Thinking while high

Today, I am thinking while high. In this case, the word high is used with regard to distance above the earth, as in 25,000 feet high. My flight from Miami to Atlanta has free wi-fi internet in the plane! Who would have thought we could do that!

Every day I spend about 15 minutes just jotting down the thoughts that come into my head. It's a good exercise that I started in Kazakhstan, and one that I'll continue to do in the future. This is what I wrote down for today:

1. I like Miami. A lot. It has a feeling of motion, like everyone is doing something, but they aren't in a crazy hurry about it. I also like how multilingual the city is. I heard more Spanish, creole, French, and Russian (!!!) than English! This did wonders for helping me to begin to adjust!
2. In the US, the small portions are too big. When I saw Unstoppable with my godmother, I ordered a small popcorn. It was huge, I could only eat half of it. Earlier on in the week, we went to Mcdonalds (I really wanted french fries), and I ordered a combo menu, and once again, I couldn't finish it! I think that for the immediate future I will order from the children's menu at restaurants. Hopefully they'll still allow me to have beer.
   
3. Read this on the way to the airport. Tell me something I don't know.
   
4. 25, living at home, no job...this wasn't exactly how I planned for everything to turn out immediately after Peace Corps. To be truthful, I didn't really have a plan. "Job hunting is like having a full time job" someone once told me. Peace Corps and that training deal count for full time jobs, and I couldn't do overtime. But things will be ok for the short term. I think. However, it's never too late to get started: I applied for a job in D.C. while I'm in the air. Thanks, Erica!
5. I'm really happy to see my mother and brother again
6. I'm really nervous to see my mother and brother again.

Constitution Day

Today Kazakhstan is celebrating 15 years of having a constitution. America has had a constitution for over 200 years, and the English had a document kind of like a constitution from practically the beginning of time, but Constitution day is a big deal in Kazakhstan. Almaty had fireworks late at night, there was a big parade in Issyk, and everyone got a day off from work except the trainees who still had a 10+ hour day of language and technical sessions.

The wary never rest.

My morning was spent trying to keep my upper body away from everything, especially my shirt, because I had a painful encounter with a wasp. Sunday was laundry day, and because dryers do not exist in Kazakhstan I hung my clothes out to dry. On Monday morning I went to retrieve my clothes from the line. Sometimes bugs like to camp out on drying clothes and usually a good shaking gets rid of them.

So knowing this I shook out my clothes like normal, and then put on my favorite shirt which was just on the line. Little did I know that there was a stubborn wasp that avoided my shaking ritual, and was tucked on the inside of the shirt out of view which I put on.

It was not fun, for me or the wasp.

I started screaming and jumping down as it stung me repeatedly on my stomach, which brought my neighbors to my door because they thought something bad was happening to me. And it was. They totally understood when I told them what happened (or understood that I was totally crazy) and now I have 3 welts on my body that still hurt.

Something that I'm reading:

Fellow Kaz 19 Returned Volunteer Erin Curtis is famous after being featured in an article on CNN by describing issues she encountered adjusting back to America after living in Kazakhstan. In the article, she described my nightmare scenario: struggling with cover letters because of English troubles, being socially awkward, freaking out in stores because of too many choices and all of that stuff. As I get closer to leaving (November 8), I'm sure I'll blog more about how I feel about this, but reverse culture shock is real and it scares the crap out of me.

What’s in my iTunes: Popular music in Kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan I've found that music fills a critical void in my life, mainly because it has helped me retain what little sanity I have left. Whenever things get a bit too much, a couple of hours listening to music calms me down.

Many of my favorite memories over the past two years involve music. The night I was sworn in as a volunteer, I bonded with the Kaz 19s near Taldykorgan by singing along to old school music videos on MTV piped in from Russia and drinking beer. Other memories regarding music also pop into my mind: impromptu dance parties in my host family’s living room, listening to traditional Kazakh songs on the dombra during Naruyz, and having musical adventures in Taldykorgan by rocking out in a bar until 3am.

I’ve found music to be a great way to foster cultural exchange. Many youth in Kazakhstan like rap and can name at least one American rapper (usually Tupac or Jay-Z), yet get really interested when I start talking about the *other* American musical forms, like jazz, the blues, and even (god forbid) country. Over the past 2 years I’ve also found music to be an easy way to practice Russian and Kazakh on my own. I’ve even taken a liking to Kazakh rap/R&B, and Russian pop. I’ve found that looking up lyrics and matching them with my dictionary is a good way to learn some new words.

So what have I been listening to over the past two years? What’s hot in Kazakhstan? Here are three groups/artists that enjoy a fair bit of airplay in Kazakhstan and on my Itunes player:

5ivesta Family, "Зачем" (Why?)

Who they are: A pop group from Russia...became pretty popular in 2009

Why I like them: Their lyrics are easy enough to follow, and their songs usually have a “rap break” that’s pretty cool. Russian rap is my guilty pleasure. And their lead singer’s cute. My counterpart just shakes her head in shame whenever she catches me singing along, but I don’t care. In addition, they have a number in their name, and only the coolest people and musical groups can pull that off, like 311, Pope John Paul II, and Ochocinco.

What’s this video about?: This guy sees a woman, and falls in love with her. He keeps on giving her compliments, and gifts, and she accepts them but she won’t give him a definite answer to whether she feels anything toward him and usually will dance with him in the club, but he “goes home alone”. She doesn’t love anyone else, but keeps on kind of stringing him along because there’s no one else around. So the natural question to ask is “Why?", which is the title and the refrain of the song.

Russian pop: my guilty pleasure

Ерболат - "Мен Казакпын" (Yerbolat - I am Kazakh)

Who is he : Yerbolat is a Kazakh rapper/R&B singer, and is pretty popular all over Kazakhstan. Whenever I go to a school assembly, concert, ceremony, one of his songs is usually played as an intro. He even gets some airplay at weddings.

Why I like him: Yerbolat has figured out how to blend Kazakhstan’s old history with new beats, and makes it sound very cool in the process. Many of his songs feature the dombra and several other traditional instruments. He also raps frequently about Kazakhstan (and even follows the American rap music tradition of making fun of other regions in Kazakhstan…East Coast vs. West Coast anyone?), in Kazakh, the national language. Yerbolat also has some pretty intense music videos, including one which basically involves people fighting in a boxing ring, dog fights, and copious amounts of him and his crew firing machine guns in the air because that’s awesome. If you are into that sort of thing.

I’ve also heard that he’s originally from Taldykorgan, which is just further proof in my mind that Taldykorgan is the best city in Kazakhstan.

What’s the video about?: This music video shows the highlights of Kazakhstan’s history, with images of the old mosque in Turkestan, the Soviet takeovers and uprisings after the first world war, the first space flight (everyone knows that the Russians launched the first manned space flight. What people don’t know is that it was launched from Kazakh soil), nuclear tests and protests, the rise of Astana, and ends with some footage of Kazakh athletes in the Beijing Olympics. Yerbolot’s the guy with the microphone.

When I get back to America, and people ask me "what's Kazakhstan?" I think I'll just show them this video

Alexander Rubak “Fairytales”

Who is he: A wicked talented dude who is rumored to have a nasty mean streak behind stage. He was born in Belarus, but then moved to Norway. You can read more about him here.

Why I like him: This guy sings in English, but I don’t think I would have never heard of him unless I lived in Europe or Asia. He won Eurovison 2009 with the highest score ever, which is like "American Idol", except every country sends their best musical act. He plays the violin, and actually makes it look awesome (I’m not a violin fan, but he makes it look cool). I like his lyrics and his songs have a lot of energy, the type that makes people get up and dance in crazy circles, myself included. In my mind, he’s what Jack Johnson should have been if he was awesome.

What’s the video about: At this point, your English is probably better than mine. So sit back, listen, and figure it out.

Playing the violin has never looked so cool.

Explaining the Jargon of Peace Corps Kazakhstan

I wrote the following email today:

“I know I have a bunch of free days. I feel stupid that I didn't use all of them. It’s just that we OCAPs travel more for business, you know? Different from the EDU/UNI people. I think YD will have the same leave situations in the future, but it’s not in our hands; we won’t be PCV’s for much longer! Can’t wait for the Kaz 22s and PST! And also COS conference! It'll be great!"

Peace Corps loves acronyms and abbreviations for everything. As much as I really hate reducing words and phrases to letters, I've found that I do it a lot myself.

So here is a list of some of the most common abbreviations that are widely used for volunteers in Kazakhstan:

OCAP – Organizational and Community Assistance Program. The people who help with NGO assistance, like me! However, this program is now discontinued.

YD – Youth Development Program. The people who help youth organizations and children. Kaz 22’s will be the first group with only YD volunteers. This program replaces OCAP.

Kaz (insert number here) – Every volunteer that arrives in Kazakhstan comes with a group, and each group is given a number. I came with the 20th group of volunteers to Kazakhstan, so I’m a Kaz 20. The newest group to Kazakhstan will be called the Kaz 22’s. What is important to note that while it’s rare, multiple groups can come within the year. So while I’m a Kaz 20, Peace Corps has been working with Kazakhstan for about 17 years (the first group arrived in 1993).

EDU – Education Volunteers; the teachers at the equivalent of K-12 schools.

UNI – University Volunteers; the teachers at colleges and universities.

PCV – Peace Corps Volunteer.

PST – Pre-Service Training. This is a 10-12 week crash course for Peace Corps Trainees that teaches how to live, function, and work in Kazakhstan. It’s pretty intense, with a standard 6 day work week crammed with language, cultural, and technical sessions.

PST: The time when "things happen"

PCT – Peace Corps Trainee. Newcomers to Kazakhstan are called this until they are officially sworn in to become volunteers at the end of PST.

COS – Close of Service. This is the date for when a volunteer’s service is completed and they get to go home.

TIK - This Is Kazakhstan. This is used when things can’t really be explained any other way. How can a school organize a festival which includes a banquet for everyone in the village, in 20 minutes? How exactly did the taxi driver pass 2 semis on a bridge with 1 lane with oncoming traffic in the middle of winter? Why is lunch at 1pm, and not at 12? Where exactly did that bottle of vodka come from? Some things are better off remaining mysteries. TIK explains this.

TIK ≠ "THIS IS SPARTA!!!"

7 Things I think about the World Cup

Although this blog is specifically for my work and life as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan, bear with me as I sidetrack a little bit.

Today marks the beginning of the World Cup! For a month, people all over the world will be glued to their televisions watching the best sport on earth, soccer. For me, the World Cup is my World Series, my NBA championship, and my Super Bowl all rolled into one. It’s a whole month of amazing sports awesomeness.

I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to watch the games, but my landlady showed up this morning just to tell me that there will be 24 hour coverage of the World Cup on the Russian Sport Channel which I get! So when I’m not at work, or traveling for work, or sleeping, you’ll know what I’ll be doing. I also plan on being in Almaty for the England- US matchup so that I can watch the game in the next best place besides the actual stadium: In a pub. I’ve even requested off for the day before, during, and after the final game!

Before they get started, there are 7 things that I think will happen during the world cup:

• US will beat England, 3-2. Our fast forwards, revamped midfield, and new attacking style will take the English defense off guard, kind of like how they were taken by surprise during the War of Independence. Both teams will get out of group play, but the English will lose in the round of 16. The US will get to the round of 8.

2. At least 3 African teams will make it to the second round (Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa), and 1 team from Africa will make it to the group of 8. A lot of people underestimate African teams in the World Cup, not because of a lack of individual talent, but because of the quality of coaching. This time around, I think many African nations have invested in great coaches that will get their squads to play as a unit. Because of this I think Nigeria will go deep into the tournament, coming out on top in group play, beating Argentina, and getting as far as the group of 8.

3. Team that I don’t know anything about: North Korea. I don’t think this will really matter because I they won’t make it out of pool play anyway. They won’t lose every game though. They’ll tie the Ivory Coast.

4. Three underestimated teams: US, Nigeria, Denmark. They won’t win, but they’ll exceed expectations and upset a team (or two).

5. Most overrated team: France. They’ll barely get out of the first round, probably on a tiebreaker, but will lose in the second. I haven’t been impressed with their qualifying rounds, and their sham of a victory against Ireland that won them a spot in the tournament in the first place really irks me. I believe in karma, especially when it’s against the luck of the Irish.

6. Winner: Spain. It’s the deepest team in the tournament. While many teams have 5-8 top tier players, Spain has so many top tier players that even their substitutes could probably start on any squad.

7. The final won’t come down to penalty kicks. There will be a winner after 90 minutes of play.

The Return of Satan

The horrible dog of pure evil, Satan, has returned to my apartment complex. I thought he was dead or found a random soul to feast upon, but he's back and angrier than before. I saw him rooting around the trash pile while I was leaving for work today. He saw me too, and we exchanged the usual pleasantries reserved for mortal enemies: He growled and bared his teeth, and I picked up a large rock. I would have taken a picture, except I was afraid he'd rush me and then my soul would have been consumed.

If Satan knew what was good for him, he'd move on. It's summertime, and as the temperature rises in Ecik so does my temper toward devil canines.

I'll smite that mutt if he gets too close

Why Taldykorgan is so awesome

This weekend, I went to Taldykorgan to celebrate a birthday of a good friend. We kept the party low key, with a cake, lots of movies, and just hanging out and talking.

In many of my posts, and in many conversations, I've raved about the awesomeness of the city. However, I've never explained why this city is so great and why is my favorite in all of Kazakhstan. Don't get me wrong, the other cities I have visited in Kazakhstan are nice, like Kostanai, Ust Komegorsk, Almaty, and Shymkent. They have great qualities: Kostani has insane ice sculptures in winter. Ust feels almost European. Almaty has everything you could ever want. Shymkent is very green, very Kazakh, and gets spring really early.

I know I have a personal bias, because my first site was 20 min from Taldykorgan, but even after living in Almaty's shadow for 8 months, I still think that But Taldykorgan (usually called Taldy) is the best. In fact, Taldy is one of my "top 5 cities I would want to be in right now."

Why? I'll list 5 reasons:

1. Weather, population, climate: Kazakhstan is a country of extremes, with temperatures ranging from -40F in winter to over 100F consistently in the summer, depending on where you are at. However, Taldykorgan doesn't have any this problem. While their winters are cold, it doesn't get as cold as northern Kazakhstan (which still has snow) and doesn't get as hot as the South Kazakhstan. It's not dusty, and the city is very green. Taldykorgan is also a very small city. Almaty dwarfs it, as does Karaganda and Shymkent. But even so to me, Taldy gives off a small town middle america vibe that reminds me of my hometown, Davenport Iowa. It's large enough to be in a city, small enough that if you want, people will remeber your name. And there's something in that which I like.

2. History. One would think that Almaty, because it was the old capital of Kazakhstan and the largest city in the oblast (state), would also serve as the oblast capital. However, Taldykorgan was awarded this status in 2001. I always love it when the small guy wins against gigantic odds.

3. Food: Taldykorgan has some of the cheapest good food in a city in all of Kazakhstan. For the price of 1500 tenge (about 10 dollars), you could eat out for 3 meals, and eat well. 1500 tenge could get you through 1 meal, maybe 2, in Almaty. Taldy, despite its size, has a wide variety of food:

• Laghman place: Get plates of laghman as big as your face for about 300 tenge!
  
• Blini (pancake) place: Denny's, Kazakhstan style.
• Hamburger place: Get *almost* American style hamburgers here
• Shashlyk + place: Eat shashlyk (meat on a stick) outside on a huge patio, and watch the world go by. Now upgraded with nifty couches, a tent, and beer.
• Hessen Pub: The only place mentioned by name. The other places have names, but it's just tradition to call them by the food you can buy there. Hessen pub is a German style restaurant that brews its own beer. It's not bad. Although the most expensive place in town, you can eat, drink, and be merry for under 1000 tenge (if you are smart!) That's practically impossible in Almaty!
• Kvass place: Kvass is a lightly fermented drink from bread. I love this stuff, and Taldy has a place that sells Kvass to go!
• Korean Place: You can eat some pretty ok Korean food in Taldy. It also serves dog. I haven't tried it, although I haven't ruled it out. I have to figure out how I feel about eating something that usually tries to eat me.
  

4. Soccer! Taldykorgan has a soccer team, FC Jetiszu. For the size of the city, it fields a good team and usually finishes middle of the pack in Kazakhstan's premier league.

5. The people: The top reason why I think Taldy is the best city in Kazakhstan is because of all the awesome people, both from Kazakhstan and America who live there, or who have lived there in the past. And there are also the great memories of the PCVs before (including myself) who called Taldy home. Every time I go, I meet someone new that is cool, find a new "place" or get to know someone better.

What's to not like about that!

Figuring out the post office

Although this week was tough (see my last post,) I did celebrate a small success. My biggest win this week was learning how to send a letter from the post office. I had a couple of frustrating experiences at my old site, and due to language and confidence problems, I didn’t step foot in the Ecik post office until this week. After a lot of difficulties, some shouting, and 2 hours later, I was successful in sending something to a very special person!

It seems that every volunteer has a “stress zone”; a place that causes them a lot of anxiety. For example, some volunteers find train stations a stress zone, because they are worried about missing their train or hopping on the wrong one. For others, it’s bus and taxi stations.

My stress zone is the post office. It’s not a bad place, just a very confusing one. Every time I went inside, something would go wrong or I would do something incorrect, and then I couldn’t send or receive letters.

Then I'd get really fustrated, and just leave in a huff.

Its not fun getting pwned by an inanimate object like a bike. Or a post office.

I realize this sounds silly. Any idiot should be able to send a letter, right? But sometimes it is the most routine things that are the hardest to accomplish.

Many volunteers don't even bother with snail mail. It's difficult, takes a lot of time, and can be very stressful. Modern technology is also cheaper: an hour of internet costs about the same as one letter to the US. But it's not as awesome as receiving stamps from a different continent.

So how did I do it? I'm still unclear about the "how", but I'll explain 6 things that I found different from the US side:

1. You can only buy envelopes at the post office. Last year, I wrote a letter and carried it in my pocket for a week searching every shop in Karabulak asking for envelopes. Finally someone told me that they are only sold at the post office. I felt like an idiot.

2. You can only buy stamps at the post office. No getting a roll of stamps at the local store. I spent the same amount of time looking for stamps as I did envelopes and felt twice as dumb when I figured it out.

3. The teller at the post office will place the stamps on the envelope for you. On one side, this prevents you from overpaying. On the other side, coming from a country where we put the stamps on ourselves, this was something that takes getting used to. The first time I got my envelop and stamps from the post office, I told the the teller that I could put the stamps on myself. She thought this was funny I didn’t like being laughed at.

4. To receive a package, you have to fill out a receipt form. But here’s the kicker: The majority of the form is in Kazakh! I can speak and type in Russian, but I can barely physically write in Russian. And Kazakh? I’m getting better, but don’t expect me to write anything anytime soon.

o Bring your passport. The first time I filled out a receipt form by myself it took 2 days. And 5 different copies of the receipt form because I kept doing it wrong. I never learned how to do it right, and only got the package out of pity because I had a breakdown in the post office. After that I was known in the Karabulak post office as “the guy who we just give the packages to because he can’t write.” It was humiliating, and I started to avoid the building as much as possible.

o Speaking of breakdowns, I’ve cried 6 times in Kazakhstan. Twice was because of frustrations relating to the post office. Once was in the post office outright. I’m not ashamed to say I’ve shed some tears. In fact, if you show me a Volunteer that hasn’t gotten misty eyed at least once during their 27 months in Kazakhstan, I’ll show you a volunteer that did their service wrong.

o Pick up your packages on time! You can pay a late fee if they are there too long. How long is too long? I don’t know. When I returned to Karabulak from the north after doing a camp on Business English , I was saddled with a 1500 KzT fee to get two packages that arrived while I was gone. And again I failed to fill out the form correctly. The post office tellers were very tired of me by this point.

5. The post office is also where people receive pensions every month. If you go during those tmes, expect a huge crowd. And shorter tempers. And lots of stares. Which brings me to another subpoint:

o There are no lines in Kazakhstan! People just stand around the thing that they want. To get “in line”, you have to ask around to find who is last, then proclaim yourself last, and hope that the next person asks who is last, and then doesn’t hop in front of you.

6. You’ve must write the return address in Russian. No return address = no sent letter. Those postcards from Kyrgyzstan that I sent? No return address. Yeah…nobody got those.

I also have 3 recommendations for making the post office easier:

1. Make a friend in the post office. In Karabulak, I didn’t have the language skills or the confidence to do this, and as a result I had a very hard time. In Esik, I will always go to teller number 4 after lunch on Wednesdays, because 90% of the time because she is nice and doesn’t mind that I leave out the “ь” letter in Область (the Russian word for state. And the missing letter is silent, which is why I forget about it when writing).

2. Figure out when the pensioners go to the post office. Then don’t go that week. It's just too complicated.

3. Don’t lose your cool. The post office can still be stressful. People will still stare at you. You will be cut in line. Tellers will tell you that your forms are incorrect. But don’t give up. Quitters never win.