Birthday Stuff

I want to say a huge "thank you" to everyone who texted, called, emailed, instant messaged, and wrote on my Facebook wall wishing me a happy birthday. I spent the day doing laundry and packing up my things so that I can move with ease when I find a new place. Laundry's a big deal for me. For the first time since I've arrived in Kazakhstan, all of my clothes are clean. This is quite a feat, considering that I wash my clothes in a bucket by hand and rinse them in the bathtub.

My birthday could have been more awesome, but I would have had to put a lot of effort into it. In Kazakhstan, the birthday person organizes everything on their own: they cook the food, hang the decorations, and clean up. If they go out to a café, the birthday person foots the bill. I thought about cooking some American food and inviting some people over, but it would have been a lot of work and I wasn't willing to do that. This is one of the few times that I am not culturally open: I will not cook for others on my birthday!

There is also the crazy landlady. I have a cautious truce with her: she allows me to stay until the end of the month and I don't ask for my money back. Given her talent of storytelling, I do not want to give her any other opportunities to make up more stuff. The people who matter do not take her seriously, but she is an annoyance that I really do not want to deal with right now. I also want to keep things as peaceful as possible until I go.

Besides, considering what happened last year on my birthday, laundry isn't a bad deal.

Don’t fight the babushka!

Yesterday, a babushka gave me a piece of candy at work, and I totally lost it and started crying. I'm not the really emotional type, but this week has not gone well. I've been told that I have to move out of my apartment by the end of the month. In addition, the landlady called Peace Corps and said that I've been messy, a drunk, hold wild parties, and have ruined several things. Now, if you believe that's true, then you should buy this book because it's just as true as the "wild parties" I've been accused of holding.

Nothing serious came of the false words, but PCV stands for "Peace Corps Volunteer," and not "Please Crap on my Values", and so I take it very seriously when people try to ruin my integrity and dispute my honesty. I've also been without heat since last Saturday. At night, it gets down to around -10 Celsius, which is probably why I've been very cranky and snappish as of late.

On a positive note, I've been surprised at how my organization and local friends and neighbors have rallied around me. They realize that whole situation is not legit, and are helping me to find a new place. People have even offered to take me into their homes until I find a new place. Then I received the candy, and I just fell apart. I'll never crack if someone is really mean to me, but show me a lot of kindness and the waterworks start. Funny that I work this way.

Anyway, babushkas (Russian for grandmothers) are the true generals of Russian and Kazakh families. As long as it deals with family matters or is in the home, whatever they say goes. All joking aside, the strongest, wisest, most helpful, and most caring people I have ever met in Kazakhstan have been babushkas. Whenever I'm having a bad day or a hard time there has always been a babushka that takes mercy on me and somehow helps me out.

Babushkas are also the toughest people I've ever met in Kazakhstan. You don't mess with them. Nobody messes with them. They will mess you up. Here are 4 rules that I follow regarding babushkas in Kazakhstan.

• Rule #1: Don't argue with a babushka about anything. You will never win.
  

If I feel passionate enough, I'll argue with anyone about anything. However, I've never won an argument with a babushka. Many of my arguments stem from my resistance to Rule #2, and I always lose. Babushkas can also silence drunks with a word, send packs of wild dogs running away with a glare, get discounts from taxi drivers with a smile, and obtain free extra blankets from train conductors (I'm not sure how).

• Rule #2: Eat everything that a babushka gives you.
  

A word that many volunteers learn (and get quickly tired of) is "Ешь!" one of the many ways to say "eat"! From a host mother, co-worker, or friend, the word means just that. From a babushka, it means "Eat! (You will not leave until you are finished)". Babushkas also always seem to know when you have had enough to eat. Even if they don't, it doesn't matter because of Rule #1.

• Rule #3: Always give up your seat on public transportation for babushkas.
  

As a fellow PCV wrote in her blog regarding bus transportation, you should always give up your seat for a babushka. What she failed to mention were the consequences for not getting up. If you do not get up, you will receive an Optimus Prime style mega-smack down, administered personally by the babushka. And, you will lose your seat in the process. I've never experienced this personally, but have seen it happen to unruly teenagers in Almaty, and it wasn't pretty.

There are instances where you may try to give up your seat, and the babushka does not want to sit down. If this happens, thank her and sit right back down. Woe to the person who tries to insist, as they too will receive a smack down, although it is usually the verbal kind. I've experienced this, and while I didn't understand every word, it was not very fun. Just remember Rule #1.

• Rule #4: If a babushka gives you advice, you'd be very smart to pay attention.
  

Want to know how people view you in your town, at school, or your organization? Want to know if the young man or woman down the street is interested in you, and what to do about it? Not sure about what type of present to give for a holiday or wedding? The weather for next week? Ask a babushka that you are comfortable with and trust, and you'll get the answers. The advice of babushkas throughout my service so far has been invaluable because it gave me a more complete insight into the culture that I would not have received anyplace else. Their advice has helped me to weather awkward social situations, exit with grace from arranged dates, and generally navigate life in Kazakhstan while remaining culturally sensitive. When I was living in Karabulak, if I thought I was out of line or didn't understand something, I'd get the advice of my host family's babushka. I would bring the candy(usually jellybeans), she would boil the tea, and we would sit together, and she would tell me if I was right or wrong, and how to fix it. Granted, advice is just that, but you should never forget Rule #1.

Never forget Rule #1.

If it takes a village to raise a child, can a town teach me Kazakh?

I'm taking a temporary break from my Russian language studies to focus on learning Kazakh.

All OCAPs (the NGO and community development volunteers) learn mainly Russian during training but receive a couple of lessons in Kazakh. If a trainee is paying attention in the lessons, at the end of training OCAP volunteers can usually count to 10, give their names, and say they are an American Peace Corps volunteers in Kazakh. Except for the various words I've picked up over the last year, this is my current level.

I've waited until now to seriously concentrate on Kazakh because I wanted to learn enough Russian first to survive and be able to work. Kazakh is not critical for my work, as everyone in my organization speaks Russian. All of our documents are in Russian, and all of our donors speak Russian and English. Many of the people in my office speak Kazakh. They gladly speak to me in Russian and rarely use Kazakh if there is a Russian speaker in the room unless they are very angry. They also speak in Kazakh when they joke about me getting married. They know I understand, but this doesn't stop them. It's become a running joke.

I also do not need Kazakh for my personal life in Kazakhstan. Russian and Kazakh are the official languages of Kazakhstan, and many people in Esik speak both. I've learned that how you greet someone determines the language that the conversation will be in. For example, if I say hello in Russian, we will speak in Russian. If I say hello in Kazakh, we will speak in Kazakh. Or, we will speak in Kazakh for 2 minutes, and then I get the "I don't know what you are talking about" look in my eyes. I hope this will change as I learn more.

In addition, chances are that I will not need Kazakh for my future life after Peace Corps. Many universities have Russian programs, but only a handful has Kazakh programs (I will buy an ice cream cone for anyone who can list more than 8 universities in the United States where the Kazakh language is offered). Even if I pursue a career that requires traveling internationally, Russian will be more useful than Kazakh. Russian is the official language of several countries in the former USSR, and is still spoken heavily in other countries that have switched back to their original languages pre Soviet occupation. It's even one of the 6 official languages of the United Nations (The other five are English, Arabic, Chinese, French, and Spanish).

And Kazakh? Not as popular on the world stage. Actually, it's not very popular at all outside of Kazakhstan. There are some Kazakh communities in the UK, Germany, China and the US, but outside of Kazakhstan the language is spoken by very few. Kazakh helps when going to many of the other Central Asian countries as some (but not all) of the languages in the region are related. For example, Kyrgyz is really close to Kazakh, to the point that it is possible for a person from Kyrgyzstan can converse with a person in Kazakhstan in their own languages and be generally understood.

I'm not bad mouthing Kazakh or diminishing the importance of the language. In fact, I feel that Kazakh it is important to the development and culture of this country. It's only to make the point that nobody is forcing me to learn Kazakh. Not Peace Corps, not my organization, and defiantly not the occasional taxi driver that rants about how I should have learned Kazakh first (ironic, that this rant is usually in Russian, or broken English). This is totally my initiative, my choice. I'm learning it because I want to; because I think that learning Kazakh will maximize my cultural experiences here.

I won't lie. It's a tough language. Kazakh has 42 letters, the verbs (are they verbs?) are at the ends of the sentence, and Kazakh has a system where pronouns are tacked onto the ends of other words. It's really confusing, especially to me because I've had "subject, verb, predicate" engrained in my head from English and German lessons and Kazakh throws all of that to the wind. I don't expect to get really good at speaking Kazakh. In fact, if I am able to hold a serious conversation for 10 minutes in Kazakh by this time I leave, I will be happy.

I thought about getting a Kazakh tutor to help my learning, but this idea was smashed down by my office. We argued about it for about an hour last Monday, and I was clearly on the losing side. "Why spend money on a tutor?" they told me in Russian. "If you try to speak Kazakh, we will help you. Everyone will help you!" As this week went on, I've learned that so far they are right.

I've started using what Kazakh I know when I can. When I go to the bazaar, I ask for products in Kazakh. When I order food, I do it in Kazakh. I ask questions in Kazakh. So far, I've been amazed at the patience, kindness, and how helpful everyone is when I try to speak Kazakh, from both friends and strangers alike. If what I say is not right, I usually get corrected. This happens often. For example, I got an impromptu grammar lesson on how to stress Kazakh words on a bus from a babushka. If things get too intense, I fall back onto Russian, and everything eventually gets smoothed out.

The best reaction I had this week was from two small boys, not more than 8 years old playing outside. I greeted them and asked how they were doing in Kazakh. As I walked away from them, I heard them say in Russian, "Oh God! He knows Kazakh!"

I don't. But I'm trying.

Halloween photos

My camera is still broken, but my cool sitemate took some photos of the Halloween parties we organized. Somehow, I always got involved with the cutting pumpkins part, but it was very cool and the kids and teachers loved it.





An older photo at the best coffee shop in Kazakhstan

It's a....plane?

There isn't much of interest that happened this week. I'm working with my organization to finish a grant to start something like a YMCA for low income kids in the area. They have all of the right ideas and enthusiasm, but they often get off task dreaming of what type of programs we want to offer, so it is taking longer than it should.

The weather is rapidly changing. Autumn is on it's death bed, and the weather forecasters are predicting that we will have our first snowfall by Sunday. Winter is coming.

I did stumble upon this interesting short article regarding the development of private air transportation in Kazakhstan. Read it, it's not long, and I think it's an interesting great idea as long as situations like these can be avoided.