Fresh New Design for A Fresh New Place

Sassafrass has done a bang-up job keeping everyone updated with our new experiences, so now I have finally gotten around to sharing some of my first impressions.

We have been in Shymkent for almost 3 weeks now and I can't speak for Sassafrass, but I feel like I'm settling right into the groove of this place. There is still a lot of new things to discover, but we've done quite a lot of exploring so far. I also still have a lot of Russian language to learn (or remember from high school Russian class), but I feel like more and more is coming back to me every day. I'm loving the fact that I can finally put some of it to use! The people here, in general, are very patient and accommodating for those of us that can't speak the language very well yet. It's also a very humbling experience to be on the opposite side of the language barrier from what we are used to in the states.

Anyway, here are some pictures of our new apartment during the first week we were here and some of the surrounding areas I explored in those first days.

Our interior front door, there's also a sturdier
exterior door that leads to the staircase

The living room (the bus stop pictured in a previous
post was taken from the window behind the TV)

The opposite side of the living room (Pug not
originally included in the apartment :) )

Spare bedroom/Office - the couch here seems to be
able to fold out to a bed, like a futon

Kitchen w/ gas stove - the table has since been
moved to the wall under window to open
up more room

Left side of kitchen w/ clothes washer - Notice the
absence of a dryer and dishwasher. Can you
guess what else is missing? The answer
will be revealed later in the tour.

The kitchen entrance from the opposite corner

Bathroom - it does the job and it could be worse.
The picture below is the type of toilet you find in a lot
of restaurants and stores around town.

And, here's the refrigerator in the second spare room. 

Did you guess correctly? 

No room for the fridge in the kitchen? Just put it in the 

guest room. Why not? 

The master bedroom - After living out of our suitcases
for almost two months, it still took us several days
to get around to unpacking

All in all, it's a pretty nice place considering some other places Sass' co-workers are living in and I feel grateful for what we have. I may have to take another set of pictures after we get our new place set up the way we want it. For now, here are some pictures of the exterior and surrounding areas.

The exterior of our building - it's got a
lot of character, huh?

Playground in the courtyard right outside our
building. This is a nice, shady area where a lot
of kids play and people gather to socialize. It's
a lot bigger than what this picture shows. 

The mosque at the end of our street, next to the
monument below. Belts out the familiar "call to prayer"
chant at regular intervals that we got so used to hearing
in the UAE.

We haven't had a chance yet to walk around
this monument, but here it is from the opposite
street corner

This is another entrance to the giant bazaar
behind our neighborhood that was pictured in a
previous post

Around the corner from our place is this giant
appliance and electronics store

On the opposite side of our neighborhood
from the monument and mosque is a
nice, sculpture park

Oversized sculptures of jewelry are throughout
this park. Here is an ornate bracelet that you can
walk through.

Oversized ring sculpture

walkway leading up to fountain

I'm not sure what this building is, but I thought it
looks very official

This building makes me think of a giant, orange juicer.
Now, where's the giant oranges?

Well, that concludes our quick tour around our neighborhood. There's plenty more to see and plenty more to share, so don't hesitate to ask questions or make comments. Pepe is getting eager to get out and explore himself, so we may have some of his pictures to share soon as well! ;)