Laundry and Bauersak
One beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon, the trainees from this village gathered at the home of our TCF (Technical and Cultural Facilitator) and learned how to properly do laundry. For those of you with washing machines – whether in Kazakhstan or the US – count your blessings. But, to make hand-washing clothes fun, we were split into teams and had a race to see who could clean more clothes. I thought I had put my team at an advantage by bringing most of my dirty laundry, but alas… a trainee who lived very close to our TCF brought his dirty socks. And since one sock was equal to one shirt or one pair of pants, our opponents blew us away. At least I got clean clothes out of the deal!
The perfect compliment to teaching us laundry skills was teaching us bauersak-making skills. Bauersak = fried bread = delicious. Both laundry and frying bauersak happened outside. For the bauersak, we built a small fire and had a huge pot / wok hanging over it, in which we heated up the oil and eventually fried the bread. We got to roll out the dough and slide the diamond-shaped pieces into the hot oil. Stir, strain, and eat. The most difficult part was keeping a distance from the flames while our TCF encouraged us to get closer than we cared for. I think my singed arm hair is evidence that I was plenty close.
Once we fried up enough bauersak to clog all our arteries, we added watermelon, tea, and a tasty eggplant dish to make a real feast. I wish I could remember the name of the eggplant dish… literally translated, it means “tongue of mother-in-law.” Hee hee. It’s fried eggplant topped with a tomato slice, with a bit of spicy mayo sauce in between. The following week, three of us trainees gathered together and made some for ourselves. Mmm mmm good.
A Fantastic Day in Almaty
The second Sunday in September, our TCF planned to go into Almaty to purchase school supplies. When she invited trainees to come along, five of us took her up on it. For some of us, we also wanted to go to a church. Another PCT had discovered a nondenominational Protestant church when she was still in the states. We got the cross streets (thanks Mom!) and relied on our TCF to help us get there. And we did! All six of us went to church! What a fantastic morning. I enjoyed the service immensely and met several people. I should mention the services at International Christian Fellowship are in English. Ah, singing praise songs… listening to a sermon… fellowshipping with believers. It was great. I’m really hoping I can return, at least a couple times. There’s a fine balance to strike between connecting with an expat community and not sacrificing relationships with locals.
After the service, we made our way to the store. To say they’re concerned about shoplifters would be an understatement. The front of the store was dominated by small lockers, in which you were to place any medium or large bag/purse. Small office supplies had to be purchased separately from behind the counter. Interesting place.
When we left the store, we parted ways with our TCF, which is a pretty big deal in and of itself. PC is protective – some may say overly – of its volunteers and trainees. Really, I prefer too much caution over too little caution. But I digress. There we were, five trainees in Almaty, without a chauffeur. We headed off to a café for a tasty lunch, thoroughly enjoyed the taste of independence… then hastily made our way home, with only a quick stop at the Green Bazaar on the way. Hey- it’s a big step in the right direction.
Я преподаватель английсково языка.
If that rolls off your tongue, you ought to come replace me. They’re huge words, representing something hugely difficult: “I teach English.” After four weeks in the country, many of us had (mostly) independently taught two classes.
My first class was with fifth formers (aka: 5th graders) on Monday afternoon (September 14th). It was rough. I felt pretty darn overwhelmed, as I had overestimated them in some ways. I should have recognized that the little guys have only studied English for two weeks. So, surprise surprise, many of them aren’t comfortable writing their name, nor can they understand what I say. Being in a classroom where I can’t easily communicate with my students is a humbling experience. I’m a bit ashamed to say I had a good cry after leaving that classroom. Let’s hope I can look back on that experience someday with a smile, seeing the great lengths I will have come.
The next day I taught seventh formers. The combination of a smaller class and more knowledgeable students made for a much smoother class. I’ll have to work on my time management, but hey – I survived another lesson.
This week, I taught three classes. My PST counterpart wanted me to teach her 9th graders instead of her 5th graders, so on Monday I did so. And if you think these 9th graders have more English skills than the 7th graders, think again. I’m learning that the English level fluctuates a great deal between classes. Some students in higher grades speak rather poorly, and some young students have learned a good bit. As of yet, I haven’t figured out how to predict the level before entering the classroom as a teacher. So for the 9th graders, I quickly came to the conclusion that I’d have to scrap the entire lesson I’d spent hours preparing. No fancy drawings explaining food vocabulary. They needed to practice numbers and simple present verbs. So I made up a lesson as I went along. As you can imagine, it wasn’t the most well put together lesson. But, there were no casualties, so we’ll count it as another successful day. On Tuesday (22nd) I taught two classes of 7th graders. Again, no casualties. I’ve got a long way to go towards being a great teacher, though. Excellent teachers I know are gaining more and more respect with each lesson I teach.
Bishbarmak!
As people celebrated the end of Ramadan, a fellow trainee celebrated her birthday. I joined her family for dinner, and it was quite the spread! First, we snacked on various salads (no lettuce – it’s mostly vegetables slathered in sauce), fried bread, and candy. Once we were all full, we got to start on the main course – bishbarmak. Several of us sat around a platter of homemade noodles topped with a mound of meat. The noodles are slippery buggers, so eating with our hands was tricky. Yeah… sharing a plate with several people still doesn’t seem normal, nor does eating greasy meat and pasta with your hands. Anyway, the bishbarmak was pretty good. I can see, though, how a person might tire of the taste (or lack thereof).
Hub Day
Once a week we have "Hub Day", which is when volunteers from various villages join for trainings and lectures. This particular Hub Day, we were able to ask questions of current volunteers (valuable information!!), and listened to an historian/teacher/journalist speak about Kazakhstan's history. Fascinating lecture. I and many others would have gladly listened to him for hours. He spawned some great critical thinking regarding the effect history has on the culture, even when the facts of history are forgotten. For Kazakhstan and it's history, this is particularly applicable. After the presentations, we were off for a hike. The mountains are gorgeous, and being out for a hike on a beautiful day was just what we needed. Our destination was a waterfall about 30 minutes away. Some of the braver souls walked underneath it. I passed on that, thank you very much.
English Club
Today my group hosted our second after school English Club. Some of us sang songs, some of us played games. Bananagrams was big hit! (Sidenote: If anyone sees old Scrabble pieces at garage sales, BUY THEM!! We'll figure out a way to get them sent over here and for you to get reimbursed. And we can be great friends.) They also loved the songs. And acting like paparazzi. Having many children get out their cell phones to take your picture... I'm not so sure what I think of it. We've also heard small children scream out "Americans! Americans!" as we walk by. I'm not sure if they equate us with wild animals or celebrities. Hopefully the latter.
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