Camels Anyone?

Dear Ones,

I forgot to tell you that on the first day in the taxi coming from the airport I saw a camel walking along the road. I loved it. I've never been to a country with camels walking around. The director told me that on the way to the airport they had to stop to let a herd of goats and camels cross the road with men on horses herding them along. I would have loved to see that.

I am so comfortable in my apartment that I am just so happy to hang out here. The landlord has fixed almost everything that was "broken" except for one TV and getting hot water in my shower. It is really strange to have a cleaning lady come every Monday. She was still here when I came home from school. She was finishing my laundry and mopping all the floors. She showed me how I had to go buy more laundry soap and cleaner. Then on Tuesday when I came home I noticed that she had been there again and had put all my laundry away and even ironed my clothes! I went into my bedroom and the dresser counter was bare. All of Maleika's jewelry was gone. I just stood there feeling really sick and trying not to cry. I thought it had all been stolen and it would have been too sad! Then I opened my underwear drawer and all the underwear was gone, but the jewelry was in it's place. In the second drawer she had folded all my underwear and bras into neat tidy piles. ( I guess my neat piles weren't neat enough for her.)
Then on Wednesday when I came home she had done more of my laundry and hung it up plus her laundry too! I also had put some flour in a kitchen cupboard and she had put a plastic sack around it and lined the shelf under it.

Marc (staff at school) said the landlord thing was very strange. They store their stuff in our apartment and then come over and get stuff whenever they need it. He said his friend was sitting around about 11 one night and the landlord came in. I have the feeling that the cleaning lady is his wife. He was there that day she was cleaning and they both opened my closet where all the blankets were stored. I thought they were blankets for me, so I had dumped them all out one night and re-arranged them. They acted some distraught and she pointed to the drawer where she had showed me my towel and sheet. I showed her my sheet on my bed and the towel in the cupboard, but they both just shook their heads no. There was some beautiful sheets up there that I couldn't wait to use, but now I am confused. I even found a black Russian fur hat in the closet that I was thinking of wearing.

I also discovered that the long narrow deck around my apartment is built for storage and they have piles of storage out there that I even straightened out the best I could. The deck is also used for hanging laundry and smoking. Right now the windows are all covered with plastic, so it is a sauna in the hot afternoons. I could start a greenhouse and grow my own vegetables!

Another thing is that when I went to explore the kitchen I found that every cupboard and shelf was full of stuff - mostly fancy goblets and tea sets that I will never use. I had to rearrange things just to find room to put my groceries. One cupboard is full of Russian books, videos, and junk. I was planning on boxing up all that stuff and setting it out on the deck, but I better figure out what is going on before I do anything to offend them. The cleaning lady has been so sweet. She refused to take extra money when I tried to give her a tip. Nobody expects a tip here in Kazakhstan I was told later.

So I have all this fancy stuff, but not many of the basics that you would think they would supply us. I have no butter knives - only forks and spoons. I have no utensils like wooden spoons, spatulas, etc. There is no dish drainer, hand towels, toaster, or waste basket. I'm not complaining about it - it's just interesting what they think is important in a kitchen.

I hope everyone is having a good end to their summer. Love, me