Third time is indeed a charm

After two failed attempts to get to Chicago due to weather and poor booking  I made it to Almaty early in the am of Tuesday 26 Aug. Customs was a walk through as I only had some 12 year Pappy's (great bourbon) to declare but didn't need to. I entered the receiving area and as my hosts hadn't arrived yet was accosted by numerous eager cab drivers, all whom were suddenly my friends. Like other places I/we have been they will follow you around, offering you cigarettes and such. I relented, "How much?" "10,000 tenge at 182T/$1.00. I pointed to the next guy and asked. “500T and a cigarette!”

About that time my hosts and colleagues arrived and took me to the hotel where I am staying pending finding as apartment.

Yesterday began with a walk to Panfilov Park, named after 28 soldiers in the Almaty infantry who died fighting off Nazi tanks outside Moscow during WWII. In the center of the park is the Zenkov Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox Church built in tsarist times and now restored after Kazakh independence in 1991. 

I visited some apartments for rent that ranged from “I could do this” to Damilya saying to me “too expensive, not for you.”

We stopped at her apartment, a fifth floor walk-up as she dropped off some items. 

She offed me kumis, fermented horse milk.  It is a delicacy here and she assured me that she obtains it only from reliable sources. It amounts to cow’s milk whey that is fermented and therefore, one hopes is free of the bad guys. It tastes not unlike fermented sorghum, chibuku as it is called in Botswana or if I close my eyes, a craft beer (heavily crafted) in Louisville. I drank it and it did start to grow on me, hopefully in me.

Then off to buy a phone and sim card. Phone # is pending as of this writing although I should get it later today.

Dinner with Damilya at a Georgian restaurant followed. I had the first of what will be many lamb/mutton dishes I will eat here. I’m told horse meat is favored throughout the country.

Today I register with the US Consulate and whatever else they want me to do. I have befriended a Ph.D. researcher in bird flu who will take me to the consulate as he is one of very few who have a car.