I think…
1. …that winter is officially over in Karabulak. It snows in the morning, but it melts by midday. The air smells like spring, and it feels like my town is waking up from a long sleep. People are actually out and about. Surviving the winter was my number one priority (the first winter for PCV’s in Kazakhstan can be brutal, more mentally than physically unless you live in the way north), but I think that now I can safely say that I got through my first Kazakhstan winter in one piece.
2. …that I liked the interns that I had in February. The first week was rough but then things got better . After the hard start, we got some work done: we started English clubs in all of the schools in my town (unfortunately only one will survive into March), did a LOT of English-Russian translations (my favorite: they translated part of Obama’s inauguration speech. Their favorites: translating half of the songs on the Pussycat Dolls latest cd), and got an introduction to the concept of volunteering. They say that they want to come back in the summer for another practicum. I hope they do.
3. …that it’s crazy that March is the 8th month I have lived in Kazakhstan, and will be the 5th month that I have been a PCV. I have truly entered uncharted waters: the longest I have been out of the country previously was a 5 month stint in Germany. I’m not homesick, but amazed that I’ve been gone that long.
4. …that the PCV’s in Taldy Korgan are awesome. I don’t go there often, but when I hang out with them, even just for lunch, my week automatically gets better.
5. …the news anchor on “NBC Nightly News” has a neck the size of his shoulders. However, that may be just me.
6. …that I will travel this summer. I’ve seen Karabulak, Taldy Korgan, Issyk, and Almaty, and those places are cool. However, Kazakhstan and the whole region has so many interesting places that I really want to see such as:
a. Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek, the capital, is not far from Almaty (4 hours), and a PCV who had been there last year showed me pictures of a cheap hiking tour he did. It was absolutely beautiful and the adventures he had sounded amazing (drinking kumis in a yurt, bathing in natural hot springs, hiking, having a snowball fight on a glacier in June, etc). Wait, I don’t think I am going. I KNOW I am going. You should too.
b. Northern Kazakhstan. I wouldn’t do this in winter, but the summer may be “cool”, in all aspects of the word
c. Astana. It’s far away, no PCV’s live there, and I’ve heard that it is really expensive, but I really do want to go there, if just for one day.
7. …that I need to start re-thinking about my living situation. This is not a complaint about my host family. I like them and they are like family, but I like doing certain things for myself. I also like silence sometimes, and that is hard to find. However, my host mother is an awesome cook, and my host brother and sister are really nice.
a. If I do leave, I may try to take one of the puppies that my host family has. One puppy in particular has attached itself to me and follows me everywhere: to the outhouse, to the banya, when I hang out my clothes. It even tries to follow me to work. It’s so cute, except it likes to roll around in the mud and snow.
8. …that I am going to make an effort to learn some Kazakh this month. I only learned Russian at PST, and while that is fine for my site and my work, Kazakh can come in handy. It will be tough, tackling two languages at once, but Kazakh is an interesting language and I need a break from teaching myself Russian. Also, I want to learn to do an awesome Kazakh toast for Naruyz.
9. …that my organization may have to make some hard choices regarding this building project in the near future, but they don’t know it yet. I’ll explain more about this later in the month.
10. …the Discovery Channel show Man vs Wild is so awesome! I acquired the first season from a Kaz 19, and have spent every night this past week watching Bear Grylls survive for 5 days in all of these horrible places with only some flint, a knife…and his camera crew. I wish I knew about this show before I left!
4 comments:
I think you also meant to say that you would visit Balkhash :-) Did you know that Lake Balkhash is the second largest in all of Central Asia...who wouldn't want to see that...AND it's not too far from Karaganda, which is not too far from Astana...I hear they have a T.G.I.Fridays in Astana,but I don't know if it's true, of if people are just tell me that because I believe it! Glad things are going well! 3 weeks til IST!! WOO WOO!!
I hate to ruin Man vs. Wild for you, but I wouldn't type the name of the show and controversy into google vmeste. Some of the stuff is more staged than it seems, but yes, the guy is still pretty awesome. I'm a Survivorman fan myself. It's actually a pretty boring show, but he doesn't even go with a camera crew, and that's pretty cool to me.
Come visit Karaganda (a hub for the trains) and we can visit Astana for a day trip. It's only a couple hours, and wouldn't be too expensive if we don't sleep or eat there. Plus, Karaganda's cool and should be on your list too. If you supported lists, that is. I kicked a dog this week, and thought of you.
Hey! What's your address there? I'd like to send you a letter.
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