Mom's here! :D

So after the first amazing month of travelling around, I arrived in Almaty with only a backpack of stuff (which is not that much for an entire semester of studying in a place where the climate goes from +40 to -20). Luckily, my mom decided to fix that problem by coming over with for an entire week to explore this city, and to bring me a suitcase full with winter-stuff.
She was bringing a friend (Margot) over as well, so they could go roam the streets of Almaty together when I had to go to lectures.
Lazy me decided not to go pick them up in the middle of the night, which resulted in a small taxi drama and a massive rip off (for everyone who might want to visit Almaty, 1500 KZT is the absolute maximum you should be paying for a taxi from the airport to anywhere in the city).
After just a quiet arrival day on Wednesday, we decided to pay a visit to the Big Almaty lake on Thursday. It was on Kurban Ait, so lots of people around, picnicking with their family and as far as possible, people were even more kind than usual. We chose the perfect day to go, since the weather was amazing and the clear blue sky reflecting on the lake made its color look even more unsual than usual. Going by bus and taxi up (which costs us a rough 2000 KZT in total for 3 people), hiking around and hitchhiking a ride down, made the day very cheap, but still really enjoyable. A definite must see!
Saturday we went to the Sharyn canyon, which started with a small drama in accordance with the local culture. Not enough space on the bus, overbooked, so people had to be dropped out. Luckily for us (and mostly thanks to some amazing friends) the three of us could go! Getting there was already quite something. The busride takes about 3.5/4 hours, and once you have left the outskirts of Almaty, a beautiful site of mountain peeks is visible on one side, and the other side offers a view on the steppes. The Charyn canyon, also referred to as 'The Grand canyon's little brother', is not as big as the grand canyon (somehow its nickname implies that already) but offers the same kind of spectacular sights and rock formations. The bus dropped us at the top, so after hiking down for about an hour through all the pretty sights, you'd arrive at a small ecopark next to a river. Mom and Margot decided to settle for a tea, and I went on a hike with a guide which was a little more adventurous than I had hoped for. It really involved hands and feet to climb up the hills with quite a steep fall on three sides of you (left, right and down, so really nowhere to go but up)
The last really mentionable thing we did was going to a ballet on Sunday evening. There is (like most cities we traveled through in Central Asia) a Opera and Ballet theater, which offers shows a couple of times a week. Tickets are supercheap (we went to a special show and it was still only 10 euro pp, which is not what you will be paying for a ballet of this quality in the Netherlands). The ballet (called Legends of the Great Steppe) was a Kazakh choreography and was absolutely amazing! Partly the common ballet movements as we knew them from home, but mixed with a little Central Asian dancing movements for the hand and feet. The quality was really great, and we left the theater super impressed. Definitely going there more often!
After that, our week was almost to an end already, mostly because I had midterms and really needed to study in between playing a guide as well.
All in all we had a really nice time! My mom having seen and experienced this city definitely makes telling stories a lot easier (you just cant explain how friendly people are, and how safe the city feels if you are not walking around in it) and my life definitely got a lot more comfortable with some warmer clothes around. Thank you so much for coming (mom and margot ofcourse as well!) I don't think a lot of other moms will be showing up here, which just proves that I after all might have gotten my sense of adventure from you!
So, midterms are down (and hopefully aced) and a week of holiday is coming up! I'll be travelling around Southern Kazakhstan for 12 days with another exchangie Miguel. Mostly travelling around in minibusses (and occasionally sleeping on them as well), and couch surfing in the different cities, I feel like we have quite an adventure ahead :D
Thanks for reading all this, next time will be an update on what southern Kazakhstan is like. Apparently it is the most Kazakh part of Kazakhstan so we will hopefully get to feel even more local than we did before.