Weekend Trips

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.