Kazakhs on my block

Something has been brewing at the Embassy of Kazakhstan all summer. I pass it on my way home from the gym a (*ahem*) few times a week. First, there was lumber on their front lawn. Then, a giant hole. One day, instead of a giant hole was a giant box made from plywood. The box stayed for weeks. I took pictures to share, but realized it was just a giant plywood box. At the end of the summer, the box disappeared and left behind a tall object wrapped in burlap. A week or so after that, the burlap was gone and in its place was black cloth. I was taking a picture of it one day, regretting not saving the box picture or taking one of the burlap, when a little girl holding a woman's hand walked by.
"Hi!," she said bravely and with a big grin.
"Hi there," I said, smiling back.
"I live there!," she reported excitedly, pointing to the Embassy.
"Is that right?," I asked, seeing her companion smile because she knew what I was just about to discover: that was all the prompting the little girl needed.
"Not in the front part. In the back part."
She nodded her own confirmation and went on to tell me about her room, the kitchen, her new shoes, and her daddy's big black car. She ended triumphantly with exciting news.
"And the President is coming to see that!" she pointed at the black-wrapped object in her front lawn.
"The President?" I asked with genuine surprise.
I leaned closer to her and whispered conspiratorially, "Do you know what's under there?"
She pushed at her bottom lip with her index finger and shook her head in a no that seemed unusually shy for her, then blurted "It's a man with a bow and arrows!"
I looked at the object again, sizing it up with this new insight, and noticed for the first time what looked like a small bunch of quivers sticking out of the top, and I smiled. I asked her when we would get to see it and she said she didn't know, but the President would be here soon. We exchanged some more pleasantries (yes, I live near by, no, my daddy doesn't drive a big black car) and parted ways.

This morning on NPR I heard that the President of Kazakhstan was in town yesterday for lunch at the White House and there was a reception for him at the Embassy, where a statue was unveiled. It's a warrior on the back of a winged snow leopard. I took Buddy by for a visit this morning, and tried to imagine the joyful hoopla there yesterday, wondering if my little neighbor wore her new shoes.

I wish I had a picture to share that wasn't terrible, but this is all I could manage this morning.