December 18, 2007
Well, I recently got back from a reasonably relaxing weekend in the village of Sheelee. It is about two hours away by train, and its main claim to fame is that is the hometown of my counterpart and about 45% of my students. I do not how it happens, but apparently kids from Sheelee come in droves to go to the Humanitarian College in Kyzylorda. Still, it was definitely not all rest and relaxation. My counterpart’s family is huge! She has three brothers and two sisters, and three of them each have three kids. I was constantly surrounded by at least six screaming small children, and while they were fun to play with for the most part, there were a few that I felt were a little too needy. That said, the kids were great for language practice, and it was nice to get out of the city for a bit and get to know my counterpart a little better.
Actually, the original reason for the trip to Sheelee, was that things were expected to get a little crazy in the city over the weekend. Sunday was Kazakstan’s Independence Day, and there was rumor that there was going to be a big student demonstration against the government that would coincide with similar protests held in Almaty and Astana. The city government took it seriously enough that they spoke to the students at the university and the college, and our college sent home a letter asking parents to keep them at home that day. Still, ultimately nothing materialized, which just goes to show that even if some one does not like Nazerbaev, they are not ready to actually say it out loud.
вторник, 25 декабря 2007 г.
среда, 12 декабря 2007 г.
Weddings, Baby Showers, and Anniversaries
December 9, 2007
I apologize to everyone for the lack of recent entries recently, but to be honest, I did not have much to write about for the last couple of days. I just got finished with an extremely long and frustrating week, but I do have to admit that it was salvaged by the weekend, which has been awesome due to the glut of celebrations I have attended in the last two days.
Last week not only did I have my normal nine to five grind to take care of, but I also had the exciting opportunity to attend not one, but two seminars. The first seminar was a “Republic” seminar, which somehow made it more important, but at the time, I just found it incredibly boring, useless and frustrating. First off, only on Wednesday morning did my counterpart let me know that we would be participating in this important seminar on Thursday afternoon. Fortunately, we were going to pretty much give the same talk that we gave last month, but still it was little late notice. We got our stuff ready, rehearsed our material, and on Thursday afternoon got ready to make our presentation, and then we waited…for three hours. The presentation that was supposed to start at three did not actually begin until six because the visiting dignitaries were so late. This was annoying, but I thought, no big deal, we just had some extra rehearsal time. The first group of people came in, but we discovered that instead of fifteen minutes to give our talk, we only had five. This meant that rather give them an enlightening talk about the use of games and songs in the classroom, all we did was sing the Twelve Days of Christmas. Forty-five minutes later, the second group finally came in, and their time was cut so short that we actually only got through five days of Christmas. I have to admit I was a little pissed. I would not have minded to sitting around for four hours if I had been able to make the presentation, but to have wasted so much time was incredibly frustrating. I joined the Peace Corps because I wanted to contribute something, but that night my only job was to stand there while the director pointed at me like I was a new puppy or toy, and told everyone, “look, we have our own Peace Corps volunteer.” Then, two days later we got to do it all over again at a seminar for the English Teachers Association of Kyzylorda. Fortunately, I actually was able to give the full talk that time, but it was still three hours, and there were quite a few moments where I wanted to hit my head against the wall.
Still, as I said, the weekend has totally saved it. After not attending many parties the first few months, the weekend was filled with them. On Saturday night I went to the wedding party of one of my students. At nineteen, she is a little young to be married in my opinion, but she and her new husband seemed happy enough, so I was able to remove my America-tinged lenses for the most part, and see how for Kazaks this was the right time and a fun occasion. We had a great meal, I made a short toast in Kazak, and there was even some dancing. Then on Sunday there were two special occasions. The first was the one-year anniversary of my host sister’s wedding, and the second was the Baby Shower/Circumcision called a Besik, of a five month old cousin. Everyone gave that family so much stuff I do not how there are ever going to have room for it in the apartment much less use it all, but again it was a fun time with lots of family in attendance, though I did not actually see the guest of honor, Islam, the entire day. Although, given what they were doing to him, I am probably glad I did not.
All in all I have to say that the Kazaks know how to throw a party. I think I might prefer the American style wedding reception better, if just because there is slightly more dancing, but I might change my mind over the next two years. I am still just amazed at how friendly and welcoming everyone is, and how important all of these family celebrations are. At the wedding there were probably thirty people there that were part of the “immediate family” and were no prepared to do just about anything to help that new couple, and at the baby shower there were at least ten new host uncles and aunts. For someone whose whole family usually only got together three times a year, this has been quite an experience, and one I know I will remember for a long time.
I apologize to everyone for the lack of recent entries recently, but to be honest, I did not have much to write about for the last couple of days. I just got finished with an extremely long and frustrating week, but I do have to admit that it was salvaged by the weekend, which has been awesome due to the glut of celebrations I have attended in the last two days.
Last week not only did I have my normal nine to five grind to take care of, but I also had the exciting opportunity to attend not one, but two seminars. The first seminar was a “Republic” seminar, which somehow made it more important, but at the time, I just found it incredibly boring, useless and frustrating. First off, only on Wednesday morning did my counterpart let me know that we would be participating in this important seminar on Thursday afternoon. Fortunately, we were going to pretty much give the same talk that we gave last month, but still it was little late notice. We got our stuff ready, rehearsed our material, and on Thursday afternoon got ready to make our presentation, and then we waited…for three hours. The presentation that was supposed to start at three did not actually begin until six because the visiting dignitaries were so late. This was annoying, but I thought, no big deal, we just had some extra rehearsal time. The first group of people came in, but we discovered that instead of fifteen minutes to give our talk, we only had five. This meant that rather give them an enlightening talk about the use of games and songs in the classroom, all we did was sing the Twelve Days of Christmas. Forty-five minutes later, the second group finally came in, and their time was cut so short that we actually only got through five days of Christmas. I have to admit I was a little pissed. I would not have minded to sitting around for four hours if I had been able to make the presentation, but to have wasted so much time was incredibly frustrating. I joined the Peace Corps because I wanted to contribute something, but that night my only job was to stand there while the director pointed at me like I was a new puppy or toy, and told everyone, “look, we have our own Peace Corps volunteer.” Then, two days later we got to do it all over again at a seminar for the English Teachers Association of Kyzylorda. Fortunately, I actually was able to give the full talk that time, but it was still three hours, and there were quite a few moments where I wanted to hit my head against the wall.
Still, as I said, the weekend has totally saved it. After not attending many parties the first few months, the weekend was filled with them. On Saturday night I went to the wedding party of one of my students. At nineteen, she is a little young to be married in my opinion, but she and her new husband seemed happy enough, so I was able to remove my America-tinged lenses for the most part, and see how for Kazaks this was the right time and a fun occasion. We had a great meal, I made a short toast in Kazak, and there was even some dancing. Then on Sunday there were two special occasions. The first was the one-year anniversary of my host sister’s wedding, and the second was the Baby Shower/Circumcision called a Besik, of a five month old cousin. Everyone gave that family so much stuff I do not how there are ever going to have room for it in the apartment much less use it all, but again it was a fun time with lots of family in attendance, though I did not actually see the guest of honor, Islam, the entire day. Although, given what they were doing to him, I am probably glad I did not.
All in all I have to say that the Kazaks know how to throw a party. I think I might prefer the American style wedding reception better, if just because there is slightly more dancing, but I might change my mind over the next two years. I am still just amazed at how friendly and welcoming everyone is, and how important all of these family celebrations are. At the wedding there were probably thirty people there that were part of the “immediate family” and were no prepared to do just about anything to help that new couple, and at the baby shower there were at least ten new host uncles and aunts. For someone whose whole family usually only got together three times a year, this has been quite an experience, and one I know I will remember for a long time.
воскресенье, 2 декабря 2007 г.
More Dark
December 1, 2007
Before I came to Kazakstan I had never lived anywhere over the 23rd parallel, and now I know why. It is not the cold, a warm pair of socks, my wool jacket, along with my “Irish sweater” and I am good to go. Rather, it is the darkness that is beginning to get to me. I hate waking up at 7:00 and it being pitch black outside, and not only is it pitch black when I get up, it is still dark when I go to work! Due to the fact that most of Kazakstan is on one time zone and they do not use day light savings time, the sun does not rise in Kyzylorda till 9:00 AM, and it sets by 6:00 PM. Fortunately, the nine hours of sunlight is enough to keep me from getting Seasonal Affective Disorder, but I have to admit it is still a bit depressing. I can only imagine what my friends up in the great white north are dealing with it. Still I know it is not all bad. After all, when summer comes around I will get up to 15 hours of sunlight a day! Also, there was a time when all I wanted was more dark, when the sunlight streaming through the window to signal the arrival of a new day was a curse rather than a blessing. Unfortunately, unlike when I was four, I have to get up for work, which is not very easy in the deep darkness before dawn.
Before I came to Kazakstan I had never lived anywhere over the 23rd parallel, and now I know why. It is not the cold, a warm pair of socks, my wool jacket, along with my “Irish sweater” and I am good to go. Rather, it is the darkness that is beginning to get to me. I hate waking up at 7:00 and it being pitch black outside, and not only is it pitch black when I get up, it is still dark when I go to work! Due to the fact that most of Kazakstan is on one time zone and they do not use day light savings time, the sun does not rise in Kyzylorda till 9:00 AM, and it sets by 6:00 PM. Fortunately, the nine hours of sunlight is enough to keep me from getting Seasonal Affective Disorder, but I have to admit it is still a bit depressing. I can only imagine what my friends up in the great white north are dealing with it. Still I know it is not all bad. After all, when summer comes around I will get up to 15 hours of sunlight a day! Also, there was a time when all I wanted was more dark, when the sunlight streaming through the window to signal the arrival of a new day was a curse rather than a blessing. Unfortunately, unlike when I was four, I have to get up for work, which is not very easy in the deep darkness before dawn.
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