No7

I have no sense of what was normal in America because I've forgotten basically everything. I know that little kids do get into public fountains in America. In Duluth we even had a fountain that was more aqua park than decoration. But I never remember adults getting in on it. Nor do I imagine people jumping in fully clothed in street clothes or worse stripping down to nothing and hopping in. Well, in Kazakhstan all of this happens.

There used to be this awesome fountain near the state university that was the old Soviet symbol for Shymkent, which we all called the 4 Cs. Well they tore it down and in its place built this... thing. Its a giant tulip I suppose, but it's horrible. Its sheets of awkwardly overlapping red metal bolted together to vaguely resemble some might think of as a flower. It looks more like the Mario fire flower come to real life. Not as cool as it sounds, though the idea salvages it from being a complete travesty. I miss the old fountain if you can't tell.

One day I was with Katie and some of her coworkers. We had been walking around giving people fliers about keeping Shymkent clean and beautiful which people promptly crumpled and threw on the ground. We ended at the fountain which was surrounded by people taking photos and or splashing each other. Well these two sisters came with their little brothers. The boys had swim suits and were prepared. The girls obviously were not planning on getting wet. Well, that didn't end so well. First, the girl in the green tried to get her sister wet by redirecting a jet and only succeeded in spraying herself. Then when she helped one of the boys into the fountain the other boy charged her from behind and shoved her into the fountain. Now this fountain has minimal water in it. He basically pushed her into a half empty pool. I'm still deciding if this was funny or sad, because all I could think about was how they would get home. Can you take the bus SOAKING wet? Probably. Would you want to? Anyway, she pretended to be horrified but then would get out. She tried unsuccessfully to get her sister wet several more times and the boys took turns soaking her or knocking her back into the fountain whenever she tried to climb out. This is one of those things where I am more confused and concerned that amused, but it had its moments. Would this happen in America? I think "No" but I know that I'm a bit out of touch.