May 21st, Part Jen; Circus Day!

May 21st

Last night when the sun was starting to go down I thought this was a cool picture of the reflection of the buildings across the river. Rob was not as excited.

Last night we stopped by the grovery store, called the Ram Store, because we were all jonesing for some brownies. We were hoping they had som instant Brownie mix, but so such luck. this country has not sunk to the evils of instants junk food, Pringles excluded. But we did score some pudding mix which was tasty. On the way out we saw a MAC machine and thought we'd give it a shot. Out popped a 5,000 tenge note, about $41. Who knows what the service charge will be, hopefully less than the $5/minute cell phone calls.

Last night was also pay day for our translator and driver. And for any one from work, especially Kim, you'll be glad to know that I am tracking Plan, EA and Actuals. I am currently off by 14%. Which means more money for souveniers!

It's Sunday, which means no visit to see see Junior. So instead we went to the circus. They have a brand new building here for the circus year round. It just opened a couple months ago and the first circus to hit town is one from Moscow, complete with dancing bears. It's not like the ringling brother's kind of circus, more like an old fashion circus i guess, without the freak show. Lots of acrobats, no clowns in cars, dancing poodles, many fit men in tights. It was worth the $15. And we found out today is the last day for this circus and the next one won't be in town for a couple months. Here's a picture of Rob outside the circus buiding. It's shaped like a UFO. Those wacky Kazaks! I took 88 pictures/mini-movies, so be glad I'm only posting the highlights.




This was the first guy that came out to perform. Who wouldn't dig a shirtless guy in clingy pants that could do splits better than Matt on a porch railing (Terry is so proud)? Actually, he was pretty good, they had rings and he flew up to the ceiling and spun around and did all kinds of circus things. Use your imagination.












The porcupine guy was Rob's favorite. I think he had hedgehogs and porcupines. I don't think he juggled the hogs, but they were very entertaining. He had him boucing off a ball, then tossed the hog and the balloon in the air, and the hog came down first, then the baloon landed on him and popped. Doesn't that sound exciting? I have a video of it too, but it was too big to upload. He had hedgehogs that pulled little flower carts, hogs that ran around the big circle ring like the dog races. Ok, it doesn't sound that excited, but you have to admit you have never seen anything like it. Then he put a little hedge hog in a birch tree log becuase it was running around too much, and abracadabra, out the other end came a huge porcupine.




Then these 2 guys in inflatable sumo like suits came out dressed as weight lifters and entertined us with lifting an inflatable barbell. Hey Chip, we have not yet seen any live camels in Kazakhstan, but I do beleive you may see some toes here. The inflatable guys lifted the weight, then did cart wheels, stood on one arm, did flips. Maybe the next mowgapalooza we'll rent the suits and someone can entertain us while we sit on the patio.










Next up was the poodle lady. She had about a dozen poodles who walked on their back legs. So what does she do to entertain us? She puts them on a little merry go-round, spins them around, then the 2nd deck of poodles gets hooked to a big cable from the ceiling and they spin and soar about 30 feet above our heads. I’m not sure if we were entertained, freaked out or just in awe. But all puppies returned to earth unharmed, albeit a tad bit dizzy. A cat would never stand for such goofy trickery.









Again, many buff men in white tights. Check out their manly leather boots. Reow!

















And would a Russian circus be complete without dancing bears? I think not! These fellas might have been a little scruffy looking, but they freaked me out. They acted so human I had to stare them in the eye to make sure they were not animatronics or a little guy inside. These bears could jump rope, catch rings on their arms and neck, stand on a balance beam, ride scooters and skate boards and bikes, and of course dance. They often did the trick where they bend over and kind of stand on their head, but it seemed more like they were trying to moon us. But I think what was most impressive was these bears who appear to be ready to Limbo!