we needed to "build a bright future for our Sovie--ah, um, Kazakhstani youth." Then all the teachers went to various cafes and got drunk and sang and danced.
I say I'm a rock star because I played harmonica with Chingis' band. His band really does put on a good show, and they're really popular in Kokshetau for a reason. They're a hard-core punk rock band, and my harmonica was signed up for a toned-down acoustic number. To be honest, I had my doubts that it would go over well with the leather-and-chain wearing head banging audience. But it did, and afterwards a girl came and sat on my lap. Hooray, rock and roll!
The language lesson of the week is that the Kazakh word for "palace" is "sarai". And in Russian, "sarai" means "shack where animals live." I would like to see some research done on this.
The last two weekends have been big holidays for Kokshetau. The 25th was Den' Goroda, or Kokshetau's 180th anniversary. Besides a day off school, this meant a giant parade through the city, with all the students of the city wearing creative homemade costumes and doing dances to techno-pop. It meant old dudes in chincy Kazakh costumes riding in pickup truck beds holding balloons. It meant a strange outhouse float that I got a picture of. It meant a giant "carnival" in the stadium with sports events, falconry, dancing, and, of course, karaoke. The thing was, none of the volunteers could find anyone who knew when or where anything was supposed to happen, and so we missed most of it because we were in the center when the party was in the stadium, and in the stadium when it was in the center. What we did see was cool, though - they know how to celebrate here.
Then this last weekend was "Den' Uchitelya", or Teacher's Day, so there was a big karaoke concert put on for teachers by lots of talented little kids. Besides the songs, one of the highlights of the ceremony for me was a speech by a former soviet education minister who really got into it and said that we needed to "build a bright future for our Sovie--ah, um, Kazakhstani youth." Then all the teachers went to various cafes and got drunk and sang and danced.
I say I'm a rock star because I played harmonica with Chingis' band. His band really does put on a good show, and they're really popular in Kokshetau for a reason. They're a hard-core punk rock band, and my harmonica was signed up for a toned-down acoustic number. To be honest, I had my doubts that it would go over well with the leather-and-chain wearing head banging audience. But it did, and afterwards a girl came and sat on my lap. Hooray, rock and roll!
posted by thegio at 6:18 PM
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