An Invasion of a "STRANGER" Kind.... NEW THREAD IS UP!! Go Thee NOW!

[that's nice]

Im speechless....

HEY!!!!

I resemble that statement!!!!!

 

[jordanyosh]

HEY!!!!

I resemble that statement!!!!!

 

[Millie12591]

Why is it I always forget your 12 ahead of me!?!

Love the pics of you getting your whip Tim. That's too funny, especially you whipping yourself first. Now you have something to threatin the guys with who come to the house to date your princess.

"You see this?! Think about how close I would have to be in order to use it, do you really want me that close to you? Good! Then don't get that close to my daughter!" I can see it now!
And Tim, I was actually good that night when I said I would be getting off in about 10 mins......usually it's another hour, but that night I was off in less than 10 mins. so hmmph!

Well Miss Leisa, I'm about to drop from being tired. I wish I had caught you on here. Hope your dinner is all that it's suppose to be, can't wait to hear about it, and I hope the celebration is good inspite of the weather.
Miss you, love you. Talk soon....I hope.

 

[MKBekka]

hey, were there stamps on the package?? Saw the seal, but not stamps.

I think Mom's going to put up some awesome pics soon. stick around.

 

[Flossbolna]

I think Mom's going to put up some awesome pics soon. stick around.

Oh, that sounds good! I am quite excited to see those pictures. Sounds like an interesting festival!

 

[All7OfUs]

I'm working on uploading pix right now! It was fabulous! The costumes were unbelievably beautiful this year, the "chasing away winter" presentation was wonderful, and I have some really great shots to show. But give me an hour or two, and I"ll get them up!

 

[Flossbolna]

I'm working on uploading pix right now! It was fabulous! The costumes were unbelievably beautiful this year, the "chasing away winter" presentation was wonderful, and I have some really great shots to show. But give me an hour or two, and I"ll get them up!

Sounds great! And it is good to hear that there are events in Blankistan which can become good memories as well.

 

[pooh'smate]

Looking forward to seeing your pictures and hearing about your eventful meal.

 

[All7OfUs]

Spring is officially here! I am a happy camper!

I wanted to share with you some of the events we got to enjoy (and not) this weekend.

Let's start off with our dinner out last night! Never, in the 9 years of living here, have we seen a fight inside a restaurant. We've seen women getting mugged and beaten right outside our front door, gangs chasing each other with pipes down the street, fist fights in the bazaar, you name it; but never INSIDE a restaurant.

Things were going pretty well, until a woman patron became quite noisy and vocal about the food, service, blah, blah, blah. Actually, we dont' speak Russian, but could pick out some words here and there that gave us the general gyst. Over the course of almost our entire meal, she and the guy she was with, who were mostly too drunk to stand up, became louder and more animated, to the point where the staff and management told them to pipe down. They did- for about 5 minutes. Again, the owner (a big Russian woman) came out and asked them to can it or leave.

This didn't sit too well, and she sort of exploded. I think the turning point was when she picked up a glass to chuck at anyone she could bring into focus. That was it. All Hell broke loose. The next thing we see is a dog pile of about 10 people punching, kicking, screaming and just making general donkeys of themselves.

Eventually, they got this beligerant woman, her work partner, and another guy that was somehow with them out. It was so surreal, I could hardly even believe this was happening right in front of us!! Anyway, we finished enjoying our pot of tea and chocolate bar, and recalled other times we've seen such outrageous violence. It's odd that if this had been in the States, there would have been a swarm of police, but here, they would rather them NOT show up to ask questions about why and how they dealt with things, and to ask for "gifts" for taking care of things for them.

Here it was just another day in the life.

I"m going to post this now, in case my power goes out. Happier things coming right up....

 

[All7OfUs]

WELCOME to our spring celebration!! Around here, where we live in Central Asia, it is by far the biggest holiday! Everything is so festive and pretty and everyone is in a wonderfully jovial mood that oozes all around you, except where we chose to go for dinner last night.

I won't explain everything in detail here, you'll have to visit my blog next week for MANY more pix and all the scooperoo; meantime enjoy a few here.

The kids LOVED seeing the decorated camels and posing with them.



Everyone came out dressed in their traditional costumes from young to old.



There were around 30 yurts of all styles and types set up for private parties. Some were open for all to enjoy WITH FREE traditional food.






Kick boxing/wrestling was the favorite of all the activities to watch:



The main show was a wonderful presentation. First "Winter" was chased away, spring was invited, and blessed. It was amazing to see 2,000 people all lay out their hands in prayer to ask a blessing on a New Year. It was all represented with music, dance, costumes, etc... Here are a few of the costumes we saw:










After we toured the yurts, watched the sports, enjoyed the show/blessing, we headed over to grab some shashlik- grilled mutton served with raw onions and bread and vinegar. Yum!!





It was a great day! Memorable in every way!

 

[Flossbolna]

It was so surreal, I could hardly even believe this was happening right in front of us!! Anyway, we finished enjoying our pot of tea and chocolate bar, and recalled other times we've seen such outrageous violence. It's odd that if this had been in the States, there would have been a swarm of police, but here, they would rather them NOT show up to ask questions about why and how they dealt with things, and to ask for "gifts" for taking care of things for them.

Here it was just another day in the life.

I"m going to post this now, in case my power goes out. Happier things coming right up....

How bizzare and scary! It really is something you only expect to see in the movies...

But this reminded me when I used to work as a public prosecutor we had numerous cases of extreme violence where the accused was an immigrant from Blankistan. There used to be a German minority in Russia and quite a lot of them were relocated to Blankistan during Soviet times. And everyone who can prove that they have German ancestors (well in addition to a few other preconditions) is entitled to claim German citizenship. After the end of the Soviet Union many of those with German origin then came to Germany. And while there are many who have been integrated very well, there are others which create problems. And while there were many cases of violence, it was very often the ones with the accused being one of those immigrants which were the worst. And it did not help that huge amounts of alcohol were usually involved as well.

 

[Flossbolna]

WELCOME to our spring celebration!! Around here, where we live in Central Asia, it is by far the biggest holiday! Everything is so festive and pretty and everyone is in a wonderfully jovial mood that oozes all around you, except where we chose to go for dinner last night.

I won't explain everything in detail here, you'll have to visit my blog next week for MANY more pix and all the scooperoo; meantime enjoy a few here.

Oh, I am looking forward to your blog post!! It looks very festive and I love the look of the yurts!

 

[All7OfUs]

And while there were many cases of violence, it was very often the ones with the accused being one of those immigrants which were the worst. And it did not help that huge amounts of alcohol were usually involved as well.

You've described the situation VERY well. Vodka did some seriously horrible things to this culture! Displacement surely did not help the mindset in any way, I'm sure.

 

[Flossbolna]

You've described the situation VERY well. Vodka did some seriously horrible things to this culture! Displacement surely did not help the mindset in any way, I'm sure.

Yes, it is actually very sad. These people were unwanted during the Soviet Union, very often they tried hard to keep their cultural identity while being surpressed and then they are finally able to come to Germany where they again are often not very welcomed and find that they are again outsiders.

 

[carissanboys]

Tim - Awesome pictures! I can see my husband raising an eyebrow if someone sent me a whip. But, he'd probably just be excited.

Liesa - What a crazy dinner experience! That spring festival looks so cool! What beautiful colors.

 

[carissanboys]

All right Liesa. I'm too competitive not to give the 2nd phase of this game a go. Now that I'm home and feeling more caught up, I'm trying to put some guesses together. I'm a little confused though. Are we supposed to tell you which restaurant AND whether it was for breakfast, lunch or dinner?

 

[All7OfUs]

Pppppssssssttttttt....


A little birdie told me that today is Soldier #2's


BIRTHDAY!!!

Happy Birthday Maroo!!!!!

WE LOVE YOU!!!

 

[glennbo123]

Thanks for posting the fight story first. If you had posted them the other way around, I would have skipped to the fight story so you posted them in the right order. First things first.

Free food? I'm there. I'm a hallway carp here at work. Alas, I'll probably never get to enjoy a skewer of shashlik.

 

[All7OfUs]

Free food is NEVER a bad thing. Of all entities, Disney knows that. It's a draw, to be sure!

Yes, as voyueristic as it sounds, we actually found the fight sort of entertaining in a sick way. Sad, yet, intrigued at the same time. Had it lasted longer, or been worse, I wouldn't feel that way, but it was all over in a matter of a few seconds. They probably didn't have much worse than a bruised rib or two along with their wounded egos.

Just throw some marinated meat alternating with fat (pure blobs of fat) on a skewer and grill. It's pretty easy...

 

[If U Had Wings]

The spring celebration looks like it was fun. I love the costumes, although those poor girls look like they are freezing.

The fight sounds awfully scary. I hate being in bars when fights break out. Too many people feel the need to join in just because.

And happy birthday Maroo!!