More Dinner Related Fun

Jesse here…

Just wanted to add a few comments regarding our restaurant experience last night (it’s now Tuesday morning for us -- read Amy's note below first). Amy and I have tried our best to integrate with the culture and fully experience life in Shymkent as much as possible during our short (ok, maybe not so short) stay here. This includes learning at least some of the basic Russian phrases to help us become self sufficient and somewhat independent when heading off to feed ourselves. Last evening I discovered we have been over-thinking our approach all along.

While at Address, the very nice waitress provided us menus that were, of course, completely in Russian. After noticing that we couldn’t read the menu, she helpfully ushered over another waitress, who immediately proceeded to rattle off the menu in what I presume was Kazakh. Not wanting to be rude, we waited for a pause in her presentation, and then politely mentioned that we hadn’t the slightest idea what she was saying, as we spoke Angleeski. Laughter abounded.
So, she then pointed to a dish on the menu, and said what sounded a bit like ‘chken’, and flapped her ‘wings’. Ahh… chicken.

I follow her lead. I point to the next picture, and say ‘Moo?’. She smiles, but shakes her head. Nyet.

‘Baah…’, I reply. She giggles, and gives us the thumbs up. Lamb it is.

She points to the last dish and repeats the ‘Moo’. Beef. Got, it.

See, ordering from a Turkish restaurant in a Russian speaking country isn’t so hard, is it? I just can’t wait to order pork!

Amy here: I’m ready to crawl under the table and hide my face while this game of “Old McDonald Charades” is going on.