The Golden Man - by McP

On Saturday, Liza and I took Alina and Mac to the Kazakhstan National Museum, while Alison and Cal took it easy in the apartment. Alison and I had gone there six years ago, but there were many changes. For example, you could not take photos in the building except in two places, then you had to pay for the right to take photos there! I went ahead and bought the right to take eight photos. The kids had their disposable cameras, which I had to confiscate for fear that they would cause us all to be arrested or make me go broke for applying their usual fast-click photojournalism style. In other words, they usually take up a disposable camera in about half an hour, taking multiple shots of a single subject, multiple shots of their own feet, and of each other's arm, etc.
In any event, in our stressful and closely monitored visit we came upon this replica of the famous "Golden Man." This is the most famous ancient artifact of Kazakhstan, which was actually found in Esik, where Cal was from.
The Golden Man was a warrior prince from thousands of years ago. His uniform was made up of over four thousand pieces of gold! Our driver pulled us off the road in Esik to show us where the Golden Man was found a few years back. It was basically on a building site less than fifty or so feet off the road to Esik, very near the town. There is a small monument on the site, not befitting the stature of what the image means to this country. Many of the symbols of modern Kazakhstan, including designs of the flag, were taken from the Golden Man's costume.
Mac and Alina will include their photos in their school reports of their experiences in Kazakhstan. They really miss their school friends. I am trying to keep up with them through email to their parents. The kids are thrilled to get email from their friends!
- McP