A guest of the former mayor

During our little intimate celebration last night, Alinberg called to invite us to dinner at his boss’s house tonight.

Alinberg picks us up from the apartment at 19:30. “I’m not here today with my Lada. My boss has given me his Landcriuser. He thinks it’s more appropriate,” he explains in a friendly manner as we get into the classy car. A chauffeur steers the 30-liter vehicle to a restaurant. “This is our new restaurant for Vips in the city of Kokchetav,” he says, pointing proudly. “Please, come in. It’s not officially open yet. You are our first guests,” says Alinberg, holding the door open for us. Once again, we are almost speechless as we enter the delicatessen. We walk from room to room on light-colored bamboo parquet. In each of these rooms there is an exquisite billiard table, fine expansive leather sofas, polished tables and chairs. “Guests can retreat to these rooms and hold their meetings or simply have a private party,” explains Alinberg. “Please, leave your things here so you can move around more freely,” he says as a man of about 60 with gray hair enters and greets us in a friendly manner. “That’s my boss, the former mayor of Kokchetav,” we hear. We are joined by a distinguished lady and a young man who also greet us in style. “We are proud to be able to welcome guests like them to our premises,” they say. Alinberg now leads us to a lower floor where there is a luxury sauna. “Please, enjoy our sauna before dinner. You can lock the door and have the entire ambience to yourself,” Alinberg invites us and we don’t know why and for what reason we are being courted here. The mayor’s son knocks on the door of the sauna area and personally brings us fresh towels. We later learn that he is active in politics.

It is a strange feeling to be allowed to use the entire sauna area for yourself. I prepare a few infusions with a spruce needle oil and sweat voluntarily for a change. We enjoy the time and the luxury of being able to swim in a real swimming pool after the past weeks of heat. Then Alinberg picks us up again and takes us to the restaurant, where a single table is generously laid. The former mayor, his wife and his son are already waiting for us. We exchange a few polite phrases until the mayor makes a speech. A glass of vodka in hand, we listen to what a stroke of luck it is that he can host two cyclists from Germany who have covered almost 300,000 kilometers on their travels. Thank you for your speech. Then I am also asked to hold one. “When we crossed the border from Russia into Kazakhstan and had only covered two kilometers, the Kazakhs gave us eggs, butter and cream. At the end they even gave us 1,000 tenge so that we could buy something in a magazine. That was our first impression. As soon as we drove on, another car pulled up. This time it was a policeman and a doctor. The policeman gave us another 1,000 tenge. In what other country do you get money from the police? We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Kazakhs from the bottom of our hearts for their great hospitality and kindness. Of course, we would also like to thank them for this fantastic invitation and their generous hospitality and the wonderful evening,” I say and toast with the mayor, his wife, his son, Alinberg and Tanja.

The mayor treats us to the best cognac and vodka produced in the city with pure water. Then plenty of delicious salad is served. The chef prepared a wonderful vegetarian meal especially for Tanja. We feast like royalty and are served by two waitresses. The ex-mayor’s wife is a doctor and teaches at the university. She is personally interested in our travel experiences and asks why we are on the road for so long and what motivates us? She is enthusiastic about the idea that Mother Earth is not dead matter, that this fact must be carried further into the world, that all people, including those in Kazakhstan, must work on the future of humanity. Because the son speaks perfect accent-free English and because Alinberg is fluent in German, the conversation flows without any loss of information. At the end, we say goodbye and wish each other health, happiness and success. Then the son drives us to our apartment in his luxury Japanese Jeep Infinity. As the Bose stereo system pampers our ears with fantastic music and the 250 hp engine vibrates slightly beneath us, as we smell the fine leather of the seats and the air conditioning keeps the passenger compartment at a pleasant temperature, we find ourselves for a few moments in a completely different world, a world that is also fun and remains unattainable for most earthlings for a lifetime.

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