Jessica on Tour in Kazakhstan

We arrived in Almaty early this morning around 5am. Lots of waiting at Atyrau airport. We tried passing the time by playing spoons (a card game), but a guard put a good stop to that. Apparently we were having fun and no one else was, so we had to stop:)

 The plane ride was a fun time…..We finally boarded the plane at 1:45am (the original flight time was 9:40pm). I sat by Zhondos  (I am sorry Arad….after pleading w/ Arad to ask his plane neighbor to switch places with me, for i was originally assigned a separate seat….I ended up asking the guy sitting next to Zhandos to switch. It seemed like a very easy switch for the guy to sit in my seat, so I just asked right away…….so PLEASE forgive me Arad). We had a cute little, old man sitting in the window seat next to us.  He asked the steward to refill his juice like three times! Well, no not asked, just gave it to Zhandos, who was forced to ask. Then Zhandos was being the guy’s personal steward by helping him several times with getting his headphones to work. The guy started talking to Zhandos, asking if I was his fiance. With the combination of feeling a little bored and not feeling like explaining the tour, etc… Zhandos answered w/ a simple “yes”. The guy didn’t stop there- wanted to know more about our engagement- my parent’s age, the wealth of my parent’s, whether or not my parent’s were going to give him a gift, where the wedding was being held, etc, etc, etc…. I think after the 2nd question was when Zhandos started feeling bad that he was lying to this cute little old man. Then we started playing cards with him. He was so adorable! In the meantime, around 2:20 am we were served a full meal. I was like, “Yes!”.  Not too bad…rice was good. So Zhandos and I were kept entertained throughout the flight.

 I have to say I have really liked all the traveling. I could tour for very long periods of time, I feel. I like the actual travel itself- riding in trains, planes, and automoblies (no pun intended). Especially trains. We took a 20 hour train ride from Aktau to Atyrau, and I LOVED it. So cozy. I felt like I was in “Little House on the Prairie”….except in the desert. I think i could live on a train actually. Except I’d probably die of constipation (provided the bathrooms were as nasty as they were on this train). It was also quite hot. But all in all, I was so content. Especially at night. Gala and I had a really nice talk in our little bunks. So dark, but we each had little night- lights. I loved it!!!

 We stayed at Nathan’s sister-in-law’s apt. in Atyrau. The girl’s got to sleep in the AC’ed room! There was the cutest little kitten we found in the house. I named her Keisha. One day Gala said she was “kisa”- russian word meaning cute, small, something like that, and I heard Keisha and started calling her that. No one except Gala and I would call her that. Guess it wasn’t completely appropriate since the cat’s name was  Simba and was a he, not a she. But in my reality, SHE was KEISHA and was soo cute and CRAZY. She was like a miniature horse- leaping all over the place.

  Our performances went very well in Atyaru. At the 1st one, I saw my first real, live tarantuala. It was fascinatingly terrifying. I wanted to get as close as I could before I started to cry. After the show, everyone was coming up to us wanting our autographs. It was cute. Our 2nd performance in Atyrau was unanimously the best. We performed for a large froup of oil workers. 90% men. Watching Cinderella. In masks. But they LOVED it. I honestly don’t think I have performed for a better audience. They bellowed, clapped, and shouted throughout the whole thing. They absolutely loved Zhandos. Tabitha even got whistled at. They completely bought our fight scene- probably because Tabitha actually clocked me across my jaw. They broke out into a rhythmic clapping at the end. It was great fun. I think what was also great about it- and great about this whole tour so far, is that we are performing for people who have most likely never been to a play. They just don’t have the opportunties- there’s nothing like it (what we are doing) being done. They are so grateful and thankful that we have come to perform for them. One woman was just repeating “Thank you, thank you. It was perfect.”  And the show is definitely not perfect. But it is perfect to them. It’s taught me not to sweat the little stuff and get all anxious over things that aren’t perfect. Sometimes it’s better for the group and for your individual sanity to be content with where things are at- to let go of achieving perfection.

  I also had another nice talk with Gala and a good conversation with Arad. Dias continues to add to his repetoire of faces that are supposed to be mimicries of me. I cannot believe this summer is almost over. As I say with the passing of every summer, “It has gone so fast.”