My Peace Corps Summary

Introduction

Hi everyone! The following is a summary of my Peace Corps experience over the past two years. I decided to synthesize my blog posts into a longer summary for a few reasons. One, it helped me to better organize and reflect on my last two years as a whole. Two, I feel that there were many experiences that I wrote about in my blog posts that I can better capture after some time to think about them. Finally, due to restricted blog and internet access, it was much more difficult to consistently update my blog than I thought it would be. I feel that one succinct post encapsulates my two years in a more efficient and interesting way. Feel free to skip to certain sections that might be of more interest to you.

Peace Corps Decision and Application Process

I guess there is no better place to start than from the beginning. I decided to apply for the Peace Corps sometime during the spring semester of my junior year. I was in the midst of studying for the LSAT and was trying to figure out which path I wanted to embark upon after my senior year. My decision to ultimately settle on Peace Corps centered on a number of things, including not wanting to go straight to grad school, wanting to travel and live outside of the United States for an extended period of time and the typical reason that everyone that joins the Peace Corps says – wanting to make a difference in the world. I sent in my application in July 2008 before my senior year, and by that time, even though I would halfheartedly search for other jobs throughout my senior year, I was pretty sure that Peace Corps was for me. Many people complain about how long and tedious the Peace Corps application process is, but everything went smoothly for me. I had my interview with my recruiter in August, and she nominated me about a week later for the Central Asia education program leaving in July 2009. I was one of the few from our eventual Kaz-21 group that actually chose to come to Central Asia. I turned in the medical part of my application, had no problems, and then played the waiting game. In late February I finally received my official invitation to Kazakhstan leaving in August 2009. I quickly accepted, laid back, and enjoyed my senior spring semester. After graduation, I spent most of the summer in Chapel Hill outside of a little traveling to DC, nervously anticipating the next two years. Finally, in mid-August, I headed to DC for a two day orientation.

Training

Before leaving for Kazakhstan, the Kaz-21 group had a short orientation in Washington DC covering logistics. More importantly though, we met the 60+ other volunteers that we would be spending the next two years with in Kazakhstan. We had one last meal in DC, and the next morning headed for the airport and then onto Kazakhstan. We arrived in Almaty about 24 hours later, but it was 1:00 AM there, and we were all pretty disoriented and exhausted. The next couple of days consisted of another orientation in Kok-Tobe sanatorium (our home for all future conferences in Almaty). In this orientation we met all of the Peace Corps Kazakhstan staff, including our language and technical trainers. We were also placed in our training villages and language groups, and I was placed in Issyk, the largest training site. I also was placed in a Russian language group with four other volunteers. Finally, after two days, we were put on buses and dropped off at our training sites.

The training schedule did not allow us to have much free time. Before school started on September 1st, we had eight hours of Russian each day, which was useful but exhausting. Some days, we would have technical or cultural trainings instead in the morning. Once a week, we would have hub days, which was when all the training sites would gather together. On those days we would usually have medical, safety, or administrative sessions. However, our schedule changed when school started, and we started to teach classes. Our amount of Russian was reduced so that we could teach, and my main class was a 5th grade class. For the rest of the training our schedule remained the same, except for the major events of site selection, our community project, our language test, and counterpart conference.

Starting with Russian lessons, I will go ahead and say that I have never really enjoyed learning anything as much in my life as I have enjoyed learning Russian these past two years. Maybe I enjoy it so much because I actually go out every day and use it, but I legitimately looked forward to Russian lessons during training, although I will admit that on those eight hour days I was a little tired. Another reason I enjoyed Russian language lessons was that I had an awesome language group and an awesome teacher. After two years, I have actually grown to like the Russian language more than English and hope that I can continue speaking it the rest of my life.

Outside of learning Russian, most of our training was spent in technical sessions on teaching methodology, and then actually teaching in the classroom. I will start out by saying that I had no experience teaching English coming into Peace Corps. I had taught mathematics, but in all honestly, that actually might have been more detrimental than helpful in teaching English in Kazakhstan. So I went in to technical sessions with open ears and tried to take in everything, and then started teaching a fifth grade class. It took me some time to get adjusted to being in front of a classroom; I think that during training I was more concerned with showing the right methodology than actually being natural in front of the classroom, and it took me even a month or so after getting to my site until I felt fully comfortable in front of the classroom. That being said, I had great technical trainers and great volunteer leaders as well.

Then came site announcement, about eight weeks into our training. Throughout training, regional managers and our trainers had observed us and made notes about where we would best fit in Kazakhstan. We were also asked ourselves to make preferences about where we wanted to be placed. On this sheet, I made the preference to be put up in the north, preferably close to a city, and in a site where Russian was the main language. I ended up being placed in a remote Kazakh town in the south while everyone in my language group was placed in the north. My site was also a pioneer site, which meant that my site mate and I were the first volunteers there (most volunteers replace another volunteer). At the time I was really disappointed, but two years later, I can't imagine being placed anywhere but Zhanatas; it will always be my second home. There is a longer section on Zhanatas next.

Overall, training was a great and useful experience. Issyk was a beautiful town and the group of volunteers there were great; we got the opportunity to play some soccer and basketball, as well as do some hiking on the side. On October 31, 2009, the Kaz-21 group was officially sworn-in as Peace Corps volunteers (we had technically been trainees up to that point). The next day, we were sent to the sites where we would spend the next two years!

Gorgeous view from my behind my host home in Issyk.

My awesome language group - Nick, Holly, Myles, me, and Trenton.

Waterfall in Turgen.

Myles, Patrick, Mark, Dawn, and I hiking in Issyk.

Community soccer game.

Scott manning the goal on a PK.

Some after-school basketball.

Katya enjoying taco night.

Zhanatas

I have the privilege of hindsight in this section, as I feel I have described Zhanatas in so many different ways to people in the past two years. I shall use this section to finally do the town justice. Zhanatas has a population of just under 20,000 people when you count the private houses on the outskirts of the town. Zhanatas is situated in the Zhambyl Oblast (an oblast is similar to a state) and in the Sarysu Region (a region is similar to a county). Zhambyl Oblast is situated in the south, but Zhanatas is in the north of the oblast, which puts it more in south-central Kazakhstan.

Zhanatas has a fascinating history. The city was founded in 1969 almost entirely in conjunction with the opening of a phosphorous plant and mine on the edge of town. This plant was and remains the primary industry in Zhanatas. The Soviet Union provided Zhanatas with enough money to build a respectable town, and Zhanatas grew rather quickly. As with most plants in the Soviet Union, the government provided the people with everything they would need, and did not allow any small businesses or free enterprise to get in the way. After only five years, word spread throughout the Soviet Union that Zhanatas was a great place to work, and many different ethnicities came, especially Germans and Ukrainians. Zhanatas by the early 1980s had become a modern city with a highly successful phosphorous mine. However, perestroika and democracy began to seep into the Soviet Union, and mining cities throughout the country began to suffer as it became clear that the government was not as focused on maintaining these plants and mines. New technology was coming in, and the future of Zhanatas began to come into question.

The year before the Soviet Union fell, the population of Zhanatas was around 53,000 people. Then the USSR collapsed, and almost immediately the Germans, Ukrainians, and other ethnicities began to leave. At this point the plant and mine had not closed in Zhanatas, but they correctly foresaw its closure. When the plant finally did close a couple of years later and Kazakhstan became an independent nation, the Russians followed suit and fled to either Russia or northern Kazakhstan. The population had fallen to 25,000 by 1991, and the residents that remained in Zhanatas were angry and traveled to Almaty to protest the closing of the plant. Their efforts were fruitless however because the Kazakhstani government had no money and enough other pressing matters. The situation peaked when rioters from Zhanatas seized control of a railroad near Taraz, causing the railways and the country to lose money. Police had no choice but to suppress the rioters with violence.

Zhanatas had hit rock bottom, and the following years would prove to be the worst in the town's history. In the early 1990s, there was no electricity, no water, no jobs, and no work. My host mom told me that the government would give out lottery tickets so that residents could buy food – some shops were instructed to not even take money. Residents of Zhanatas were at first skeptical of the new Kazakhstan because although the Soviet Union allowed no freedom, you woke up every day knowing that you had a job and enough to eat. What residents began to do was ransack the empty buildings that were vacated and tear them apart for copper and any other material that could be sold. These buildings remain collapsed today and many look like they have been hit by bombs.

The state of Zhanatas today depends on who you ask. Most of Zhanatas is still empty buildings or destroyed buildings, as you could imagine with over half of the population having left. Several volunteers that have visited our town have described Zhanatas as a war zone that seems like it should be in Afghanistan rather than Kazakhstan. However, the plant reopened, and even in the two years that I have lived here, there have been a lot of improvements to the city. The population continues to decline, but in some ways I see a future for this city. It has most of the major necessities, almost everyone has electricity 24 hours a day, and we have water for about two hours a day. The best thing that can happen to this city is for the plant to open at a greater capacity, as many men in this town remain unemployed.

Zhanatas has nine microregions (similar to an apartment complex), but only five of them have occupants, and one of those barely has any occupants. The remaining four microregions are either empty or destroyed. Most people in Zhanatas live in these microregions, which all have five floors. However, some of the wealthier people live on the outskirts of the town in dachas, or private homes. I live in the second microregion, which is relatively small and compact compared to the larger and more spread out first and third microregions. The second microregion also has a higher percentage of non-Kazakhs compared with the other microregions. Beyond the outskirts of Zhanatas, there are several villages. One of these villages is entirely Kurdish, the origins of which lie from when Stalin exiled many of the ethnic groups during the days of the Soviet Union. Another is Baikadam, which is where my host mother's mother lives.

Zhanatas also has five schools. The smallest school is Abai, which is located in the completely abandoned ninth microregion. Abai only has a few hundred students and will probably only be open for another few years. Seyfullen is located on the outskirts of town and has a little less than one thousand students. Ablihan (which is where my site mate worked) is located in the sixth microregion and similarly has less than one thousand students. Awaysov is the largest school, around 1,200 students, and is located in the middle of the third microregion, which is the largest microregion. Awaysov is a gymnasium school in which half of the classes are advanced. Finally, there is my school, which is Shokhan Ualihanova. My school is located in the middle of the second microregion and is also a gymnasium. It is also the only mixed school in Zhanatas, meaning half of the classes are taught in Russian and half are taught in Kazakh. The other schools are only taught in Kazakh.

Zhanatas has most of the necessities: a hairdresser, a post office, a fairly nice bazaar, a culture house (similar to a community center), a sports school, a music school, a bus and train station, a hospital, a nice park with a lake, multiple shops, a World War II monument, an internet cafe, a few small dance clubs, several cafes, a meat bazaar, an education department, an akimat (similar to a mayor's office), a bank, and a mosque. That being said, many people go to Taraz or Shymkent to do their major shopping because of a much larger selection and cheaper prices. The park in Zhanatas is particularly interesting. It has a nice lake and a lot of interesting Soviet playground equipment.

Overall, I am happy that I got the experience to live in Zhanatas. How many people can say they spent two years living in a Soviet mining town?

My school.

World War II memorial in Zhanatas.

View from my apartment.

Zhanatas Lake.

The 9th Microregion - completely abandoned.

Strange old Soviet playground decorations.

More strange Soviet playground decorations.

First Two Months in Zhanatas (Outside of School)

After training, all of the volunteers in southern Kazakhstan got on a train and we were off to our sites. All of the volunteers in Zhambyl Oblast got off in Taraz, the oblast center. My director and counterpart met us at 1 AM and then it was off to Zhanatas. Peace Corps had told us that it was about two hours from Taraz to Zhanatas, but that didn't turn out to be entirely accurate, as we didn't get to Zhanatas until about 6 AM. I was supposed to have three host family options, but because I was a boy, two families couldn't take me because there were young Kazakh wives and their husbands obviously wouldn't allow it. Therefore, I was taken to my only option directly. Her name was Sholpan, she was in her early 50s, and she lived alone. Of course, there was beshbarmak, fruit, and all sorts of salads, even at 6 AM. I briefly introduced myself in my elementary Russian that was probably rendered more elementary by the fact I virtually hadn't slept in 48 hours.

My host mom Sholpan, her granddaughter Aizeray, and me.

The first two weeks I was there, the students were on break, so it gave me time to meet various important people, get an address through the post office, and explore the town. Zhanatas wasn't quite like any other town I had ever seen – every turn revealed more empty apartments and more destroyed buildings. However, in some ways Zhanatas had a certain beauty to it that I would grow to appreciate more over time. Finally it was time to make my first appearance at school, and being at a pioneer site, that meant a parade and a concert put on in my honor. I made a speech in Russian to my teachers about myself, in which I included that I liked basketball. After the speech, the PE teacher at our school came and put me on the school basketball team (comprised of teachers).

As it turned, there was a regional tournament that next week. We trained for that week and then the day came. There were 24 teams and games started at 9 AM and the tournament didn’t end until 5 PM. Now I must say, that basketball in Zhanatas is not like American basketball, it is pretty much a mix between rugby and basketball. Nevertheless, our team, which had never advanced past the second round, wound up in the finals against the perennial champions. Unfortunately we got spanked but second place was not bad. I would continue to play basketball pretty regularly over the next two years, which proved to be a great escape from lesson planning.

The traditional pre-game ritual.

Shooting free throws.

Our team - Aibek, Abai, Ravili, Acil, Jenya, and me.

Another major thing that would consume almost all of my nights the first few months was “gosti” as most Peace Corps volunteers call it, which is the Russian word for being a guest at someone's house. I was almost daily whisked away to another house of drinking, beshbarmak, and often a 16-19 year old Kazakh daughter that I was supposed to marry. Along the same train of thought as gosti-ing, I also went to two Kazakh weddings in the first two months. Kazakh weddings are usually pretty large, around 300-500 people, and usually last until 4 or 5 AM. I went with my host mom, her brother, his wife, and their daughter to Taraz for my first wedding. Other than those people, I didn't know anybody there. There was a lot of dancing, and there were a lot of toasts. The toasts are perhaps the most unusual thing about a Kazakh wedding; everybody in the audience gives one, which is why weddings take so long. The second wedding was of one of the English teachers at my school, so there were more people that I had met in my short time in Zhanatas. This wedding was smaller, but there was more dancing on my part, and I had to give a toast in Russian. At the end of my toast, I simply said one word in Kazakh, Рахмет (thank you), and everyone went nuts. This was my first clue at how important the Kazakh language was in Zhanatas. This wedding took place in Baikadam, which is where my host mother's mother lives.

Second wedding in Baikadam.

Then there was the next task of getting my first haircut in Zhanatas. Now I had successfully gotten a haircut in Issyk back during PST which I really liked, so I didn’t think that it would be too huge of a problem. Normally I like to get my haircut fairly infrequently, meaning I usually let it grow out and then get it cut pretty short. I got to the haircut place and showed the lady a photo of what I wanted. She took one look at it, shook her head and said, “No-no, I will make you handsome.” This concerned me, so I called my counterpart and asked her to explain to the hairdresser what I wanted. My counterpart replied, “No-no, if you get your hair cut short, you will look like a hedgehog, and no girls will want to marry you.” I sighed, and basically told the hairdresser to do whatever she wanted to my head.

Finally, we had another basketball tournament in mid-December on Kazakhstan's Independence Day. The tournament went much like the last one, but the most interesting part of the day was at about 2:00, when our team was not playing. We were watching two teams play when the ref called a traveling violation on one of the players on the team that was losing by quite a bit. Clearly frustrated, he got up and took a swing that knocked out the referee. It was not unusual in Kazakhstan for punches to be thrown, I had a bruised jaw from when someone took a swing at me after I stole the ball from him, but apparently this punch struck a chord with the entire gym. Everybody on both teams and in the stands emptied onto the floor, and a full out brawl began that made the Pistons-Pacers brawl a few years ago look like children’s play time. It lasted for about eight minutes before dying down. Blood was wiped up, and play resumed. And since this complex did not have locker rooms, everybody just stripped down naked in the middle of the gym after the tournament to change clothes. Apparently this was OK, even though it was more than likely below zero in the gym, and even though there were women in the crowd. In the middle of this, bread was distributed to everybody, and we all started eating. Then, the vodka came out…apparently it is appealing to quench your thirst with vodka after a hard fought tournament. I asked if they had any water, and someone answered, “Why would you want water when you have vodka?” This was one of those moments, as I looked onto a court of male teachers munching on bread and vodka in sub-zero temperatures, many of them still naked, and many of them talking happily with people three hours earlier they had been trying to beat down during the brawl, where I thought to myself, yes, I am in Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstani Education System

Before I talk about my personal experience teaching English in Kazakhstan, I will touch on the education system in this country overall, because it is quite different than in the US. First, each school is designated as either a Russian, Kazakh, or mixed school (mine was mixed). This determines what language classes are taught in. At my school, if the classes ended in A or Ә they were Kazakh classes, and if they ended in V, B, or G, they were Russian classes. Second, most schools are either regular schools or gymnasiums, which means that it is advanced. My school was actually both, it had gymnasium and regular classes, although I only taught gymnasium classes. Each school has first through eleventh form; there are no separate elementary, middle, and high schools. As I just mentioned, students graduate after eleventh form, not twelfth. School always starts on September 1st with a big ceremony, and always ends on May 25th with the graduation of the 11th form and last bell. The schedule is split into four quarters with about ten days between each quarter. Each school day lasts from 8:30-6:30, but it is split into two parts. At my school, 1st, 2nd, 5th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th forms have class from 8:30-1:30, and the rest have class from 2:00-6:30. Finally, grading is done by numbers, not letters, with a 5 being the equivalent of an A, a 4 a B, and so on. At my school, the lowest grade a student could earn was a 3 because the teacher would be blamed if the student received a 2, which was failing, and therefore no teachers gave out 2s.

One large difference between schools in the US and schools in Kazakhstan are that students in Kazakhstan are placed into a class in 1st form and then have every class for eleven years with that same group of students. This creates an interesting atmosphere; the classes are definitely more close-knit and each class has it's own personality and attitude. Another big difference is that students have opportunity to leave school after 9th form and attend college. College in Kazakhstan is not the same as college in the US, it is simply another option if the students don't want to finish 11th form. Students who attend college often get a job straight after they graduate from college and don't attend university. In general, better students choose to finish 11th form and attend university, but there are exceptions, the main one being if a family doesn't have enough money to send their child to university. In that case, parents assume that a college education is better than finishing 11th form and not being able to send their child to university.

Concerning standardized testing, there are two big tests that a student will take in the course of their education. The first is the ПГК, which occurs in 9th form. This is a language test, so students take a Russian, Kazakh, and English variant. This test, to be polite, is amusing for the native English speaker. It is riddled with mistakes, and even the questions that are grammatically correct don't accurately reflect the level of the student. Worst of all, there are always at least three or so questions that are on English history or geography. For many of these questions, test makers obviously just pick up an English textbook and choose a sentence to copy onto the test, which leads to incredibly difficult detailed questions that students couldn't possibly know.

The second test is the ЕНТ, which is the English equivalent of the SAT. This is the test each student must pass in order to attend university in Kazakhstan. There are five parts: Russian, Kazakh, mathematics, Kazakhstani history, and a fifth subject which the student chooses. That subject should relate to the field they want to study in university. Now, if you think students in the US stress about the SAT, then you should come to Kazakhstan. This test means everything, and I do mean everything, in getting into university; a student can do nothing in school for eleven years, but if they do well on the ЕНТ, they can go wherever they like. This puts extreme pressure on students and teachers, and they often spend more than a year preparing for this exam.

In addition to the standardized tests above, there is also an Olympiad in each subject. An Olympiad is at first a regional contest, and if a student does well, they move onto the oblast competition. A school's results on an Olympiad are extremely important, and teachers will stop at nothing to make sure their student does well on these Olympiads. The Olympiad is just one example of a myriad of competitions that a school competes in each year, some academic, and some not academic. The results of these competitions grow to define a school, and therefore usually take precedent over actual lessons themselves

In general, students take most of the same subjects as students in the US, excluding languages of course. There are a few small differences though. Concerning literature (which is a separate subject from grammar and language), students only read Russian and Kazakh literature. This is mainly due to the fact that they can only read in their native languages, however another reason is that is simply a continuation from Soviet times when no literature from the western world was read. History is also very Soviet-centered and often contains a lot of propaganda, although we can honestly say that the US education system sometimes provides similar ethnocentric viewpoints. Mathematics and science subjects are pretty much the same, and PE is taken every year (which I like). Then there are languages. Most schools teach only Russian, Kazakh, and English, but there are some rural schools that still teach German instead of English. My school actually taught German until the year that I arrived. There are also some advanced schools in big cities that teach other international languages, mainly Chinese, Turkish, and Arabic. In my school, Russian classes have Russian every day, Kazakh four days a week, and English two days a week, while Kazakh classes have Kazakh every day, Russian four days a week, and English two days a week. Students in larger cities have English more often, sometimes even every day.

Open lessons. The two words every volunteer dreads hearing, whether or not he or she is involved in them or not. Open lessons are lessons in which teachers from around the school (or in some cases around the region or oblast) come and observe a “regular” lesson. But there is nothing regular about these lessons at all. Teachers spend weeks preparing for these lessons, preparing all sorts of crazy visuals and technology that they have never used before. Usually, teachers also coach students on the lesson ahead of time so that they get all the answers right, thus making the teacher look good. Then, after the lesson is over, all the the observing teachers sit down and critique the teacher's methodology. Open lessons in English have the additional problem that none of the teachers actually understand English. In my opinion, that makes it difficult for them to critique an English lesson, but instead what they do is critique the methodology and if students “seem” to understand the lesson. That means that English teachers simply need to either give all the students the answers ahead of time or just say every answer is correct, even if it is not. But the main reason that I don't like open lessons is that they interrupt everything. Teachers miss other lessons to plan their open lessons, students worry about what other teachers think about them and are afraid to answer questions, and it just generally is an unnecessary stress on everyone.

The last thing that should be mentioned is the enormous amount of pressure that is placed on teachers and directors in Kazakhstan. Although teachers in the US also face pressure, in my opinion it can't compare to Kazakhstan. In the US, if a student does poorly on a test, in general it is accepted that the student did not study and the blame should be placed on him or her. If an entire class fails a standardized class that may be a different story, but in general students are responsible for their own education. In Zhanatas that was not the case. Teachers were held accountable for their grades, and if they didn't give the appropriate amount of good grades, they were yelled at in front of the entire school. This leads to the importance of how grades look being higher than the importance of their accuracy. For example, if a student gets all 5s and 4s and only has one 3, that 3 will almost always be changed to a 4. Otherwise, the teacher giving the 3 will be yelled at for not teaching correctly. Grade inflation was a huge problem at my school for the reason mentioned above. All of this leads to the students not having responsibility for their own education because there are no consequences for failing a course.

First Two Months in Zhanatas (Teaching)

In the classroom, looking back in retrospect, the first two months were really mostly about getting to know my students and teachers, and just learning to navigate the school. My first school year, through June, I would teach six classes (6V, 7A, 9A, 9V, 10A, and 10B) two times a week. I spent most of the first two months learning the students' names, getting accustomed to teaching with my counterparts, and meeting all of the important people in my school. I started out with two counterparts, Aisulu and Bahytgul. Aisulu was my main counterpart for both years, 53 years old, and had taught English for over 15 years. Her knowledge of English grammar was excellent, and her speaking improved a lot over the two years I worked with her. My second counterpart, Bahytgul, I would unfortunately only know for two months because she had a baby in January after I arrived. She was supposed to come back my second year, but her baby was sick and she had to stay home. Bahytgul was younger and her English was also very good, it was a shame that I couldn't work with her for two years.

I loved all of my students the first two months. They were eager to work with me, participated in all of my games, and were a lot of fun to be around. Their level of English was understandably not as advanced as the students in Issyk because they had English far less often, but most of them participated and I couldn't have been happier about my students.

One of the first activities that I did in the first two months was a fairy tale competition put on by our education department. For this competition, we chose the best students from one class (my class was 6V) and had them compete in a contest that included a song and a short play. The song I chose to teach them was “Do Your Ears Hang Low?” They enjoyed this song and did a great job at the competition. The fairy tale was one out of a textbook. I worked with Bahytgul on this, and she took care of all of the costumes and props. I would soon learn that in Kazakhstan, costumes and props were more important to winning the competition than the English level of the students. I assumed that I would just sit back and enjoy the competition, but the night before the education department called me and said that I would be the MC. I would have to get used to being told important things like this right before an event over the next two years. Anyway, the competition was a lot of fun, and I got to meet some students and teachers from other schools. My students ended up getting second place, although the first place school only won because they had great costumes and were cute little kids.

Awkwardly MCing the event.

Do your ears hang low?

Sayora, Uliana, Lev, Nazerke, Vika, and Nastya from my then 6V class.

One of my next projects was that I decided to have my students write letters to my friends and family. I chose my 6th and 7th grade classes, and they had a lot of fun writing the letters and drawing pictures. Mailing the letters off was a challenge (more on the awesome post offices in Kazakhstan later), and it took much longer than expected for the letters to get to the US and back. Unfortunately, as expected, a few letters either didn't get to the US or didn't get back to Kazakhstan. A huge thank you though to everyone that participated and wrote letters! For those letters I didn't get back, I ended up writing them myself, so no worries. The kids really enjoyed it – one girl even framed hers when she went to Almaty.

Cultural Norms of Kazakhstan

Some of the first things you have to learn as a volunteer are the cultural rules of Kazakhstan. This was particularly true for me, being in a traditional rural Kazakh town in the south. Kazakh people, particularly the elders, take their traditions and customs very seriously. Here are some of the more important ones that I could remember off the top of my head.

1) Men have to shake hands with other men when they enter a room.
2) It is bad luck to shake hands with someone if you are on one side of the door and they are on the other.
3) You must take off your shoes while inside the house.
4) It is bad luck for a woman to sit at the corner of a table; it means she will not get married.
5) If you sit on the floor, you will become sterile.
6) You should always bring a gift when you are a guest at someone's house, no matter how small the occasion.
7) Students always stand when a teacher or administrator enters the room.
8) You should never point at anything; if you are teaching, always point with a pen or other object.
9) Never whistle while indoors.
10) Congratulations are of utmost importance when anything new is bought or done, including cars, home repairs, and sometimes even new clothes.
11) Kazakhs always eat with their hands, except for soup.

In addition to cultural rules, there are four things about Kazakhstan that I have grown to love that I wish would happen in the US, or that did happen in the US that I wish we could bring back.

1) The majority of the time that kids aren't in school, they are outside playing. It is such a joy to walk around and see virtually the entire town outside enjoying themselves in the summer every day.
2) Teenagers and young adults likewise take walks all of the time with their friends; it is the thing to do in Zhanatas and most of Kazakhstan.
3) Young kids here aren't obsessed with popularity like they are in the US. Whenever there are new students, everyone grabs them and they are immediately included in everything.
4) I love the cultural diversity here, as well as the fact that people aren't ashamed to ask about it. In the US there is a hesitancy to ask people about their ethnicties and cultures, but here the question is as common as your name.

The Rest of My First Year

So finally, January came. I had survived the first two months of chaos, weddings, basketball tournaments, and figuring out how everything in Zhanatas worked. Even better, I knew how to navigate school and was ready to start making changes and start my extra-curricular activities. I had come to Kazakhstan with some ideas of what I wanted to do, but in the end it was my evaluation of my town in the first two months that decided for me what I wanted to accomplish, both inside and outside the classroom. The following are the ideas I put into effect starting in January:

• Introducing an American grading system: Over the next two years, this would turn into the best decision I made as far as motivating my students. This first involved changing the numbers to letters (students would receive As, Bs, Cs, and Ds). Each test or homework assignment was given a number of points, and their score on these assignments was recorded in my Excel document. I would post updates on my wall every two weeks (it was anonymous because each student was assigned a number) so each student could see where they stood and what they needed to do if they wanted to improve their grades. The idea of transparent grading was completely foreign to them, and the students loved it, flocking to the wall every two weeks to see what their marks were. Furthermore, I introduced an honor roll where the top 20 students (I would expand that to 35 my second year because I added more students) received certificates. That served as an extra motivation for the best students. All of these marks were then translated back to Kazakh grades for their official records. Of all of my ideas, this took by far the most work. It involved not missing any classes over the next two years (not as difficult to do considering how far away I was from a city) and being consistent with these grades, even when other teachers complained they weren't the correct way to do it.

• Adding a third lesson for my regular classes: I quickly observed in my first two months that two English lessons a week in a society where students never hear English outside the classroom would not be enough. Students would learn the material well during class and then forget it in the five days until their next lesson. Therefore, I added a third lesson after school (or before school for those who studied in the afternoon). For the most part, only my motivated students came to these lessons, so they were a great opportunity to either review what they had learned that week, introduce a new and interesting theme, or review something that they should have known already but did not. These lessons almost always focused on speaking.

• English Clubs for students I did not teach: I conducted English clubs in a different manner than most volunteers did. Instead of choosing a time each week and publicizing it to the whole school, my teachers and students preferred that I hold an individual club for each class that I didn't teach, or at least the ones who wanted one. So I added one for 5A, 6A, 7V, 8A, 8V, 9V, and 10B (if a class has more than 24 students, they are divided into two groups for languages, which means I taught half of 9V and 10B but not the other half). Usually about 8-10 kids would come, except for 5A, where the entire class came. They were also the more motivated students and I enjoyed virtually all of the clubs.

• Community English Club/Teachers' English Club: Immediately after I got there, almost four or five people a day would come to me asking for English lessons. Therefore, I started a community English club for non-English speakers. Originally I had about 15 people coming per lesson (I gave two lessons a week), but by the end of my first year there were only three regulars. Likewise, many teachers at my school that did not speak English asked to learn, so I obliged, and also had about 15 people at the beginning. But also like my community club, by the end of the first year there were three regulars, so I decided to combine these two clubs for my second year. All of my regulars came almost every lesson for two years, except one girl who moved to Almaty. The best part is that I just found out that one of the teachers who came to my club is actually moving to the US, so her work will be put to good use.

• Spanish Classes: All of my students begged me to teach them Spanish from the minute I got to Zhanatas, so despite the fact that I hadn't planned on teaching Spanish, I gave lessons twice a week to older students and twice a week to younger students. These lessons were mostly vocabulary based and we played a lot of games. One boy said he prefers Spanish to English and always greets me as Señor Chris.

• Sports Club: The sports club was a big hit from start to finish, although unfortunately we couldn't do it from mid-November through mid-March because it was too cold outside. Most of my participants were from my younger classes, and we usually played either frisbee, rugby, basketball or kickball. When I say rugby, I actually mean a hybrid American football/rugby that I invented so that my students could understand. My Sunday afternoons when I held the clubs were definitely one of the highlights of my week.

• Office Hours: I also decided to introduce the concept of office hours, where students could come in and ask questions if they didn't understand something they had learned that week. Or at least that was my intention. What office hours really turned into was students coming in and expecting me to prepare a lesson for them. I eventually obliged and ended up adding a fourth lesson for my 6V class because so many of them came, and did the same the next year for my 11A class.

Because I was in a remote site and didn't have the opportunity to go to they city on weekends because I worked Saturdays, I decided to take on more hours both years than Peace Corps suggested. Two years later, I am happy with that decision because my students really were the reason why I came. I maintained this schedule for the rest of the first year and had a great time.

In early January, I went to Baikadam again to meet my host mother's extended family for the first time, and it finally happened. I was given my first sheep’s head to carve and eat in Kazakhstan. From what I have heard, this now means I am Kazakh. The sheep head is given to the honored guests in traditional Kazakh households…and I was proud to get it. The way it works (or at least the way it worked for me) is that you are presented the sheep’s head at the head of the table, and supposed to carve out pieces of the head for everybody. I'm not sure that this is always true, but it was mandatory that the eldest male got the tongue. I was then told that I should eat the eyeballs before everyone began. I ate one (which was not tasty), and graciously offered the other one to my host mother. Unfortunately I did not get to take part in the preparation of the sheep head, which is apparently burned then boiled, but I didn't lose any sleep over it.

The first February would turn out to be the coldest month in my two years in Kazakhstan. Zhanatas is located in south-central Kazakhstan, but because of the hills that created a windy and bowl-like effect, the temperature was usually much colder. We had several days of school cancelled and several delayed. It actually didn't snow an incredible amount, which meant that the ground was ice covered from about December-March. Kazakh and Russian people must have something in their genes that allows them to walk on ice. I was particularly impressed with the girls who did it in high heels, until I realized that high heels actually help them walk (they dig their heels into the ice to keep their balance). I also had several snow ball fights with my students, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Winter Wonderland.

The difficulties of doing laundry in the winter.

Our computer technician Jenya and I.

Two of my students walking their brother on a day off.

Some cold sheep.

My then 9V class after a snowball fight.

My then 6V class after a snowball fight.

In March, after we celebrated Nauryz (I'm going to cover all of the Kazakh holidays in the next section), I took my first trip to Turkistan with all of the volunteers that had gathered in Shymkent. Turkistan is the burial place of Khoja Ahmad Yasavi, the Sufi Shaikh of Turkistan, who lived here during the 11th century CE. Because of his influence and in his memory the city became an important center of spirituality and Islamic learning for the peoples of the Kazakh steppe. In the 1390s Timur (Tamerlane) erected a magnificent domed Mazar or tomb over his grave, which remains the most significant architectural monument in Kazakhstan, pictured on the back of the banknotes of the national currency. The city attracts thousands of pilgrims. According to a regional tradition, three pilgrimages to Turkistan are equivalent to one hajj to Mecca. Turkistan was about two hours north of Shymkent.

After Turkistan, all of the Kaz-21 volunteers gathered in Almaty for IST, or In-Service Training. The training was fine, but the best story came from me trying to get there. My plan was to leave Zhanatas around 3 PM, arrive in Taraz around 7:30 PM, wait about three hours for the last bus to Almaty, and arrive in Almaty at about 9 AM. But then disaster seemingly struck about 2 hours into the bus ride to Almaty when the bus broke down right in the middle of the steppe. Great. But the situation quickly turned into one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. Several men on the bus tried for about an hour to fix whatever was wrong with the bus, but they eventually gave up. Soon after, they started unloading a vehicle that had about twenty to thirty goats in it that was following us to Almaty. The men got together and made a thirty minute shift schedule for when each of us would watch over the goats. So from 2:00-2:30 that morning, in the middle of the steppe in the dark, I got my first goat-herding experience, something that I had wanted to try since I had arrived in Kazakhstan. I think I did alright. Two men at some point that night took the vehicle and drove back about 30 minutes to the closest village. I assumed they were getting something to fix the bus. Nope. They came back with six bottles of vodka and nothing else. Welcome to Kazakhstan. It was below freezing so I guess they wanted to try and stay warm. Anyway, we spent a total of about six hours on the side of the road and didn’t leave until about 6:30 when another bus came to pick us up. About 20 minutes before we left, the sun rose over the steppe and I got to see my first real sunrise over the steppe in Kazakhstan (my training site and current site are both hilly). It was the most gorgeous sunrise I had ever seen, with a herd of goats and a few donkeys in the foreground. At that moment the feeling of being on the other side of the world hit me hard, and I knew that what started as a broken down bus turned into an experience I would remember for the rest of my life.

I came back from IST with a ton of ideas for the last couple of months...until I realized that nothing happens in the last quarter in Kazakhstan. One reason is субботник, which is based off суббота, the Russian word for Saturday. Every Saturday, every student and teacher is required by the akimat to spend a few hours cleaning up the town, which is an awesome idea in theory, even one that I think the United States should adopt. The problem though is that although this day is supposed to always be on Saturday, the akimat decided that they would spread it out during the week. And yes, this meant that on two occasions I showed up to teach a lesson and my students were cleaning outside. I asked why the akimat would tell the students to clean when they should be in school, and nobody had an answer. Then there are the endless amount of holidays, particularly in May. Not only does this mean that we don't have school on those days, it also means that students have to miss a lot of lessons preparing for dance competitions and other things of that nature. Finally, as in the US, students and teachers aren't very interested in doing any work the last month, which made accomplishing anything very challenging. I was able to get out a study guide for what we had learned that year and give a proper final exam, both of which were revolutionary. It is rare that I am complimented by other teachers and parents on something I do in the classroom, but my study guide was a big hit. My students actually used it and my teachers have said that they want to continue to use this idea when I leave. I finished the year by announcing the final honor roll for all my classes, and then there was graduation (I'll talk more about graduation in my second year). And thus ended my first school year in Kazakhstan!

Kazakh, Russian, and American Holidays

As you have probably noticed, I haven't mentioned any holidays yet because I wanted to save them all for one section. Life revolves around holidays and parties in Kazakhstan, and I'll provide a summary of each one below, starting with how I spent American holidays, and then moving onto the Kazakh and Russian holidays.

День святого Валентина — Russian for St. Valentine's Day: Valentine's Day is fairly similar to the US. I got a lot of cards and candy from my students the first year, and the second year I got cards for all of the girls and gave candy to all of my students. Valentine's Day was really cute, it was a lot of fun to have little first grade girls that I didn't know running up to my pant leg and tugging on it to give me a valentine. It was also a lot of fun to try and translate all of the poems and cards I got from my older students.

An example of a valentine I received.

Halloween: There is a Russian translation for All Hallowed Saints Day, but most people just say Halloween even in Russian. We had our swearing in ceremony the first Halloween in Kazakhstan and I'll be in Almaty for Close of Service my last Halloween, so I only had one Halloween with my students. Most of them actually had no idea what Halloween was, so I just put up some decorations and gave them some candy.

Room decorated for Halloween.

День Благодарения — Russian for Thanksgiving: I spent both Thanksgivings in Taraz with all of the volunteers in Zhambyl Oblast. Both years were a lot of fun; we had traditional Thanksgiving food that you can't find in Zhanatas. The highlight was definitely the turkey both years.

Рождество — Russian for Christmas: I'll mention Christmas among the American holidays, although it actually isn't celebrated here at all. For me, Christmas was just another school day. The Russian Orthodox Christmas falls on January 7th. Because Zhanatas is a Kazakh town, there were not many people celebrating, I only said Merry Christmas to the few Russian people I encountered outside. I did watch the Russian Orthodox service in Moscow on TV my first year, which was really interesting.

Новый Год - Russian for New Year's Day: New Year's Day is obviously a universal holiday, and was a lot of fun both years I was in Kazakhstan. The first year, celebrations started with a dance at my school for each of my classes. I chaperoned the 9th grade dance at our school (all of the grades had dances but the 9th grade one was the only one that occurred when I was not teaching).The dance was a lot of fun, it was interesting to see my students not in the classroom. That night, a few of the younger female teachers at my school asked me to go to a dance club that night with them…which I agreed to. When we first all met up, the six of them immediately started arguing on which club to go, where to eat first, and how the night was going to go. The argument escalated (it was partly in Russian) to the point where one girl said she wanted to eat at a place that had plov, and the another girl said something like, “You don’t need plov, look how fat you are.” (For the record, there aren’t actually very many overweight young people in Kazakhstan) One of the teachers walked over to me and said she was so ashamed of her friends, but I laughed and said, “Actually, this is just like being in America, the girls are exactly the same.” She felt a lot better after that. Eventually we ate and went to a club and started dancing – but the problem was I could not see a thing. Every girl in Kazakhstan apparently feels the need to put an inordinate amount of sparkles and glitter on themselves when they go out, and when you combine that with strobe lights, I was blinded for the entire night. It was still a lot of fun though. The next day was New Year's Eve. There was a lot of vodka, as I assumed there would be, but it was spread throughout the day so it didn’t end up being too bad. This holiday is celebrated all day New Year’s Eve in Kazakhstan, which meant all day gosti-ing. The food was great, and I had a lot of fun. I was again reminded though that I am apparently not allowed and not capable of serving myself anything – at each place there were one or two girls assigned to wait on me hand and foot. One time my glass of juice got too low, and the mom yelled at her daughter, telling her that she would not make a good wife. That evening, there was a concert at the akimat in our village. I only went for about five minutes to take the photo below, but people seemed to be having a good time. Then my host mom and I went home and watched the New Year’s celebrations from Moscow. Actually, everyone dropped what they were doing in the hour before the New Year started and went inside to spend it with their family, which is kind of cool. Right before the New Year, President Nazarbayev came on and gave what was kind of like a short State of the Union speech, wished us a Happy New Year, and then we could open the champagne. Right when the New Year started, kids outside started blowing up small fireworks, so I went outside and watched for a while, there were booms all over town. The next year, I went out to a cafe with the English teachers at my school. My 6A class also threw me a surprise party with songs and candy. On New Year's Eve, my host mom and I went to another house to celebrate, but lost track of time. It is bad luck apparently to not be in your house as the New Year comes, so we ran home, popped open the champagne, and got there just in time. I then watched fireworks and enjoyed the kids playing outside.

My then 9V class at the New Year's Dance.

My then 9A class at the New Year's Dance.

Our square on New Year's Eve.

Крещенья (Kreshenya) — Russian Holiday: This holiday means baptism in Russian, and this holiday falls on January 19th. This holiday celebrates the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. There is usually a small service, and then the priest goes to the river to baptize those who want to be baptized. This sounds all nice and innocent, until you remember that in Russia and Kazakhstan, it is usually under -30 degrees in January. The priest usually has to cut a hole in the ice so that people can dip their head underneath. Now unfortunately, like the Russian Orthodox Christmas, they didn't really celebrate this in my town so I never got a chance to take part in the festivities. I did get a chance to hear about it from other volunteers though.

Женский День — Women's Day: Women's Day is an international holiday (which for some reason we don't celebrate in the US) that falls on March 8th. The day pretty much goes how you would expect it to – boys give girls presents, cards, and flowers. Mothers are especially appreciated on this day. My second year, my 11B class put on a show for all of the teachers at our school. It is a holiday for which I had mixed emotions. On one hand, it is awesome that Kazakhstan takes a day to celebrate all of the women and girls in the country. On the other hand, it serves as a reminder of the gender inequality in the country.

Наурыз (Nauryz) — Kazakh Holiday: Nauryz is the biggest holiday in Kazakhstan, and it falls on different days, usually somewhere around March 21st. Nauryz originated in Iran and is the Persian New Year, but most people in Kazakhstan don't actually know that and claim the holiday as their own. Nauryz has spread to many Islamic countries in Central Asia and the Middle East, and each country uses it as a day to celebrate their own traditions.
My first Nauryz, I finally made my way south to Shymkent. Overall, the first day I was in Shymkent was a bit of culture shock; it was strange to see supermarkets, restaurants, and a large city. I ate pizza and sushi and fulfilled my non-Kazakh food quota for the year. Shymkent is the second largest city in Kazakhstan after Almaty. It was wonderful to see all the other volunteers and hear the highs and low. The downside was that on the Nauryz holiday itself, all of the games were cancelled because they were renovating the field, so no Kok par or any other horse games. But we did get a lot of free food, and got to eat in a yurt. There was dancing and rides…and even ice cream! It was a really fun day. The second year, I headed to Asa for a couple of days to celebrate Nauryz. Asa is a small village about 30 minutes from Taraz, and we have a volunteer (Jessica) there. The day before Nauryz, I saw a few yurts being built (or at least part of the process), and then went and played baseball with some Kazakh boys. The next day, we walked down to the stadium where I saw the completed yurts, ate lots of Nauryz Kozhe (a soupy dish served on Nauryz), plov, salads, and breads. There was also a concert, and it was good to see other volunteers. Sadly, I did not get to see kok par either year, which is a traditional Kazakh game played on horses. Kok par is essentially polo played with a goat's head. It would have been quite an interesting sight. Another popular game is called Kyz Kuu. The young girl on the horse does her best to gallop from the young man given a five or ten second headstart, but as soon as the man tries to overtake her she can fend him off by lashing him with a whip. If before the finish line the man fails to overtake her she gets to whip him again. However, if the man catches the woman, he snatches a headscarf out of her teeth and earns a kiss. Either way, Nauryz is my favorite holiday in Kazakhstan for many reasons. One, it symbolizes the end of the long winter and brings in spring. But I also like the general spirit of the holiday around Central Asia – it is a day where every culture and ethnicity can celebrate their own traditions.

Shymkent park on Nauryz.

Big bowl of plov.

Turkistan from a distance.

Underground sanctuary for the Sufi great.

Practicing my Kazakh smile.

Nauryz in Asa.

Young dancers.

Younger dancer ready to perform.

Yurt in Asa.

День единства народа Казахстана – Kazakh Holiday: This holiday falls on May 1st, and is essentially a national pride day. There is no school, and all of the students and teachers gather on the street and march in front of the akimat. It was the first time I had seen the majority of Zhanatas turn out for an event. Each school took turns marching in front of the akim and he announced the best male and female student in each school, among other things. Then everybody bought crafts, shashlik, drinks, and just hung out and watched dancing.

День защитника Отечества – Kazakh Holiday: This is a minor holiday that falls on May 7th and could best be described as Veteran's Day. However, because military service is required in Kazakhstan for all men, technically every man is a veteran, and most people just call this day men's day. There is school on this day, but more dancing and most girls give guys presents like on Women's Day.

День Победы – Victory Day: This is another international holiday that is not widely celebrated in the United States but is a pretty major holiday in every other country involved in World War II. This holiday falls on May 9th. This holiday starts with all of the teachers and 11th form classes gathering at the World War II monument in Zhanatas (there is a World War II monument in every city in Kazakhstan for the reason of celebrating Victory Day). There are some speeches made by veterans, and then everyone marches by the World War II monument and drops a flower. Then, everyone walks along the main road to the square. Along the main road, my students held balloons and wished everyone a Happy Victory Day. At the akimat, there was more dancing and eating, and then came маршировка, or the marching competition. For almost a month, a select group of my students (most of them from 10th form) had been practicing for a huge marching competition. Of all of the non-academic competitions, the marching competition is the most prestigious. My school won first place both years!

Shashlik on the grill.

Zhanatas on Victory Day.

My then 9A class, with my counterpart Aisulu, and me.

Our school marchers my first year.

Getting ready for the marchers.

My school marchers the second year.

Рамадан и Ораза айт — Ramadan and Eid ul-Fitr: Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which varies throughout the year. Ramadan fell around August when I was there. During Ramadan, you must refrain from food, drink, and sex during daylight hours. In Kazakhstan, many Muslims are more culturally Muslim and don't actually practice the religion strictly. Eid ul-Fitr is a three day celebration that occurs at the end of Ramadan. This is a holiday of perpetual gosti-ing, you go to other people's houses and they return the favor. You don't really eat many meals during these days, just lots of bread and fruit. Usually each “meal” ends with a prayer – one of the few times in Kazakhstan that I heard prayers.

День Конституции — Constitution Day: This day celebrates the Constitution of Kazakhstan. Much like many of the other holidays, people gather at the square, dance, eat food, and enjoy themselves.

День учителя – Teacher's Day: Teacher's Day falls on the first Sunday of October, but is usually celebrated on the Saturday before. The first year I was in training and not much happened, but the second year was a lot of fun. Each teacher that had joined the school in the past year had to do an embarrassing thing in front of the school. So myself and four other young teachers all got up for one round, and apparently we had to dance blindfolded in front of the entire school. Awesome. Four times, the music stopped for 10 seconds for some reason, until finally they took my blindfold off and I found myself alone. Apparently, each of those times, somebody was voted off, and I “won” apparently, although it probably had more to do with them wanted to see the American dance ridiculously than me actually having any talent. Then, I sang a song with my 11A class. Thankfully, I have no photos of these occurrences. The event was organized by the 11A class.

Курбан айт – Eid al-Adha: Eid al-Adha is another Islamic holiday that occurs 70 days after the end of Ramadan. This is sometimes referred to as the Greater Eid. In Kazakhstan, it is celebrated much in the same way as the Lesser Eid, a lot of visitors and a lot of visiting. My first year, I was impressed at the different number of ethnicities that I was able to gosti at. I obviously visited my fair share of Kazakh households, but also Korean, Russian, Turkmen, Tatar, Kyrgyz, Kurdish, and Azerbaijani. The best food award had to go to the Koreans, who had both goose and spinach (I would gosti at the house often over the next two years). The Turkmens were the most religious; they actually read from the Koran in Arabic. The Tatars were the most interesting – despite this being a deeply religious holiday, they actually drank vodka during the celebrations. Interesting times.

День Независимости – Independence Day: Independence Day in Kazakhstan falls on December 16th, and there is no school on either the 16th or the 17th. I had a basketball tournament both years on this holiday so if there was a celebration in Zhanatas, I don't really know what happened.

There are some other minor holidays throughout the year that I didn't include, but these are the most important ones.

Malaysia

Shortly after my first school year, I went to Almaty for my physical and then it was off to Malaysia for a couple weeks. I avoided disaster when I misread my departure time as 11:30 PM from 21:30 PM, which is actually 9:30 PM. But thankfully I got there early enough where I just caught the plane. The plane ride over was interesting. I sat next to a Kazakh girl from Ust-Kamenogorsk who was 17 years old, had just finished 11th grade, and was on her way to Malaysia to study English. There was however a slight problem…she did not know any English beyond the basics. She was really nice and hospitable, as most Kazakh girls are, we talked (in Russian) for almost the entire eight hour flight. It was good language practice for me. Then, when we landed, she looked at me and asked, “What do I do now?” It shocked me that her parents would allow her to get on a plane and go to a country where she did not know the language, and without any plan for when she gets there. She had money though, so I helped her get her baggage, change her money, and buy a Malaysian Sim card. Thankfully, as I was trying to find a taxi for her to her college, she saw a man with her name on a sign, so she had a ride. I hope she is doing well now.

One of the biggest differences between Kuala Lumpur and Almaty is that everyone spoke English, especially the people who commonly dealt with tourists. Because Russian is the second language to Kazakh in Almaty, and because Kazakhstan gets almost zero tourists, nobody speaks English there. So it was nice to be able to get around with my English. Kuala Lumpur was an interesting city, not very pedestrian friendly, but the food was great and the sights were interesting. After spending a while in Kuala Lumpur, I went out to Penang, an island in the north. Penang was a little quieter, a little more pedestrian friendly, and the food was great.

Overall it was a great trip, mainly because of the food, I ate great Malaysian, Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Indonesian food. It was tough to go back to Kazakhstan. Most importantly, it was great to see old friends, thanks to JJ and Rachel for being great hosts!

Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.

Kazakh and Russian Food and Drinks

As most volunteers will tell you, one of the biggest challenges is the lack of variety and spice in the food. This challenge is exacerbated by living in a rural site, as city volunteers can at least get a reprieve with good local restaurants and in some cases restaurants that have non-Kazakh food. This problem is also worse in the north, as food is more expensive and scarce the colder it gets. Given that I stayed with a host family for two years and didn't get out of my town very much, I would often go months without non-Kazakh food (other than some treats from care packages). In the Siberian climate that is Russia and Kazakhstan, potatoes, beets, carrots, onions, and bread are about all you get in the winter. I will say that the summer is much better, fresh fruit in the US can't compare with Kazakhstan, especially the melons, watermelons, berries, apricots, and plums. Below are the main Kazakh and Russian food and drinks.

Бішбармак (Beshbarmak): Kazakhstan's national dish, it literally means five fingers in Kazakh, as you are supposed to eat with your hands. It is made with special boiled noodles, onions and boiled horse or lamb meat. Usually, the “drink” is bulon, which is broth from boiling the meat.

Манты (Manti): Manti is a Turkic dish that was popular among nomads back in the day. It is a boiled dumpling that usually includes boiled lamb or beef and onions, but can also include potatoes and pumpkin.

Лагман (Lagman): Lagman is made in many different ways – in many cultures it is with a soup, and in Zhanatas that is usually how it was made. But my favorite variety is Uyghur, which has a special noodle, and then usually a lot of peppers, spices and onions. Even better is when it is fried – there is a great Uyghur restaurant in Taraz where they made great fried lagman.

Борщ (Borscht): Borscht is actually Ukranian in origin, and is a beetroot soup. It has many different varieties – my host mom usually made it with beets, cabbage, potatoes, and sour cream. Sometimes she would put meat in it, but it was usually just to add a little flavor. On special occasions, we added garlic, which made it amazing.

Пельмени (Pelmeni): Pelmeni are small dumplings with meat in them. They originated in Siberia and are quick to make. My host mom usually makes them Tatar style, which means they are served in a clear soup.

Плов (Plov): Plov is a rice dish served usually with carrots and meat. This dish is pretty universal around the world, with Kazakh plov having more oil and less other spices than the average plov. Many locals like Uzbek plov, which also includes raisins, but I personally like it without it better.

Курдак (Kurdak): Kurdak is the meat lover's dish in Kazakhstan and Russia. I only had this once, but is basically a huge pile of beef or lamb on a plate, complete with all of the ligaments, bones, and grit.

Квас (Kvas): Kvas is a Russian non-alcoholic drink that is made from rye-bread. I didn't particularly care for it when I first tried it, but grew to like it over my two years here and actually enjoy it now. It is actually cheaper than water at the shop next to me.

Қымыз (Kumis) and Шұбат (Shoobat): Kumis and shoobat are fermented horse's and camel's milk, respectively. They are common only in traditional small towns and villages in Central Asia, so guess what, I was one of the lucky volunteers that got to drink this weekly! It tastes pretty disgusting honestly, but I actually got used to the taste. They tasted very similar, but I thought that kumis was slightly less sour.

Пирожки (Pirozhki): Pirozhki were commonly served in my cafeteria at school, and were baked bread with different fillings inside. They were sometimes sweet and could be filled with warm fruit or jam, or could sometimes have cabbage or potatoes. This food originated in Russia.

Пероги (Pierogi): Pierogi are dumpling common in Poland, but made with unleavened dough. It can also be made with many different fillings, usually meat, cabbage, or potatoes.

Самса (Samsa): Samsa is a common street food in Kazakhstan, and much like the preceding foods I mentioned, it is a pastry that usually has meat, cabbage, or cheese in it. Samsa is almost always in a triangular shape.

Шашлик (Shashlik): Shashlik is basically a meat kebob, usually done with chicken or lamb, but also possibly with other meats in big cities. This is the most popular food among volunteers at cafes – shashlik and beer go great together.

First Summer in Kazakhstan

Shortly after I got back from Malaysia, my parents and sister came to Almaty for a week, which was a lot of fun. We went to the bazaar, the zoo, the parks, and went hiking up a canal near the mountains one day. We also had a nice blend of local and non-Kazakh foods. Because it was Almaty, the food was amazing, I had to explain that unfortunately in my village it does not usually have that much spice or that many vegetables in the food, and nowhere near the variety. Finally, we had solid living arrangements, I got a cheap apartment near downtown with a shower, a fridge, a toilet, and air-conditioning.

Large Mosque in Almaty

Russian Orthodox Church in Almaty

World War II Monument in Almaty

View of the Mountains

After my family left, I went straight to Shauldir for my first summer camp in Kazakhstan. Shauldir is a small village between Turkistan and Shymkent, only about three hours from my site as the bird flies, but it took eight hours to get there via Shymkent. The camp was an English camp for fifth and sixth graders, and it was well organized. This village is even more Kazakh and smaller than mine, so it was definitely an interesting perspective.

Attempting to teach 5th grade girls to play basketball.

Quarterback camp.

Next, I headed to Asa, which is very close to Taraz, for a baseball camp. The best part of this camp was that we got to sleep in a yurt. The camp itself was a lot of fun, baseball is not the easiest sport to explain, especially in Russian/Kazakh, but the kids eventually got the hang of it. For the smaller kids, they did other activities, including an awesome wet-sponge dodgeball game. However, this camp was only in the morning, so we had free time to do other things in the afternoon and evening. I mentioned before that we stayed in a yurt but didn’t tell the whole story – this yurt actually had electricity and a television. The World Cup final happened to fall on the first night we were there, so we got to watch the second half of the final in a yurt (after eating at someone’s house and watching the first half there). Definitely another one of the highlights of Kazakhstan so far. Later that week, we had a nice picnic outside where we got to pick raspberries.

Baseball...a swing and a miss.

Very cute girl enjoying sponge dodgeball.

Our yurt for the week.

My traveling and summer camp tour ended in Zhanatas with our own summer camp. What can I say, in a word it was awesome, we played basketball, frisbee, kickball, and rugby, and we taught them American dances, made ridiculous creatures, had water balloon fights, jello eating contests, cooked hamburgers, did egg drops, had hula hoop races, and much more. The kids loved every second of it and were a joy to have. We had about 60 great students and 15 wonderful volunteers.

Oh no...our egg broke!

Winners of the egg drop.

The human pyramid!

Johnny with water duck duck goose.

Water balloon toss...this girl was not so lucky.

Johnny and Anna leading their team in the human knot.

One of our student volunteers, Guldana.

Banner making.

One of my favorite photos in my two years in Kazakhstan.

Frisbee!

More human knot.

Jello eating contest! The girls are clearly shocked!

Noelle guiding the hula hoop relay.

The chicken dance!

Kickball!

Four awesome volunteers - Sholpan, Guldana, Aida, and Aiganym.

Jessica and Echo with the Gold Pussycats!

Our winning team - the Black Apples, with Erica and Gisela!

Noelle and Sipra with the Big Fast Fire!

Janelle supervising the water balloon hand off.

Second Year in Zhanatas

After an amazing summer, I was ready to start my second year. First, there were a couple of decisions that I had to make. The first was whether or not I wanted to move out of my host mom's house. Most volunteers decide to move out, but I decided to stay, and it was an easy decision. My host mom was wonderful both years I was there. The next decision was one that was actually presented to us a couple of months into our second year. Peace Corps Kazakhstan made a few changes in the two years I was there; education volunteers now come in March instead of August. Because of that change, Peace Corps gave our group the option of leaving three months early in August. I decided to stay until our original COS date in November though. There were a few reasons for this, but the main reason was because I had signed a contract for two years and wanted to show them commitment. Finally, I had to decide which classes I wanted to add. I originally decided to add 9A, 9V, 8V, 7A, and 6A. I had all of those classes as clubs my first year and really enjoyed them. However, at the last minute, I had to switch 7A for 5G because I wanted to teach with one of the new English teachers. This year I would teach with two additional English teachers, Asel and Jansaya.

The first major event happened a couple of days before the school year began. There was a big opening to the school year that all teachers from all schools in Zhanatas came to, about 500 people total. Then, the education department asked my sitemate and I to give a speech (Laura in Kazakh and I in Russian). Now this would have been slightly intimidating for me even in English, but a speech in Russian to 500 people was slightly frightening, especially considering that people in Zhanatas respond much better to Kazakh speakers than Russian speakers. It ended up going pretty well though.

The first couple of months were a bit challenging because the schedule changed all of the time, and I mean all of the time. For the first month, I showed up at school and had no idea what classes I was teaching that day. That being said, the advantage to the first couple of months was the students were enthusiastic and glad to be back in school. The one bad thing was the crazy pastor in Florida who wanted to burn Qur'ans on September 11th. Pretty much every major new network in the Middle East and Central Asia led off every night with this story, and every other person in my town asked me what was up with this guy - and if all Americans are like him. I think these people need to critically think about how their actions are portrayed abroad and how they affect people who are living abroad in countries with Muslim populations.

Two things major events happened outside the classroom the first couple of months; the first was that I was chosen to be on the Sarysu region Olympic basketball team. We traveled to Taraz to play teams from other regions. We didn't do very well, mainly because other regions actually play real basketball, not rugby on a basketball court. I was sick during this weekend and not too excited about being there anyway. The second thing was the fall ball, which determined the homecoming queen of our school. This ball involved one female student from each class, grades 8-11. Each girl had to sing a song, dance, and cook a dish. Kymbat from my 10B class ended up winning. It was apparently mandatory that I miss my classes so I could help judge this competition.

My big project for the first semester was an American Idol competition. I figured that students loved music and this would be a good way to keep them interested. My 8A class ended up getting first place with their rendition of All You Wanted by Michelle Branch. My 9A class took second place with Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson, and my 9V class took third place with Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison. Other songs ranged from Hello/Goodbye by the Beatles sung by my 5G class to Better in Time by Leona Lewis sung by my 11A class. Each class worked really hard, learned their song’s lyrics by heart, and did really well.

10V

9A

8A

I've already covered the holidays that occurred through winter in previous sections. Winter my second year turned out to be much milder than my first year, we only had two days of delayed school because of the cold, and they actually happened in early March. There was a lot more snow my second year, so at the end of the day it was a win-win situation, not extremely cold and a lot of snow. Much like the first year, I had a few snowball fights with students. It was a lot of fun. Winter ended with a trip down to Asa for Nauryz, and more importantly, a trip to Taraz to watch my first college basketball game in two years during the NCAA tournament!

My microregion after a snowfall.

One of our larger snowfalls that winter.

Zhanatas Lake in the winter.

Shortly before the last quarter started, Kazakhstan held a presidential election on April 3rd. This election was announced in late January as a result of events in the Middle East and North Africa. Overall, this election was a formality, everyone knew Nazarbayev would win, and he won with 95% of the vote. My school was a polling site, but I decided it would be best to stay away on election day (which was on a Sunday).

The last quarter came and much like the first year, I gave my final exam and did an extended honor roll complete with certificates. This year graduation meant much more to me because I had actually taught 11th form. Graduation in Kazakhstan is a two day event starting on May 24th. The first day, students in the younger classes get all of their awards from the year. Then, the 11th graders perform a last waltz in front of the entire school. The main ceremony though is on the 25th. Several teachers make remarks, and then the students thank all of the teachers in the school and give them roses. Then the 11th graders perform the waltz again, sing Последний Звонок (Last Bell), and then the teacher rings the bell one last time, and they are free. About a month later, after they finish the ЕНТ, they have their last ball, which is the equivalent of prom.

My 11A class.

My 11B class.

About to do their last waltz.

Waltzing to "Звонит звонит звонок."

Tamila and Sholpan from 7V singing at graduation.

Gulfairuz, Aigerim, Sasha, and Madina at prom.

Karligash, Janerke, Gulzat, Aidana, and Gulnaz at prom.

Aidana, Nurila, and Janerke at prom.

Aziza, Aigerim, and Sasha at prom.

My Students and Classes

I wouldn't do my experience justice if I didn't devote a section to my students. They were, after all, the absolute best part of my two years here, and given that I never left my town, I spent about 99% of my time with them.

Aikumis and Asel from then 9V.

Sayora and Vika from the 6V.

My then 7A class.

The dancing crew from my 9A class.

My 9A class out in the snow.

English Club and s'mores with 7V.

English Club and s'mores with 8V.

Aigerim, Nesibeli, Zarina, and Gulim from then 5A.

9V

8A

6A

11A after a concert.

5G girls hard at work.

More 5G girls.

Girls of 6A, another one of my favorite photos.

Girls from 10A hard at work.

Alyona and Janat from 10B playing vocabuball.

Indira, Madina, and Leila from 8A hard at work.

5G

6A

Gulim and Aigerim being silly.

7V

8A

Girls from 8V

9A

Sasha, Lera, Aigerim, and Katya from 9V

The boys from 9V

10A, with my counterpart, on Women's Day

10B

11B

11A

Second Summer in Kazakhstan

My second summer in Kazakhstan started with our Close of Service conference, or COS. As I mentioned before, most of the volunteers from our group left in August, so this was the last time that we would all be together. Our Kaz-21 group was great, and there are a lot of people I will really miss. After COS, we went hiking near Almaty toward the Kyrgyzstan border. Our goal was to see the “Big Almaty Lake” and an old Soviet Observatory, that was the highest in elevation in the entire Old Soviet Union. I would write about our experience, but I think my friend Mark who went with us captured it better than I could.

It started as story. Some young and adventurous British bucks came through Taraz about one year ago. They told the story of this amazing journey they made, trekking into the great unknown mountains to a hidden observatory where a mad astronomer lives and studies the sky with his dilapidated soviet equipment. They painted such a rosy picture of the trip though, how could we deny it. So during our conference in Almaty we resolved to make the journey, little did we know, we were heading towards possible doom. The weather forecast predicted some rain, but also some sun and we knew the trip was only about 13 kilometers, not much to worry about, right? Unfortunately our foolishness and the shotty directions were almost our undoing. So bright and early Saturday morning we made our way to the roundabout where we could catch bus number 28. It would take us up into the foothills; from there we were on our own. It took us up and we were on our way. No signs, no real directions except for what the bus driver told us, “туда туда,” “to there, to there.” He was pointing up a road, and as we began it seemed as if we were the only ones ascending, while others were making their way down, in some cases on bikes, and even running, perhaps in order to escape the perils of what laid ahead of us. The only other directions we had were nebulous and cryptically written reports of the few others who had made the journey. Walk 8 km to a water pipe, then follow the pipe to the lake, a kilometer from the lake go up and find the compound. So we trudged on with the menacing clouds threatening torrents of rain, or worse. We walked and walked, and walked and walked and then walked some more, all uphill until finally reaching our next waypoint. The pipe. At first we couldn’t believe it, that we needed to actually follow this pipe, but this is what travelers before us had written in their vague explanation on how to reach this place. We were incredulous because it wasn't a gentle slope or even a slight one, not even a bit of a slight slope evening out, but a nearly vertical climb up into the heavens and clouds. Along the side we believed we could make out stairs so steep and decrepit that they might be part of some ancient Tibetan temple crumbling from the ages. We investigated the road, but discovered it went into a harrowing and very long switchback, therefore we resolved to take the pipe. This meant skirting around a very creepy looking construction site, with seedy construction workers and security guys sitting walking around. A man also passed us telling us to go no further, that snow was in the mountains, an ominous omen. Soon though we were at the pipe, and finally as the rain started to break for the second time, we began to ascend the stairs, which were not stone, but like some mad sculpture of iron pipes haphazardly welded together. We ascended though moving onwards and upwards, eventually having to use iron ropes in order to traverse the steepest parts as the ground below us became worse and worse. As we reached the top of the first hill, our spirits rose but were quickly dashed when we saw what lay beyond. More hill, more pipe, more up, and more rain. By this point our shoes were soaked, along with our socks and feet. Our trash bags and light raincoats also began to fail as the torrents continued; we were ill prepared for such a journey. Moving onward we battled on until finally reaching the last stretch, upon a windswept hill, drenched with rain and the foreboding gray light from the clouds was a small watch house which overlooked the lake, our second navigation marker. At this point the group split, two of us continued along the pipe, while the other two decided to continue up the road, we feared we would never see them again as in these sorts of stories you should never separate. We feared this until we saw them about every five minutes because it was a switchback that went up the hill and crossed over the pipe we were following every hundred yards or so. But still, it was tense there for a minute. Finally making the crest of the hill we stumbled weakly towards the wall, the promise of Big Almaty lake over a low wall, but as we reached it we were disappointed to find…a pond. What was Big Almaty Lake was sadly dying, a shadow of its former self. We were given the gift of sun as a reward for our work though, and for five minutes enjoyed the warm rays bathing us. This would not last though, and now we had to press on the last bit in order to reach shelter. As we began to move up the road that was cut into the side of the hill, a dark shadow began to overtake us, the clouds were descending upon us. Visibility became nothing as we hugged the edge of the road. Undaunted but exhausted we pressed, with every slogging step until finally coming upon our shelter, our safety, our home for the night. Or so we thought. Around us were white capped mountains, this hilltop itself sitting on a mountain thrusting into the sky, the first thing we saw was the dish, moving slowly and quietly staring deep into every patch of grey sky. According to others as you walk into the compound, people usually come out to greet you, but as we wandered there was nothing but the disturbing sound of the wind and patter of rain. Wandering we came upon an old man, perhaps a shaman, perhaps just middle aged and perfectly normal, we were rather cold by that point. He told us that the mad astronomers had all left because of the weather but there was someone who might help a keeper of that forbidden place. He said he would come and that he must depart soon. As we waited we began to freeze as the temperature continued to drop and we were not drying off, we began our plans for contingencies. Foremost among them was picking an abandoned building and building a fire, huddling through the night for warmth, but then finally the keeper came. We negotiated a price and he gave us two rooms.

Almaty Lake

High up in the mountains

Old Soviet Observatory

Mark and Michael hiking into the clouds.

This should be on a postcard.

After I got back from COS, I spent a couple of weeks planning my summer camp and headed back to Shauldir for Jon's summer camp again. Same structure as last time. Then we came back to Zhanatas for our second annual summer camp. Like last year, it was absolutely amazing. We had about 50 students, 13 great volunteers, and actually had six local teachers this year to help us. This year we had a few new activities, including s'mores, beach balls, bracelet making, and of course most of the activities from last year.

Celebrating an unbroken egg!

Don't fall down!

Words can't express how much I will miss Gulim.

Lora with her brilliant fashion model.

Kathleen and Diane teaching the "Spice Girls" Project Runway.

Cotton Eyed Joe.

Signy and Jon taking charge of the classroom.

Becca, Beth, Aigerim, and the Happy Elephants enjoying s'mores.

Nurgul and Meruert having fun.

Our winning team, the Icy Fire, with John and Heather.

Aaron and Adrienne earning a well deserved hug from their team.

Not summer camp, but playing Frisbee with kids is always fun.

Europe Trip

After I finished my summer camp, it was time for Europe! Most volunteers take a larger vacation their second summer because they accumulate more vacation days, so it was off to Europe for three weeks. My itinerary was Prague, Kulmbach, Nuremberg, Amsterdam, Bruges, Paris, and then London. I'll let the photos tell most of the story, but the trip was fantastic. In Prague and Nuremberg I was even able to use Russian most of the time, which was great.

Charles Bridge in Prague.

Prague Castle.

Hiking to the Plassenburg Castle in Kulmbach, Germany.

Farmer's Market in Kulmbach.

Cathedral in Nuremberg.

Palace of Justice in Nuremberg.

German donor...mmm.

Amsterdam!

The Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam.

Bruges canal.

The Louvre in Paris.

Notre Dame in Paris.

The North Sea - beach in Belgium.

Stroopwafels!

Biking in Belgium.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris.

The Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Crem Brulee.

Westminster Abbey in London.

Buckingham Palace in London.

Parliament and Big Ben in London.

Hyde Park in London.

Reflections

Wow. Where do I start on trying to reflect on the past two years? There is a quotation that I came across by Douglas Adams while reading here that goes like this: "I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." In some ways, I think this sums up my Peace Corps experience. Peace Corps Kazakhstan isn't the typical situation that most people think of when they think of Peace Corps. Zhanatas certainly wasn't the place I envisioned when I joined Peace Corps. However, after two years, I couldn't imagine having served in a different country or town.

There have definitely been some challenges, most of which all volunteers face. Corruption is something that is definitely prevalent throughout society and the education system. The pressure to drink was definitely something I had to confront a number of times, especially in a remote town. Every male volunteer encounters uncomfortable situations with eager young girls in this country who want nothing more than to marry an American and move to the US. Gender relations in Kazakhstan, particularly in more rural sites, can sometimes be difficult to watch on a daily basis. Everybody has days where you miss home and the people you love, and you want to hop on the first plane back to the US. However, I will say that for every day that I had like the day above, I had 10 where I thought that I could stay in this country forever. Most of the problems in Kazakhstan exist everywhere in the world. There is corruption virtually everywhere in society. The fact is that my two years in Kazakhstan will stand as two of the best years of my life, and joining Peace Corps was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Personally, I feel that I have changed a lot since I have come here. I am definitely more patient – it is hard not to be after being in Kazakhstan for two years. I most definitely appreciate good food and the variety of food choices that the US has to offer. I understand better the different worlds that rural and urban citizens live in, not just in Kazakhstan, but in the US too. However, perhaps most importantly, I think the thing that Kazakhstan has taught me is the importance of making time for friends, family, and relaxation. Now I must admit that on occasions, it was a little frustrating when the entire town was focused on a holiday when you were trying to teach or do something productive, but the Kazakhs' overall attitude toward life is that while work is necessary, the time you spend with your friends, family, and the time you make for yourself is most important. This is something that I want to bring back to the US and hope that I don't lose over my life.

As far as my future, unfortunately I am not much closer to figuring out what I want to do than I was when I came to Kazakhstan. I have had thoughts ranging from law school to marrying a nice Russian girl and staying in Almaty for the rest of my life, and everything in between. For now, my goal is to focus on my last month in Zhanatas and properly saying goodbye to students and teachers that have meant so much to me over the past couple of years.

I wanted to end by giving a huge thank you to everyone who supported me over the past two years. The volunteers in Kazakhstan were great, particularly the 28 who came to Zhanatas over the two summers for our summer camp. But a bigger thanks to friends and family back home for the phone calls and emails, and most of all to my parents and sister, who were constantly there for me and even made the trek to Kazakhstan the first summer to come visit me.

For those of you who made it to the end of this (probably only one or two of you), thanks so much for reading! If you are on Facebook, feel free to check out even more photos from Kazakhstan.