# 3, 9,11,12,13,15,17,23,24,36,37,38,39,44,46

Although this is a hoot, this isn't mine. The following list has been stolen from so many volunteer's blogs that I don't even know where it originated. It is more geared to a returned Peace Corps Volunteer (I'm only on vacation and will be returning), but I'm posting it because I've been in the US for 3 whole days and I'm already on pace to violate all of these rules by the end of the week.. As much as it sounds stupid, being back isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

Rules for Reentry

Why I can’t get started

Peace Corps is labeled as "the hardest job you'll ever love", but it allow its volunteers the opportunities to take days off. Assuming that a person fulfills their full 27 months of service (excluding the 3 month PST thing), they get a whopping 48 leave days. That's 2 days off every month! Of course, there are limits to taking time off. You can't use all of your days at once. For OCAP and Youth Development volunteers, if your organization is busy you probably shouldn't take days off. For teachers, taking leave is discouraged if school is in session. You also can't use days in your last three months of service. All restrictions aside, I love it, and challenge any organization or business to do better.

As many days I've racked up, I haven't taken many days off. I have seen a fair bit of Kazakhstan; however mainly while on work travel. It's great to see other parts of the country while assisting other NGOs and volunteers but it's exhausting and I find myself more tired after traveling for work than I would be after a normal week at my site. The last time I had a vacation was in July, and while that is not very long ago, in the lifecycle of a volunteer, 7 months is an eternity. In the aftermath of the holidays and our holiday related actions(see previous 3 posts), things have cooled down at my organization, and it is expected for it to be really slow until March. A perfect opportunity to take some time off.

So, I've decided to go on another short trip. My destination is the oddest of all my travels to date: I'm vacationing at home. Although this trip has been over a year in planning it still feels weird for me. Home for vacation? Really? It feels very weird. Never would I have thought that the United States would be a vacation spot for me, but it is. Disregarding all of my nervousness at seeing friends and family that I haven't seen in over a year, I'm thankful that I have the chance to go back. I'll get to see some old friends and hang out with my family. I will *hopefully* get to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday, watch the Superbowl (I'm hoping for a Colts-Saints match-up), and give a presentation at my alma mater about what I do in Kazakhstan.

However, I have to get there first. So far, this trip has been the most boring and anti-climatic event in my life since watching Evolution in the movie theaters on opening day. At 6am on Sunday morning, I went to the airport. I sat around for 6 hours in the airport until the flight to Amsterdam was delayed for about 20 hours. I was then faced with a choice: either sit in the airport for over a day, or go back to Almaty and hang out. I chose the latter.

I was very angry at the delay, but now I'm ok. Since the first 20 hour announcement, the plane has been delayed 2 more times. At this rate, the delays are on pace to exceed the hours in flight time that it would take to go round trip between American and Kazakhstan. And, I haven't even hit my stop off point yet: Amsterdam.

For now, I'm scheduled on the first available plane to Amsterdam, and then from there, I'm not too sure. Oddly enough, I'm not worried about it. I know I'll get to America. Someday.

I think. :-/

***Update***

I did get back to the US eventually, spending 10 minutes running through the Amsterdam airport, having my bags lost in Detroit, and chilling with this cool Russian man along the way.

Chain Chomp and Northern Exposure (Kostanai)

Happy 2010! I wish I had an awesome story about New Years, but I don’t. I went to bed at 10pm and not even the neighbors lighting off fireworks and screaming “Happy New Year!” in the streets could wake me up. This is because on the next day, a fellow volunteer and I hopped on a northbound train from Almaty. Our destination: Kostanai, a city in northern Kazakhstan about 250km from Russia.

We went to help out a volunteer at her school with a winter camp. The camp was focused around learning about new cultures. I gave presentations on Jamaica and Ireland. The kids learned about the game of cricket, hurricanes, the Blue Mountains, and Bob Marley. I think my godmother would approve.

Presentation on Jamaica

We also showed how to build piñatas, a two day activity that everyone loved. The model piñata was called “Chomp” (after the Chain Chomp from Mario Brothers. Yeah, we are nerds). The kids made some really great piñatas, and loved destroying them to get the candy inside. We also cooked some Mexican rice and beans. They loved the rice (“it’s like spicy plov”, one kid told me) but generally they didn’t like the beans.

The death of Chain Chomp

Anyway I had quite a great time, and hung out with great people. I’m happy I went, even though it was in the winter and everything was frozen. It was great to get “out of my element” and see a different part of Kazakhstan. There is a lot I could write about, but to keep it as short as possible, here are 5 things that I think about regarding my trip north:

1. Things made of ice are “cool”

In Kostanai, and the surrounding towns and villages, ice sculptures are very popular. Many small towns have ice sculpturing contests, where the winner gets a prize. It’s also popular to make ice mazes, and sledding tracks in the city or town square. The temperature almost never rises above freezing, so the sculptures will last all winter.

Perhaps this is Russian Santa and the mysterious lady in blue, riding panthers? Anyway, it's pretty cool.

Ice maze.

ice slide...a hit with the kids

2.It’s cold in northern Kazakhstan, but not THAT cold all of the time.

This makes more sense when I give my definition of “THAT cold”. Simply put, it’s -40. -40: the magical temperature where both Fahrenheit and Celsius are the same. Whenever I said that I was going to Kostanai, the most popular response from both volunteer and local alike was, “oh God! It’s -40 there!” But in reality, -40 is not a normal occurrence. It happens a couple of times every winter, but not very often, and not for very long (hopefully). According to a babushka on the train who lives in a town outside of Kostanai, on average it gets to -40 perhaps 3-5 times during a normal winter season.

I’m not trying to say that winters in the north are not cold, because they plenty are. Kazakhstan is the coldest Peace Corps country. When it gets too cold things shut down. Students don’t go to school, busses don’t run, and people don’t go outside, and rightfully so.

The average temperature in the Kostani area in winter ranges between -15C to -30C (for the Fahrenheit people, this is +5 to -22). That’s pretty cold, but comparable to the cold snaps that tend to hit the Midwest every winter.

While I was there, the coldest it got was to -32C at night. That wasn’t very fun. The rest of the days were more “balmy”: usually between -15C to -25C. I was ok with the cold (as reasonably ok as a person could be when it is cold), as I followed the directions that are universal to all people in cold climates: Wear layers; it is easier to trap body heat. Don’t get wet; it will freeze and you will be miserable. Cover all exposed skin, including your face; you can get frostnip in minutes if you are not careful. Don’t lick metal poles and things made of ice; only idiots do that. Most importantly, don’t go outside if it’s too cold!

Ninjas are impervious to cold.

However, all of this doesn’t count if your coat breaks, which is what happened to me two days before we were scheduled to leave. The zipper broke while I was grabbing my backpack, and it was unfixable. Walking outside in Northern Kazakhstan without a coat is akin to suicide. Fortunately my friend Ashley patched up my coat enough so that I could stay warm long enough to run to the store to get a new one. Not only that, she was patient enough to not knock my head off while I was looking for a new coat. I hate shopping, and the Green Eyed Lady can attest to how difficult I become when it comes to buying clothes. Thanks for helping me out!

3. Train travel is boring, but it’s better than the bus.

The first time I blogged about traveling in Kazakhstan, I wrote that if I had to choose between traveling by train or bus, I wouldn’t know what to do. Now, I know. The train wins, hands down. The travel time by train from Almaty to Kostani is 36 hours by train. Even if you threatened me, I wouldn’t get on a bus for that long. Trains have bathrooms, places to sleep, and are less bumpy (mostly) than the bus. So for now the train is the victor.

4. Smartboards are awesome, and Peace Corps teachers are too.

Teaching isn’t my main job in Kazakhstan, so whenever I get to enter a school I always learn about something interesting. This time, it was the Smartboard. A smartboard is a dry erase board combined with some nifty technology that allows you to electronically write on it. It’s great for Hangman. Speaking of Hangman, the students were excellent at Hangman. I could not stump them. The hardest word I gave them was “Constitution”, and the hint that “Kazakhstan and America both have this”. It took them 5 tries and 3 letters, and they solved it.

guess the subject! The kids did it without missing a letter!

Also, Peace Corps education volunteers are pretty cool. Despite it being winter break, 2 teachers, and at least 10 kids showed up every day to the camp, even though the temperature never rose above -15C. None of them had to come. They could have stayed at home playing videogames and watching garbage on tv, but they showed up with great attitudes, ready to learn and to have fun. That’s some impressive stuff that attests to the rapport that some volunteers build with their teachers and students.

5. Even up north, speaking Kazakh can make you as awesomer than Bono

I’m still working on my Kazakh skills, but my travel mate was trained as a Kazakh speaker. By ourselves, we get by and function in Kazakhstan. Together, with her Kazakh language skills and my Russian, we became an unstoppable force of language comprehension. I won’t lie; understanding what everyone was saying, regardless of whether they were speaking in Kazakh or Russian was pretty sweet.

Kazakh is spoken up in the northern regions but Russian is more prevalent. And just the same like every other place I’ve visited in the country, people are impressed when a foreigner speaks Kazakh. Learning Kazakh is tough, especially if it isn’t your first language. Whenever I introduced my friend as a Kazakh speaker, people would smile and say “Amazing! Great job!” Then they would tell anyone in hearing range that she spoke Kazakh. They would also come over to say good job and congratulate her. This is how my travel buddy became a Rock Goddess. My favorite story about my friend’s Rock Goddess awesomeness happened when I overheard a conversation between a babushka and a male relative on the train. Her end (translated from Russian) went like this:

“There are two Americans on the train. One is normal, but the girl speaks Kazakh! I told her “great job”!

Some silence, as she listened to a question.

“Well…no, I won’t ask her to marry you!”

One day, I hope I will become that cool.

Who is Santa's Helper?

Yesterday, my organization held our biggest New Year’s philanthropic event: a New Year’s party for handicapped kids in our region. In Kazakhstan, many handicapped children and kids in wheelchairs do not go to school. All of the schools have New Year’s parties, and we felt that no child should be left out.

my Director, me, and children from the Ecik.

All of this month, my organization with our small group of volunteers asked businesses, other NGO’s, banks, and private citizens on the street to give presents, candy, or whatever they wanted so that the children could have a great holiday party. I’m still amazed at the response and generosity of the people who gave in the town.

The party was a great time that was enjoyed by all. I know some of the pictures look weird; that the children are in costumes dancing around the Christmas tree “Maypole style”. In Kazakhstan, New Years is a chance for children to dress up, like the US version of Halloween. I think Kazakhstan is the only place on Earth where you can see a mouse whirling a princess around a Christmas Tree on New Years!

Mayday meets Halloween and Christmas

As with all parties, there was singing and instrument playing. The great talent came from a school in the next town over, who generously gave their time to hang out. They are great kids, respectful to everyone, and we even had a “Peace Corps” moment together. A couple of them approached me and asked what a volunteer was. I told them “what we are doing right now is volunteering: working without pay to help other people.” The lights that turned on in their heads was enough to power that big tree in Times Square. They were awesome. If it wasn’t so difficult to get to their town, I’d help them out more.

They may look creepy now, but they are great students!

Дед Мороз, “the Freezing Father”, or simply “Russian Santa” also got into the act. He appeared with his helper, and assisted us in giving out presents and candy to the 81 children and families we had at the event.

For two years, I've wondered: Who is the woman in blue?

I’m still not sure who exactly his helper in blue is. I asked a couple of families what she was, and I got a lot of conflicting answers such as:

• "She’s Santa's granddaughter.”
• "She’s Santa's wife.”
• "She’s his niece.”
• "She’s not married. You COULD marry her, you know. I know her aunt/sister/mother! Let me introduce you…” (this happened more than once, especially when I asked a babushka).

I really don’t think anyone knows exactly who she is. If you know who Russian Santa's helper is supposed to be, please tell me. I don’t want to marry her, I’m just curious.

All in all, it was a great event, and it made me really happy to see all of the joy on the kids (and their parent’s) faces. It was clear that the party made their day! It also made my day too, as seeing happy kids and parents. It was a good reminder of why am here.

Today is our last day at work. We are all very happy with the work we have done this year, and look forward to working together in 2010. While we have a break until the 5th of January, for me, the New Year brings a new adventure: a trip across the steppe to central Kazakhstan to help out at a culture camp.

To all, I wish a happy New Year and the best of luck in 2010!

Scrooge: not welcome in Kazakhstan

Although it is hard to get into a working groove because of the numerous holidays in December, my organization and I have been busy this month. For the couple of weeks, my organization and I have been working on a project to buy presents for low income handicapped children in our area. They did a similar project last year, but wanted this one to be bigger and better. Together, we located 80 children in our region who fit our qualifications and invited them and their families to a New Years celebration.

An interesting thing about the project was how we were able to get money to buy the gifts for over 80 children and to finance the celebration. We went to the local banks, stores, and individuals asking if they would help us. While many stores and individuals did not want to give money, they gave gifts instead. Larger businesses donated a "holiday tree", food, candy, and sound equipment for the celebration. In-kind donations seem to be the rage in Esik, and personally, I prefer it when someone gives an item or a service to a charitable cause than money.

Store in Esik that gave a boatload of candy

My job was to help out the newest volunteers to the Local Community Fund. We took the philanthropy to the streets, going stall to stall at the bazaar talking about the event and encouraging people to give money or presents. They are a rambunctious group (and the fastest Russian/Kazakh speakers I have EVER heard) that love to have fun. It went way better than I expected. We had a lot of fun, and I think that they are interested in helping out with future projects.

everyone together!

volunteers with hats

at the bazaar