Saturday 16 May 2009

Slingomama

Wearing a sling and different kind of wraps is trendy here. I bought a sling and thought it was an easy thing to use. Well, after some failed attempts to put my baby in a comfortable position we both were exhausted and almost ready to give up. Luckily, there are so called "sling meets" for mums who use or want to use the sling and like us struggling with it.

Here you see some of the mums with there babies.Vince was the youngest participant among the babies, besides, he was eating when we took the pictures and his head is covered.

Wednesday 13 May 2009

Russian "solyanka" under military sauce





I was among those who didn't watch the Eurovision song contest first semifinal. It was enough to watch the video how the the host country promotes itself in the show. It was a wierd mix of t.A.T.u "Don't gonna get us" with Alexandrov Red Army Choir (!), drummers, kalinka-malinka, Roma and Cossack dance in front of pink tank and blue jet. Was it a joke? If not, what message is Russia trying to get through?

Well, Swedish Tingeling is actually more about truth then sterotypes. The whole idea was anticipated in the Tingeling video.

Anyways, military messages contradict the whole idea of Eurovision and I really hope Russia will make a great peaceful show at the final on Saturday.

Monday 11 May 2009

The Great Canyon... in Kazakhstan

Do you know that the Gran Colorado Canyon in the US has a real brother - The Great Charyn Canyon in Kazakhstan, 200 km far away from Almaty city? The place is also called Valley of the Castles.

Last weekend my husband and his colleagues made a trip to the canyon. Look at the scenery!
The trip took the whole day including walking up and down in the canyon area. We were considering going together with Vincent, but stayed away of this crazy idea taking a three-weeks old baby to a desert-like place.

Saturday 9 May 2009

Victory Day!

While different countries have different versions of the World War II history, the sacrifice of the Soviet people in defeating fascism should never be forgotten. 64 years have passed, but May 9 or Victory Day is remembered and celebrated in Kazakhstan.
Yesterday we took a walk at the Panfilov Park, where the main festivities took place. Vincent were sleeping despite the live concert at high volume.

In front of the war memorial in remembrance those who died during the second world war, people laid flowers at the site of the Eternal Flame. Thousands of flowers! Another park, just behind the "spaceship" house we live in. The park is so well groomed that the police station is placed there. I love yellow tulips, suddenly it reminds me of "Yellow tulips/Желтые тюльпаны" song by Natasha Koroleva. It was my first summer camp, I was 13.

Monday 4 May 2009

Breastfeeding is a life-style

There are three reasons for breast-feeding:
the milk is always at the right temperature;
it comes in attractive containers;
and the cat can't get it.
Irena Chalmers

Having a baby makes your life different, I would say very different. Almost all time goes to breastfeeding Vincent. We are two employees with full-time and overtime job: Vince is responsible for eating and me for feeding him. He is always hungry my little boy, he also likes to combine sleeping and eating. In between I try to do some basic things such as taking a shower or grabbing some food for myself. No wonder there is almost no time for blogg update. I'll be back soon with some nice pictures.