Rhinestones are a Girl's Best Friend...

Blog 42

12/8

I thought our dog, Toozik, was going to give himself a hernia this morning, barking like a maniac. He was just wailing right outside my window... and the rest of my family didn't seemed bothered - or at least they can fake it really well. The past two days Zharas and I have been just about late for school in the mornings lol, don't ask me how it happens. I think I'm going to start pouring my tea 5 minutes before I actually sit down to eat... because I can't drink scolding hot tea fast enough.

Yesterday I both taught with Saltanat and wore my official-super woman power-Kazakhstan-lady boots for the first time; both went well. I'm still not completely at peace with paying 6500 tenge, 45$ish, for such low quality boots... But my mom was reassuring that these were really really good boots (I'll take her word, I'm just looking for a pair that will last two years) I just know Target probably sells something like these but better quality and for half the price. I just think to myself, they are worth +100$ if they take my overly-concerned teacher friends off my back about the cold! All of the boots looked equally chinsy anyway. Mine are fake black leather with a nice plastic heel. "Natural", as they say, sheep fur lines the inside and of course they have rhinestone imitation around the ankles... Today they had their first run in the snow - and I must say my feet were nice and toasty. I even had a few almost-compliments. My counterpart was talking to another teacher about me (one of those times where you know people are talking about you, even when you don't understand what they are saying...) Then she told me that I'm wearing boots and my outfit fits me very well. compliment? maybe?.... oh, I'll take it! lol.

Teaching with Saltanat was great, however I foresee too much Kazakh being used in English class. I'm not too worried about it right now, though. Saltanat knows what's up :) Today, after classes and English club we played volleyball with some students and a couple of other teachers. Everything was going just fine - I've been tricking myself into just thinking people are just doing "trick shots" when they kick the ball... instead of getting mad about it. lol. It still bothers me though, and this is why. The ball is dead and as I reach down to take the ball and roll it to the server, this girl kicks it right in my face! lol! hard...! I thought I my nose was broken - or was definitely going to start bleeding....! hahahahaha - I'm laughing now but I wasn't then. It hurt. This whole little scene almost did a take two, but I caught myself and stuck my hands out in front of my face and the kid didn't kick it. Saltanat yelled at everyone and said something about in America you're not allowed to kick the ball, maybe... I appreciated that.

I had been thinking about stopping English Clubs until I have a better understanding of Kazakh, but I'm on the fence now. The hour went really quick today, and we had fun. Plus, Saltanat said she wouldn't mind helping me study Kazakh between classes, which is more of what I was looking for than a one on one class in a classroom. 13 students came today, which is the most I've had so far. We played Simon Says for way longer than I had planned, then we sang Christmas songs and did a listening activity, where I played a song and they checked off the words that they heard. I made 10 worksheets by hand, each having 3 activities for 3 songs. It took forever to do, but was worth it. I can use that for the next few clubs. My host family has a printer but no ink. I'm going to try and buy some ink somewhere tomorrow and see after a few months if it is worth the money to print things. I could make some great worksheets and actual quizzes and tests - something to actually grade. I don't remember if I wrote about the one day they did tests, but it was basically a joke.

I started my wall of promises :) I like it. I also have been reading through the Gospels - in honor of Christmas! :) I'd like to make some Christmas crafts in English club too... maybe wrap sparkly garland around a poster-cone for a Christmas tree (mom! :), paper snowflakes, a ginger bread house - but that might be too pricey... If anyone has low budget ideas, let me know!

Can you describe Christmas in 15 min or less?

Blog 41

12/6

Today, "holiday", as they say here, is the normal cleaning day. They say holiday, but mean weekend, which means housework. Pretty misleading, I know. Cleaning under my bed, I found what I thought were nerds on a piece of paper... then through some context clues - learned that it is actually mouse poison. I have obvious mixed feelings about this. We took the extra bed out of my room today too! I'm so glad about that. I don't remember if I mentioned earlier, but I basically kicked my host siblings out of their beds and room. Not only kicking them out, but having two beds in the only bedroom in the house. This really bothered me. I was wanting to move out at the end of my 6 months and find housing elsewhere to give them their space back - they had been sleeping on the floor! But now I feel better. Much better.

I will teach with Saltanat tomorrow in two of my lessons. I really like her. We planned together today, and by planned I mean actually planned and made materials together. Tomorrow one of our lessons is on Christmas and Nauryz. I only have 15 minutes to talk about Christmas! lol. I could do a month's worth of Christmas lessons, easily... but 15 minutes will be challenging. Nauryz is the Kazakh new year. They celebrate it in March and have the Santa Claus theme/idea from what I understand. I'll learn more about it tomorrow...

Johnny came over for lunch, and of course showed me up with his spectacular Russian speaking skills lol. :( My host mom made delicious chicken and french fries for him! It was really tasty. She said she was tempted to make bishbarmak... but (I don't exactly remember this) I told her that we don't like bishbarmak haha. (bishbarmak is the national kazakh dish... it's soggy noodles with horse meat and mutton. Nothing flavorful.) I really appreciated that she listened and practiced actual hospitality, which is catering to the guests wishes.... not culture's traditions. She's a really cool person. Although, after she explained this to us... she then told us that it was just about time to kill a horse for the winter, which means 4 months of bishbarmak. Awesome.

Johnny and I called Laura and talked to Echo about them coming here for the US new year... they said yes! I'm soo excited for them to come! Then I talked to Denise, who is also doing well :) So good to talk to them.

A hug is worth a thousand words, a Friend is worth more...

Blog 40

12/2

Classes have been going better. Not saying that they had been going poorly, but they have been improving. I have a system down, which makes things much easier. The teachers are also trusting me more with the classes. Gulbak, one of the English teachers I work with, has been sick this week. So with her two classes, I've been on my own. I like it better on my own :) I do my own thing in the other classes, but it's different because there isn't the sense of dissonance I get with teaching with the local teachers, which maybe is only in my head. I like teaching, I like creating lessons out of these ridiculous books, I like making my materials.

I made my first local friend yesterday! Her name is Saltanat and she's from my village but is off in school in Semey. She is back in the village for this month though. I'm not really sure if I have her story correct, but she grew up in the village and went to school where I'm teaching, then she taught English there also for a while and now she's going to University but is off for a month? Anyway she has been observing my lessons and seems to enjoy them. She also asks fun questions and is super sweet. Maybe it's too soon to say we're friends... but we are on that track. :)

Yesterday I taught, had English club, and played volleyball. English club is still quite challenging as there is no focus, the students that come are shy, and the level of students is varied. It is essentially an additional English class with no book... I'm not exactly sure where to go with the club. I am also trying to organize some kind of "Office Hours" schedule of when I can be available for the students who want help. My English club is of the top 2 students in each grade... which is O.K., but I can tell that some of them don't want to be there - it was just strongly suggested that they come-type-of-thing. Volleyball was a lot of fun. We played in the Sport Complex, our village's pride and joy. It's a nice building that can host soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis, and ping pong games. (Though the court size isn't quite accurate for soccer.) My host mom and I played too, which was cool. She and I left at 7:30 (played for 2.5 hrs), but today I learned that most people didn't leave until 11! That's 6 hrs of volleyball! I don't know if I can keep up with Kazakhstan...

Today was another typical day. I taught 3 classes, came home, ate, then Johnny and Saltanat came over. We were preparing for tomorrow's English Teacher Club. They asked at the last meeting to learn English songs. This was Johnny's first time to my village. I felt a little bad for Saltanat seeing as I'm not sure if she could keep up with our conversation... and was maybe the third wheel. I think Thursdays are going to be my errand running days... since the English Teacher Club is in Balpuk Bi. I hope to use the Internet and make a trip to the post office. (Both of which are absolutely not reliable in my village, the Internet still doesn't work and I have yet to find a time when the post office is actually open...) I'll have to start making a list of what I need to do on the Internet. Every time I use the thing I can never remember what I need to do! Figures... Another little organization-listing project I can keep myself busy with. :) I've been doing better with my reading and praying this week and I can tell in my attitude that it's been over due! Kazakh is still my biggest hurdle. I think speaking without worrying about all of my mistakes is key. It's so hard to do though!

Wake Up.. Wake Up...

Blog 39

11/29

Today began with the best wake up call ever :) My family, at Thanksgiving back home, gave me a call before they left for the night... I was slightly sleep talking in the beginning - but quickly got my act together :) Thank you guys! Not much else too exciting happened during the day... I was home with the munchkins and Saule. My host parents went konaka-ing for the last day of Ait, which is some kind of holiday here... but no one seems to be able to explain what they are celebrating. They just explain how they celebrate - which is to fry dough in different shapes... surprise! :)

So at the house, I mainly read and organized class materials... and of course listened to Christmas music! My host parents came back with some of their friends later in the evening - though I would have guessed it was Saule's friends at the door! They were quite... how do I say... energetic? lol... The car they pulled in with the music up, and not just any music but club music, dance music. Once in there was talk about dancing, but I wasn't sure if I understood correctly. It was so strange, they turned the music on through the T.V and we all danced. Even my host father was dancing and he generally never talks or socializes. I had fun - though one of their friends, I don't remember his name, had had a little too much and was a sweaty mess that didn't mind getting right up in your face to speak... He got old pretty quick. He kept passionately telling me that I needed to marry a big strong Kazakh man. People here are just so creative I can't stand it... (sarcasm). His poor wife was so embarrassed, pulling him away from me. They were actually one of the potential host families I chose from. I made the right choice. Thanks for the prayer! It's been confirmed.

The old folks danced me out! I think we listened to the same 4 songs 20 times. It was after midnight that I threw in the towel - they were still going! They had asked me if we do this in America. I said no, I don't think I've ever seen my dad dance (Rap Daddy moves aside hahaha) I don't know why we don't do it though... the spontaneous dance party concept seems to be a normal thing here!

Thanksgiving in Taldykorgan

Blog 38

42

12/8

I thought our dog, Toozik, was going to give himself a hernia this morning, barking like a maniac. He was just wailing right outside my window... and the rest of my family didn't seemed bothered - or at least they can fake it really well. The past two days Zharas and I have been just about late for school in the mornings lol, don't ask me how it happens. I think I'm going to start pouring my tea 5 minutes before I actually sit down to eat... because I can't drink scolding hot tea fast enough.

Yesterday I both taught with Saltanat and wore my official-super woman power-Kazakhstan-lady boots for the first time; both went well. I'm still not completely at peace with paying 6500 tenge, 45$ish, for such low quality boots... But my mom was reassuring that these were really really good boots (I'll take her word, I'm just looking for a pair that will last two years) I just know Target probably sells something like these but better quality and for half the price. I just think to myself, they are worth +100$ if they take my overly-concerned teacher friends off my back about the cold! All of the boots looked equally chinsy anyway. Mine are fake black leather with a nice plastic heel. "Natural", as they say, sheep fur lines the inside and of course they have rhinestone imitation around the ankles... Today they had their first run in the snow - and I must say my feet were nice and toasty. I even had a few almost-compliments. My counterpart was talking to another teacher about me (one of those times where you know people are talking about you, even when you don't understand what they are saying...) Then she told me that I'm wearing boots and my outfit fits me very well. compliment? maybe?.... oh, I'll take it! lol.

Teaching with Saltanat was great, however I foresee too much Kazakh being used in English class. I'm not too worried about it right now, though. Saltanat knows what's up :) Today, after classes and English club we played volleyball with some students and a couple of other teachers. Everything was going just fine - I've been tricking myself into just thinking people are just doing "trick shots" when they kick the ball... instead of getting mad about it. lol. It still bothers me though, and this is why. The ball is dead and as I reach down to take the ball and roll it to the server, this girl kicks it right in my face! lol! hard...! I thought I my nose was broken - or was definitely going to start bleeding....! hahahahaha - I'm laughing now but I wasn't then. It hurt. This whole little scene almost did a take two, but I caught myself and stuck my hands out in front of my face and the kid didn't kick it. Saltanat yelled at everyone and said something about in America you're not allowed to kick the ball, maybe... I appreciated that.

I had been thinking about stopping English Clubs until I have a better understanding of Kazakh, but I'm on the fence now. The hour went really quick today, and we had fun. Plus, Saltanat said she wouldn't mind helping me study Kazakh between classes, which is more of what I was looking for than a one on one class in a classroom. 13 students came today, which is the most I've had so far. We played Simon Says for way longer than I had planned, then we sang Christmas songs and did a listening activity, where I played a song and they checked off the words that they heard. I made 10 worksheets by hand, each having 3 activities for 3 songs. It took forever to do, but was worth it. I can use that for the next few clubs. My host family has a printer but no ink. I'm going to try and buy some ink somewhere tomorrow and see after a few months if it is worth the money to print things. I could make some great worksheets and actual quizzes and tests - something to actually grade. I don't remember if I wrote about the one day they did tests, but it was basically a joke.

I started my wall of promises :) I like it. I also have been reading through the Gospels - in honor of Christmas! :) I'd like to make some Christmas crafts in English club too... maybe wrap sparkly garland around a poster-cone for a Christmas tree (mom! :), paper snowflakes, a ginger bread house - but that might be too pricey... If anyone has low budget ideas, let me know!