Abandon Buildings

At site there are LOTS of abandon buildings! These buildings have become one of my greatest obsessions! Some of them are boarded up and difficult to get into, others are fairly easy and it’s suspected that people who are homeless live here. Unsure of whether or not we would be breaking some unknown law about entering abandon buildings, my site mate and I decided to venture into the abandon apartment building near his house. There really is ABSOLUTELY nothing left in these buildings except rubble. We walked into different apartments and attempted to read the graffiti on the walls, evidence that someone had been here. Some areas clearly had people living in them, as they had a “bathroom corner” and what appeared to be a “bed” where someone most likely slept. The building had five floors and as we ascended the building we became a bit more fearful that the people who lived there would be home or would be coming home, but still, we pressed on. Of course, floor 4 was not that different than floor 1. One particular apartment in the building had been cleaned out; it lacked the rubble that had been present in all the other apartments and had something that resembled that of a table. It was then that I felt like I was actually in someone else’s house.

It seems like a hopeless situation; no job, no money, no family, no where to live, nothing, yet they continue to wake up in the morning with the sunrise, go somewhere to get what they need and return to what they most likely refer to as “home.” They find the hope they need to continue doing what they do. I wanted to help them, but quickly realized they don’t need my help, but rather, I need to learn from them. I want that kind of hope they seem to have, no one was home and I didn’t speak with any of them, these are purely my observations. The hope of getting out of bed in the morning and expecting something better than I got the day before, or just the simple act of “going through the motions” even through the “dark times;” of waiting.

In America there are shelters, welfare, soup kitchens, and other programs for people who lack money. I haven’t seen a homeless shelter here in Kaz and don’t know about the welfare system? I can’t even begin to imagine the challenges of being poor in a developing country. Sitting at rock bottom everyday, knowing that things can only go up and hoping for something more, only to return “home” to the abandon building where one has staked his claim, the smell of feces radiates over the small space where one sleeps atop the rubble; then to have to power to get up and do it again the following day is something I don’t know that I will ever understand. What I do know is that I will be more compassionate to the beggar in the bazaar.

English Competition

At site, there was a 2nd Annual English Competition. This happened the last week in April. PCVs from other areas of Kazakhstan came to assist with the competition. It was really the first time that I had guests since being at site and I was UBER excited to show them my town!! The first Volunteers arrived the day before the competition and were given kind of a “run-down” of how the competition would go down. Then we all wandered to the lake where we removed our socks and shoes, rolled our pants up and walked into the water! We attempted to take pictures where the people in the picture were jumping – we were only successful a few timesJ

Friday was the day of the actual English Competition. It lasted approximately one hour in the afternoon. All people were where they were supposed to be. The test started with an assembly where everyone spoke and then students went to their designated testing areas. As a PCV my role was to wait at the school until the test was over, then collect the tests from the monitors, who were local teachers of anything EXCEPT English. We then began the tedious task of grading all tests! This took some time…thankfully, BridgeTV and brownies were there to assist us through itJ

Saturday the winners of the Written Round were announced and invited to take place in Round Two (kind of like American Idol…only notJ), on Monday morning. In the evening we had a special English Club for those students would be taking part in round two.

Round Two was the oral round. In which the participants would be asked open ended questions and had to respond as best they could – it was a 20 minute interview! These were taped and listened to afterwards so that a winner could be decided and announced. This was time consuming as there were 7 winners from each grade and there were 5 grades – it was a lot of people to get through, thankfully, other Volunteers came to assist with the project. Of course, they couldn’t stay forever, and had to return back to their sites, but not before playing Dance, Dance, Revolution at the local bowling ally!! WOO WOO!!

Final winners have been announced and an assembly is being planned to praise them publicly for a job well done!!

Weekend Work

During the weekends I have more free time than I do during the week. Often, I don’t know what to do with this free time and need things to occupy my time. I have begun going to work on Saturdays (remember this is optional). Right now we have “Subotnik” on Saturdays…this is where all the children from my school clean the school yard and surrounding areas; all school in my town participate in “Subotnik”. This is a good project. I feel like I’m doing something and the children seem to have fun! I cleaned for a while; this was a fun way to get to the kids learning English! We counted in English multiple times! Then I sang random bits of songs that they asked if I knew – you don’t have to be good here…you just have to know the words. Then I was in charge of taking pictures and I passed out stickers! Oh good times!

I also go to the orphanage on Sundays in the afternoon. I try to have something prepared to do. Recently, we played Twister and played with balloons, always a good time! This is a fun activity for me and I think the kids enjoy this as well. Sometimes I run out of ideas to do with them, but then just follow their lead.

Last week, being Easter Sunday, I was sad to be away from home; away from my Church Family; away from all the “normal” things I would do on Easter Sunday. I woke up to several text messages wishing me a “HAPPY RESURRECTION SUNDAY.” Even though I couldn’t be at Sparta Baptist Church for Sunday morning and for “Easter Dinner,” I had an AMAZING dinner here! It was complete with Chicken, gravy, cheesy potatoes, deviled eggs, corn, brownies, ice cream and my personal favorite: FRUITED GELATIN (thanks to a package that contained jello)! Even though it wasn’t pot luck, it was as close as I am going to get!!! 1 word: AMAZING!!

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CrazyLife!

Well, life certainly is interesting! I'm back at site after traveling for a little over a week! And what a GLORIOUS time that was! My site mate and I took a 17 hour bus ride to go to Southern Kazakhstan to celebrate the Kazakhstani New Year with other Volunteers. It was SOOOOO good to see everyone again!! I was there for two days. One of the two days some Volunteers took a 3 hour bus ride to Turkistan! This is said to be the most historic city in Kaz. I had a super fun time and I took lots of pictures!

The following night I took a “sleeper bus” to my training village. I went with two other Volunteers, Hotard and “Other” Christina from the Education group! I had never taken a “sleeper bus” and wish that I had taken pictures. It’s hard to describe but the beds are TINY. They are big enough for a person to lay flat and not move. There are three rows of beds separated by an aisle. There are top bunks and bottom bunks and the top bunks have metal railing to keep you from falling (too bad the bus steps aren’t equipped with this:-)). In the FAR back there are 5 tiny beds smushed together with no railings, kind of like one big mattress. These beds are the cheapest, although it would be INCREDIBLY awkward to sleep next to someone you didn’t know! The bus ticket seller gave us a pretty excellent deal and we purchased all 5! We were in the WAY back on the top bunk. We kind of had the set up…a VIP lounge!! The bus driver said the bus would leave at 6:30pm, that seemed rather early and then he agreed that the bus would leave at 7pm…what he really meant was “People will start loading the bus at 6:30pm and the bus will leave when it is full.” Nervous that it would leave without us we arrived at 6:30pm anyhow. We had fun, food, and games for the bus ride. The bus stopped at 12:30am for dinner! That was kind of crazy and certainly “a cultural experience one wouldn’t want to miss.” I don’t think that I have been on a bus that was SO much fun! Thanks “Busties”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I visited my first host family. I love them! I REALLY miss them lots and wish that I had more opportunities to go and visit. They fed me well, then we played cards and some other people from the town came over to visit. I miss my training village, but will admit that it isn’t the same without the 16 other Volunteers, but nevertheless, it was still fun! I have plans to visit again in the not so distant future.

The next day was Tuesday; this was the day that we checked into to the “Hotel” like place where we would be staying for the conference. I first went to Peace Corps office; this is where I saw all those who I hadn’t seen in Southern Kazakhstan for the New Year. Afterwards, I went out to lunch with my good friend MyA!

The conference lasted for 5 days and even when it was boring; it was still SO good to all be together! We had lots and lots of fun! I hated that Sunday was quickly approaching and we would all, once again, be breaking up! Some people had to leave on Sunday others got to stay until Monday. I hate goodbyes. In the words of my Best Peace Corps friend, Jessik, “It feels like dropping your kid off at college.” (Although I don’t think any of us have had that life experience, we’re just kind of guessing what it might be like).

I didn’t have to go back to site until Monday night. I hung out at the PC office for a while, checked out books, chatted with my friends and left the office with 2 hours to get to the bus station. I quickly realized that I wasn’t really sure where I was or how exactly to get to the bus station from the office, but I did know that my bus was leaving with or without me. I wandered around, asking questions and looking for something familiar…finally! I saw a woman who works for PC, she tried to help as best she could, and then another person from PC was at the same bus stop!! He told me I probably wouldn’t make it to the bus station in time if I took a bus…I taxied, he assisted me in flagging down a taxi, talking down the price, and getting me to where I had to go! I made it to the bus station with lots of time left to spare when I saw another friendly face, Michael! In the remaining time we grabbed a bite to eat at the bus station where the food costs WAY too much money, and then I boarded my bus back to site.

I got back to site early Tuesday morning and went home to nap for a while…it’s difficult to get any kind of sleep on the bus. In the afternoon I walked to the lake, it’s SO nice that all the snow is FINALLLY gone, I generally like snow, I think it’s beautiful, but I don’t know that I think it’s THAT beautiful in March. The lake is thawing and I’m looking forward to summer! The weather is incredibly nice and wearing a winter coat is a thing of the past!! WOO WOO!!

I’m back at work; slowly adjusting to being back after being gone for a while, but it’s nice to be back. I didn’t realize how much I had missed it until I returned. My friends and coworkers were happy to see me and we chatted about the previous weeks! It’s good to be home.

I took lots of pictures and will upload them soon so to all you regular followers…don’t be disappointed…they are coming:)

Busy Weekend

I had an excellent Friday! I went to the shoe repair and became besties with the man there, who didn’t believe that my name is Christina because that’s a Russian name – right sir, I frequently make up a different name for myself J but he fixed my favorite pair of heels, that were broken my first day in Kazakhstan, for 400T! So yea! I got photos developed from Pizza Night at the Orphanage, and then went to the orphanage to deliver the photos – I am going back on Sundays to have “Arts – n – Crafts” time!! The kids were so happy to see pictures of that day! Then, I went shopping. I found a Jeans store, called “Jeans” (original, I know) and I even found some jeans! My favorite pair and one of the two pair that I brought to Kazakhstan ripped last week. I felt really silly saying “I need jeans but I don’t know what size I wear,” sizes are different here than in America. The woman just looked at me and then gave me some to try on – they fit perfectly – she’s good! I bought a new favorite pair – my options were skin tight tapered jeans or parachute flair – I tried on LOTS of different kinds of jeans before finding the pair that flaired the least, but weren’t tapered. This store also sells belts, my belt broke also, but I think I may wait until next month to replace it. I also found a jewelry store full of pretty things I can’t afford, but it’s fun to look and learned that in Kazakhstan when a man proposes to a woman he gives her engagement earrings –

On Sunday I went to the orphanage with a recipe for clay! We made clay and constructed figures from the clay and it is currently be left out to dry so that we can paint them later this week! Then we had a fun photo shoot because everyone there LOVES having their picture taken and then being able to see it immediately, they especially love to be the only one in the picture – I have introduced “open mouth” pictures to this orphanage and they have come to love them as well!! We hung out outside for a bit as they showed me around, with the weather become nicer we were able to go out without freezing! Then I had to leave – I’m not going to be in town for the next few Sundays, but am going on Thursday to paint!!

Advice for Travellers

My weeks here continue to move rather quickly! Of course, I think the next few will slow down as I count down until I get to see all my AMAZING Peace Corps friends at the end of March!! WOO! WOO!

Now for all of you preparing to go somewhere by train – or just for your reading enjoyment:

How to Pee on the Train
1. Bring your own toilet paper – this will not be supplied
2. Lock the door behind you – this will take about 2 minutes as you figure out how the stupid thing locks and you
do this while you’re on a moving train and the door refuses to even stay closed!
3. Stand on the toilet seat and squat – you don’t sit on the toilet seat on the train – you stand – there’s a spot for
your feet
4. Pee – try to keep your balance – should you fall, it will probably hurt, your pants are around your ankles and it
will be difficult to “catch yourself” – not to mention – you’re peeing!
5. Use the toilet paper and stand up – keep your balance as you pull your pants up and jump down from the toilet
seat
6. Next you will spend approximately 3 minutes figuring out how to turn the water on – yes, there is a faucet –
you’re 3 minutes will be a waste of your life as you realize the water doesn’t actually work – hopefully, you
have also brought hand sanitizer with you – or your own bottle of water…this will be “good enough” until you
get somewhere you can “really” wash your hands
7. To flush press the lever on the bottom of the toilet
8. You will spend the next 2 minutes feeling like you’re trapped as you try to unlock the door – the same door
that took you 2 minutes to figure out how to lock
9. Leave the bathroom – proud of yourself – as if it was the first time you went to the bathroom in the “big girl
potty” – this is a great accomplishment! You should most likely reward yourself with candy :-)

This process will take about 10 minutes as a line gathers outside and you hear people speaking in Russian – these same people have ALL tried to open the door while you were using the bathroom – they obviously didn’t see the line and assume that other people were waiting – there’s no such thing as a line here!

Maybe if you are reading this it doesn’t sound ALL that difficult – let me suggest you get “in position” (squatting on your toilet seat) and have someone shake you from side to side – yea, not so easy huh – peeing on yourself will most likely occur – but at least you tried J

I wish I had pictures of the cramped bathroom on the train! I’ll get them next time!

Pizza!

Last Sunday was the birthday of Peace Corps and also a pizza party at the local orphanage! It was so much fun! The director had agreed to purchase all of the ingredients – all we had to do was show up and show them how to make it! I went with my local friend who knows English and my Site Mate. The director showed us where the ingredients were and how to work the oven – she had already showed me this once before, but I think she was nervous – which knowing my cooking skills, she had good reason to be! J The children were very curious and expecting us…it didn’t take long for them to all migrate to the kitchen where they were able to help prepare pizza! All the children who wanted to help were able to! Some of the children were in another room preparing their dance moves to show us after pizza. While we were waiting for pizza we made Kool-Aid! My favorite! And I hoped the children liked it as well!

After this deliciousness the children showed off with some break dance moves! They were SO good! One kid there said that he taught himself and then he taught the others! Then we made “gusher” cake J (not with real gushers, but with the candy at the bazaar that looks like gushersJ) We ate it with ice cream, even though it’s cold outside!! ‘Twas a glorious day, one of my favorites since being at site! I can’t wait to go back!