MASON'S BIG ADVENTURE
One of our band members is in Karaganda, Kazakhstan with his parents They are there to adopt two orphaned children into their family. I asked if he would tell us about his experiences.
Here an e-mail letter that he sent to me on Wednesday, January 8, 2003. For further information about the Republic of Kazakhstan, its weather and history, you can visit the links at the bottom of this page.
I have added links along the way that you can go to for images and info.
_________________________________________________________
This is from Mason with help from his Mom who types perhaps a little faster
then Mason.
We Mason, his Mom and Dad are in Karaganda Kazakhstan. We have traveled almost 10,000 miles from home. To get here we took 3 airplanes, and went through 4 airports. We left Minneapolis in a 747 bound for Amsterdam. In Amsterdam we took a small prop plane to Hanover Germany. We had a long (boring) layover in Germany then took the only flight all week into Karaganda on Kazak Air. Total travel time was 26 hours. We traveled
through 12 time zones. So the time here is 12 hours off of the time at
home. We are ahead of you 12 hours. When I talk to Graham I like to tell
him Hi from the future.
Click here for the current time in Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
We are going to be in Kazakhstan for 2 weeks. We are here to visit my new
little sisters in their orphanage. They are 2 years old and very cute. We
visit them for two hours twice a day at the orphanage. At first they were
very shy to us but now they like us a lot. They like to run and play with
balls and play with push toys. After we visit them for two weeks we go to
court here in Karaganda to legalize the adoption. We are going to court on
Monday January 13th. Then on the 14th we are beginning our journey home. We will be home sometime on the 15th. Unfortunately we cannot bring my sisters home with us yet. They have to stay in their country for 2 weeks following their adoption. Then in about 2 weeks my Mom and I will fly to Moscow and someone from Kazakstan will bring the girls to us in Moscow. We will be in Moscow for a few days taking care of business. Then it is home for us and we will all be together as a family finally.
Image of Karaganda, Kazakhstan
Karaganda is a big city not unlike Minneapolis or St. Paul in most ways. Most
people don't own cars so there is not much traffic and there are lots of
buses. Plus there are always lots of people walking. We are living in a
very nice apartment just off of the main street in downtown. We hear no
traffic sounds here though. Most of the Kazaks live in apartments, there
are very few houses. The front entrances of the buildings and the common
areas are messy and old looking but the apartments are very nice inside.
All of the apartment buildings look alike. They are all about 4 or 5
stories high. The differences are on the outsides. They come in many
different colors. We have seen different shades of yellows, blues, greens,
pinks and reds. On the main streets the lower floor of the apartment
building have shops in them. Most shops sell only one item, shoes, or
hardware etc.
Click here for information about Grandfather Frost.
We were here for New Years and for the Russian Christmas so there are
Christmas trees and Christmas lights all over downtown. They do not have
Santa here but they have Grandfather Frost instead who looks like our
Santa. Yesterday January 7th was the Russian Christmas and we went to a
traditional Russian restaurant to have Christmas dinner. We were offered a
salad made with cow tongue but we all passed on that. We had salads, and
soup and chicken and dessert. They call the different courses meals. So
we had 1st meal of salad, 2nd meal of soup, 3rd meal Chicken etc. The food
was very good and of course we had Pepsi to drink. Food here as well as
most other things are very cheap. A dinner for 4 at a very nice restaurant
might cost around 20.00 american money.
Map of Kazakhstan
Even though we are in Kazakhstan, which is in Asia there is a big Russian
influence. Kazakhstan was a part of the Soviet Union until only 11 years
ago. Half of the people living here are from Russian descent and half of
them are Kazaks. The official language is Russian. My Mom and I learned
several russian words so we could talk to the girls. Kazakhstan is a very
big country. We are in the middle of the country and it is what they call
a steppe. Very flat. It is cold and snowy here now with the climate year
round very much like Minnesota. We are about 900 kilometers from Russia,to
the north and west, 1000 kilometers from China, to the east, and 500
kilometers from Afganistan,to the south. The people are very friendly
here. We have not had any problems nor have we been afraid. It is very safe
here.
We went to an American restaurant the other day. We had chicken and smashed
potatoes (that's what they call them here). They gave us pancakes for
dessert which were actually much more like crepes. We put jelly on them.
It was good food. We also ate at a fast food restaurant. My parents had
hamburgers that tasted like meat loaf with catsup and mayonnaise on. I had a
hot dog that tasted like...Well not like an american hot dog anyway. The
french fries were very good!!
To get home from here will be another adventure. We leave on Tuesday
morning because the only flight out is on tuesday. We fly to Almaty,
another city in Kazahkstan to spend the day because the only flight west
back to Germany leaves at 1:00 in the morning on Wednesdays. By going
backwards through 12 time zones we should arrive home at around 4:00 that
same afternoon, where we will no doubt sleep for a week.
See you soon,
Mason
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Click here for weather in Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
Click here for or a short history of Kazakhstan.
Click here for a little info about Karaganda, Kazakhstan.
