LONG UPDATE!!!! KAZAKHSTAN!!! UZUNAGACH!!!

Blog Update

So I made it. Lovely Kazakhstan, land of the golden sun, birthplace of the apple, home to beautiful mountains. We flew in to Almaty on Wednesday night and on the plane I sat next to a 23-year-old Kazakstani young woman who told lots of things about what to expect when I landed. We deplaned and drove immediately to Tabagan, a developing mountain resort 40 minutes south of Almaty. There we were spoiled with nice beds, elegant food, and futuristic-looking bathrooms while we slept, learned some Russian, slept, saw a skateboard and concert festival, slept, met our in-country staff, and slept yet some more. I was first placed into the Kazakh-speaking language training group, meaning that I would be placed in a Kazakh-speaking village for my training and eventually my post, but they moved me after the first session saying that they didn’t have as many spots as they thought they did.

A bit about the trainee group of which I am a member. We were 73 in DC for staging, and one girl decided not to get on the plane with us on Tuesday morning. Those 73 were divided into 2 professional groups – Education (my group, with 55 members) and OCAP (Organizational and Community Something Something, with the rest – they work in NGOs). We’ve been split up into those groups for most language and culture classes, and now, at our training site, we are only with a fraction of those in our professional group. During the days of orientation in Tabagan, one more Ed. Trainee went home, and we’ve now moved to our site.

My site. All the OCAP people are in the city of Almaty because they will be working in larger cities for their posts. The ED trainees are in smaller villages such as Keskelen and my site, Uzurnagach (u-zu-nah-GACH), a small city (10-12k people) about an hour from the city. 8 other ED trainees are here in Uzunagach with me, each in different houses spread out around town. Susie Carroll is the closest to me, two doors away. The school where we’ll be training, observing, and then practicum teaching is a 18-20 minute walk from here, and although taxis are cheap (about 25 cents for the trip, and by the way, any car can become a taxi if they’re willing to stop and take you where you’re going) I think I’ll enjoy the walk, at least until the snow comes. The nine of us here are split into 2 groups, one which has had previous Russian and mine, the newbies, and we meet and will work at different schools. The other group’s school is 2 blocks from here – too bad I didn’t take Russian in college. I found internet in a friend’s house on Monday, but I definitely won’t want to be bugging them for access all the time, so I’ll keep working on a place to do it. Right now I’m typing in my laptop hoping that somehow I can get this computer on line, or save this document and upload elsewhere.

My Family. The family who met me at the bus is headed by Marzhan Kaslembyekova, a 42 year old primary school teacher, and her two children, Bayan, a 25 year old woman who is a university student, and Rawan, a 15 year old high-schooler. The father is not present, and lives in Almaty. I’ve met Marzhan’s mother, whom we call Babushka (grandmother) as well as her sister (Sayle) and niece (Altynai) who live down the street. They are oriental looking and of Kazakh decent and I have a feeling the family speaks a lot of Kazakh with each other, although I haven’t quite been able to tell the difference, and don’t have the words to ask them… yet. My room is great, 12ftX12ft, by myself, carpeted, with bed, desk, wardrobe and a two-shelf dresser – Plenty of room for my stuff and my privacy. We take our shoes off before entering and leave them on the back stoop. The outhouse is 30 yards out back, and is a squat toilet – it’s a good thing PC checked to make sure we could physically do it, it is a good leg workout. The food has been great. Bread and tea at every meal, and meat dumplings, or meat and cabbage stew fairly often. Cucumbers and tomatoes have been great, as well as cheese and the occasional eggs. Actually, today I told them that I eat a lot of eggs at home and they asked me how I cook them (Bayan does know a little bit of English, which helps tremendously), so I tried to explain the concept of an omelet, and they asked if I’d just show them. So, dinner tonight was an egg and cheese with bell pepper omelet, which they liked a lot. Bayan didn’t like the peppers, but Rawan was a huge fan. After dinner Rawan and I played checkers, and I have to tell you, he’s GOOD. He beat me both games, and although he has some rules about double jumping and kinged pieces’ movements, I’m gonna have to work hard to bring my game up. I’ve shared my guitar skills and my American chocolates, both of which are a hit. Things are progressing slowly, but there is progress seen. Already I know the words for eat, drink, like, walk, ride in taxi, when, what, how, teacher, school, plus the key phrase, “Sorry, I don’t understand.” We haven’t used as many charades as I’d expected, but most of the things haven’t been important matters. Food, shelter, cleaning, and pooping have all been covered, leaving me stable enough to work on learning more. This week we have a total of 20 hours of Russian training including two hours of one on one tutoring with my Language Coordinator/Faciliator (LCF), Darya. It will come.

Quick story before I go: I had asked about a “vanya” when I arrived, which I thought meant “shower” or “washroom.” They responded saying that there was none, but there was a public on a block away and they would find a time to take me. Suits me. I’m on an adventure, right? So, they say 4 o’clock, I have an hour at the “vanya” and that it costs a dollar or so. OK. 4 pm rolls around and we walk and Rawan takes me to the vanya where a lady gets a key and walks around to the back of the building and opens the door. A recently-cleaned and obviously refreshed woman comes out and Rawan and I go in. There is an ante room with a table and some flip flops, another room with two benches and a table, and then around a corner a shower, small pool, and sauna. So THAT’s why it so expensive. Rawan waits in the bench-room while I undress and shower around the corner. Knowing I’ve paid for an hour, which Rawan reminded me before I began showering, I took my time of course. 8 minutes later I was clean and getting bored, so I decided that I don’t need to waste any more of Rawan’s time, and we could just go. Perhaps I could get a nap. I walk out, and as I’m nearly dressed, Rawan exclaims, “Fsyoh??” That’s all?! I look at him, shrug my shoulders and say, in English, “Yeah… is there something else I’m supposed to do?” He gets up and shows me the sauna, which I’m not particularly interested in. He shakes his head, not understanding my actions or my speech, and then shrugs his shoulder as he goes to open the door out. AAAAAAND…. It’s locked. From the outside. For our protection, of course, the lady that let us in had deadbolted the door, never thinking that someone would pay for an hour and only use 12 minutes! So, we sat. And sat. I offered my towel to Rawan, asking if he wanted to take a shower, seeing as how they don’t have one at home, and I’ve already paid for it. He says no, and so we sit. I have him help me count to 20 in Russian. And we sit. 35 minutes to go. He checks the clock and decides, “hey, why not,” and showers, sits in the sauna for 5 minutes, and rinses off. When he’s done drying and redressed, we sit some more. 20 minutes to go. I sing the song in Russian I learned in orientation, “Fine, fine, everything will be fine, and I know it, know it, know it, know it, know it… Fine, fine, everything will be fine…etc.” I practice conjugating a verb or two, with Rawan’s help, and about 10 minutes early, there is a knock on the door, and we’re freed. I guess now I know to take a book, or actually use the sauna, which would be great in the winter.

Everything is fine here, and I’m doing very well with relationships, progress in Russian, and overall morale. I am working on teaching my stomach that it CAN survive with lots of meat instead of vegetables, and that life is still great without English. Thanks for all the emails I’ve received. Keep them coming.