9/13/2009
Some things never change...so after my last post, I lost my cell phone. Let me preface the story by saying that on Sundays, some of us like to go to Ecik (the closest large town) to use the internet. I was very proud of myself as me and two friends hailed a gypsy cab, negotiated the price and headed into Ecik. We got to the internet cafe, made some meaningful contact with friends and family and then grabbed a snack at a local cafe. After a very successful outing, we hailed another cab and headed back to our village. Shortly after exiting the cab, I realized that my cell phone had fallen out of my pocket in the cab!
9/18/2009
Very exciting day today! We had class in the morning with all of the other groups. All 65 of us listened to Peace Corps volunteers who have finished their 2nd year of service and have signed on for a 3rd year! I can't imagine surviving the first two years, never mind volunteering for a 3rd. They had really interesting stories to tell and had some great successes at their sites. They were also very honest about Peace Corps service and told us about their failures as well.
After the volunteers were done talking we had a one hour lecture from a former Peace Corps Volunteer who was in Kazakhstan from 1998 – 2000. He now lives in Almaty after living in Russia and Tajikistan following his service. He gave us a brief synopsis of Kazakhstan's history which was very interesting. You could tell he had done his research.
Following the lecture, we boarded two buses and headed for the mountains. We went to this place called Tyrgen outside of Ecik. There we completed a short hike to a waterfall. The hike was not long, but was rather steep. Our hard work was rewarded when we got to the waterfall. It was gorgeous and the view was incredible.
It was fun to relax and enjoy the company of the other volunteers. We felt like we were on vacation somewhere and it was a welcome diversion from our usual routine. I left my hiking boots back in the U.S. due to space limitations. So I had to hike up in my Birkenstock sandals. They did the trick fine, but there were definitely some places where we had to cross streams of water on slippery rocks that made me a little nervous. I made it fine, but hiking boots would have been much easier to walk in. However, I put my self-consciousness aside when I was at the top and saw a group coming up with one woman in stiletto heels! I kid you not. Our Russian teachers were laughing, and they said a Russian woman never misses a chance to look good, even when mountain climbing. It was one of the craziest things I had ever seen, but I admire her talent, because if I had done that I probably would have broken an ankle.
9/20/2009
We had a very exciting weekend. We had class on Saturday morning, and in the afternoon all 10 of us from our village went to Almaty. A girl in our group had a birthday so we headed into the city to celebrate. We went out to dinner and then went back to the apartment to play cards. There was a 24 hour store downstairs from the apartment, so we were able to get Snickers, chips and beer. We've been warned not to go to bars, because that seems to be where volunteers have problems, and none of us want to get sent home.
Some folks from other groups that were staying in the apartment with us got a little crazy and were being kind of loud. That mixed with sleeping on the floor, means that I did not get any sleep Saturday night. At about 3 AM one of my friends got up and asked if anyone else was awake. Two of us were, so the three of us went outside and talked. At about 5 AM, we figured it was safe enough to walk to the 24 hour internet cafe. So we packed up our stuff and left the apartment for the l5 minute walk to the internet cafe. We got to get online without having to wait, which was nice, but for some reason none of my blog stuff would load. How frustrating!
After that we went to find some breakfast, and did some quick shopping and then found a bus home. I slept the whole bus ride home (about a 1½ hour ride). It was nice to return to our village after a crazy night in the city.
9/24/2009
This week we did a lot of work on the various projects we are working on. We had to design an extra-curricular activity/club, design a community project and plan a day camp. We have been working on the camp and the community project for a few weeks, but the proposals were due Monday the 20th. The projects are designed to give us some practical experience, as we will probably be involved in some of these activities at our sites.
We will be doing the camp for three afternoons after school in mid October, at the school in our village. We had to plan the whole thing and work within the framework we were given. The camp will be for about thirty 8th grade students and we have about seven 11th grade students who have volunteered to help us out. We'll play some games, do some work on computers, and complete some art projects. The students will also work on team building and leadership skills. It should be interesting. Most of the 11th graders are able to speak some English and should be able to help us communicate with the 8th graders. I'll let you know how it turns out! Here are some photos of the kids we'll be working with at the school. We were doing a community activity with them, that they seemed to enjoy.
My language group, and the people that I am working with on the camp.
9/27/2009
This week also marked the end of week 5 of Pre-Service Training, so we are half way through. We have 5 weeks to go before swearing in as full Peace Corps Volunteers on Halloween. Our trainers and teachers presented us with a cake on Friday that we happily devoured!
In two weeks we get our site placements. We can't wait to find out where we'll be placed for the next two years. It's really exciting, but scary at the same time. I've adjusted fairly well to my life in the village and it will be hard transitioning somewhere new, without all of the support we receive here. I think I'm up to the challenge, but it still makes me nervous.
Some things never change...so after my last post, I lost my cell phone. Let me preface the story by saying that on Sundays, some of us like to go to Ecik (the closest large town) to use the internet. I was very proud of myself as me and two friends hailed a gypsy cab, negotiated the price and headed into Ecik. We got to the internet cafe, made some meaningful contact with friends and family and then grabbed a snack at a local cafe. After a very successful outing, we hailed another cab and headed back to our village. Shortly after exiting the cab, I realized that my cell phone had fallen out of my pocket in the cab!
9/18/2009
Very exciting day today! We had class in the morning with all of the other groups. All 65 of us listened to Peace Corps volunteers who have finished their 2nd year of service and have signed on for a 3rd year! I can't imagine surviving the first two years, never mind volunteering for a 3rd. They had really interesting stories to tell and had some great successes at their sites. They were also very honest about Peace Corps service and told us about their failures as well.
After the volunteers were done talking we had a one hour lecture from a former Peace Corps Volunteer who was in Kazakhstan from 1998 – 2000. He now lives in Almaty after living in Russia and Tajikistan following his service. He gave us a brief synopsis of Kazakhstan's history which was very interesting. You could tell he had done his research.
Following the lecture, we boarded two buses and headed for the mountains. We went to this place called Tyrgen outside of Ecik. There we completed a short hike to a waterfall. The hike was not long, but was rather steep. Our hard work was rewarded when we got to the waterfall. It was gorgeous and the view was incredible.
It was fun to relax and enjoy the company of the other volunteers. We felt like we were on vacation somewhere and it was a welcome diversion from our usual routine. I left my hiking boots back in the U.S. due to space limitations. So I had to hike up in my Birkenstock sandals. They did the trick fine, but there were definitely some places where we had to cross streams of water on slippery rocks that made me a little nervous. I made it fine, but hiking boots would have been much easier to walk in. However, I put my self-consciousness aside when I was at the top and saw a group coming up with one woman in stiletto heels! I kid you not. Our Russian teachers were laughing, and they said a Russian woman never misses a chance to look good, even when mountain climbing. It was one of the craziest things I had ever seen, but I admire her talent, because if I had done that I probably would have broken an ankle.
9/20/2009
We had a very exciting weekend. We had class on Saturday morning, and in the afternoon all 10 of us from our village went to Almaty. A girl in our group had a birthday so we headed into the city to celebrate. We went out to dinner and then went back to the apartment to play cards. There was a 24 hour store downstairs from the apartment, so we were able to get Snickers, chips and beer. We've been warned not to go to bars, because that seems to be where volunteers have problems, and none of us want to get sent home.
Some folks from other groups that were staying in the apartment with us got a little crazy and were being kind of loud. That mixed with sleeping on the floor, means that I did not get any sleep Saturday night. At about 3 AM one of my friends got up and asked if anyone else was awake. Two of us were, so the three of us went outside and talked. At about 5 AM, we figured it was safe enough to walk to the 24 hour internet cafe. So we packed up our stuff and left the apartment for the l5 minute walk to the internet cafe. We got to get online without having to wait, which was nice, but for some reason none of my blog stuff would load. How frustrating!
After that we went to find some breakfast, and did some quick shopping and then found a bus home. I slept the whole bus ride home (about a 1½ hour ride). It was nice to return to our village after a crazy night in the city.
9/24/2009
This week we did a lot of work on the various projects we are working on. We had to design an extra-curricular activity/club, design a community project and plan a day camp. We have been working on the camp and the community project for a few weeks, but the proposals were due Monday the 20th. The projects are designed to give us some practical experience, as we will probably be involved in some of these activities at our sites.
We will be doing the camp for three afternoons after school in mid October, at the school in our village. We had to plan the whole thing and work within the framework we were given. The camp will be for about thirty 8th grade students and we have about seven 11th grade students who have volunteered to help us out. We'll play some games, do some work on computers, and complete some art projects. The students will also work on team building and leadership skills. It should be interesting. Most of the 11th graders are able to speak some English and should be able to help us communicate with the 8th graders. I'll let you know how it turns out! Here are some photos of the kids we'll be working with at the school. We were doing a community activity with them, that they seemed to enjoy.
My language group, and the people that I am working with on the camp.9/27/2009
This week also marked the end of week 5 of Pre-Service Training, so we are half way through. We have 5 weeks to go before swearing in as full Peace Corps Volunteers on Halloween. Our trainers and teachers presented us with a cake on Friday that we happily devoured!
In two weeks we get our site placements. We can't wait to find out where we'll be placed for the next two years. It's really exciting, but scary at the same time. I've adjusted fairly well to my life in the village and it will be hard transitioning somewhere new, without all of the support we receive here. I think I'm up to the challenge, but it still makes me nervous.
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ReplyDeleteI love the story about the woman hiking in heels. That beats the time I saw 3 girls hiking a rather steep Mt.Wachusett trail in Flip Flops!
ReplyDelete