New Year’s

In the dead of winter, with temperatures regularly dipping below double digits, you’d think the smart thing to do with a vacation is head South with those intelligent, ornithological beings. Nope, instead I felt inspired enough to head North to Siberia. Well, a bunch of friends live up there, so that’s good enough to hop onto the train and enjoy myself in the confines of Petropavlovsk.

I would love to say that it was a deeply interesting time, but it wasn’t necessarily Spring Break in Cabo. All of us volunteers (roughly 10-12) gathered in a few apartments around the city. The weather was so bitterly cold (-20 F) that we didn’t really venture outside. Frankly, the only times we left were to get food and vodka. We basically Maslow’s basic hierarchy of needs, though we added vodka and beer to the shelter and food that every living being needs, or at least Peace Corps volunteers in the dead of winter. This is all in jest, of course.

Boiled down, we basically sat indoors, ate, shot the shit and played board games. I had never heard of this company called Rio Grande Games, but they put out a lot of good quality games. Most of them are strategy-based games. They are definitely not Candyland, but they’re good entertainment. My personal favorites were Carcassonne and Colonizers (this is my translation, I’m not sure what the actual name of it is in English). It was somewhat marred by the fact that one of the older volunteers and went home after a vacation in London, which left us to pack up his things. It is kind of sad to pack up the belongings of one of our peers. It also racked my mind because my first thoughts weren’t necessarily fellow-feeling for him as much as they were “I wonder if there’s anything I can take home.” Unfortunately, that’s the extent of life out here; we work and then we leave, usually leaving a lot of our possessions her for whichever scavenger wants them, whether they be Kazakhstani or American.

Don’t let this imply that I didn’t have fun. Just the simple face of going and hanging with a bunch of volunteers, including my best friend here, Sidd, raises our spirits. Spending an extended weekend with fellow Americans is the spiritual equivalent of relaxing on a beach in Bali. It was also fun because the last day we got to play a bunch of games with some orphans at the school that Becky, another volunteer in Petro, works at. They were definitely vibrant and alive, just happy to play very simple games with you and laugh. Something about kids being kids and not little shits or brats makes you feel like a kid. It’s the youthful exuberance that I hope to keep going the whole time I’m here. But I must say, I think the next vacation I’ll go somewhere a little warmer

Mindless thoughts for a thoughtless mind

Events of the past week serve to highlight my state of mind, and probably the state of mind of some of the other volunteers here. I say this because one of my best friends from PST just decided to leave early, which I can understand but doesn’t make me feel that great. I talked with him a few weeks ago and though he was fine, but he was put into a difficult situation, as I’ll explain.
The hardest thing about Peace Corps Kazakhstan is twofold. Number one, we are pretty isolated in Kazakhstan. There are a little over 150 volunteers in the ninth-largest country on earth. I have it easy by being on the electric train route with 2 volunteers being within a 45-minute train ride. The fact is that some volunteers, including my good friend, are hours away from the nearest volunteer. Number two, this is not the traditional Peace Corps where you’re in a random little village in Africa where there is nothing. On the contrary, I work in a school that has computers, the internet and interactive boards hooked up to computers. We did training on having limited resources, but that is far from the reality here.
I’m not going to deny that isolation is difficult, but that’s something we could prepare ourselves for. I mean, we signed up for the Peace Corps knowing we’d be far from people. It’s hard to reconcile the fact that we’re providing a service that is not provided in the country when there are a decent amount of resources available. Even worse is when you go to the cities and have to reconcile your preconceptions even more with what you hear and see. Just a few days ago, I was Shuchinsk and me and couple other volunteers went to a bar. While we were having a beer, we were watching Bordeaux vs. Montpellier on a flat screen. Also, one of my students had an iPhone. A fucking iPhone! I don’t know about other volunteers, but when I see that, I have trouble truly believing that I am truly needed in this country. It’s this slow stream of doubt that seeps into your brain from these external factors that combines with the internal factor of being alone. It’s not easy. But it’s moments where you hash things out in venues like this blog where it becomes therapeutic. I think I’m slowly taking the view that other education volunteers have taken. We may not change much here, if anything, but if one kid gets a chance abroad, I guess it was worth it. Expectations can only go higher.

Thanksgivng for cold times sake

The time has come to update the blog. I’ve been a little lazy so it’s about time to kick it into gear, I guess. I accidentally put this and the last blog out of order, but whatever. Either way, let’s talk turkey
Being far away from home, it’s the holidays like Thanksgiving that can really take a toll on somebody’s toll. Far and away, the worst period for an American abroad is the period between the end of Thanksgiving and right after New Year’s. It’s a malaise that just sneaks up on you then slowly snowballs until all of the joy of life is sucked out of you. Of course, this feeling doesn’t persist forever, but it can make life miserable.
One of the best medications is to simply hang out with people you share the same predicament, which luckily Akmola Oblast and North Kazakhstan Oblast has about roughly 20 volunteers in the same state of being within easy train ride from each other. So, we all gathered in Zerenda, one of the resort towns in Akmola oblast. As we all trickled in, there were plenty of handshakes to older volunteers and warm hugs to all the familiar faces from PST. And then we proceeded to try and drain the town of all the beer in town…
Well, not exactly. I jest because the stores around has had only a given amount of beer and the fact that 20-odd people coming in to town and looking to buy up bottles of beer for 2 days of revelry leads me to at least that the owners of these stores were very happy with our many purchases, but maybe the rest of the thirsty populous wasn’t. Eh, we were all reasonable, so it was a good time.
So, the plan of it was very simple. We basically chatted around over a few beers, played Ultimate Snow Frisbee, which I’m glad to say the amazing team of Myles, Holly, Sholpan, Niall and yours truly creamed the other team, and made thanksgiving. There were massive amounts of stuffing, turkey shashlik (basically marinated kebabs), mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, salad, fruit salad, pumpkin pie and chocolate bread. Any calories that may or may not have been lost during the Ultimate Frisbee match were officially gained back, and possibly tripled, during that feast. After toasts by everybody, some of us retired to the banya to clean ourselves and just chill in ridiculously scalding environments, which as some of you may have already divined from my previous posts is extraordinary. But literally the best part of it was just being around so many people and just talking in English with people who understand your position and can relate to you. So much of what you have to do here is diplomacy, trying to figure out if what you do and say is politically correct in new surroundings, making sure that you are understood instead of just having a makeshift human bobblehead nodding at you, worrying about whether you’re having an impact. In short, to relax, just plain relax. That’s definitely what I was thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Look Ma, I'm a Star

I have definitely been running around so much lately, which has made me feel a little guilty. I know I’m supposed to integrate within my community, but when it’s so damn cold out everybody’s running to get home and curl up next to the pechka (the central stove in homes here). Either way, I have a few ideas, including academic teams like back home in high school. I also want to do some financial education classes to kids and adults, especially since want happened not too long ago. In my school, when there are three bell rings in quick succession, that means there’s a teacher’s meeting, which annoys the hell out of me. Most of this is because there are only 6 classes in the day, so this destroys one of them, and the kids aren’t focused afterward. Unfortunately, we just got a new director, so these kinds of meetings are becoming more commonplace. Anyway, I prepared myself for the meeting, which is in both Russian and Kazakh, but instead the director or zavuch (vice-principal), we had a saleswoman from Kaspi Bank extolling the virtues of the credit available through her bank. Something about this smacks of the credit debacle back home, so I figure I might do some financial education when I learn enough Russian.
Anyway, back to the running around. So I have been to Kokshetau and Shuchinsk to the north of me because the older volunteers are there. However, I had a chance to go in the opposite direction, to Astana to do a radio interview. Jessie, one of the older volunteers who lives near Astana, invited us to do it, and I was the only one available. So, I packed my bags and headed to Shortandy. We headed the next day to the American Counsel to do an interview for one of the local radio stations, answering the standard questions about how we like Kazakhstan, why we chose to come here, etc. I still have to laugh about some of the questions, especially about the one about if I want my career to be a volunteer. Unfortunately, that’s not a very well-paying position, but I think I deftly swept it aside by saying that I want to have a career doing economic development with developing nations. The other one is always awkward is when they ask why we chose Kazakhstan, which in fact we did not. It’s always hard to see how they take the responses to that because we have to be truthful about it. I definitely can’t bullshit a good enough reason after spending half my time as a human popsicle.
Well Jessie and I stayed there and chatted with a few people who could be contacts to do events in Akmola oblast, then headed out for pizza, which may not sound extraordinary but is amazing after about a few months of potatoes in all its forms. After another night in the raging metropolis that is Shortandy (tongue in cheek of course), the boys all headed to Shuckinsk for our monthly banya night. It’s better because we supply the drinks and Segar supplies the awesome Indian food. I think I’m getting spoiled, but I guess any radio star eventually has to be brought down to earth to check his ego. Though I’m still waiting for my adoring admirers to come out of the cracks.

A little more about Makinsk

I can’t remember if I ever updated about my life here in Makinsk, but this sounds as good a time as any. I live in a home with Tatyana Pavelonvna, the psychologist who works at School #5, and that’s not just because she helps with the voices in my head. ;-) She is much more patient than my old host mom in Issyk was. I still don’t understand everything, but it’s easier and I’m a bit more motivated because there is a light at the end of the enormous tunnel that is the Russian language. Anyway, it’s her, her son Dema and Baba Vera, Tatyana’s mother. Dema is basically like my brother back home: obsessed with rock music, addicted to the computer and lacking in some maturity. But, I guess that should be considered standard for a 15-year-old. Baba Vera is kind of cool because she loves talking about Soviet times and the past. On the flip side, like old folks back home, she loves to talk about the various illnesses affecting her at the time. We live in a 4 room house that wraps around the central heating system that is the pechka, or a coal-burning stove that heats a central wall. When it’s baking, the house is hot, but otherwise it is cold.
I work at 2 schools now. The main school is School #5, which is a 15 minute walk from my home. It’s half-Russian language, half-Kazakh language, which gives it an interesting dynamic. It’s funny because some of the Russian classes have a lot of ethnic Kazakhs, but the Russian classes are much worse behaved than the Kazakh classes. Still haven’t figured out why. I have 4 teachers to work with, but mainly I work with Sara Amantaievna, who is very enthusiastic about the Peace Corps lesson plans. If she could just be a bit more forceful, I think she would be the model English teacher here. Guess that’s a project to work on. I haven’t worked with the other 3 that much, but they are young which is probably better than a bunch of old-school teachers who just work by the book. Unfortunately, that book is by a guy named Ayapova, and it is a monstrosity of a language book. There is no methodology and it repeatedly uses vocabulary that is over the students head. The other school is School #2 with Elena Yurievna who is a force of nature. In a nutshell, any stereotypes that you have ever heard about large, loud Russian women, that is Elena Yurievna. That’s not a slight against her because she is a very effective teacher and person to work with, but she is intimaditing.
The town isn’t small by village standards, but it is boring. Part of it may be the ridiculously cold temperatures. At night, it can get down to –35 and possibly –40 C, which is well below 0 F. But there’s a bank, a bazaar, some cafes and a train station on the electric train that goes between Astana and Kokshetau, which I can’t emphasize how important that is. It is very cheap to go in both directions and a lot of volunteers live on the train line, which allows us to all visit each other. I just need to make sure I don’t abuse that too much. Anyway, this is probably not as comprehensive as it could be, but that’s pretty much my life here.

Banya thoughts

There’s something about roasting in a banya that’s as hot as a roasting oven, except for the fact that there’s nothing dry about it, that gives you a clear mind to have completely erratic thoughts. I guess me being a dim sum would be a more apt metaphor. Anyway, maybe your brain gets addled by the heat or something that just puts the most random thoughts. Anyway, I’m just starting teaching classes in a few days so here a few of my banya thoughts, the horror, the horror.

First of all, I’m still having trouble coming up with an idea why Kazakhstanis are able to fully insulate their banyas so that the hot air stays inside it, but they haven’t quite gotten to insulating their houses effectively so that the hot air doesn’t leak out. But, it definitely is better up North. But, for all their blustering about cold weather, Kazakhstanis can be babies about the cold whether.

Food here has been pretty good, but I say that about the North of Kazakhstan. As my friend Nikita pointed out, it’s a lot of variations of meat and starches, which is fine right now, as long as I don’t balloon up, which my host families have definitely been trying to do. Either way, there has been less oil up North, which has been great. Surprisingly, I’ve been getting a decent amount of fruit, though that’s bound to clear away. I have had the pleasure to have a persimmon for the first time, which are delicious, and pomegranates coming out of my ears, which I’ll happily take.

Technology was also on my mind. I work at a school that has seven interactive boards, mostly because this is an initiative by the president here, Nazarbayev. Now these boards are useful, and once I figure out how to use them, they will probably be a valuable tool. At the same time, I think the English textbooks they use could definitely upgraded, especially under the prices of the interactive board. This kind of reminds me of my classes at Carthage on development and the discussions there of how to develop a country. Do you build up the technology or do things that are more basic, such as the textbooks? There are examples for both sides, whether it’s just cell phones versus slight changes in basic services. I’m still undecided on which is better, though I lean towards the replacement of horrible textbooks, any new resources are probably good in whatever capacity, especially since there are so many young people making education an important part of government.

I probably had some more thoughts rolling through my head, some more profound than others and some down-right stupid (come on, it’s me) but it kind of got too hot. So if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the banya.

Quick update

As it always seems in this country, I’ve had plenty of new things to happen and far to little time to reflect upon it. So, as per normal, this’ll be a hack job on way too much information to filter down.
So, we said goodbye to our host families and saddled up towards the actual part of our service. First, there was fact that we had to swear-in as official volunteers, as we had been only trainees for the past 2 and a half months. After many speeches and song and dance numbers, we became official Peace Corps Volunteers, as opposed to unofficial volunteers. Either way, this was the beginning of what is our real service. Most people got on the train right away, but the group going to Akmola and North Kazakhstan. This was kind of fun, because it gave us time swap music and movies and bottles of beer. Never anything wrong with that.
Anyway, we boarded the train for a whole day’s journey. Luckily it was with Patrick and Sidd, a couple of my best friends. Sidd was actually scheduled to be in another room with Becky and her counterpart, but he was kind of smoked out by the counterparts BO. We basically passed the time by watching movies, listening to music, playing cards and eating ramen. Though that may sound like a dream to most guys, doing it in a room the size of a closet that is normally meant for 4 people is not necessarily nirvana. But I was fine.
Anyway, so after a day, I arrived in Makinsk where Sara, my counterpart, and one of her friends, Asset, picked me up immediately and brought me to my host family choices. Though I would have liked to have a little time to think about it, I guess it’s best to get that choice out the way. There was a choice between a pensioner and the psychologist at my school. I eventually chose Tatyana, the school psychologist, mostly because it was a family, with her, her son Dima and her mother. The grandmother is kind of hilarious because every once and a while, she spouts off random Soviet sayings. Anyway, so far it’s been pretty good. She’s very patient with me, which is definitely different than my host mom in Issyk. I’ve had the chance to meet with Sara and the other teachers at School 5 along with Yelena Yurievna at School 2, the other school I’ll be working at. However, the teachers in my district are furloughed right now, so there really isn’t much I can do right now. But this next week coming up, I should hit the ground rolling.
As for a little anecdote, it is absolutely freezing here. Today’s temp was hovering around 0, which is bad enough in normal circumstances. However, there is no running water here, so anytime I need to go to the toilet, I have to don boots and a jacket and run out to the squat toilet. And also pretty much pray to good that you don’t get any stomach ailments. The flipside is that your cleaning choice is the banya once a week. Now once a week may sound like not very much, but there’s something about sweating for 15-20 minutes and then washing it all off. It actually makes you feel cleaner than just a straight shower. It reminds me of taking a sauna and then washing off in the lake in Hackensack at Lac du Bois. It’s definitely refreshing. Anyway, this is enough rambling for today. The internet connection is less common here, so posts may be a little less often. Anyway, tata for now.