Dog Days of Autumn

This post is just difficult to know where to begin because this whole week has just been a roller coaster, which is a cliche that is used far too often. I had my first class, which was terrible, mostly because I kind of caved in the middle of it. The second class that I taught went fairly well, but my perfectionist mind says there is plenty for me to improve upon. Then, Russian language class is just kicking my ass from here to Moscow, though I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it. It really hasn't been eventful, except for the fact that I've been going between hating being here to being happy that I'm here.
I think Friday definitely helped out, which was when we went to a waterfall nearby with all the Trainees. There were tons of people I hadn't seen or heard from in a few weeks, so it was complete sensory overload. The waterfall wasn't Victoria Falls, but there were plenty of hiking trails, and Mark, Becca and I ended up hiking to the top of the mountain, which wasn't necessarily the safest thing to do, but it was worth it. Life's all about living on the edge, or at least leaning over it for a look.
We also had our first English Club, which went better than I could imagine it. We ended up taking a group of 20 or so kids, and the fact that they wanted to sit there and practice English made it far more enjoyable than any class I have taught or observed to date. There skills are still lacking, but I guess that's why I'm here.
And for Nikita and Axel, I finally met the Wad. Frankly, you all wouldn't recognize him from your Ripon days. Well, at least physically. Well, my brain is mashed potatoes right now, and probably will be for a while, the wittiness will have to wait for later.

School Days

I'm actually about an hour away from teaching my first class, which should be fun but is completely nerve-wracking. I feel that I'm unprepared, but being the perfectionist that I am, that's pretty much normal. The main reason is that I've hit a low point. Minor conflicts with the host family coupled with being away from home for almost a month now means that my morale is at a low. It's something to be expected from living away from home, but it still sucks to have to plow through the low point. Luckily, everyone here seems to have hit the exact same point at the exact same time, so we all hate the world together.
That's not to say that things are bad. Saturday I went with Becca and Athena to Almaty and had an enormous meal at a relative of Becca's friend. There was a huge plate of beshbarmak (Kazakh national dish, horse, beef and noodles), baursak (fried bread), fresh fruit and tons of sweets with tea, including an apple dish that was so similar to Grandma's apple kugen, I wanted to cry then and there. But I'm a guy, so I'm contractually obligated by Man-law not too. Haha. But it was delicious, and then we met up with some people who have been here a while. Honestly, I think I just need to get past this on my own. Life is all about ebbs and flows, so I just need to get past the next couple weeks, and hopefully my teaching and Russian will be exponentially better. Anyway, time to teach the kiddos about introducing themselves in English. Ciao

Animal, Vegetable or Mineral

It's been kind of annoying to me that so far most of my blog posts have been pretty much just a narrative and nothing substansive, so I thought I'd try and expand on a few things, in particular the food and the people.
For all the warnings of the food before we arrived, it hasn't been too bad. It's pretty much been mostly combinations of pasta, rice or potatoes with some kind of meat (most of it has been mutton, I think) and some vegetables, like carrots, peppers and eggplants. Frankly, it's been better than any warnings, though this is summer so the fresh produce will probably dry up soon. Guess that will just leave meat and potatoes later. The vodka has also been few and far between, but the combination of Ramadan and the fact that I don't live with any males probably explains the lack of alcohol. Once I get to sight, it will probably be more present. As for drink, it's pretty much chai, chai, chai, and a little more chai. Frankly, I'm not sure if they drink water without a teabag in it. The one thing I have to write about is kumis, or horse milk. At least to my palette, it tastes horrible. It's basically if somebody mixed sour buttermilk and beer together. Not a pretty combination, they probably think I'm the weird one.
As to the hospitality, it has been extraordinary. There are always sweets on the table in case somebody comes, and a teapot at the ready to make some chai. Hell, sometimes I think they treat guests better than their families, even though that really isn't true. They have something here that they call ghosting, which is basically going over to somebody else's house. I did that and they brought out almost a dozen plates with different food and various drinks, including some vodka (luckily only a small bottle) And they'll sit with you and chat for hours, even if the only Russian you speak is broken Russian. I truly don't think you can get this kind of treatment in a 5 star hotel.
So pretty much all I've been doing is eating sleeping and studying. The only day we have off is Sundays, which last Sunday I hiked up into the mountains around Issyk with Mark and Athena (two volunteers) and Athena's host brother, sister and friends. The climb was damn near vertical, but the views in the end were worth it. I hope to get pictures up eventually, but I don't know when I'll have time. Anyway, tomorrow is Almaty and then a free day, so hopefully more adventures and stories to come.