To The Pick-Up Store

Grocery shopping in Kokshetau is a good thing for three reasons … 1) it gets you out of the apartment, 2) it gets you out of the apartment, and 3) it gets you out of the apartment. The half mile walk in each direction through snow and ice gets your blood flowing and muscles working. And really, there is nothing quite like the sensation of having your nose hairs freeze.

Once you arrive at the local pick-up store, the nicely dressed (business suit/pointy shoes) security guard eyes you suspiciously and the clerks look at you and whisper among themselves. But it’s really a lot of fun to navigate the three aisles and try to figure out what things are by the pictures. Go ahead - try this for yourself! Visit your local Safeway or Giant or Acme, pretend you don’t read English, and buy your entire list only by what’s on the package. Interesting, yes?

Mayonnaise here comes in a bag and mustard in a tube like toothpaste – I picked ours by the drawings of pepper and horseradish on the front – and there are at least nine kinds of ketchup; although none of the bottles we’ve tried tastes like Heinz. There is a whole row of teas and instant coffee but no peanut butter or crackers and very limited vegetables and fruit (fresh, frozen or canned). One of my new snack finds is a children’s breakfast cereal of little wheat squares filled with cherry, strawberry, orange, vanilla, raspberry or cappuccino (perhaps it gives the kids an extra boost for the walk to school in the morning?) cream, and I usually grab some Sour Cream and Onion Pringles, or the Kaz equivalent “Kracks”. I’ve given up on chicken but the yogurt is great, and we like the potato pirogues and “Mexican” beans with rice for dinner.

But without a doubt, my favorite thing is Twix Dark. Chocolate cookie, caramel and dark chocolate - delicious. We need these at home. Unfortunately, I told our fellow travelers about them and they agreed they were an everyday necessity and now I think we may have purchased Kokshetau’s entire supply. I’ll be looking in Almaty!

In other news Bob got a (good) haircut for five hundred tenge ($4); we’ve discovered Owen only likes the more expensive brand of formula (hmm, wonder where he gets that from); this week Kaz celebrated National Pancake Day; and it’s still snowing. Ah, the days go by …