It turns out, perhaps unsurprisingly, that vacuum cleaner salesmen exist everywhere. Even in Kazakhstan. On Friday, there was a Kirby vacuum cleaner salesman at our house for 5 hours. He arrived at noon, and left just after 5 pm. My host sister Donna had agreed to let him come because he promised to clean the area rug in the TV room for free. By the time I got home at 4pm, my host mom had put him to work steam-cleaning and vacuuming said rug. This specific Kirby vacuum is some kind of wonder vacuum that costs 630,000 Tenge (roughly $4,200). I'm not sure people here make that kind of money even in an entire year. Needless to say, my host mom did not buy the $4200 Kirby Wonder Vacuum. But she does have a very clean rug.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The story you've all been waiting for
(Written 9/07) Okay, you've waited long enough. I give you: "The Tale of the Feast that Involved Many Sheep Heads"
One evening I got back to my host family's house later than usual. On a typical day and with lots of luck I'm home by 6:00 or 6:30, usually just in time for dinner. On this particular evening I had stayed an hour and a half after our technical training to work on some extra assignments with our language instructor. So I finished the tutoring session, and after spending 11 hours at school, I'm finally home. As soon as I get inside and take my shoes off, my host mom tell's me that she has been waiting for me, and hopes I can help her carry some heavy bags. She says we're going to her oldest daughter's house to drop the bags off, and that it will take half an hour. I weigh the possible options, and because I'm trying to take the Peace Corps encouragement to integrate to heart, I figure it's no big deal to help my host mom out for half an hour. Integration comes first, dinner and homework can wait.
On the walk over my host mom explains that the bags are full of clothing for her daughter's husband's sister's neighbor (you follow?) whose house burned down two weeks ago. Now this woman has no home, so her neighbors are helping her get back on her feet. My host mom asks me if I think it's sad, and I agree, it is very sad their house burned down. It's very nice of my host mom to help. (These are the very deep, heartfelt things I'm able to say in Russian...). This is all happening as we're weaving through unlit and unpaved streets at 8:30pm. Every once in awhile we yell at the stray dogs that try to follow us, and every once in awhile my host mom calls the groups of teenagers hanging out on the streets hooligans.
After half an hour we arrive at my host mom's daughter's house. We take our shoes off on the porch, chat with the men in the backyard who are sitting around a bonfire, and go inside. As we step inside I quickly realize that we are not there just to drop the bags of clothing off. A low table in the living room is set for 12 and covered with various salads, bread, sweets, dried fruit, candy, and dishes. It has seemed, dear reader, that we had come not to drop clothing off, but to attend a feast. My host mom's oldest daughter, you see, is practicing Ramadan, meaning that do not consume anything during the day throughout the entire month of Ramadan, and must do all their eating and drinking after dark. I'm ushered into the living room, introduced to the guests there, and told to sit at the table.
Gradually everyone else joins the table, and my oldest host sister brings two giant dishes full of a noodles to the table. The dish is called beshbarmak and is considered the national dish of Kazakhstan. My host sister made all of the noodles by hand, and her family slaughtered the sheep that supplied to mutton for the dish. This is of course very overwhelming, but I figure I can handle some tasty noodles and a little bit of meat.
Next thing I know her husband and uncle have come in from what I thought was a simple bonfire each carrying a large dish of roasted mutton and a sheep head. The heads are passed to the head of the table (the place of honor) to the 87-year-old neighbor woman who picks up a paring knife and in no time at all begins carving the meat off the heads. The ears and tongues go first, and are passed down the table. I luckily avoided those delicacies, but ended up with quite a bit of face meat on my plate. My host sister's husband (who is generally amused by me and thinks vegetarianism is a hilarious notion) has sat down next to me and fills my plate with a few sheep ribs, more face meat, and some suspicious-looking sausage.
I'm not gonna lie, the dish was tasty. The handmade noodles were delicious and even the ribs and face meat weren't bad. There was no silverware at the table so everything was eaten by hand (it turns out Beshbarmak means "five fingers" and is named for the way it is eaten). Food was passed around and people ate until they could eat no more.
The table was cleared, the dishes were washed, and a large samovar and tea cups were brought out. Everyone lounged (literally) around the table and tea was passed around and sweets were brought out. Stories are told, people recall previous celebrations with other family members, and my host mom's youngest brother regales us with a tale about last New Year's when he consumed an entire samovar's worth of tea in one sitting.
I am now a big fan of Ramadan, and nightly Ramadan feasts, and Kazakh family gatherings. And I gained major street cred by eating that face meat.
A brief note on laughter.
Dear readers,
Sorry I fail at getting to the internet cafe before it closes. I'll try to be better.
I hope this makes up for it.
Sorry I fail at getting to the internet cafe before it closes. I'll try to be better.
I hope this makes up for it.
(Written 8/27)
My host family is crazy about laughing. They laugh about everything, all the time, period. Everything is hilarious to them, which I in turn find hilarious. They laugh during tea, during dinner, at their children, at their relatives, at their neighbors, and sometimes (and quite politely, I might add) at me. They find joy in everything, which is completely refreshing. I have no doubt, dear reader, that you wouldn't be able to last five minutes in this household without cracking a grin. (Note: The only person not entirely amused by life is Inkar, my host mom's oldest daughter's youngest daughter ((you follow?)). She cries a lot. Her lack of amusement is excusable because A. She's usually walking around without any pants on; B. She brings me things while I'm studying, frequently a tomato or else a her socks; and C. She's teething.) When all's said and done, I live with an inexplicably happy family. Who needs an indoor toilet and a shower when they could have perpetual amusement instead?
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
A timely update, and a mention of a feast
It turns out, dear reader, that I'm pretty awful at updating this thing. Also, Blogger is blocked in Kazakhstan, so I have to update things by email which makes it a bit confusing. Please bear with the K-stan insanity.
Here are a few updates:
1. Tomorrow is the first day of school across K-stan. It turns out we won't be introducing ourselves to the entire school as expected. The director decided there wasn't enough time, or else our Russian skills are too awful to be heard in the halls of such a fine establishment. Instead we will be observing an English class to better understand the educational system here.
2. Throughout training we will be completing 16 hours of "practicum," by leading English clubs, extracurriculur clubs, and other classes to gain experience working with youth. This is slightly terrifying, as I have no real teaching experience. I hope I will not make a fool of myself. Keep your fingers crossed for me, dear reader.
3. There are a number of running jokes my family has started that you should be aware of.
In general, I'm still in the honeymoon period of all this business. Things are still going great, and I love the other Trainees I get to work with. If there were fewer pit toilets and roasted sheep heads, I'd like it better.
Here are a few updates:
1. Tomorrow is the first day of school across K-stan. It turns out we won't be introducing ourselves to the entire school as expected. The director decided there wasn't enough time, or else our Russian skills are too awful to be heard in the halls of such a fine establishment. Instead we will be observing an English class to better understand the educational system here.
2. Throughout training we will be completing 16 hours of "practicum," by leading English clubs, extracurriculur clubs, and other classes to gain experience working with youth. This is slightly terrifying, as I have no real teaching experience. I hope I will not make a fool of myself. Keep your fingers crossed for me, dear reader.
3. There are a number of running jokes my family has started that you should be aware of.
a. Either my host family will turn me into a carnivore in the next 3 months, or I'll turn them all into vegetarians. At the moment I have the upper hand,
b. In the next two months my host family and all their relatives will successfully find me a good Kazakh husband. Never fear, I'm steering clear of this one. but considering last night we had a Ramadan feast involving not one, but two sheep heads, it's still a toss-up as to who will prevail.
In general, I'm still in the honeymoon period of all this business. Things are still going great, and I love the other Trainees I get to work with. If there were fewer pit toilets and roasted sheep heads, I'd like it better.
I finally found an Internet Cafe with USB Ports!
I have decided, dear reader, that for the purpose of blogging, internet clubs with USB ports are my friend. I have found such a place, thus, the post you deserved, but didn't receive.
Written on 8/23/2010 - Alright folks, to make up for the lack of internet connection, I'm gonna cram a lot of nonsense into one long post.
After almost 2 days of travel (including, but not limited to, a flight from DC to Frankfurt, then Frankfurt to Almaty) we arrived in Kazakhstan last Friday at 1 am. We waited for our luggage, got our passports stamped, and were greeted by John Sasser, the PC Country Director for Kazakhstan. We spent the night at a "sanitorium" (sort of Hotel/Conference Center-esque) and began opening sessions the next morning at 8. In short, all 74 of us sat in a conference hall hearing about different aspects of PC Kazakhstan from the Country Director; the Regional Director of PC Europe, Mediterranean, and Asia; and PC Volunteers assisting with the training. There was lots of sleep deprivation, jet laggery, and complete disregard for all suggestions of note taking. We stayed up until the late hours of the evening to buy cell phones and sim cards (note: my number is 011-8-705-626-69-37, text me!!) and fell into our awkwardly sized sanitorium beds.
Day 2 followed the same schedule of information sessions, adding a 2 hour language lesson in the afternoon. Let me just say, a but redundant for the Russian Major. But, as Peace Corps demands, I was flexible and pretended to enjoy 2 hours of "Hello-my-name-is-Katie"-instruction. Then we were loaded onto buses and shipped to surrounding towns and villages to meet our host families.
I am currently living in the town of Talgar with a handful of Education Volunteers and half of the Youth Development Volunteers. I live with a Kazakh family consisting of my host mom Karlagosh, host sisters Donna and Dianna, and Donna's 6-month-old son Amir. Their house is quite nice and has a huge tangled garden out back. They have a raspberry and strawberry patch; pear, plum, and apple trees; and trillions of vegetables. The have a toilet in the house, but that's only for winter-use, so we use the outhouse at the far back of the yard. They have only cold water running inside, so to wash we go the banya out back. Think Russian-style-bath-house-ala-"Eastern-Promises"-minus-the-naked-fight-scene-and-a-little-more-rustic and you've got the right picture. There's a wood-burning stove used to heat a big tank of water that we then pour into smaller basins to wash with. It's surprisingly refreshing.
The food so far has been just fine. Lots of veggies and bread and tea, all things I'm a big fan of. At my host mom's oldest daughter's house I was confronted with the national dish of Kazakhstan beshbarmak, which is essentially meat and handmade noodles. Sounds normal enough, right? Not quite, dear reader, as the meat is typically horse. The beshbarmak I encountered, however, was made with mutton. Much better, right? Would've been, except for the whole sheep head resting glorious in the center of the dish.
Our official training started today. I go to class for 9 hours a day at School #8. It is a gymnasium that specializes in language, teaching students in Russian, Kazakh, and English. For the next three months I'll be in class 6 days a week, with 4 hours of language class in the morning and 4 hours of technical training and practical experience in the afternoon. September 1st, the first day of school, we'll be introducing ourselves to the entire school – parents, students, teachers, directors, janitors, possibly neighborhood dogs, etc. - explaining our background, what we're doing in K-stan, and what sort of programming we'd like to do. We're also supposed mention a few interesting facts about ourselves to entice the students to come to our programs, so I'll need to think some interesting things up on the double!
Well, that's about it for now. Tomorrow is day to of Pre-Service Training (PST), get ready for 4 hours of redundant language instruction, a tasty lunch of leftover pilaf, and 4 hours of technical preparation.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Greetings, from glorious Kazakhstan!!
Greetings, dear reader, from beautiful Kazakhstan!! I wrote a terribly entertaining blog post on my laptop at my host family's house which I put on my flash drive, but the computer at this classy internet club doesn't have a usb port, so I'm writing on the flyyyyy!
Things so far are going amazingly well. We left DC last Wednesday, arrived in K-stan Friday morning at 1am, and began training the same morning at 8. For the first two days the entire group stayed at a " sanitorium" (something like a hotel with an emphasis in relaxation??) in Almaty, spending both days in sessions on PC policy in K-Stan, cultural information, safety and security, and a welcome address of sorts from the Country Director. After two days of sleeping on awkwardly sized mattresses, we were split into five groups of trainees, and sent to our training villages. These five villages are each within an hour of Almaty, and is where we will spend the first 3 months of our service doing Pre-Service Training (PST).
I live in the town/city of Talgar with 8 other Youth Development trainees and a handful of Education trainees. My host family consists of my host mother Karlagosh, her daughter Donna (20 years old), her other daughter Dianna (14 years old), and Donna's 6 month old son Amir. The house is also full of other relatives, neighborhood children, etc. that wander in and out throughout the day. We have running water in the house, which is a huge plus, though it's only cold water. To bathe, we go to the banya, which is a sauna of sorts in a shed in the backyard. It's pretty sweet, I'm a big fan. For bathroom needs, there's a squat toilet in a tiny shed in the far reaches of the backyard. The door doesn't close all the way, but it works. They also purchased toilet paper especially for me, so don't think I'm roughing it too hard.
Monday through Saturday I attend classes 8am-6pm. In the morning I "learn" Russian (or relearn, or relax) with 4 other trainees. Our instructor is named Zhenya. She is 22-years-old, Russian, and completely adorable. In the afternoon, the other 5 Youth Development volunteers come to our school for technical training sessions. At these sessions we learn how to be Youth Development Volunteers. So far we've covered Youth Development policy in K-stan, how to conduct English clubs, and some of the challenges that Volunteers face. I'm not gonna lie, I'm terrified to have to do any sort of teaching. At least I have 2 weeks to figure it out before we take classes on our own. Until then, it'll just be a lot more instruction, group bonding, and general camaraderie, which sounds like a pretty sweet gig.
That's all for now folks, I'll try to post again soon. Right now I gotta book it home before my host mom worry's herself into a tizzy over my absence and calls the police/army/Country Director, etc.
Things so far are going amazingly well. We left DC last Wednesday, arrived in K-stan Friday morning at 1am, and began training the same morning at 8. For the first two days the entire group stayed at a " sanitorium" (something like a hotel with an emphasis in relaxation??) in Almaty, spending both days in sessions on PC policy in K-Stan, cultural information, safety and security, and a welcome address of sorts from the Country Director. After two days of sleeping on awkwardly sized mattresses, we were split into five groups of trainees, and sent to our training villages. These five villages are each within an hour of Almaty, and is where we will spend the first 3 months of our service doing Pre-Service Training (PST).
I live in the town/city of Talgar with 8 other Youth Development trainees and a handful of Education trainees. My host family consists of my host mother Karlagosh, her daughter Donna (20 years old), her other daughter Dianna (14 years old), and Donna's 6 month old son Amir. The house is also full of other relatives, neighborhood children, etc. that wander in and out throughout the day. We have running water in the house, which is a huge plus, though it's only cold water. To bathe, we go to the banya, which is a sauna of sorts in a shed in the backyard. It's pretty sweet, I'm a big fan. For bathroom needs, there's a squat toilet in a tiny shed in the far reaches of the backyard. The door doesn't close all the way, but it works. They also purchased toilet paper especially for me, so don't think I'm roughing it too hard.
Monday through Saturday I attend classes 8am-6pm. In the morning I "learn" Russian (or relearn, or relax) with 4 other trainees. Our instructor is named Zhenya. She is 22-years-old, Russian, and completely adorable. In the afternoon, the other 5 Youth Development volunteers come to our school for technical training sessions. At these sessions we learn how to be Youth Development Volunteers. So far we've covered Youth Development policy in K-stan, how to conduct English clubs, and some of the challenges that Volunteers face. I'm not gonna lie, I'm terrified to have to do any sort of teaching. At least I have 2 weeks to figure it out before we take classes on our own. Until then, it'll just be a lot more instruction, group bonding, and general camaraderie, which sounds like a pretty sweet gig.
That's all for now folks, I'll try to post again soon. Right now I gotta book it home before my host mom worry's herself into a tizzy over my absence and calls the police/army/Country Director, etc.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
The road to K-stan
I'm in DC in a Holiday Inn enjoying the last air conditioning I'll be feeling for some time. Reality is beginning to sink in that I'm finally really doing this thing, and that tomorrow I'll be taking up residence in a strange and faraway land.
There are 74 Peace Corps Trainees (PCTs) in the Kaz-22 group (Peace Corps lingo for the 22nd group of volunteers to head to Kazakhstan). Most volunteers work in the Education (EDU) program, while the rest work in Youth Development (YD) program. I'm a YD trainee, so after 3 months of rigorous language, business, culture, etc. training I'll be placed with a host organization to do an as of yet undetermined job. Youth Development volunteers in K-stan seem to work across a vast spectrum of youth organizations and non-profits. It's all a bit unclear, but once I get to my site, I hope to have a better sense of the job description.
Tomorrow we leave at 12:30pm for Dulles Airport where I'll lug my 4 unruly bags (2 checked, 2 carry-ons) through security to hop a flight to Frankfurt. After a 6 hour layover there, we'll hop another flight to Almaty, KZ. We'll arrive in Kazakhstan at about 1am, and need to be at training at 7am that morning. It's going to be a few days of exhaustion and stress, but at least there's 74 of us in the same boat. And I think we're all up to the challenge. Or we're really good at faking it.
There are 74 Peace Corps Trainees (PCTs) in the Kaz-22 group (Peace Corps lingo for the 22nd group of volunteers to head to Kazakhstan). Most volunteers work in the Education (EDU) program, while the rest work in Youth Development (YD) program. I'm a YD trainee, so after 3 months of rigorous language, business, culture, etc. training I'll be placed with a host organization to do an as of yet undetermined job. Youth Development volunteers in K-stan seem to work across a vast spectrum of youth organizations and non-profits. It's all a bit unclear, but once I get to my site, I hope to have a better sense of the job description.
Tomorrow we leave at 12:30pm for Dulles Airport where I'll lug my 4 unruly bags (2 checked, 2 carry-ons) through security to hop a flight to Frankfurt. After a 6 hour layover there, we'll hop another flight to Almaty, KZ. We'll arrive in Kazakhstan at about 1am, and need to be at training at 7am that morning. It's going to be a few days of exhaustion and stress, but at least there's 74 of us in the same boat. And I think we're all up to the challenge. Or we're really good at faking it.
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