Waste Not, Want Not

Local water pump

Americans, and in many cases, ugly Americans, have a strong desire for things to be just so and to remain as such every time they visit. For instance, Disneyland. Clean, neat and manicured. And shocking, more so than my first impression of Petropavlosk. Please don't misunderstand, I like the IDEA of neat (and Mickey Mouse.) At its core, neatness, is a solid concept. But experience has taught me the costs of "neat" are high. And anytime you fly in the face of entropy you pay dearly. Nevertheless, we press on, drawn by Costco’s neat, but over packaged goods, cutting our lawns, twice, in a diagonal criss-cross, purchasing ipods to match our cell phones to match both our car and bike, etc. In most cases, taking no thought to the cost or long term ramifications of garbage cans overflowing with useless trash and lawn clippings or water drained from our reservoirs by showers that run for endless minutes while the water temperature rises to our perfect liking. Hey, I’d be lying if I said I never grabbed a hand full of napkins at the local fast food joint that I knew was more than a small nation could ever use. My curiousity, and hypocrisy, know no bounds.

Life in Kazakhstan doesn’t give you as many options for neatness as I'm used to. There isn’t time, energy or room for waste. Garbage cans simply don’t exist. This whole paradigm shift eliminates a lot of the unnecessary activities we Americans spend a large portion of our day fussing with. If you are lucky enough to own a car you are happily condemned to a perpetual state of exterior filth. Decisions like hot wax or under carriage wash not needed. Sidewalks and roadways are in serious disrepair with dirt being a common paving ingredient. Very eco friendly. Safety inspections for vehicles are unheard of and capacity of a bus is literally as much as can be stuffed inside without dropping the transmission. Survival of the fittest. Emissions, are you kidding? Folks here are smart enough to be realize the earth is warming but not foolish enough to think the humans are capabable of determining the fate of Mother Earth. The bicycles we've seen are literally from the pages of National Geographic complete with wobbling wheels and creaking cranks. Even in the heart of the city, water is being drawn from the local watering hole, carried in buckets usually by women who look to be 150 years old. Completely blind and deaf to the fact she just crossed the street in front of a Kazak Yuppie driving a new gas guzzling Porsche SUV. Signs of wealth and waste are evident, from time to time, but for the most part remain only a part of the lifestyles of the rich, famous or corrupt.

When you are powerless to make change happen at the macro level then life forces you change at the other end of the spectrum. Money seems to be the only facilitator of this change. Those who have a little money try to makeup for what they don’t have by dressing themselves or their children in high fashion, eating with china and real silverware, or remodeling the inside of their apt with trinkets from the local flea market. Those who haven’t any “means” are living, as they have for hundreds of years, in survival mode and learning patience in its truest form.

And then there’s us, the local American tourists, hunkered down at the nicest hotel in town, complete with 24 hr security. All the while sipping bottled water, and living above the law. If the Hotel Skiff is good enough for the President of Kazakhstan’s daughter, it’s good enough for Americans. Certainly not a five star hotel by our standards, but an oasis in the desert of destitute that surrounds us on all sides. Our room is spacious with incredible lighting and nice furniture, complete with laundry and maid service. Bathroom and shower are separate with hot water on demand. The room is well equipped with a small fan that acts as our sole source of air conditioning. We have the only direct access to the roof which provides endless opportunity for hours of entertainment and excellent vantage of the daily dumpster raid by the less fortunate. The hotel also has a pool that is swimable, dawning the proper swim cap, traditional speedo and goggles, of course. Debbie and I have utilized the weight room, and the entire family the basketball court on several occasions. We eat both breakfast and dinner at the hotel as the price of our room includes the meals and only leaves lunch to provide awkward meeting with the locals in attempt to decipher the menu. Numerous small convenience stores are a very short walk in either direction where we purchase water and necessities of life like m&ms’s, ice cream, fruit and yogurt. We’ve roamed the city daily in search of odds and ends, feel safe and have been treated nicely by the locals. On the flip side, crime here is bad. Theft and homoicide being the choice of disobedience, cheap Russian vodka a major contributor. We have gladly heeded the advice of our translator.

Only an unwise American would venture out after dark.

guy