How to find a good babysitter for your Expat Kids

One of the most difficult things, when you arrive anywhere new, is finding a babysitter.  This is difficult enough in your home country.  I used to struggle to find suitable babysitters in the UK until I found a web based company that vetted potential sitters.  I could book them online for the times I needed and 5 minutes before a sitter would arrive at my door. They were all criminal record checked, all childcare professionals and all took better care of my children than I did.

I am sure that many countries have a similar system – Astana, however, does not.  So how do you go about finding someone to look after your children?  It can be daunting enough to leave them for the first time in a foreign country without having to worry about who you are leaving them with.

We are very lucky here to have an active international club.  Members of the club will often share details of good sitters and housekeepers and these can prove a good starting point.  I found my Nanny on a recommendation through that site and if she is not able to work late she can often provide recommended sitters – usually members of her extended family whom I know I can trust implicitly.  Work contacts are also useful and I will often rely on the cleaners/housekeepers of friends.  I have a rota of about five people to cover.  There have also been occasions when my husband and I have had to be out of the country at the same time, without the children.  When this happens we arrange for the Nanny to move into the house full time.  She has always been very reliable – indeed the last time we left we returned to find that there had been a terrible water leak from our flat – she had called the plumber and arranged for it to be fixed on her own initiative.  She always has the contact details for an English/Russian speaking colleague of ours and the full details of our children’s health insurance so we know they will be treated by our own doctors rather than at a local clinic.  

Our children are fairly easy going – they have never minded being left with a sitter but I was a little concerned, when we first arrived in Astana, that they would be worried about being left with someone who spoke no English.  I need not have worried at all – the children never batted an eye lid and it has been very good for their language skills.

One of the biggest hurdles we have found, however, have been the cultural expectations.  One time we returned home to find that our babysitter had removed her top when the children went to bed and was sitting in our lounge in her underwear - she was not invited back.  We have also had to discourage many of our sitters from bringing obscene amounts of sweets and chocolate to ‘entertain’ the children with and convince them that the children really must eat the food we leave for them and not complain and inveigle something different from an unsuspecting sitter.

Many of the babysitters think we are very strange – if not downright cruel because we insist on the children going to bed at 7 on a weekday and 8.30 on the weekend.  Most Kazakh children nap extensively in the day but stay up very late with their parents.  It took us some time to convince our regular sitters that the children would, indeed, go to bed when told and sleep.  Our babysitters are also very reluctant to give children anything cold – it is not unusual to come home to find milk, juice and yogurts left out on the counter to warm up (so as not to shock the child’s stomach) and one babysitter actually put yogurt in the microwave and wondered why the children would not eat it.  I have lost count of the amount of dairy product I have had to throw out because it has been left unrefrigerated for too long.

Almost all of them put the children to bed with their doors open but, worried they might disturb them, sit in the living room with the lights dimmed and the TV on silent.  I have tried explaining that they do not need to do this but to no avail.  

But problems like this are generally minor in nature; the children are always well looked after and safe. When I was an older child I used to make a reasonable amount of pocket money in the school holidays by babysitting for friends of my parents – this was easy enough when we lived in the Hague or in a company ‘camp’ (secure gated community) in Turkey as I could walk home very safely.  When we lived in Venezuela it was not so simple – we all lived in flats or houses dotted around town but rules meant that we could not get a taxi from place to place.  I would either have to ask my parents to loan me their driver or ask the clients to drive me back home and walk me to the door.  Much more of a hassle and I stopped babysitting in the end. 

I am sure that the poor children I sat for and their parents had many of the same cultural issues with me as I have with my babysitters today.  The vicissitudes of expat life being what they are, however, meant that I was able to return the favour and babysit the child, in the Hague, of a friend of my parents who had looked after me once or twice in Norway.  I came across the girl once again many years later when, shortly after our marriage, she ended up as a pupil in my Husband’s boarding house in the UK.  

So having been an expat babysitter and a user of babysitting services my top ‘watch for’ list is:

1. Check that the sitter comes recommended by someone you know or trust.
2. Check that they are clean and trustworthy.  Dirty clothes or someone who turns up with a friend or boyfriend is an immediate no-no.
3. Have them arrive 15 minutes early the first time you use them – see how they relate to your children – do your children feel comfortable?  Do you? 
4. Don't use a new sitter for the first time on the night of an important event.  If it goes wrong you are in trouble!
5. Agree a scale of payment before you leave – will you pay extra for late hours?
6. Agree how the sitter will get home – will you give a lift or pay for a taxi?  What is normal in one country (giving a lift) may not be culturally acceptable in another (unchaperoned young girl with male driver). 
7.  Make sure that you provide plenty of food and refreshments.  Not all sitters in all countries expect this and may bring their own but some do.
8. Explain any family requirements to them – if you are vegetarian spell out what this means – some people do not regard certain foods (ie ham, chicken) as meat. 
9.  Make sure that your children understand that the babysitter is in charge.  This may sound obvious but many babysitters I know have told me that expats from certain countries are difficult to sit for because the children treat the sitter as a ‘servant’ with no authority and this is backed up by the parents.  
10.  Don’t worry too much about language difficulties – children are rarely bothered by such things and care more about whether they are comfortable with someone than if they can talk to them. 
11. Train your children to get used to sitters.  Expat life often means (depending on why you are expat) a lot of evening events, dinners, work parties etc.  Life will be easier and less stressful if your children accept that you will have to be out from time to time. 

Click on the picture for more posts on the challenges of expat life.

How to Find a Vet For Your Expat Pet

Having written recently about the challenges Expat Pets face when they move with their families I thought it would be appropriate to write a little bit about the challenges pet owners face.  

One of the first things we have to do, whenever we move to a new country, is find a suitable vet.  Usually a colleague, whether expat or local, will have a pet and therefore be able to recommend a vet to use but sometimes you have to canvass people you meet walking in the park or do a search on-line.  Of course facility with the language always makes this easier and the whole experience is often very different depending on which country you are living in.  I would not find it as challenging to find a vet in the US or Europe as I would in Nigeria or Mali.

Veterinary standards vary a great deal as well.  We are lucky to have some very good, talented and dedicated vets here in Astana but their surgeries look like something from a James Herriott novel.  When we first arrived here in Astana our dog, Bessie, was suffering from a growth on her eyelid.  This very big growth made her eye red and sore and there was no doubt that it needed to come off.  As this pre-dated the purchase of our car I had to ask a friend for the address of her vets and then find a street cab to take us there (many people will not allow dogs in their cars).  The vets do not offer an appointment system so I had to wait my turn – all animal life was there from gerbils to Rottweilers and some long term resident animals – rescued from the street by the kind-heartedness of the vet kept on wandering in to greet the waiting patients.  With no Russian to speak of all I could do was point to the dog’s eye.  The vet very proudly told me she spoke French – excellent news except for the fact that I don’t speak a word so we communicated in sign language.  

Was my dog aggressive?  No, very gentle.  Was I happy to hold her?  Yes of course.  She needs an operation is that ok?  Yes when?......

Before I knew what was happening my dog was then given a mild sedative, and with her body being held down by an orderly I was asked to hold her head.  The vet then took a pair of sterilized scissors and cut the growth off.  The whole operation took 5 minutes, cost about $7 and I was free to take my, rather shaky, dog home.  In the UK the vet would have charged a much greater fee and probably not allowed me to be present during the operation.   

I know I should take a translator but most of my friends are just too busy during the day.  The vets are very patient with us – regularly spending longer than they would with a local family just to make sure that we understand exactly what they are saying.  The dogs don’t get the treats and sweets they would get at a UK or European vets but they are treated efficiently and with kindness.

We are very lucky – I recall a terrible trip to the vets in Venezuela.  Our new rescue dog was due to be spayed and my mother took her in for the operation.  That afternoon we were able to collect her, complete with cone of shame to prevent her worrying the stitches.  We kept her quiet for the rest of the day but when I went to check on her before going to bed I noticed almost all her stitches had burst and her insides were coming out.  The family took turns holding the wound together through the night and the next day we went to another vet to have her stitched. Thank goodness she did not get an infection.  The vet responsible for the problem had an wonderful surgery, it looked professional and had all the latest gadgets in his office but I would take my dog to the Astana vets in preference every time.    

So my top tips for finding a good, reliable vet even when you don’t speak the language:

• 1.       Ask local and expat friends with pets.
• 2.       Check local internet forums and ‘Yellow Pages’ directories if available.
• 3.       On arrival check the animals that are waiting and being discharged – do they look cared for.
• 4.       Check the vet’s demeanor with the animals – do they trust the vet?  Does the vet appear nervous or callous? 
• 5.       Be aware that cultural differences may mean animals are not treated in the same way that they would be in your home country.
• 6.       Don’t expect an upmarket, designer waiting room that you might see in the US or Europe but check instruments and treating surfaces before allowing your dog to be treated.
• 7.       Make sure that there is a refrigerator/lock up for medicines and if worried ask to see the expiry date.
• 8.       Needles at vets may not be single use but they should be sterile for each injection.
• 9.       Trust your instinct.

Click on the picture for more posts on expat pets.

Expat Pets

I spent the day at the vets today – trying to arrange for our new puppy to get her vaccinations.  I started thinking about our expat pets and how they cope with life abroad.  I know many people who put off getting a pet until they get back to their home country – easier for all concerned and kinder on the animal is the usual rationale.  Our pets have always travelled with us, however and I recall only a short period of my  life when we had no pets.  Sadly we had to put down an otherwise healthy dog because of some severe mental health problems that caused him to threaten my baby sister and it was a few years before we could face taking another one in.  During that time, however, we pet sat for almost every friend and friend of a friend so we had an endless stream of loving pets  staying in our home.  

Pets also have to learn to adapt to the challenges of expat life.

There is no getting past the fact that some animals tug at your heart strings and become part of your life –  this is even more true as an expat when you see animals surviving in sometimes desperate situations and you feel you need to help them. The dynamic of life with pets as an expat is slightly different to when you live in your home country.  Rules on vaccination and ownership may be different and the quality of vet services can vary. Pets also have to adapt to new ways of life and new rules for behaviour.  In some countries dogs are welcomed - in others they are seen as unclean and a dog has to learn not to expect fuss from everyone it meets.  Language is another barrier - our dogs have always had to learn a smattering of command words in the local language so house keepers, security staff etc could give them commands.  One of our dogs learned commands in four languages (English, Dutch, Turkish and Spanish - pretty good for a mere animal!).

We have had cats in the past  notably a stray (Tom Kitten) who deigned to spend a few months with us in Norway before deserting to the next door neighbour who served a superior brand of tuna and Kipper – our Nigerian cat who protected us from snakes and brought us gifts of gecko and lizard tails instead of mice.  We had a Parrot once as well – also in Nigeria.  Pip the African Grey came to us as a bedraggled nestling caught by some people out in the bush when his mother was killed – to turn him away would have meant certain death so we fed him on mashed up fruit and built him a cage on the patio.  Sadly he had the most awful temper and could not stand to be handled but he more than compensated for this with his fantastically broad vocabulary – he was great fun to talk to and I swear he knew exactly what he was saying, his favourite trick being to call the cat and dog in my mother’s voice and then enjoy watching the ensuing fight.  Sadly Kipper did not want to stay with us (he found a wife a few doors down) and we could not get an export licence for Pip. Other pets have included goats, turkeys and sheep, usually presented to my parents as gifts, these farm animals lived with us in our gardens for a while before being raffled off for Christmas or Eid dinner for a lucky colleague (I remember my sister and I cried each time).  The most unusual pet was the turkey who faced his raffle with equanimity but was reprieved when the winner decided to start a turkey farm instead.

Much as I have loved our other pets I am, resolutely, a dog person.  We have had dogs in almost every country we have ever lived in and, unlike cats dogs never choose to leave their owners.  Jimmy, our Nigerian dog was a large blond Andalusian Shepherd Cross – he worked at our house every night as our guard dog and when we found out that the company who owned him were abusing him very badly we refused to let him go back and bought his contract.  The poor thing had been so badly beaten that he had been left with no single rib or tooth intact and he was so grateful for his deliverance from hell that he became the most faithful, protective dog I have ever met. I only ever heard him bark twice - both times it was to provide a much needed warning.  

He stayed with us through two postings in the Netherlands and one in Turkey before finally dying in Venezuela.  We were all distraught when he had to be put to sleep knowing that his life had been shortened by the beatings he had taken as a young dog but also knowing that we had given him an extra 8 years of life through taking him in.  Before Jimmy died we adopted a Venezuelan Street Dog – a Kakri that we called Eliza – we found her as a tiny puppy just able to walk that had been discarded on the rubbish heap and could not leave her.  She gave my parents many happy years in Venezuela, The Netherlands and England before dying  last year – the oldest Kakri ever to have lived at 13 years.  She is survived by an English rescue dog who, sadly, has never had the opportunity to travel anywhere.

Eliza - rescued from the streets of Maracaibo at little more than a
month old lived out her days in comfort as a Venezuelan Expatriate
in the Netherlands and UK.  

When we married my husband and I were gifted a tiny black puppy (with our full knowledge and consent).  Abbess came to live with us the day we returned from honeymoon and has been an integral part of our family ever since.  When we found out that we were going to Kazakhstan we had to decide whether to take our 10 year old dog with us or ask a family member to take her in.  We were concerned not only with  how she would handle the cold and snow but, more importantly how a dog who had always lived in the country with free access to woodland whenever she wanted  and never needed a lead would cope in an apartment in a city.  We had no shortage of volunteers to have her but when push came to shove we could not imagine life without her.

Bessie grew up in the English countryside.
A far cry from the city of Astana where she now
takes her daily walks.  

Bessie, more than any other member of the family, has found it difficult to adapt to life in Astana.  The harsh winters have aged her much more quickly than we expected.  We brought a middle aged dog to Astana and now have an elderly grande dame to take care of.  We would not be without her, however, and every evening, when she curls up next to us on the sofa or when she comes to ‘help’ put the children to bed we know that we made the right decision.

Bessie finds expat life in Astana somewhat of a challenge,
particularly the heavy snow and extreme cold. 

Luckily fate has given us the chance to give her a new lease of life – a few months ago a tiny black pup was found wandering the campus of the local university.  The pictures of the puppy showed that she looked very like Abbess and we decided to adopt her.  Bessie has taken to her role as surrogate mother and is enjoying her chance to teach a pup its manners.  Perdita has wormed her way into our hearts and, as with every dog before, we now cannot imagine life without her.

Bessie and Perdita are more mother and daughter than friends.
Bess helps to train Perdita and is assiduous in looking after her.

The dogs will come with us when we leave Kazakhstan – so once Perdita is vaccinated I will have the pleasure of learning how to get a pet passport from the relevant Kazakh ministry.  Each country has its own requirements for pet immigration – some easy some (like the UK) fiendishly difficult.  I am not yet sure when or where we are going when we leave Kazakhstan but, barring some unforeseen tragedy, the pets will be coming with us.

Click on the picture for more posts on expat pets.

New Year

We had a wonderful New Year – spending the evening of 31 December with friends before togging up to brave the cold Astana winter to enjoy Champagne and Fireworks in the snow.  We spent New Year’s Day with another group of friends enjoying a champagne brunch at a local hotel. 

I started to think about New Year traditions and how we celebrate and I realised that although we have a set of Christmas traditions that we keep wherever we are (we often postpone Christmas celebrations to another day if we are unable to enjoy our traditional Christmas when we are travelling) our New Years have been as variable as there have been celebrations.

When I was a child, growing up in Norway we would congregate with friends for house-parties similar to this most recent New Year.  In Nigeria the whole camp would gather together in the club house – the adults moving from group to group enjoying conversation, Guinness and Star Beer while the children played games and went swimming, when it was all over the family groups would separate to walk home through the balmy tropical air watching fireflies dance along the way.  

In Turkey we would also gather at the club to dance to a mix of Turkish and western music, just before midnight our Turkish friends would douse the lights and sing a very touching traditional song about a detachment of soldiers sent to fight (and die) the Yemen in the first world war.  I do not know whether this is a Turkish tradition or not but we found it very beautiful.

Other years we would have a quiet celebration at home with only the close family watching fireworks from around the world on the television and a long walk on New Year’s day.  One year we took in a show in London before running back to the car and driving back home to see in the New Year with my parents, quite bizarre to have seen the preparations for the fireworks and the mounting crowds and then seeing the main event on TV, much more comfortable than standing in a cold crowd.  My husband’s family do keep a tradition every year called ‘First Foot’.  One of the males has to leave the house before midnight, after the year turns he will knock on the door and be invited in, he will bring a lump of coal to the house to symbolise good fortune for the year ahead. 

The exigencies of expat life  mean that people move on to new adventures so every year is different, even if we stay in the same place there are different people to celebrate with.  I have no idea where we will celebrate New Year next year and whether it will be with a large group, with close friends or just family but the wonderful thing about New Year is that it is a fresh new start.  I wish everyone reading a very happy and prosperous New Year and good luck for the 12 months ahead. 

Click on the picture for more posts on the challenges of expat life.

Christmas Pudding

Towards the end of November every year I make the Christmas Pudding.  This traditional end to an English Christmas Lunch is a firm favourite with everyone in the family.  Here in Astana  Christmas is celebrated in January per the Orthodox calendar so we celebrate twice, this means that I cook up two puddings, one for our small family celebration in December and a larger one for the January Christmas when we usually have friends over to celebrate. 

There is no hard and fast recipe for pudding so it is very forgiving if you cannot get the main ingredients.  I usually throw together 450g of dried fruit (in the UK I use currants, sultanas, candied peel and prunes) with a wine glass of Mead,  Madeira or Sherry.  Leave the dried fruit to soak for 2-3 days before throwing in 100g plain flour, and 275g mix of suet and breadcrumbs, 150g muscvado sugar, lemon zest, a peeled and grated apple, 2 tablespoons of molasses, treacle or honey depending on what I have in the cupboard, 3 large eggs and mix well.  I also add koekkruiden (a mix of Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice, Ground Cloves, Ground Nutmeg, Ground Ginger, ground Cardamom, ground Star Anise and Mace my sop to my Dutch heritage) but traditionally a pudding would contain cinnamon and cloves.

English tradition calls for every member of the family to stir the pudding and make a wish while they do so.  It is also traditional to put sliver charms into the mix for example a wishbone for luck or an anchor to give people safe harbour in the coming year.  When in the UK I trawl antique shops for a set of charms, I could buy a new set but that would take some of the fun out of the hunt.  For the moment I use coins, (cleaned thoroughly in coca-cola before putting in the mix).

The mix then goes into one large or two small well greased pudding basins, I use a traditional ceramic basin which means I need to  seal the top with cling and muslin or with foil but it is possible to buy plastic basins that come with their own lids.  Mine is plain but I covet a beautiful patterned basin just for Christmas.  Mason and Cash, a famous bakeware manufacturer in the UK designs a new Christmas pattern every year but I have never been able to justify the expense when I have a perfectly good basin, after all the pudding is served on a plate so I am the only person who would see it.

Once the pudding is transferred and safely in the basin it needs to be steamed.  This can be done on the hob but that takes up space and needs to be monitored to make sure that it does not go dry.  I tend to steam in a low (110/120 degree C) oven, leaving the puddings for about 6 hours for the first steaming.  On Christmas day I will either steam the pudding for an hour or two while we eat our meal or, if we forget, I put it in the microwave. 

When it is time to serve the pudding goes onto a plate and we warm some high percentage alcohol in a metal ladle (a lighter is better than matches for this).  When the alcohol starts to smoke we pour it over the pudding, turn out the lights and set it on fire.  The flickering flames look spectacular.

Christmas Pudding set alight and ready to be served.

The pudding is traditionally served with brandy butter - a mix of butter, icing sugar and brandy but I usually swap the same liquor I used in the pudding for the brandy.

Click on the picture for more posts on the challenges of  the expat kitchen.

Mincemeat

Christmas is one of those times of the year when thoughts turn to family and tradition.  Expatriates are not always able to return home to their families but it is possible to bring many traditions with you when you travel.  Food is possibly one of the most evocative traditions we can export, the smell, the taste immediately bring us back to a particular time and place. 

Before I lived in England I had never heard of or tasted mincemeat.  This Christmas sweetmeat is a heady concoction of dried fruits, sugar and spices steeped in alcohol and fat.  It  is traditionally used as a filling in small bite sized pies and the taste is pure ‘Christmas’ for me, so much so that I can eat it straight from the jar.

Most English recipe books will have their own version of the mixture but there is no need to be exact about the ingredients.  I usually mix equal amounts of raisins, currants, sultanas, candied peel, chopped fresh apple and suet (shredded beef fat) with a part and a half of soft brown sugar.  I then add some lemon and orange zest and squeeze the juice from the fruit into the mix.  I then stir in a generous helping of ground nutmeg, cinnamon, mace and cloves.  If I am not expecting children to eat the mix I might add some chopped walnuts or almonds.

The dry ingredients for mincemeat are best left overnight.

The mix is best left overnight to infuse.  Instead of cooking up on the stove I use Delia Smith’s trick of putting the mix in a low oven for a few hours, towards the end I put some jars in the oven to sterilise.  The result looks revolting, the suet melts and the whole mix swims in fat.  While the mincemeat cools I add some brandy, cognac or other suitable alcohol (mead gives a lovely taste if you can get it) before decanting into the jars. 

The cooked mix looks revolting, the suet melts and coats all the other ingredients.

It can be kept for many months and the flavours improve the longer it is left but it is possible to use it almost immediately. 

I like to make a range of mince pies – the traditional shortcrust ones work very well but there are -endless variations - little half moons of filled puff pastry are very appetising as are filo pastry parcels.  Last year I made mini mincemeat Danish pastries which were very popular.  

Mincemeat Danish Pastries - yummy.

Click on the picture for more posts on the challenges of the expat kitchen.

A photo tour of Astana

Before we came to live here Astana was just a name on a map – a remote capital under the achingly beautiful blue sky in the middle of the endless Central Asian Steppe.  Remote Astana may be but it is also vibrant, modern and beautiful.

As part of the Piri-Piri Lexicon 'show me around your neighbourhood' world tour I am writing about our daily life in Astana.  

Astana  is the second coldest capital in the world – the temperature drops below freezing in November and the city is frozen until March.  Temperatures of between -20 and -32 Celsius are common and it is not unknown for the temperature to drop below -45.  Add the windchill factor from the fierce, ceaseless northern winds and the actual temperature is enough to freeze the car exhaust fumes as the cars drive.

The City freezes in November and remains frozen for five months. 
The cold temperatures mean there is no freeze thaw cycle so the
snow remains clean and beautiful.  The winter skies are often clear and blue. 

Astana is, however a dichotomy, a city of opposites.  While our winters may be brutal we bask in a beautifully warm summer.  Once the temperature warms up the flower beds bloom in a profusion of colours and walks in the park become heady with their scent.  Fountains are all over the place, providing a cooling respite from a walk through the city. 

Beautiful, fragrant flower beds are laid out in tengrist (ancient religious) patterns.

Getting around can be a challenge, particularly in the winter when the temperature drops.  Public Buses are frequent and warm but the wait can be cold.  Most people prefer to hitch-hike with a gypsy cab - a great way to practice Russian and Kazakh skills.  We bit the bullet and bought our own car which makes life much easier.

Any car can become a cab - just stick your hand out and wait for someone
to stop.  Rides cost about $2.

Our children go to British Independent school Haileybury Astana here in Kazakhstan and there are several other international schools including an American School and a Turkish School.  Local schools are found throughout the city and pupils are educated from the age of 7.  The Schools tend to be large, low buildings designed around functionality for the extreme weather.  Local schools will close if the weather gets too bad - this is to make sure that children (who often walk to school) are not out in very cold weather.  The temperature at which children must stay at home varies depending on age. 

Shopping in Astana can be has high end or as low end as you wish - all the prestigious malls have supermarkets and they make for an easy one stop shop, particularly for dry ingredients.  Supermarkets, however high end, are not, however, the best place to find fresh ingredients, particularly vegetables.  When I need to buy fresh produce  I tend to visit one of the covered bazaars in the old (right bank) part of town.  My particular favourite place is Artyum a five floor emporium.  The ground floor has a good selection of stalls selling fresh fruit and vegetables, dried fruit, pulses and spices.  The shops on the upper floors sell everything from household equipment to sporting goods, coats to lingerie and dogfood to furniture.  

Stall holders in Artyum display their wares.

Produce is always artfully displayed.

Astana is being built before our eyes – go away for a month and construction will have started on a new building. The right bank of the River Ishim comprises the original town but the left bank is the bustling centre of the new metropolis.  Wide boulevards are lined with prestigious apartment complexes and statement architecture. 

New buildings spring up every few months –
the ‘Death Star’ is to be the new National Library.  

The skyline of part of the left bank of Astana – cranes are a constant presence
in the city as something is always being built.  Most buildings are commercial
on the lower floors with apartment accommodation above.

Most of the accommodation is comprised of apartments in large square buildings built around a central courtyard containing playgrounds, sports facilities and small convenience stores (although skyscrapers such as the ones in the background in the photograph above are becoming more popular. Each lobby has a concierge responsible for ensuring services to the apartments are managed and to deal with maintenance and cleaning of the common parts.  A good concierge can be a useful friend and ally - ours pays all our bills for us and keeps our plants when we are on holiday.

Typical apartment buildings as seen from the Baiterek.
School 66, a local high school, is seen in the mid distance.

The playgrounds in the apartment buildings are popular during the summer when children will stay up to play as late as 10 or 11 at night. Most of the parks in the city will have bouncy castles, plagrounds and small electric scooters for hire.  

A typical summer entertainment complex in a park -
electric cars are very popular and can be hired for five
minutes at a time.

Even in the winter intrepid children can be seen climbing and swinging on the equipment or building a small ice slide but the cold is too intense to stay out for very long.  For this reason covered playgrounds are very common and the malls will give over a large amount of space to indoor entertainment complexes.  One mall has a climbing wall and arcade, the Khan Shatyr has an animatronic dinosaur park, a monorail and a log flume not to mention dodgems and many smaller rides.  It also has an indoor beach complete with water slides and a beach volleyball court.  

Astana's indoor beach at the top of the Khan Shatyr
we can relax by the beach even in a -40 blizzard.

The climbing wall is a popular attraction at one of the malls.

Astana is a very young city with a high birth rate - almost
all malls will have a toddler friendly soft play where children
can let off steam over the winter.

If you get bored of using the treadmill in the winter the Khan
Shatyr has an indoor running track along the edge where
willing victims can excercise in full view of the shoppers.
N.B. we have never yet seen anyone brave enough to use it.

The main boulevard on the left bank runs from West to East.  The centre of the boulevard is a pedestrianized garden walkway allowing people to promenade from the Khan Shatyr (a Norman Foster designed gigantic tent containing a shopping centre, amusement park, beach complex and restaurants) all the way down to the Ak Orda – the Kazakh White House.  Along the way  you walk past the new Astana Opera House,  Government ministries in the shape of salt and pepper pots, a concert hall built in the shape of a Dombyra (the national instrument), or a tulip depending on who you talk to and various spectacular skyscrapers.  

Norman Foster’s giant tent the Khan Shatyr (the tent of the King) dominates the
western end of the city.  The tent houses a shopping centre, restaurant court,
supermarket, theme park, cinema and beach with swimming pools and waterslides.  

Pedestrians relax in the gardens leading to the Ak Orda (the Palace of the President). 
The golden pepper pots are government ministries.  

Designed by Manfredo Nicoletti in the shape of a Dombyra or a tulip
the beautiful concert hall on the banks of the river is one of
Astana's many cultural venues.

In the centre of the boulevard pedestrians find themselves at the Baiterek monument.  The structure is an allegory of a Kazakh myth – representing a tree in which a magic bird lays an egg to protect it from a voracious dragon.  The white ‘tree’ is topped by a huge golden egg which contains a viewing platform giving unparalleled 360 degree views of the growing city.  The bar/restaurant serves drinks and snacks and is the perfect place to relax and watch the sun set over Astana and the Steppe beyond.

The Baiterek – the monument in the centre of the left bank. The photograph shows
the Baiterek lit up for the Nauruz (Persian New Year) celebrations.  

The Baiterek is surrounded by tree lined gardens and dominates
the centre of the Left Bank.

From the observation deck it is possible to spot almost all of Astana’s statement buildings. The government complexes are a short walk away, further away towards the airport the sporting complexes stand out on the edge of the city – the football stadium with the roof that can be closed for the winter, the ice palace and the velodrome built in the shape of a bicycle helmet.  Closer in to the centre of the city is the Triumph of Astana a modern (and vast) take on the Moscow Seven Sisters, Mega, the shopping centre shaped like a doughnut, the flying saucer that houses the circus, the sombrero that houses the palace of children and the building shaped like a pot within which there is a restaurant and music hall. 

The ‘flying saucer’ houses the Astana circus – a popular place
for families to go and enjoy their weekends.  More apartment buildings
are seen behind.

From the Baiterek  it is also possible to see over to the other side of the river.  In another large and very beautiful park is another Norman Foster creation,  the Pyramid Palace of Peace and Reconciliation where Kazakhstan hosts a triennial meeting of the leaders of world religions down to the Kazakh Eli national monument and the Academy of Music that everyone calls ‘the Dog Bowl’ because it is, well, shaped exactly like a dog’s bowl. 

Norman Foster’s Pyramid of Peace and Reconciliation dominates the park
across the river from the Ak Orda.  The Pyramid houses an art gallery,
library, café, museum, souvenir shop, conference centre and concert hall.  

This giant ‘dog bowl’ houses the National Music Academy.

I love visiting the Baiterek because it allows me to enjoy the whole city.  When my feet are firmly on the ground, however, I love nothing better than to walk along the river Ishim.  In the summer wide boulevards are the favourite haunts of courting couples, fitness fanatics, skateboarding children, proud parents pushing prams and just about everyone in between.  The river is calm and heavily managed, people fish or swim along the edges while pleasure boats take tours down the centre, there is even a rowing club. 

The wide embankments are the perfect for promenading
the river gives a different perspective on Astana.

In the winter, however, the river freezes solid very early on and is used as another pleasure park.  Ice rinks will be set up at various points and the city builds vertiginous and very fast ice slides down the embankments.  Snow mobiles power up the centre of the river’s course while cross country skiers enjoy their exercise.  Come February there is an ice rally – the sinuous and slippery course testing the skills of even the best drivers.  

The river becomes an ice playground in the winter time.

I hope you have enjoyed the tour of Astana.  If you enjoyed it you can read more entries in the series here.

Click on the picture for more posts on life in Kazakhstan.