Counterpart Conference week

Finally back home after a long week of counterpart conferences in Almaty, certainly glad it’s over, swearing in and site departure are a week away. It was somewhat comforting to meet my counterpart, but very difficult at times working with her throughout the conference. She was more than friendly, approachable, excited to work together, and cooperative, but at times I felt like I had to pull her through every activity of every workshop in the conference. When our country director gave a speech she asked me if he was George Bush….I had to do my best not to burst into laughter on the spot…but later did. It seems like people in Kazakhstan are under the impression that George Bush is all powerful, can be in multiple places at once, and has some sort of weird divine right where he will always be in one way or another, in power….thankfully not the case.
Maybe because this is the first time she has worked with a PCV she still seems very unclear about some of the procedures, rules, and things that PC wants us to follow. At the same time she is very receptive to new ideas, is very accommodating (she made coffee for me at every break), and pleasant to work with. I think this assignment will require me to be much more assertive, decisive, and confident in my own actions. I believe it will definitely give me much more free range than many of the other volunteers, especially those who are working with a teacher who is on their 4th or 5th volunteer, will have.
Another comforting aspect of this assignment is even if I only get from 1% to 2% towards the right direction it will still be progress (in fact double the amount of progress in my example). I think I may have to settle for lesser end goals (Originally when I imagined this two years I thought my students would be able to read Alexander Dumas or something by the end of my time here….now I am hopefully going to get at least to Curious George, either way it is progress despite how small it could be.
I have also gotten host family information about my choices for who I will be staying with for the first 6 months at my permanent site. Family A is a single 51 year old business owner in a 2 bedroom apartment, Family B lives in a supposedly big two story house with 3 children under 9 years old, and a dog. Right now I am leaning towards living with the older woman, but will have to wait and see.
Being in Almaty was entertaining, the one evening Chris and I went ate at a Chinese restaurant which was easily the best meal I can remember having in a long time, but if I had ordered in at home would of thought it was sub-par……. funny how perspective changes everything. I know I will not be getting that type of food for quite some time (Maybe March at the next round of conferences?). Rooming with Chris was awesome; we had a blast with a few of the other volunteers.
Chris and I definitely have a good friendship and are able to talk about things outside of our Peace Corps day to days. In one of our conversations Samuel Dalambert, came up somehow…first time I thought of him since being in Kazakhstan. Upon thinking of Samuel Dalambert and his sub par basketball skills I became humored, sickened, nostalgic, frustrated, and a touch homesick.
The reality is pre service training has been a very unrealistic representation of what life in the Peace Corps is usually like (especially with me being about 5 hours away from the closest Americans). At times I am sure the road (and especially 2 day train ride alone to site) will be very unsettling, uneasy, and lonesome. I am positive this winter will be one of the more difficult experiences of my life, but am accepting it as a challenge, and ultimately something I know I can do. I know at times not being able to communicate will be difficult, the sun only being up for about 6 hours a day might bring out The Shining in me, but I think that with the right attitude, mindset, and perspective I will be fine.
One a few other random tangents………If you were planning on sending me any letters or packages…DO NOT SEND THEM TO THE ADDRESS I GAVE OUT…I am moving next week……...I hope the Phillies repeat and will definitely introduce my class to the concept of a hopeful two World Championships in a row. I have posted a few random pictures from the conference certificate, my PC ID card, and some other good pictures in general from my trip thus far.
One more thing…………HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABBY AND MATT…I LOVE THE BOTH OF YOU ANDWISH I WERE THERE.
Love and miss everyone, and would like to thank anyone who feels at all compelled to read this, please be in touch with me

“Meanwhile life-real everyday life, with its essential concerns of health and sickness, toil and rest, and its intellectual preoccupations with thought, science, poetry, music, love, friendship, hatred, passions-went on as usual, independent and apart from all potential reforms.”

Last Day of School (kind of)

Hello..hope all is well. The week is officially over and the brunt end of Pre Service Training is as well. The next two weeks will hopefully be a breeze (and have a much lighter schedule) than the past 8 have. My work at the school is done, as we had our last class on Saturday. The students turnend in their projects about Kazakhstan, and did a great job, I was really impressed with how hard they worked and how well they were able to describe their country in English. The students were definitely more hardworking, motivated, and gifted than I had imagined they would have been. I am a little reluctant and saddened to be leaving them for new studnets who may not have the same attitude about school (especially since they have never worked with a Peace Corps Volunteer before).
My Russian test was also this week, I think I did fairly well. I will probably score a novice high score, rather than the Intermediate Low score I really wanted, but I guess I will have just a bigger jump to make later. I got really frustrated during the test because the woman asked me to describe the rules of Jeopardy in russian (which clearly I am not able to do) and I told her that during the test, but she insisted I could. Also, she asked me inane things like what are my favorite books to read and who are my favorite authors..NOT the stuff about my previous work experience, family, daily routine, goals of peace corps, or any of the things that I was actually taught to say in Russian. Anyway, the test has no bearing on anything so I should not get so worked up about it.
This coming week we will be in Almaty for a few days to meet our counterpart for the next 2 years. I am VERY unsure about what that situation will be like, I just hope for good luck with my counterpart. I do not have any idea of what this person will be like to work with, what their attitude will be towards me, or what their expectations are of me. Honestly working with them for 3 days in PC's setting will probably not give me any better of an indication of them either...it will not come until I am actually in my village, working with that person everyday.

Hopefully while I am in Almaty I will also be able to get my laptop out of customs in Kazakhstan where it is currently being held (to my disdain).

Recently my host family has been treating me as far less of an outsider...I am now allowed to drink at the family gatherings, make jokes, I watch tv with them pretty regularly (tv is NOT censored at all here either) and just in general feel more at home with them. They definitely have never seen Microwaveable Easy Mac before which is interesting trying to explain to them, also they still think that me walking in the house barefoot will cause me to be sterile for some reason, and they blame when I am sick on that fact that I drink cold water (I have to sit there and not laugh for that...which is the most difficult part). I would love to know how strange they think I must be.

Anyway once I get to my permanent site around the 3rd of November I will hopefully have a computer, and be buying an internent connection in my host family's house (unless one of them already has it in which case......get ready for me host family!!!). Point being I would like to keep a much more descriptive, regular blog, with more pictures, and more stories. Hopefully this will be possible with regular internet access. Also I would like to make this blog look alot more interesting than it currently does, just do not feel like messing with those things in a crowded, expensive internent cafe.

frightening

Today I witnessed easily one of the most unsettling things ever. I was in between classes at my school, enjoying some fresh air when suddenly I heard a girl screaming. I had no idea what was happening but figured it was high school drama. When I turn around I saw four clearly older guys carrying this girl out of the schoo1, 1 had a knife and cut the principal of my school on the hand in the struggle. They held the door shut from the outside baracading the principal and the other students inthe school. The principal and a bunch of the older male students were trying to fight off the 4 men but it was futility. Chris (one of the other Volunteers) and I both just watched te entire episode in total shock and confusion the whole thing could not have been more than 2 minutes. At one point a took a step forward out of curiousity when I heard Chris say "that guy has a knife" which made me freeze. I feel awful that nothing was done on my part, truly. Unfortunatley 3 of the guys ended up carrying the girl away screaming, kicking, and yelling help. The police were called, the director was taken into an ambulance, and I can not imagine what could be happening to the girl right now. I have felt this bad few times in my life. Also, when I asked my counterpart if class was still on for the day...she said of course, as though nothing had happened. So I still have to teach 2 classes for the day, the first of which starts in about 15 minutes. I feel like my English lesson couldn't have less importance than it does today, and in juxtaposition to what I just witnessed I know it doesn't at all.

Site Announcement Day

The words mentioned above are probably the most anxiety causing days in the life of any Peace Corps Trainee, this is easily the most important day of the life of any Peace Corps Volunteer (so they say). All of pre service training had been leading up to this occasion where we will find out where we will actually all be working for the next 2 years. The announcements were done in an auditorium with the slowest power point presentation I have ever witnessed (intentionally obviously) while oblast by oblast (think states in the US) they announced where all of us will be working individually, when your name was called you were to stand up, receive your chocolate bar and apple, and quickly sit back down so the next poor soul could be alleviated of their anxiety by knowing their permanent placement. I think there are about 7 oblasts that PCV's work in while serving in Kazakhstan...my oblast was the 6th one announced. After seeing friend by friend be assigned to different oblasts, I began to get increasingly less optimistic about what my permanent site would be. Finally...it was announced...the Aktobe region of Kazakhstan....along the Russian boarder, in the north, above the Caspian Sea. I am 4 hours away from the city of Aktobe...which is the nearest PCV to me...who happens to be a married couple...you can guess how excited I am about my placement. Also, I am a 45 hour train ride from Almaty.
My site is also a pioneer site...meaning no other PCV has ever worked in the school, or town I will be in. This town (of 13,000 people..ugh) has never had an American working in their school.
Amongst PCVs having a pioneer site is supposed to be a comment on the PCVs supposed character, determination, ability, being very far from any other volunteers is supposed to be PC's vote of confidence in your strength. I have very mixed feelings about this situation.
I will say I am extremely proud of the fact that PC believed me capable of handling such an amount of obstacles. Apparently my counterpart at my current school spoke of my teaching ability highly, and PC staff felt I was determined, strong...yada yada yada...but I still cant help but feel sorry for myself somewhat, especially seeing some of the other cool placements my friends have gotten. One of my friends, Andrew, is in my oblast..but there are only 5 people in my oblast in general. Will definitely be spending alot of time alone in the coming months. Please be sure to send me all of the longest books that I have never read but always wanted to....(Great Expectations...would be a welcomed Christmas present). Anyway, thank you all for reading and please do not feel sorry for me in any way imaginable. I will be fine and always have been.

"the only thing I knew how to do was to keep on keeping on"

this is the most i've listened to steely dan in my life

Hello everyone. Sorry agian for not posting in such a long time. I wanted to thank everyone for their love, support, respect, and friendship. I would also like to apologize fr writing such worrisome things last time, I realize that is doing a disservice to anyone who reads this and will save those for private conversations or keep them to myself in the future.
The past 2 weeks have been extremely busy and I have had very little downtime. I have been teaching 4 english classes a week (usually 5th 6th and 7th graders), observing my fellow PCV's lessons, taking russian class for 4 hours a day, running and english club at the school, and doing a community project..sigh. Often, email time takes a back seat...thigns should slow down considerably around halloween.
We will find out where our permanent sites will be on Friday evening, everyone is anxious and it seems to be all anyone talks about as of late. I have the feeling I will be sent to southern kazakhstan because all of my observers of classes have been from southern kazakhstan, but that is just speculation. The south has its advantages and disadvantages just like everything else. The southern part of the country is known to be a little more wild west like....where assaults are a little more common, maybe just a little more lawlessness in general is more common, but on the plus side it will be much warmer there than the far north which averages about 15 below in the winter.
My obervations by my peers and PC have been coming back very well. I am usually praised for my ability as a teacher, which is very encouraging, espeically since i feel very deficient in Russian. We have our language test next week, where we will judged on our speaking ability. No one gets sent home for a bad score, its almost all a matter of pride, but no one wants to be a novice level language speaker.
For the most part I am enjoying teaching, and think I do a good job. It has been difficult because the 2 textbooks I teach out of are from 1978 and 1983 (Soviet Era) so many of the English tasks revolve around talking about how Britain's government does not defend the working class..sometimes I dont know if I should laugh or throw the books away. I have pictures below of what is actually in some of the books, you should click on them and read it (especially the how patriotic are you quiz)..always a good laugh. Generally, I try to avoid the books lesson as much as possible and use my creativity to come up with a lesson that might be more about vocabulary, phrases, and grammar that are more important to thier speaking ability than dicussions of British parliament. The visual aids you see below were on a lesson about traveling and compleltey killed my saturday night a few weeks ago, but were worth it because PC, my teaching counterpart, and the other volunteers could not believe how well made they were and how effective they were in the classroom.
This past weekend as particularly interesting. It was a holiday for the teachers and my host Mom got gifts of chocolate, flowers and a cordless telephone (Why??!) for the house. The cordless telphone is only in english and I have had to set it up, and wait while they picked the best ring tone and volume for it...then I got lucky enough to have its permanent location be decided as my room. For the first 2 days after they got it I could not enter the house without being asked to look at it, add information into it, or why it didnt work. Sunday morning my mom and a bunch of her teacher friends were in my house drinking vodka, singing and playing the dombra and had finished an entire bottle by 9 Am. I have never seen anything like it. I have been noticing many more oddities like this and will keep many of them for private stories after I get back.
Pretty excited to see the phils in the playoffs again and wish i was there.
one more thing....HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM


i love and miss all of you,
nick

Some new teaching pictures