We were waiting and waiting and finally it started. VII Asian Games have started in Astana! On January, 30, Kazakhstanis witnessed the biggest show in our country. Photographer Zhenis Ysqabay spent 24 hours in the capital city to see with his own eyes how history was made.

In January 2011 Kazakhstani team "Astana" for the first time participated in the legendary rally-raid Dakar. The most famous race on the planet reveals real heroes every year. Journalist Yaroslav Krasiyenko tried to show not only the tense competition, but also what was happening "behind the scenes" of this survival race.

The world is small. We could prove it once again when we were looking for the creator of one of the most widely discussed characters of recent months Irbi the Snow Leopard. Using all the connections and asking all the acquaintances we managed to trace the author. But we were really surprised to find out that the girl who created the symbol of Asian Games 2011 was an active user on Voxpopuli.kz. Yevgeniya Kan aka Mumla agreed to tell the story about creating the famous leopard for the first time.

When in 1992 Meyrkhan left his native village to go to Almaty to learn how to make national saddle, his parents were skeptical about it asking themselves, "Why does he need it?" As a matter of fact, he did not only managed to finish his studies, but also became one of the best masters of this art. However, his relatives were right because in contemporary world his skills are almost not needed...

Alga town is an open wound on Aktobe region map. Once large and prosperous city famous for the whole Soviet Union today is dragging out a miserable existence. Since Soviet Union collapse funding of the main factory has stopped, the workers have been laid off and the plant has been inclosed with a fence. Thoroughfare feeding the whole city was cut and nobody could guess then that it was cut forever...

On January, 15, a group of journalists and photographers led by Mels Yeleusizov visited a base camp of mountaineers, which is situated at the foot of Khan Tengri mountain, to pass them Asian Games flag. It is not a good time for climbing now, but the group wants to erect the flag before the Games start as a symbol of Kazakhstan's victory!

In the end of November we announced a campaign Wish tree, where everybody could make a gift to a child who cannot hear and almost does not speak. There were many comments, discussions and good words. But the most important thing is that there were several dozens of people who pass from words to deeds and took part in this campaign. Last week we gave the presents to the children and now we want to show you how it happened.

In 2009 a new TV show called Taxi with Murat Ospanov as a host was launched on NTK channel. TV game Taxi is a version of British show Cash Cab which first appeared in Russia and then in Kazakhstan. During this year Kazakhstanis liked the show, watched it on TV with pleasure, participated and often won. Our correspondent Karla Nur peeked in behind the scenes of the popular show on Almaty streets.

Serious adults from the outside, but just boys inside. And even toys are the same: tanks and planes, the only difference is that now they are handmade. Almaty model builders gathered in MEGA Alma-Ata to compare who plays what nowadays.

Our photocorrespondent Karla Nur has been dreaming for a long time to shoot a report about daily life of a Kazakh family which lives far from the bustle of the city and habitual comfort with minimal demands for existence and simple joys. In such a house people do not rush to live striving to build a career. They hospitably invite guests, offer them a place at their table and happily talk about their simple but real life...