Karaganda for the Holidays

Christmas Eve
As Christmas Eve approached, we wondered how we'd celebrate, as Christmas in this country is celebrated according to the orthodox calendar (approximately 2 weeks after December 25). Our Belgium friends, Petra and Erik, and U.S. friends, Christy and John, invited us "the largest Christmas Eve dinner in Karaganda." In truth, it was probably the only Christmas Eve dinner in Karaganda. We all met at an Armenian restaurant that was fashioned after a castle, but was very chilly. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a nice meal with seven other adoptive friends. Soon however, the music began (a trio of singers with recorded background music-a la karaoke). They were good and LOUD! Young, attractive, and flashy dressed girls and older women descended on the dance floor, joined by a token man or two. Eventually, we all joined them to dance and grooved to a ditty with a chorus of "Hands up, baby hands up, give me your heart..." In addition to it being a Christmas celebration, the evening was a passing of the torch that probably occurs between month to month here as couples complete the adoption process and others just begin.

Christmas Day
On Christmas Day, we opted for a more quiet dinner in our hotel restaurant. We descended the big wooden steps (cut just a bit too high to be comfortably stepped up and down) only to come upon a gathering of people in the small lobby. As we walked into the restaurant, a woman politely shook her head and spoke in Russian what must have been "sorry, we're having a private party in the restaurant.." A bit annoyed, we climbed back up stairs discussing other options. Only 30 seconds later a woman knocked on our door and both apologized and gestured that we come downstairs to join the party. Somewhat reluctantly, we said "yes" and upon returning downstairs, were ushered to a table of prominence in the front of the restuarant, which they had just set up for us, adjacent to the dance floor. We knew right then, this was not going to be a traditional Christmas dinner. Behind us the tables were filled with what we surmized were 40 or more co-workers enjoying a holiday party, with two, unexpected, honorary guests! After our order was taken, a young man ascended the stage, fiddled with some audio equipment, addressed the guests in Russian, and then gesturing to us, in English said, "This first song is in honor of our special guests from England!" He then sang us a very nice tradition of Frank Sinatra's, I Did It My Way. While we felt a bit embarassed, it was a nice gesture that made us feel welcome, as well. Soon a fancily dressed woman took over the master of ceremonies duties and throughout the rest of our meal, acknowledged individuals and teams, ran contests of dance styles, etc. All this took place two feet in front of our table, as if we were judges reviewing a parade. Eventually, we found a pause in the action, thanked our hosts, and returned to our room. The night, it turned out, was still very young, and we unsuccessfully tried to sleep throughout the festivities which continued well past midnight. Late night parties were not confined to holidays, as we gradually learned as the week unfolded.

Rockin' Santa
After dining at a restaurant at the City Mall one night, a key area of refuge from the cold, in the center of town, we came upon an army of Santas (referred to as Father Frost) strolling the floors. They were accompanied by pretty, young maidens (supposedly Father Frost's granddaughter), dressed in full-length blue gowns with white fur bonnets. Sherri (after having a beer), approached the jolly old souls with a hearty "ho, ho, ho! to which they responded "ho, ho, ho!" (So we could speak the language, afterall!) In broken English, they told us of their vocation as Santas and invited us to "toss the die for a prize." John picked up the HUGE pillow-like die and rolled it across the floor: a three? The lead Santa said to John, "you must now dance!" to which John responded, a bit taken aback, "Who, ME?!" We were expecting to simply get the prize, not perform. Several Santas, broke into a chorus of "We Will We Will Rock You." John sensing that something needed to be done, launched into his special dance moves, much to the amusement of all. When the singing stopped, the lead Santa turned to one of his maidens and she pulled a bottle of champagne from her bag of presents. (Note: with the City Mall label on the bottle, not surprisingly, it turned out to be awful.)