Shiza - The movie about Kazakhstan

Thanks to Netflix I am catching up on movies that I wanted to see but they are so hard to find in Blockbuster. Anyways. Shiza is a movie about a boy in Kazakhstan. The story evolves in time right after the independence declaration (some people also call it the collapse of the Soviet Regime). Great movie by a female director. 4 international awards. It shows Kazakhstan at its most rural roots, something I have not experienced when I lived there because I actually lived in a city (Quaragandy). But it gives you an idea about Kazakhs, the nature and the whole Vodka thing.

On Thursday, someone who did not know my origins had called Kazakhstan "crappy" and after realizing that he just insulted my home country he corrected it to "hardship country". Well, I was glad he knew about the country since its only 15 years old and the guy was an American. And it made me realize how little people know about the country. I did teach a couple of kiddies about Kazakhstan in New York's public schools naively thinking that they were the ones that need education. Little did I know.

So...If anyone wants to educate themselves about Kazakhstan you can watch the movie, its rural Kazakhstan but it gives you some idea about people that live there. Better know little than nothing, right?

Rent it from Netflix...

Schmoozing Marathon

Network, network and network. They say its the key. Yesterday was my networking day.

11am
Started off with an interview at on campus which lasted only 20 minutes but drained me as if it lasted 3 hours. Am being very professional.
Result: 1 business card.

12:30pm - 4:30pm

I moved on to another event at Hudson hotel where some students from "emerging countries" are supposed to meet some high level executives from a big energy and petrochemicals company. We were treated to an amazing lunch. The hotel is kind of plain looking from the outside, but this is one swanky place. In a very urban cool kind of way, not your average luxury. I answered a couple of basic questions about Kazakhstan and got 2 business cards. You never know.

5:30m - 11ish

Feeling a little tired I decided to skip class and go to a Fulbright reception instead and may be meet some new and existing Fulbrighters that just arrived. Sure enough it was a great party and I met some really interesting people: Greek psychologist, Russian philosopher, Russian Criminologist, Uzbek teacher and an Dutch architect. People are getting more interesting by each the glass of wine that I am indulging. Slowly losing my professionalism and trying to be funny.
Result: 1 business card but tons of contacts.

11ish- open end

Not feeling my feet but determined to test my body's limits I am off to the Mercury Bar and met with more friends. Somewhere after the first drink and arriving at home I completely lost my professionalism and was just hanging out with my friends.
Business cards: 0

TOTAL: somewhat 14 hours of non-stop schmoozing and getting to know people from different backgrounds. Lets see where this networking thing is going. Am having fun so far.

Daniel vs. Owen

"Daniel" as in the new Bond not as in Daniel Radcliffe. Today to shut my mind off I watched "Layer Cake". And I believe that Owen Wilson will have to move over to make some space for Daniel. The movie is called "Layer Cake" and its about gangsters. Very much like "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch" by Madonna's husband. Daniel is playing an elegant, smart and brutal gangster. Kind of a mix between Jack Bauer in "24" and George Clooney in "Ocean's 11". The funny part about the movie is that he always moved like he was on a catwalk (in a very manly kind of way ;) And half of the time he somehow was missing his shirt... A "must see" to prepare for the James Bond movie!

Perfect Food Place

I thought this was really funny. Its on the same block as our apartment.

Oktoberfest - 2005

Last weekend of September we went and saw my mom in Germany, she had a huge party for her 50th birthday. We believe it was bigger than our wedding 5 years ago. But before we got there, we stopped for one night at Oktoberfest to see some of our Munich friends and see Verena, who travelled 4 hours from Graz(Austria) to come see us. She has not seen Oktoberfest before and we made sure, she had a great time. Sorry for pictures that are blurry, but this is exactly what Oktoberfest looks like from inside ;)

FYI: Verena, Shawn and Clodi had b-days, thats why they got the "Lebkuchenherz" (yes, Stefan, its not just a COOKIE)

Montana - Fall 2005

We surprised Shawn's mom on her Birthday. Shawn, his brother Jon and his father, Martin have planned this for a month. Shawn's Mom, Shauna makes the best cinnamon rolls.
We had a great time relaxing and destressing from the busy New York life. Take a look at the pics.