6 Nov Things I will miss in Kazakhstan My host-mom Tanya and counterpart Valentina Fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables that are relatively cheap and free of chemicals Decent public transportation An abundance of free time My small front-loading washer Good cheap wine from Kazakhstan, and especially Georgia and Moldova My beloved Sean, who is [...]
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6 Nov – This evening I leave Kazakhstan flying through Kuala Lumpur on my way to Australia where I will spend twelve days. Then I travel to New Zealand for a duration of 15 days before landing once again on American soil on Dec. 4. Aside from all of my mixed feelings about leaving Kazakhstan, [...]
5 Nov – In some respects this experience has been so much more than I ever imagined. I can survive the coldest of temperatures. Be comfortable without air conditioning. Cook a meal for guests with only one burner. Appreciate running water and a hot shower. Live for multiple days with only cold water. Relish fresh, [...]
29 Oct – Today was my last day at work and I have much good news to report. At long last, my organization’s strategic plan is more or less finished. All that remains is to complete the budget and compile the various pieces into a single document. The best news is that my colleagues are [...]
21 Aug – Only two years ago I arrived in Kazakhstan and my time here is nearly gone. Last week I finally received word from Peace Corps that I will finish my administrative business in Almaty on November 5. In lieu of a one-way ticket to Wichita I am opting for the cash equivalent to [...]
19 Jul – My old Dell laptop has been a thorn in my side for months on end. It is now six and a half years old and equipped with a crappy processor. I did not ask much of it. I expect to be able to browse the Internet, use Skype with video flawlessly, view [...]
4 Jun – When I was fifteen years old I took my first overseas trip, to Spain. Barcelona was my favorite locale, situated next to the Mediterranean with its magnificent and still yet unfinished La Familia Sagrada cathedral. This two-week adventure in a strange land opened my eyes to a whole new world. Since that [...]
17 Apr – I am thrilled this morning to see that the clouds have finally cleared after sitting on top of my city for four days, causing me a horrible headache. I awoke to sun for the first time since Monday morning.
The daylight hours are now noticeably longer than the night time hours. My apartment [...]
7 Apr – After about seven tries, I have finally succeeded in making my own peanut butter.
Last summer, I burnt many of the peanuts while trying to roast them and then used a meat grinder to end up with a very dry, yet somewhat clumpy mess. I added some honey to make it more of [...]
29 Mar – I have been back in Kazakhstan for over a week now. I am still trying to readjust to living in southern Siberia. I miss the trees, flowers, and warmth of the sun. The first few days of last week marked the holiday “Nauryz” to celebrate the beginning of spring. I only wish [...]
12 Mar – Sean and I have had our share of struggles during this vacation to India, yet the culinary delights to be found here help us to forget those frustrating moments. It is now day 10 and we continue to find delicious dishes everywhere we turn. Curries, Tibetan momos, banana pancakes, Thai delicacies, Chinese [...]
25 Feb – This week I’ve been particularly energetic. To go along with that, irritable and impatient. And yes, more impatient than normal, which will tell some of you something.
So what’s going on?
Cabin fever, perhaps? We had a couple of more days of horribly cold temperatures. I went for walks anyway just to exercise. I [...]
8 Feb – Now that I’ve been in my apartment for about three months, I’m finally adjusting to the abnormalities of grocery shopping. For a while it was challenging, that is until I found the spice kiosk at the bazaar. Now it’s sometimes just downright annoying or frustrating.
I haven’t talked a lot about the food [...]
14 Jan – Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary, Бабушка и Дедушка!!
Sean lives with a somewhat large, extended host-family, including grandparents. The aforementioned strange Cyrillic words are, respectively, Grandma and Grandpa. They have quite an amazing story. Both were born on this date AND they were married on this very date. This year, 2010, Grandma is [...]
8 Jan, 2010 – Wow, another year is here already. No one is kidding when they say that Peace Corps service passes quickly.
Thanks to numerous Kazakhstani holidays and my freedom from no longer teaching at the university, I have had a fair amount of time to develop goals for my second year of service [...]
15 Nov – I think I moved a lot during my college years. I got pretty good at it and always knew what the boxes contained because I used the same boxes over and over. My last move was another story since I had owned my house for nearly five years. It took a few [...]
1 Nov – Most people who know me know that I love to cook, and especially bake. I have commented to Sean several times that Kazakhstan could use a few good bakeries. Some breads are good, but most leave something to be desired. The pastries are, for the most part, very similar, simple recipes, consisting [...]
18 Oct – I took up teaching a few weeks ago. I instigated this situation, having thought for a long time about one day teaching at the university level. Now it seems that I have gotten myself in over my head. I know very little about the intricacies of the school systems here. I have [...]
21 Aug – Incredibly, today marks one year since I arrived in Kazakhstan. The time has passed so quickly. It’s almost bewildering to think that the Kaz 21s are arriving in Almaty today. I am now a veteran volunteer, with experiences, information, and stories to satisfy their needs and curiosity when we finally meet.
The past [...]
24 Jun – There are signs of summer, including the occasional warm day, but for the most part this is an unusual year for weather. My host-mom’s son just returned from a three-week vacation and he told me they had only three warm, sunny days. This is very unfortunate because he and his friends were [...]
May 19 – Just yesterday I realized that it has been a very long time since my last update. The weeks seem to pass by slowly, but as a whole, time is racing by. We have already been at site for six months, and Thursday will mark nine months since we arrived in Kazakhstan.
I am [...]
24 Jan, 2009 – Much has happened since my last post over two months ago. There are lots of Peace Corps stories floating around, but you never really know what you will encounter personally as a volunteer. To simplify a complicated situation, let’s suffice it to say that I am no longer at my original [...]
11 Nov. - Pre-Service Training (PST) ended with quite a bang. It was busy, fun, exciting, and emotional all at once.
Last week we spent nearly every day in Almaty at the office. We have more than a couple members of the OCAP group who follow politics feverishly. Since Tuesday was election day, our program [...]
5 Nov – Last Thursday we finally had our first language exam, to determine how much Russian we have absorbed since arriving in mid-August. In Kazakhstan, Peace Corps uses an oral test designed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. The test is scored on a scale of 1 to 10, with [...]
26 Oct – Yesterday my friend Meriah and I visited the infamous and enormous Baraholka clothing bazaar in Almaty. I was on a mission for a warm winter coat; she needed boots. Everyone we spoke with, including staff, other volunteers, and locals, all said that this bazaar is extremely busy and pick-pocketing is a problem. [...]
19 Oct - The last two weeks has been a whirlwind of activity, as you may imagine from the plans I wrote about in my last entry. There is much to tell, but I’ll do my best to summarize.
After the week-long counterpart conference in Almaty, I headed toward Ust-Kamenogorsk on the train with two [...]
3 Oct - During our first trip to Almaty a few weeks ago we ran into one of the volunteers who has been here for two years and will soon be leaving. More recently he gave a couple of presentations during our training. He is an environmental volunteer stationed in the far northeastern corner of [...]
18 Sept - Last week one of the volunteers who has been in country for one year spoke with us on several different topics. He works for an NGO not too terribly far from Almaty. He warned us that the director of our NGO at our permanent site would likely parade us around, showing [...]
13 Sept. - Greetings from Kazakhstan!!
So much has happened since my first entry that it does not seem like I have been in Kazakhstan for over three weeks!
Orientation (officially referred to as “staging”) in Philadelphia was the beginning of a never-ending whirlwind of activity. We began with 62 trainees (4 have since decided to return [...]
I have been back in Kansas for over a week now. The time has flown by while making final preparations to fly to Philadelphia tomorrow for orientation. The to-do list is finally almost complete!
The MP3 player is up-to-date with all the music I hope I want over the next two years. All audiobooks not yet [...]
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