Back In Uzunagash

Back in Uzunagash, it is taking me a bit of time to process all that has happened in the last week during my site visit. I wrote about Saule and our English conversations, but I should include our several conversations that have made me think harder in English than I have in a long time. She has a great knowledge and command of the English language, but there are still little peculiarities she doesn’t know. For example she asked me, “What is the difference between damp and moist?” Or, “Can you explain what a body-building machine is? Is there not one word that means these three long words?” We had more substantial conversations of course, but I was surprised at how difficult these questions were to answer. I guess that is my challenge, now that the “roughing it” aspect has been taken away. In exchange for hot running water and a sit-down toilet, I will become an accurate walking English dictionary.

The city of Petropavlovsk is a nice size. Everywhere that I will need to go on a regular basis is a 15-20 minute walk from where I will be living. I spent nearly 4 four months in Córdoba, Spain for a semester in college, and that city (although much, much warmer) reminds me a lot of Petro. It has a lot of interesting history, and we were able to take a driving tour of the city on Thursday. There are several markets, a very gorgeous, very large mosque, several gold-topped churches, and a pedestrian street with cafes and shops where people go simply to be. There is a verb in Russian I have learned that means to walk around and it is definitely a national pastime. There is no need to have a reason or destination to go out with friends – simply, “Mui gulayem.” (We’re walking around).

I visited my potential host families and decided on an ethnically Russian woman named Natalia (Natasha to her friends, like Saule), who is the home economics teacher at School #8 where I will work. She is single (divorced or widowed I don’t know) and has two daughters. One is 23 or so, currently studying in NYC, and will return in late spring. The other is 18 or 19 and studies at a college in Petro. I didn’t meet her, but I believe she does live at the house with her mother. The apartment is medium sized, and I’ll have a small room to myself off the living room. Her apartment is located on the corner of International and Mira streets, the two main streets in Petropavlovsk, and is right across the street from Saule’s apartment building. The proximity to the school and my counterpart was a major deciding factor in choosing where I’ll live, because in -40 degree weather (-40 is where F and C are equal, by the way), 10 minutes difference in walking time is a big deal.

I also visited the Professional Development Institute (PDI) where I will also be working. My counterpart there, Olga, was very glad to see me, as she has been applying for a volunteer for some time now. PDI hosts conferences and seminars to train teachers in the area, especially from rural communities, in all fields of study. I obviously will be working with English teachers. My primary placement is the school, but whenever PDI has seminars or conferences with English components, I will help lead their sessions. The office is small, with only 15 or so employees, and is housed in school #2 (I think). I am one of the only volunteers that has two jobs (not including secondary projects), the reason being that PDI is small and doesn’t have enough work for a full-time PCV like myself, and that the Kazakhstani government has said they only want teachers in rural public schools and urban colleges and universities. Saule had been applying for a volunteer for a while as well, and Ekaterina (my regional manager, PC staff) combined the two applications to meet the guidelines of both PC and the Kaz. Education Department.

Finally, I’ve met the other current PCVs up north, and solved the issue of the title The Most Northern PCV in the World. There are 3 Kaz-18s in and near Petro. Forrest and Meghan are in the city with me and Mike, and Sarah (the one with the coveted title) is in a small village just north of the city, about 30 minutes away. Of my fellow Kaz-19s, Mike is at the university in town, Ashley is 15 minutes away, and Tim is about 50 minutes away.

I am currently catching up on sleep and readjusting to the rural life, with less frequent bathing and daily trips to the outhouse. I did have a nice welcome back, and many people I’ve seen around town have asked me where I went and how long I have left in town. I’ve grown a beard, which is a major topic of conversation here. I’m not sure if it is that they knew me first without a beard, or it is a southern, cultural issue that young men don’t normally grow facial hair, but there wasn’t a single comment about it at my site. On Saturday we went to the large… no, HUGE bazaar in Almaty where I bought a big winter coat for 40 bucks (very cheap), a sweater and a few scarves. I don’t know yet if I’ll miss Uzunagash, but I am definitely excited to move back up north.