Dance :)

BLOG #11
Sept 26


Its about 11 at night... and I'm "watching" Harry Potter with Ablai lol (he's koncked out :) I'm pretty pumped... Sarah let me have her music and movies... so now I have like 25 movies on my computer all of the sudden - most of which I've never seen! After class today there was some sort of Greek festival I think lol, it was really cool! There were these dance groups who performed different traditional dances (greek, bulgarian, korean, and more that I couldn't understand) I loved it! I'll post the video as soon as I can :) I'm not sure how such a rural village managed such an event... But then Anna reminded me of when Aigul was telling us that when people gosti (or are invited to another house as guests) they are usually entertained by people dancing, or singing or doing some kind of live performing act! Since there are rarely TVs and such, people just develop these incredible talents and traditional ways from when they are young. I think thats really cool. Like Aigul danced for us when we first arrived in Kaz and it was beautiful - never having any real training that I know of, and knowing first hand that schools here offer NO arts classes. It's pretty crazy how prestigious even a high school degree from America is in comparison to countries like Kaz... and for the education to be free! It really is a blessing I've never realized until seeing this school system (Go Dad! lol)
Then I came home and hung out with Ablai... we've eaten the same fried bread dish for the past 5 meals. Literally. (Grandma's package has come in sooo handy... tuna, cheese crackers, etc...) I didn't eat much of it for dinner tonight and my host mom noticed - and called me out lol she's like "Nina are you sick of ____ yet? We've had it... then she lists the meals we've eaten haha I must say I've been pretty hungry today. Mom and the fam called today, which was sooo nice! It stinks that I couldn't be there for the fun moments (ahem.. ELANA!) but I have to admit its pretty sweet to be able to brag a little bit to my PC friends :) Echo and her host sister came over then to "watch a movie" which didn't happen - Ablai gets too excited when people come over and shows off... like any other 10 year old lol. It's funny to think about when I first met him, how surprised I was to have a kid brother that was so "American-like" in a Kaz... if that makes sense. Like so fun and outgoing... I don't know it's like I didn't think people could be goofy unless they were from America - Oh my narrow mind lol. There is some truth to that however unfortunately - clearly noticed by my "Why do Americans smile so much?" conversation I had with my host mom several days ago... She was like "Nina," ok I don't know how to type our special language but basically why are you always smiling? I wasn't quite sure how to answer that question... Does everyone in America always smile?... yeah... yeah, uh, we smile in America. Does your mom smile?... yeah my mom smiles. Does your dad...grandma...teacher etc smile? yeah lol they do. Do I smile? haha this was another awkward one! Uh... yeah... yeah you smile ( : / ) Papa? ehhh I guess he smiles - She clearly wanted to be known as a smiling person so I figured reassuring their joy was the best way to go about this...! It's an interesting concept to think about though... I understood smile to actually mean joy. It's just overall not a smiley culture here - or really most other places outside of the US - someone should do a study on that :) I'll tell you one thing that makes them smile is my hot pink sequined slippers Sarah V gave me last Christmas! lol (I think of you ever time I wear them :)
Some terrible news happened last night to Denise (one of the girls I go to church with) Her host fam's flat was broken into - actually really just her bedroom- and he computer and money was stolen! I felt soo bad! Not going into details too much... it sounds like it had to have been either a direct host family member or someone that is very close to the family... She's being put with another family now - Its so ironic because the host family only consisted of a host "mom and dad"... both of which are YOUNGER (19) than Denise! How does that make sense lol. I think that had I stayed with my first host "family" I would very well may have had a more similar experience... there are just a lot of similarities from what she has told me. Which makes me think, "If they caught my sub-par family placement - why wouldn't they have noticed the sketchy signs that Denise has had?" Who knows... It's just too bad.
On a lighter note... my host dad fixed the light in my bedroom! And it's quite hilarious because when you turn it off, it blinks for about 20 minutes before it fades away and off - It's really fun like a disco party... Ablai and I dance before we go to sleep :)