Apartment Views

In the mornings on weekends a group of women sold or traded some type of milk in the court-yard of our apartments. Our driver cautioned us to boil this milk first should we decide to buy some. No worries. We are adventurous, but not THAT adventurous. We have tried camels milk and horse milk while in Almaty in 2005, but that was at a Kazakh restaurant.

When not used for the "milk-trade" the iron-table in the court yard was used by the local kids as a "ping-pong table". On this day they used bricks for a net. Another afternoon when we looked out our kitchen window a third kid was laying across the table acting as the net.

View of the court-yard from our kitchen window. The court-yard was the center of activity for the residents in the surrounding apartment buildings. There was always something going on out there.

All around the apartment were these paths that people used to walk to the store, to work, to the bus-stop, or wherever they needed to go.

View from our kitchen window to the apartments across from the court-yard.

View from our balcony towards the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. Our apartment was located on the same side of the Irtysh River as the orphanage. We were only a few blocks away from the Baby House.

View across the court yard from our kitchen window. We were on the third floor and there were some tall trees growing in front of our windows. They were much appreciated for the shade that they provided.

The apartments across from us.

Looking out our bedroom window. This building is all part of the apartment building we were in.

Looking towards the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk from our balcony in back.

Our kitchen. Small but functional.

The stair-well leading up to our apartment.

Our apartment door. Open, open, open!

Our apartment had a washer which was great, especially when traveling with a three year old. We became quite proficient at living without a dryer after 3 weeks...

Our living room. We had a TV, but no channels in English so it did not get used much.