Bird Show

On our way back from the lake and observatory, we stopped to see a bird show with some of the predator birds of Kazakhstan. It was a lot of fun, and no kids got carried away to any nests.

Trip to Big Almaty Lake

Big Almaty Lake is located high up in the surrounding mountains and provides the city's drinking water.

Below are pictures of an observatory constructed during Soviet times, but still operating with funds from the German government. The astronomer let into the viewing room to check out the telescope. It was pretty cool.

I created a panoramic photo of the area that you can see here.

More Photos from Amsterdam

For having no idea where I was going, I think I was lucky to find this statue of Rembrandt and the flower market. My photo of that flower market does not do justice to how big it really was. It stretched for several blocks.

The last three pictures are the cafe where I had the English breakfast (and drinking beer at 11 am is appropriate in Amsterdam -- I asked) and a piece of Dutch apple pie. Everything was excellent.

Photos from Amsterdam

On my way back to Almaty from some training in Washington, DC, I had a layover in Amsterdam that gave me enough time to see some of the city. I had no map and no idea where to go, so I just wandered around, taking pictures, until I got hungry.

Blog Posts

I've been having trouble posting on the blog, so it's a good thing I've been in the US the past couple of weeks. No problem putting stuff up here. That's why there are so many new posts all of a sudden. Hopefully, I'll be able to post more regularly when I return to Kazakhstan.

The Chaihana

In Central Asian culture, the chaihana (tea house, basically) holds a high position. People sit in the chaihana, sip tea, philosophize, etc. In Isfara, the city is renovating a chaihana, and this is a photo of the ceiling in one of the rooms. The color and intricacy of the designs were amazing.

Gym Renovation

When we work on local development projects, like these in Isfara, we call community meetings to learn what the people value and where we can do some good for the money we have.

Here, the school needed quite a bit of work, but the people decided that the small amount of budget available would best be spent on fixing up the gym. The young people of the community really didn't have anywhere to go to have fun or much of anything to do. After the speechifying, we went to the gym where some of the kids were playing volleyball. The deputy mayor jumped in to play with the kids, and he really got into it -- spiking the ball and everything. He waved me over, but I was more interested in shooting baskets. Another local official was shooting, and he passed me the ball for a shot. I missed everything but the floor. He tossed the ball back, and I nailed the jumper that time. The crowd cheered. It was great.

A Full Day

This picture shows about one-third of the table full of baked goods. This was the only thing I was able to sample (two lunches, remember), but it was delicious. The women were very proud of their work, and I wish I could have tried more.

The Little Things

It's a commonly held belief that the United States spends a large portion of its budget on foreign assistance. The truth is that less than 1% of the federal budget goes to foreign aid, but that small amount can do some very big things.

While on the site visits in Isfara, we stopped at a bakery where AID helped local women learn a trade by providing an oven. For the price of this oven, more than 20 women learned how to bake a variety of products, enabling them to earn extra income. In truth, this oven will allow many women in this village to learn the trade for years to come. The woman in the picture is the instructor, and she is describing the capabilities of the oven to the deputy mayor. We ended up having two lunches that day, so I couldn't sample as many of the baked goods as I would have liked, but what I had was great.

Village in Isfara

The woman on the right invited me for plov (rice with meat) and probably would have introduced me to a granddaughter if I had been able to accept.

Site Visits

The best part of the job is getting to meet the people who benefit from the projects we do. While I was in Tajikistan, I spent a day in the north of the country, a region called Isfara, where we had worked with three villages. Two of the villages did not have access to clean drinking water, so we helped them put in pipes to bring clean water in.

This picture is from the first site visit, where I was presented with a traditional Tajik outfit -- hat, long robe, sash, and knife. We were traveling with the mayor and other local officials, and we all made speeches to commemorate the completion of the project. Afterwards, we took some time to meet the people who came to the ceremony.

It was unbelievably satisfying to hear from the local people who live in the village and truly appreciate the assistance we provide. I got a few invitations to lunch, and it's humbling to meet these people who have so little but are so willing to share with guests.

Taking the Yak to Khujand

Tajikistan is a very mountainous country, and getting from one city to another involves hours of driving or short flights. Some people choose the drive.

When I was asked to fly up to Khujand in the north of Tajikistan in order to visit a few project sites, I was happy for the opportunity to see the projects and meet the people who actually benefit from them. I'm not sure if my colleagues were trying to warn me or scare me about the flights, but I didn't really know what to expect.

Going up to Khujand, I flew on a tiny Russian-made commuter jet called a Yak. On the ground, there was no air conditioning, and it got quite hot and sweaty in there. Fortunately, a man in a police uniform waved me into the seat next to him, and I asked if he flew this route very often. He said that he made the trip every week, so I felt more confident in our plane. One thing my colleagues mentioned was that the Yak, being so small, would react much more to turbulence. That day, the skies were clear, and there wasn't any turbulence that I felt. Once it cooled off inside, the flight was pleasant.

Coming back was a bit of a different story. That flight was on a larger medium-range Russian Tupolev that had clearly seen its best days many years ago. Just about anything inside that could fall into disrepair had, but the wings stayed on and the engines worked for the entire trip. My colleagues said they preferred that larger Tupolev to the smaller Yak. I'll take the Yak any day.

Reclining Buddha in Dushanbe

When I went to Bangkok, a lot of people said that seeing the Reclining Buddha was a must, and they were right. In the travel guide to Central Asia, I read that Dushanbe also has a Reclining Buddha in its national museum, so I had to see it.

The Reclining Buddha in Dushanbe is a relic of the extent of Hindu culture into Central Asia prior to Islam. It's possible to see the influence of south Asia in Tajikistan in the food and dress, but not in religion. While this Buddha is nowhere near as big as the one in Bangkok, I thought it was even more impressive because it was carved from stone. The room it was displayed in was just a bit larger than the statue itself, and it made the statue seem even larger.

Yummy, Yummy Laghman

Many times, people ask what kind of food people eat in Central Asia. The answer is kind of boring because there isn't too much that would be considered exotic. One thing that is popular (but not really exotic) is a kind of noodle soup called laghman.

In Almaty, I've had laghman that had a lot of red and yellow peppers, but the laghman at an out-of-the-way restaurant in Dushanbe had potatoes and a bit more spices. It was so good, and I went back for dinner three times.

Georgian Restaurants

When I was in Dushanbe last year, we decided to have dinner one night at a Georgian restaurant listed in the Lonely Planet travel guide. I think I was the only one who enjoyed the meal, and part of it was a great Georgian beer I had. Back in Dushanbe, I had to find the restaurant so I could have more of that beer. As it turns out, Dushanbe has two Georgian restaurants, and I went to both.

One is more upscale than the other, but it doesn't have any Georgian beers on the menu. After learning that, I made sure to try the other one night for dinner. As I walked up to it, I saw that all the lights were off inside, but the "open" sign was lit. I opened the door and saw the women working at the restaurant were all engrossed in a Russian soap opera. I almost felt bad for interrupting their program, but I sat and ordered anyway.

I didn't quite understand the storylines, but it was easy to tell who was good and who was evil. Unfortunately, as I finished, an important story element developed. Would the jealous grandmother injure the new baby? I still wasn't quite interested enough to go back to the restaurant the next day though.