February 10, 2010:
It was another long, but fairly interesting day. We woke up around 10 a.m. and went outside in the most bitter cold imaginable. It was apparently a "warm" day, with temperatures around -10 or 0.
In the daylight I could see more of this tiny city. Their small apartment directly overlooks mountains covered entirely in snow. The town itself is covered in more ice and snow than I've ever seen. Everything is icy and treacherous; they don't use salt or sand to melt it. Actually nothing ever melts, so the snow and ice just grows and grows as layer upon layer. People were in the street with sledgehammers breaking up the ice. They probably have to do that everyday.
The whole town has a feel of an Arctic outpost. Everything is expensive, and people were tons of fur. When we went outside the apartment this morning, there were men right by the door with blow torches burning the hair off of cow feet and a cow head. I didn't expect to see that.
There were very few taxis or buses, so we slowly walked downtown, which probably only took 15 minutes, but felt like an eternity in the frigid air. There are only two streets in the town, and we stopped every few minutes to look in little stores and warm up a bit.
People kept asking us where we were from. Just like in Urumqi, they also thought that Kelsey and I were Kazakh or Russian twins. It was really funny. Half of the town is Kazakh and they would smile at us like we were old friends, because they thought we were one of them. Some of them had very light brown hair and very light eyes. They aren't Muslim, so they aren't as distinct-looking as the Uighurs. But they are still so friendly, and it's a nice change for Kelsey and me to sort of fit in somewhere in China.
After looking at some amazing ice sculptures downtown, we went to lunch. It seemed like we walked right into Kazakhstan. Reborn took us to a very busy Kazakh restaurant. It was a very crowded, bustling place. It was like what I imagined the Soviet Union to look like in the 1940s. There were tons of men in old fashioned clothes and fur hats, with very ruddy faces and tall noses. Women were wrapped in shabby fur coats, and had colorful shawls draped across their shoulders and heads.
We all sat shoulder to shoulder in the cramped, lively place as we ate tasty rice, lamb kebabs, and drank tea from bowls. I couldn't understand anything, since they all spoke Kazakh. And they all silently and politely stared at us, trying to figure out who/what we were. Reborn said most of them are farmers or herders, and live very difficult lives.
We finally headed back to Reborn's house by jumping into a full bread van. I had noticed soldiers with fur hats all around this tiny town and asked Reborn why. I sort of understood why in Urumqi, but not in Aletai, which is hundreds of miles away from the capital. She said that they sent in soldiers to prevent unrest like in Urumqi, and that some more soldiers arrived during the "snow disaster" last month, when it snowed something like 5 feet.
Then this evening Reborn went to hang out with some friends. So Kelsey and I hung out with her parents and a random 8 year-old cousin, who never stopped talking once. We tried to make baozi (like giant dumplings) with Reborn's mom. We also played with the little girl all evening. It was fun to be with them, and I spoke so much Chinese.
Thanks for the great day, Father!
(Men burning the hair off of cow feet and a cow head).
(With Kelsey and Reborn on the icy streets of Aletai).
(A lady sledgehammering the ice in the road).
(Aletai at its finest and coldest).
(Eating lunch at a Kazakh restaurant).
(The Kazakh twins eating lamb kebabs).
(Making baozi with Reborn's mom).
