Thursday, February 10, 2011

Irbi, where are you?

The 2011 Asian Winter Games were in Kazakhstan this year and I'm extremely frustrated with their apparent lack of consumerism. I have done copious googling, searching on Amazon, ebay, and some sites that won't even translate to English, and I have been unable to find anyplace where I can acquire souvenirs online. I mean, look at the adorable snow leopard mascot, Irbi, in his traditional Kazakh hat. Why isn't there a 12" plush version of this I can order for 3,750 Tenge ($24.99) and pay another $50 or so to have shipped to the good old USA? I mean, with the Kazakh adoption community, there has got to be tens of people like me who want the same, right? I'm just trying to stimulate some economy here. I mean, I guess I could have paid about $2,000 for a plane ticket to Almaty, picked up some items and flown right back, but I'm not *that* into stimulating the economy. Alas, alack. I guess I'll keep up my internet search for another couple of weeks, but it's not looking good for Miranda.

2 comments:

The Robeys said...

Rebecca,
I did the same thing and am also very disappointed. I guess some one forgot to tell the Kazakh officials about marketing to bring in extra revenue for the games. Let me know if you find anything and I will do like wise. Otherwise I guess we have to settle for pictures from the games.
Lynda, mama to Lukas (Taraz, 2009)

Bob said...

I admire your determination, and you're right: they are so missing out on a plush marketing opportunity!

These aren't plush, but they're Irbi-ish:
http://www.delcampe.com/item.php?id_enchere=0121146249&language=E&affiliate=googlebase_com&sessionToken=sslLogin_974c80951a4f7226703bd99f0f1d6690