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.
