Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Return home, Kazakhstan style

The most positive thing about IST was the attitude that we had after that training. Most of us, including me, had a bit of energy injected into us, especially after a long winter that would just not go away. So, I returned to Makinsk to see that most of the snow had melted away, but left behind a ridiculous amount of mud that would just not go away. Everything got muddy, there was no way it couldn't because most of the streets aren't paved but dirt roads. Melting snow plus dirt roads always equals mud. This was not a good omen.
The most frustrating thing to deal with in the Kazakhstani educational system is complacency and laziness. These are problems that volunteers cannot single-handedly get rid of. An apt point would be an example. One of the first classes back from IST, I did a lesson on goals. This class was with a 10th grade Kazakh speaking class. Since, only 11 years of school are compulsory, this is basically the equivalent of a Junior class back in the States. This is the time that students start to think about what they want to after high school and hopefully have goals and ambitions. So, since we are only a couple hours away from the national capital, I thought I would hear a little ambition from the students. Instead, most of the students just wanted to stay in their little village, even though jobs are scarce and hard to come by. It's this complacency and the laziness that is attached to it that makes me feel like a Whack-A-Mole sometimes. You get an idea, but kind of get smacked back down by the lack of wanting to put a step forward. It's a cultural thing, but one I think that dates back a few hundred years. There were the Soviets but also the Tsars too who basically gave edicts to people and expected to be obeyed. Because of that, I still feel there's a bit of expectation that someone from above will tell you what to do and you do it. This is probably a trait that will take a long time to die. In the mean time, I need to give these kids something to be ambitious about.

IST

As any organization or business, Peace Corps has us do periodic trainings. Right after Nauryz, we had what was called In-Service Training, or IST for short (we're all about the acronyms here). First I had to get to Almaty from Shymkent. With most of the trains booked, I decided to take a sleeper bus. It was about the size of a coach bus, maybe slightly larger, with 3 rows of beds which are overlapping, so that your pillow is on a bump under which is the next passenger's feet. The beds were also barely wider than a person's body. We were sardines for about 12 hours, but it wasn't too bad. The only thing was that the bus was made in China so it was made to the proportions of Chinese people. There aren't many 6 foot Chinese people like me, so it wasn't the most comfortable trip, but it was oddly relaxing.
Once I got to Almaty, I went and stayed with Kyle, another volunteer that I get along with. We did the normal things, eat chili and swap movies and pretty much just talk. After the stay we had to go to Kok Tobe, the sanitorium where we do all our central trainings. We were greeted by meetings galore. Some of them were helpful, like the grant meetings and the summer camp meeting, some were not. The culture sessions were lots of bitching sessions about our particular sites, but that may be just because we have to get things off our chests temporarily. Just sometimes our ethnocentrism pokes its ugly head through. At the end they gave us new books and new English supplies. Unfortunately, most of them involve the need of a copier, which most of our schools lack. It's the thought that counts. I'd go on for a little longer, but there's nothing interesting about meetings, so I think I'll end it here.

Nauryz

I know I haven't been able to write a post recently. I'd love to say it's because I haven't had internet, but I've been struck down with a bout of lethargy, so I'm hoping to pound out a few posts to try and catch up. Who knows, I might get it fully updated.
So this first one involves Nauryz. Nauryz is the Kazakh new year, so it's all about the Kazakh culture. In general, this involves eating lots of beshbarmak (boiled mutton and noodles), baursak (fried dough balls) and drinking kummyz (fermented mare milk). To be frank, the Kazakhs are not brilliant culinary masters. I mean, kummyz tastes like a mix of buttermilk and stale beer. The entertainment is a little better. There's kokpar, which is polo played with a headless goat, and kizku (bad spelling), which is a man chasing a woman on horseback trying to steal a kiss while the woman hits him with a riding whip. This would have been great, but unfortunately they didn't do either one of these sports, so some of the excitement was not there.
So, I met up with a few volunteers in Astana and we made our way to Shymkent. To go from the North to the South or vice versa is usually a 24 hour trip, so the only way to keep your sanity is to have a lot of entertainment or some people to chat with. Check on that list. So we arrived there and with a large amount volunteers split into various rented apartments. I love being around other Americans, but sleeping on a floor with 8 other people can fray ones nerves.
Anyway, we went to Turkestan, which is one of the few ancient parts of Kazakhstan. Most of the country was nomadic, so history is a lot of conjecture and hearsay. Turkestan is close enough to the Silk Road. Anyway, in Turkestan was a mausoleum to an imam, which was pretty and interesting in itself. My great genius forgot my camera, so I should hopefully get photos from other volunteers. Anyway, the tilework on the mausoleum was cool, but the interior was plain and barren. The funny thing for me is that the Kazakh Muslims consider 3 trips to Turkestan equivalent to one trip to Mecca. I'm not sure how Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia would agree to that logic. So after a few hours wandering around in glorious heat, which is much better after 4-5 months of constant negative degree temperature, we returned to Shymkent.
As is normal with groups of Americans, we went out to a night club, which was actually a good way to let off some steam. However, as usually happens when people and alcohol are mixed together, drama ensued. I don't feel like getting into the depths of it, partly because it's personal, partly because I don't fully remember all the nights. Suffice it to say Peace Corps is a small community and rumors and gossip tend to fly much faster and much farther in small communities. Toss in locals here who can be a bit eccentric at times and the proverbial can hit the fan.
So, to be able to stay there a bit longer, we had to do a little work. So, Phil, one of the local volunteers, had us do a project with some of his students from college and university. He has a lot of students who will work in the local service industries and as interpreters, so they need practice working with native speakers. So, most of us went on tours with local university students and we wandered around asking questions. I was surprised at their level of English, but then of course my starting point are 17 year olds who can't answer the question "how are you." So it was refreshing talking English and correcting English from a more advanced speaker. Plus it doesn't hurt that she wasn't hard on the eyes. :-)
Finally, the most important part of this trip: FRESH FRUITS AND VEGETABLES!!! Food in Kazakhstan is not like food in the U.S. The seasons are adhered to strictly here because most people buy their food every few days. Also, with most of the country blanketed in snow for long stretches of time, there's none available. So, just the ability to buy fresh apples and peppers and other things that are not potatoes and cabbage was such a refreshing experience. One of my first experiences was buying 2 pounds of apples and eating them right away. It's the little things in life that count.