All of this has happened before

It’s been a wild and busy week, because I have been helping prepare Pre Service Training (PST) for the newest group of volunteers to Kazakhstan, the Kaz 22s. We designed sessions, set up general logistics, and drank lots of chai with host families and school directors. Although a lot of things are last minute, we still got enough done to get PST up and running for the first couple of weeks.

So with 4 other VTAs, we went to the airport on late Thursday night/Friday morning and met the Kaz 22’s. They are 75 people strong, and we spent Friday and Saturday going through orientation which involves getting vaccines, teaching Peace Corps acronyms, and other administrative stuff. I facilitated sessions on host families, basic culture and history of Kazakhstan, and safety and security. Talking about host families and culture were my favorite sessions because it was a reminder for me of how different my “normal life” is here. For example, I made the following chart:

DO

• Take off your shoes when you go inside
• Drink hot tea with your family, even though its summer
• Attempt to tell your host family your whole life story through pictures, even though you just met them an hour ago.

DO NOT

• Throw Toilet paper into the toilet…it clogs up everything and creates a disaster. Throw it in the garbage instead
• Shake hands with women. People just don’t do this.
• Freak out if your host family goes into the banya with you…and then gets disappointed when you don’t want to be hit with tree branches. It’s a cultural thing. And it doesn’t hurt. Much.

After a day and half of orientation, we all got into busses and went to our training sites. My training site is Issyk, so it was nothing new for me. As we got closer to town, I started to feel a feeling I haven’t felt in awhile: pride. I was proud because the trainees were not looking down at the dirt roads, wild dogs, or trash fires that usually frames the first impression of Issyk from a trainee point of view, but up at the hills and mountains nearby which are still snowcapped despite the summer heat. Several of them told me that Issyk was pretty. I was floored, because I’ve never heard a trainee say that before. In this blog I frequently mention how awesome Taldykorgan is for a variety of reasons (mainly, because it is), but I really do like Issyk. It’s a pretty place, a great place with great people, history and culture.

Shortly after arriving into town, the trainees met their host families. They were mobbed by their families, smothered in hospitality and curiosity, and then whisked away to eat. What was funny was that what was incomprehensible Russian and Kazakh two years ago actually made sense. Chatting with the host families was hilarious. Some of my favorite things they told me:

“She’s a vegetarian? They still eat meat, right? No? Well…we’ll work with her…but we will leave meat on the table, just in case she changes her mind.”

“He’s very tall. And very thin. We will feed him immediately.”

“An engineer? Interesting. We’ll feed her when we get home.”

And from my original host family during my PST, who also has a Kaz 22 trainee: “We understand why he is so thin, but you Kyle?! Shame! We are having dinner at 7. You will come too. We are having horse.”

Throughout orientation, I have been feeling quite weird, because I these are the exact same things that happened to me when I first arrived. Being hugged by strangers. Eating horse. Being injected with two needles in each arm at the same time. Learning how to say “hello” correctly. Learning how to poop while squatting correctly. And other things.

Perhaps this shows how big of a nerd I really am, but the reoccurring thought in my head today as I interacted with the trainees, answered questions, and just observed what was going on around me was this quote:

“All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again.”

And it did happen before to me…as of today I have been in Kazakhstan for exactly two years.

Oh Frak...Am I a Cylon?