No news is good news...

3/17/2010 My procrastination continues...

So how to follow up my entry about Kreshenya? Not exactly sure! Haven't done anything quite as exciting as that, which is why it's taken me so long to follow up. Don't want to disappoint my fans ! Well, that and the fact that not much has been going on. Winter continues to be interesting, although now we have entered the “spring” months. While it is warmer now, at or above freezing most days, it has been snowing a lot more lately. But at least it's not uncomfortably cold anymore!

So I'll give you a summary of my last few weeks. The first week in February I was fortunate enough to meet an American couple that were adopting two children from our orphanage. The kids kept telling me that their adoptive parents were visiting and that I should meet them, but unfortunately we were not able to meet until their last day here, before they left with the girls. Despite that, it was nice to speak with some Americans and hear tales of home. They were from Colorado and had adopted 3 other children from Kazakhstan. Now they have the 2 girls, they said their family was complete.

It's funny in a situation like that what kinship you feel with strangers, when the only connection you have is that you are from the U.S. We sat together for about an hour, spoke English and talked about life here in Kazakhstan and life at home in the U.S. They were really warm people and we felt a certain comraderie right away. We hugged good bye, and they took my email address, so I hope to hear from them soon about how the girls are adjusting to life in the U.S. Just nice to meet some fellow Americans and share a cool moment together.

The second week in February was the “week of the English Language” at the orphanage. Every subject has a week in which they are supposed to plan special events and get the kids involved in learning more about their subjects. A lot of preparation and extra hours went into our week. My counterpart and I worked very hard and we were both exhausted by the end of the week. We organized competitions in English for our students of different levels, we made valentines, we held an extra English club, and on Valentine's Day, we had a big celebration.

We had prepared some students to recite English poems. I also prepared a power point presentation on Valentine's Day, that one of the students translated. They also had a competition, read some poems in Russian, and my site mate Sidd came and sang some songs. It was a lot of fun and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves.

Following the celebration I got on the bus to go home. I was the only one on the bus and since I am obviously foreign, the bus driver asked the familiar “Otkooda vee?” or “Where are you from?”. I told him I was American and answered all of the usual questions that get asked when people want to know why you are here. He also asked if I was married or had children (also very common questions). Of course I answered no, and that was followed with a “me neither” and a followed it up by saying, "We should get married!" What?! He was joking, I think....

This weekend I head down to Shymkent (via 32 hour train ride) to gather with my fellow volunteers for some rest and relaxation. Next week is also a big Kazakh national holiday called Naryuz. In Shymkent there is a big celebration of this holiday. I will be able to tell you all about it in the coming weeks. The week after Naryuz we go to Almaty for training. I can't wait to see my group mates again as it has been almost 5 months since we've all been together. Also it will be nice to be in the warm south! I hear it is between 60 and 70 degrees most days. No long underwear needed, I can't tell you how exciting that is for me.

So that's all for now. Will report in soon about my trip down south. Can't wait to have some pictures with green grass and flowers in them to show you.

The 3 C's - Camp, Cold, and Craziness

1/3/2010 Winter Camp

After New Year's, I ran my first solo project at the orphanage. I organized a camp that took place during winter vacation at the orphanage. This being my first project, I did a lot of planning and worrying about how it would turn out. I had dreams of grandeur and wrote out some elaborate plans for the three days of my camp. My plans even included an outdoor scavenger hunt that was dependent on the weather being tolerable.

Well, the weather didn't cooperate, and some of my games were too complex or just didn't hold their interest. However, there were several Peace Corps Volunteers who helped me with my camp and came to my rescue. We had fun for three days playing "duck, duck, goose", dragon tag and other games. Three local friends also provided much needed translation help further contributing to the camp's success. In the end, the kids had a lot of fun and so did we.

It was good that the kids enjoyed themselves, even if things didn't go exactly as planned. It gave me the confidence needed to try other projects in the future. Of course, it didn't go perfectly and I learned a lot about what I would change for the next time. Still, the kids seemed to enjoy it and the director and my counterpart gave me positive feedback, so that was nice to hear.

Enjoy some photos of camp.

My language tutor, Anya, explaining one game to the kids:

A crazy game called "dragon tag". Super chaotic, but lots of fun!

A group of us doing "group juggle".

Some of the volunteers played basketball with the older boys and one girl one day after camp.

1/19/2010 Kreshenya

Every January 19^th is a holiday called kreshenya for the people of the Russian Orthodox faith. During this holiday in Petropavlovsk, priests say blessings over the Ishim River, and the water is considered holy on this day. Some people take the water from the river and use it throughout the year to sprinkle on sick children, sprinkle in their houses, or use in their tea to keep them healthy. Still, other people jump into the river on this day, and it is said to be a sort of “re- baptism”. The word kreshenya means baptism in Russian (aren't you glad I looked it up?)People who do the jump swear that it keeps them healthy for the whole year.

As Peace Corps Volunteers, we are encouraged to observe cultural traditions that are important to the people we live with. Some volunteers take it a step further and actually participate in such traditions. My counterpart gave me the day off so that I could go to the river and see what this was all about. Some volunteers came to visit our region so they could also see and/or take part in this annual observance. Here we are trudging down to the river. That's me in the back of the line with my giant blue coat.Here are some photos of the frozen river. You can see the giant ice cross that was erected specially for this day.

Thought you might enjoy photo of tent erected on forzen river, and bridge suspended over frozen river. The tents were were people could change after jumping. They also had holes where you could dip in the river in the privacy of the tent. There was one for men and one for women.

Some volunteers jumped in the river last year, although it was an unseasonably warm winter. They say this is the coldest winter they've had in a few years. This year it was about -31 Celsius, which is approximately -24 Fahrenheit. To give you an idea of how cold this is, I took one glove off for about 1 minute to take some pictures. After that minute I had to put my glove on because my hand hurt so bad, I thought it would fall off. Having said that, imagine being out in that cold in your bathing suit! So here are some pictures of that fateful day and some very brave and possibly crazy volunteers.

Sagar's in the water, with Michael lined up right behind him.

Katie and Jennie looking like they're in pain.

So that's Kreshenya. No, I didn't jump I just couldn't fathom it. It was cool to watch and I hope they do stay healthy for one year because of it!

Happy New Year!

1/10/2010

So, I've let this blog go a little bit. It's not that I haven't wanted to keep you all posted, it's just that I guess I've been procrastinating. Those of you who know me well, know that I have a bad habit of bad procrastination. In the spirit of the new year, I have recommitted myself to telling the stories of my crazy life with the Peace Corps here in Kazakhstan.

What have I been up to, you ask? Well, Christmas was just another day here. The Christians here mostly celebrate Russian Orthodox Christmas which is on January 7th. So on Dec. 25th, a few of us gathered at one volunteer's house with some local friends and toasted the fact that it was Christmas. Not very exciting, but it just wasn't the same as being home. They also don't have all of the crazy commercialization here that gets you all fired up for the coming of Christmas. I think that also may have contributed to the calm celebration of the holiday.

The Sunday after Christmas, I was invited to a "winter picnic" by the professor of English at our local university. We attend his English club at the university and a few times per winter he puts on a winter picnic for the club attendees. I took the bus out to the outskirts of town and the professor and some of his English students picked me up in a car. We drove out near the lake to the site of the picnic.

A photo of the winter picnic site:

Making the soup and tending to the fire:

Professor Petrovich and the almost setting sun:

I dressed in many layers and still seemed to spend the entire time in front of the camp fire. They made soup and we drank many, many cups of tea. It was really nice to look out onto the lake even though it was covered in snow. Our group were the only ones out there that day and the scene was serene and peaceful. It was a nice way to spend a frigid winter's day, although I wouldn't want to do that every weekend!

Some students with the snow tower they were trying to build. You can see our snowtracks

on the frozen, snow-covered lake behind them:

New Year's was an entirely different story. Since Orthodox Christmas is much more religious, New Year's here is like Christmas for us. They have their own Santa, whose name translates to "Father Frost". The children get presents and people often visit friends and family at this time. They put up a "yolka" which is essentially a Christmas tree as we know it.

On New Year's again I gathered with some volunteers who were visiting the city from their respective villages. However, I went home early to ring in the new year with my host family. There are usually fireworks, but it was -30 that night, so we wisely decided to stay in. It was a really fun night all around, with good food and good people and lots of celebration.

Baby, It's Cold Outside...

12/17/2009

So it is almost officially winter here and boy is it cold! Yesterday and today we were off from school due to the observance of Independence Day here. Thank goodness we had today off because it was -26 degrees Celsius (-14.8F) outside. My cell phone has a temperature converter on it and I like to convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius to see what I'm actually dealing with. Here they don't get school off when it snows, but they do get days off when it is -30C (-22F) or more. Apparently it's not good for kids to be out in such cold weather. Since the kids at the orphanage live there, and don't have to go outside to get to school, we still work on those extra cold days! In honor of the cold and the few really cold days we've had I've decided to put together a weather-themed list of things I like and things I could do without here. Enjoy!

Things I can do without:

1. going outside

2. days I forget to put on long underwear

3. the 40 minute walk to my Russian tutor's apartment

4. the frost on my glasses, which makes seeing difficult

5. the bus skidding to a stop everyday , because they don't sand the streets

6. the wind (because 30 below isn't bad enough?)

7. wondering which part of my face will fall off first (Will it be my nose? Will it be one cheek or both?)

Things I am grateful for:

1. hot tea and soup

2. long underwear

3. my bulky LL Bean boots, even though the locals stare (Almost everone here wears black leather boots. Many women even wear high heeled boots in these very icy conditions!)

4. Gore-Tex, fleece and any other material whose sole purpose is to keep you warm

5. July and August won't be that hot (I would rather deal with subzero temperatures than extreme heat any day!)

6. indoor plumbing (using an outhouse in this weather?!)
7. that I don't live in Antarctica and it will stop snowing and warm up eventually...

So that is my life here in Petro. I talk about the weather each morning with my host family. I now think that anything above -20C (-4F) is “normal” and “not that cold”. Oh, how perceptions change!

New Surroundings and Celebrations

11/15/2009

So I am slowly figuring life out here in Petropavlovsk. It certainly is different from the village that I was used to, but it is growing on me. I moved in with a new host family and they are really nice. The mom teaches physics at the orphanage, her husband is a businessman, and they have a son who is 14 and a daughter who is 10. The mom and the son speak excellent English and they like to practice their English when they talk to me. They have also been very patient with my Russian and politely listen as I botch their native tongue on a daily basis.

I take the bus to and from work, as it is too far to walk. Petro has a pretty reliable bus system, although I don't know how I'll feel about waiting for the bus when it is 40 below. For now it's not bad. My round-trip fare on the bus each day costs less than 50 cents, what a deal! Although the way some of the bus drivers drive, they should be paying me to take the bus. The roads are icy now and they peel out of each stop, because that's how you drive when the roads don't get sanded? I hang on for dear life on the days when I don't get a seat.

Work is picking up now that the kids are back to school. I mostly help with English and help teach some English classes. It may take a few months to carve out a role for myself, as Peace Corps told us. But in the meantime, I get to meet the kids, who are all really nice. They all say hello and good-bye in English, and give me weird looks when I speak to them in Russian. They have classes most of the day, then have extra-curricular activities in the afternoon. It will be part of my job to help plan some of the extra-curricular activities, which I am looking forward to.

The kids live in dormitories and the school is attached. Nice in winter, they don't even have to walk outside to get to school in the morning. They live in “families” of about 20-30 children. Each family has a large living area, two large bedrooms (one for girls, one for boys) and maybe another room or two for studying or recreation. They have people who look after them and they all have chores to complete.

Some kids are in the orphanage because their parents' rights were taken away, and some of the children are true orphans. Some may have parents either in prison or who are unable to care for them due to alcoholism or other issues. The kids are able to visit their extended families such as grandparents or aunts and uncles with the permission of the orphanage. It's only been a short time, but many of the children seem remarkably well adjusted given their circumstances. The staff at the orphanage seems very kind as well and the kids appear to be very well cared for.

Don't have many pictures of the city yet, but this website does a much better job than I ever could. Many interesting photos for you to see of Petropavlovsk and what it actually looks like. http://aboutkazakhstan.com/Petropavlovsk_city.shtml

12/6/2009

So, I've officially been here for one month. I'm still adjusting, but overall things are going well. November brought two celebrations: Thanksgiving and my birthday. For Thanksgiving, volunteers from our oblast (county) and the oblast closest to us, got together for a weekend of celebration and fun. We went to Zerenda which is a small town with a cross-country skiing lodge. All 24 of us stayed there and cooked Thanksgiving dinner the Saturday after the holiday. We got in Friday night, had a nice pasta dinner, then chatted with other volunteers all night.

Saturday was mostly spent cooking, hiking and playing frisbee. Sunday we packed up and left for home. I got to see Hannah, who was with me in Enbek. She's now in Kokshetau which is about 4 hours by bus from me. This was the first time we'd seen each other since leaving our training village, so that was really cool. Overall, it was a really fun weekend and a nice way to meet some of the volunteers who have been here for one year already. I've included some photos from the trip.

Hannah & me:

View from the top of a hill we climbed up:

Thanksgiving frisbee (who needs football?)
Me with a glorious mountain of mashed potatoes:

My birthday celebration was also cool. My site mates threw me a party, which included some local friends who have welcomed us into their community. Also, I invited my Russian teacher, Anya, and two other Russian teachers that worked with us in Almaty, but who are from Petropavlovsk. A good time was had by all. We had vegetarian burritos, improvised from ingredients found here, but spiced up with a packet of taco seasoning Megan had sent from home. Everyone thought they were surprisingly tasty, even the meat eaters.

We played a game where you had to pop a balloon and do whatever the slip of paper inside told you to do. Most were pretty tame, such as crawl around under the table, pat your head and hop on one foot at the same time, etc. After doing what the balloon said, the person would say a toast to me. That was really cool and a lot of fun.

Anya (my Russian tutor) before giving a toast:

Sitemates Katie and Megan with my birthday sign:

The Big Time

10/28/2009

So we are in Almaty this week for our Counterpart Conference. We all met our counterparts yesterday. They are the people from our organizations that will help us adjust and will work closely with us for the benefit of the organization. My counterpart's name is Lyudmilla. She has been working at the orphanage since it opened in the 80's and is the English teacher there. She seems really nice and is excited to get to work. Her English is excellent, so that takes some of the pressure off my Russian but I do want it to get better. She had many ideas for projects and things I could do for the kids at the orphanage. It sounds like I have my work cut out for me.

10/31/2009

Today was our Swearing-In Ceremony. We went from mere trainees to full-fledged Peace Corps Volunteers. It was a very exciting day! The Country Director of Peace Corps Kazakhstan gave a speech, as did someone from the Ministry of Education and the U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan. Two volunteers gave speeches, one in Russian and one in Kazakh. There was even an entertainment portion of the ceremony and our training group performed an original song, written by a girl in our group. It detailed our time here so far and was pretty funny.

After the speeches and performances were done, we all got to go up to the microphone in front of the stage, say our names and the name of the places were were headed. Next we shook hands with the Ambassador, had our picture taken, then shook hands with the Country Director and received our Peace Corps pin with the Peace Corps logo and the American and Kazakhstan flags on it. Pretty cool. My group mate Jessica shaking hands with the U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan:

Following the ceremony, a large group of volunteers had to leave for the train station to catch their trains. My group, those of us going up north, doesn't leave until tomorrow for some reason. So we said good-bye to our friends, and wished them luck. It was hard to say good-bye to everyone but we will see each other again in March when we meet for a training conference.

11/7/2009

I have officially arrived in Petropavlovsk, after an amazingly long 32 hour train ride. I have included a picture for you to see the vast steppe that makes up a large part of Kazakhstan. You can see nothing but flat land for miles and miles. The pictures I took are of bad quality because my camera did not appreciate the moving train. You can also see a short video I took of the scenery. Again, I apologize for the quality. Occasionally, a man on a horse, sheep herder or random smattering of farm animals would be grazing the land. Other times there would be small villages clustered near the railroad tracks, but otherwise there seemed to be miles and miles of nothing.

The train itself was pretty fun, as there were 14 or so volunteers heading to their sites on that train. So there were plenty of people to talk to, play cards with, or eat some snacks with. My counterpart also took the train with me, so she was there to help with luggage and to speak to the conductor.

We arrived in Petro late Monday night. Out of the 14 of us, only 4 of us were left to get out at the last stop, which is Petropavlovsk. Everyone else got off at their destinations earlier. Of the 4, two of us will be in the city and two others will be in villages outside of the city. When we stepped off the train, the current volunteers were there to greet us with some of their friends. The orphanage had sent a van for me and my counterpart along with two older boys who had the unfortunate job of carrying my luggage. I tried to help them, but they wouldn't hear of it.

I went into work this week to meet the staff and the kids. Unfortunately, they have a week off that started Thursday (11/5) and will continue until next Thursday (11/12). The vacation has to do with the end of the term and all students in Petro have the week off. Teachers still report to work, as they have to calculate grades and write many reports. Thus, there is not much for me to do this week, but it is good to meet the staff and see how things work.

Last Days in the Village....

10/26/2009

Today was our last full day in the village. Crazy! My stuff is packed, can you believe it? Tonight we had a party with our host families. They all cooked wonderful dishes and we danced and had a good time. My host family made plov (see photo below).

and “francayski salat” (french salad). Basically, it's shredded beets, cabbage, carrots, fried potatoes, meat and mayonnaise. Very tasty, especially without the meat!

They also taught me how to dance “Uighurski” style, so I could dance at the party. See photo of the girls teaching me in the kitchen.

The party was a nice way to end our time with them and show our gratitude for their hospitality. We wrote wishes for our host families in Russian (with the help of our teachers) and they wrote some to us. Here is a picture of me reading my wishes to my host mom.
We played some games, danced Uighurski style (see photo below of me and my host mom)

and ate a lot. It was a great time, and we will not soon forget the exceptional hospitality shown to us by this community.

10/27/09

What a day! Did nothing all morning, but waited for bus to meet us at 12:30. Walked the girls to school and took some photos of my house, because I realized I didn't have any. I know it's kind of late, but I wanted to have pictures in order to remember my house in the village. You can see the front of the house which is covered with trees. You can also see the backyard, where the outhouse is. The garden had many flowers in the summer, but as it is late fall, everything is brown. The apple trees were on the other side of the driveway, which you can't see unfortunately.

When it was time to go, my host mom's son-in-law drove us to the cafe, so I didn't even have to carry my stuff. Good thing, since it has gotten heavier since my arrival. Cindy (another volunteer) and I technically live in another village different from everyone else. My host mom arranged for the bus to pick us up at the cafe, since it was too far to carry our stuff to the training site. The bus was late of course, so we took many pictures at the cafe and park before the bus arrived. I realized I haven't shown any photos of my host family, so here they are. My host mom is wearing the leather jacket. Cindy's host mom is wearing the purple jacket. The little girls and the baby are my host mom's grandkids. The woman holding the baby is the girls' mother, my host mom's daughter. The girl next to me is Cindy's host sister and the other girl is her friend. We said good-bye when the bus came, and many tears ensued. I hope we can go back to visit the next time we are in Almaty.