I started the process of going home a week before I actually ended up in Salt Lake City. I started by stopping off at my school where I said goodbye to the teachers that were there and the new school director – who was a teacher, so I already knew him well. They gave me a nice gift – a sugar bowl and creamer that match the pialas (small bowls used for drinking tea) I was given last year. From there, Ludmilla and I went to the home of the former director, who I worked with throughout my two years there. We interrupted their lunch, but she didn’t drop a beat in setting a place for Ludmilla and I. Her daughter, who speaks perfect English and studies in London, was home visiting so it was great to meet her. I then went home and did the last of my packing up.

Oksana, Ludmilla Sergeevna, Ludmilla Iosifovna, and Me!

I left the next day to go into to Kokshetau to stay the night before getting a taxi to Astana. Ludmilla, her husband and daughter came to pick up me and my luggage. I had a tearful goodbye with my Babushka, who told me I was like the daughter she never had. It was so sweet! She also checked to make sure I had the necklace she’d given me, which had been a gift from her son and she said would keep me safe while traveling. Then, I was gone.

The next day I met Hannah at the train station to get a taxi to Astana, where we would then stay the night and get on a train to Almaty in the morning. A group of girls that had been Hannah’s students and come to camp GLOW came to see us off, as well as my Counterpart Ludmilla, who gave me a beautiful bracelet as a final parting gift.

After loading the luggage into the taxi, Hannah, Trevor (who came along to help move the luggage around and keep us company) and I were off to Astana. We made it to the train station around dinner time and considered roughing it in the train station waiting area for the night, but eventually decided to get a hotel room. We got some dinner, watched a little Seinfeld, and slept a little before getting up early in t he morning to catch the 7 am train to Almaty. It was a little stressful getting the luggage into the train car, but everything fit in alright. And luckily we had some compassionate train-mates – a Kaz-23 and her counterpart who were headed down to Almaty for a conference. That was a happy coincidence!

Hannah and I got into Almaty at 5:00 am on August 3rd. I spent the day at the Peace Corps office in meetings with my manager and the country director and getting papers signed off by other staff members. And then, with a flick of the pen, I was no longer a volunteer, but a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer.

I got a little bit of sleep that night in the office, but at 5:00 am on the 4th a taxi was at the office to take my friend Athena and I to the airport. My first stop was in Abu Dhabi where I had a 24 hour layover. I didn’t want to spend 24 hours in the airport, so I treated myself to a night in a nice hotel, complete with room service…

Islands of Abu Dhabi

Vegetable Thai Curry, and Chcolate Royale with Strawberry Ice Cream

It was lovely.

Then I had a 14 hour flight to Chicago. The flight left an hour early than I had originally seen on the itinerary, and arrived an hour early. Which would have been great if I’d known it would get in that early because I could have made it on a flight that evening to SLC. But, I had no way of knowing, so I had booked the flight for the next morning. I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got to Chicago because I had not been able to sleep at all on the plane, so I found a bench and slept (not-so-soundly) for the next 5 hours. I woke up around 11:00 pm, watched a movie, played a game on my computer, and around 1 am went to the bathroom to freshen up and change my clothes… then I slept for a couple more hours. I went up to the baggage check area around 4:00 am to wait in lines. Then finally, 2 and a half hours later, I was on a plane to Salt Lake City. August 6th, 2011. Home!



Keeping a close eye on the baggage.



My little brother suggested we go to Ihop for breakfast. So, alright. Couldn’t say no to that.

I’ve been back in America for a week now and I’m still “wow’ed” by a lot of things. The food, the Television, the daily showers, the comfy bed, the Targets…. :) It may not be perfect, but America is pretty fantastic. I had a little family gathering today and my grandparents, an aunt and a few cousins stopped by.

And now it’s time for me to pack up again! But only for a short vacation. My family is heading to Disneyland for the week. I’m so excited! And THEN, when I get home from vacation, I can figure out what to do with the rest of my life…….

Camp G.L.O.W. (Girls Leading Our World) has come and gone! Thanks again to all my wonderful friends and family who donated so generously. I have a TON of great pictures to share with you, but no time to edit and post! I'm so busy/stressed about getting things ready to go home that I haven't gotten around to posting the pics yet. So, in the meantime I'll share with you the great video that Hannah made documenting the week:

I love all the pictures I have with my girls, but I have to be honest... some of my favorite photos are of the lake at sunset. Gorgeous. So stay check back in and I'll get those posted next time.

After GLOW, I've had just one short week back here in Kokshetau/Krasny Yar. Today I went to my school and said goodbye to the teachers there, as well as our new School Director, Vladimir Makhalovich, who took the position after a bit of drama with a different man who was named school director, but parents protested. Yikes! Maybe I'll say more on that later, because it was a rather interesting turn of events. Anyway, after saying goodbye to everyone at school I went to the home of the former school director, Ludmilla Sergeevna, who has been the director of our school the entire time I've been there. She's great. A very happy and welcoming woman. We showed up at her house as she was having tea with her daughter (who was visiting from London, where she studies) and a friend. She was kind enough to invite us to have tea with them and I had a great time talking with them and using our Runglish - speaking both Russian and English so that everyone understood what was going on. I love interactions like that - I don't feel so intimidated speaking or understanding Russian because I know I can get a little English help, so I'm never lost in the conversation. I never did get as fluent as I would have liked in Russian, but I get by, and people seem to understand me, so I guess I did well enough.

Anyway, like I said, pictures are coming. But for now, I have to finish packing up the last few things. I'll leave tomorrow afternoon and spend the evening in Kokshetau, then Monday afternoonish head out to Astana, then on Tuesday we're off to Almaty, then after a day in the office in Almaty I'll catch a flight to Abu Dhabi, spend a day there, then I'll finally be stateside on the 5th, and in SLC on the 6th. Wow. A whole week of travelling and moving luggage.... can't wait.... :)

If there's one thing I hadn't prepared myself for when I joined the Peace Corps, it was how to deal with all the downtime I would have. I feel a little guilty saying that I had a lot of downtime, but it's true. Especially after having just come off of nearly 3 years of full time work and school - it was a lot! And the thing is, because I'd always been so busy during college (and high school, for that matter), I really didn't know what to do with my time. I didn't really have any hobbies - other than playing the piano, but I have no piano here.

I spent a lot of my free time in the first few months reading. I think I read about 10 books in 4 months. And then I got bored of reading. Gasp! I feel like it's a sin for not loving to read, because everyone else seems to love it so much, and discuss books all the time. Am I a dummy?? I hope not. I like reading, it's just that I'd rather play the piano or watch a movie while playing Plants vs. Zombies instead. Sorry!

So, I had to find something new to fill my time with. I've mentioned, and posted pics of, the first hobby I picked up - crocheting. I remember my mom trying to teach me how when I was maybe 12 or 13 and it was an utter failure. Luckily, I didn't fail this time around. I made about a dozen scarfs and hats. Most of them I scratched after making though. And I'll probably give the rest to my Babushka when I leave so that she can unravel them and make slippers or socks out of the yarn.

My babushka spinning yarn

Spinning yarn the Kazakh way - much more difficult

After that, I'd say I spent a lot of my free time training for that little marathon I ran. Throughout the summer while I was doing longer runs, they would take a few hours. So, that ate up a lot of my afternoons.

At the same time, the guitar came along. I bought a cheap little guitar in May. Again, when I was around 14 I had given the guitar a try. It didn't stick. I also received a bass guitar for my 17th birthday and liked tinkering around with it and learning scales and things, but I never really got into it. Thus, I wasn't really sure if I'd like to, or be able to, play the guitar. Luckily, this one was a success, too. Turns out I just needed enough time to practice - which I didn't have before. Within a couple weeks I had mastered a few easy song, and now I have a fairly respectable repertoire of songs I can play at a moment's notice... that is until around May when I got busy/started preparing to go home and let my guitar practicing slack a bit. Nevertheless, I love playing the guitar, and I definitely want to keep it up when I go home (Sorry, little brother, I'll be borrowing your guitars a lot!)

And finally, painting. Hannah and I were at the top of Kok Tobe in a little shop with art and trinkets from Kazakhstan. There was an oil painting there that I really liked. While I was admiring it, Hannah suggested that I give painting a try. Sure, why not? I've never considered myself an artist in the least. I'm pretty sure my 7th grade art teacher was pretty much disgusted with every failed attempt. But, I wasn't being graded here (just judged by all of you now) so I figured it was worth a try. Maybe I could redeem myself.

I really like oil paintings a lot, so I did a little research and decided to go for it. I ventured out one cold November day to the big shopping center in the city and found a little art supply shop. I got some oil paints, brushes, and thick paper. I stopped at the local food shop on my way home and got some sunflower oil to mix the paints with. my thought was that I would do one painting a month until the end of my service. So, at the time I thought I would have 12 paintings in the end. However, since our service was cut short I've ended up with only 9. Here they are....

November I just like kites, ok!? I had just written my first song on the guitar, and it had a whole kite metaphor thing going on so it tied in... and... yeah. Cheesy and overly dramatic. I know. Next!

December I was still not really sure what I was doing. So, whatever, it was Christmas-y

January I'm a nerd and I love astronomy. So, it was inevitable.

February Again, overly dramatic. But it was February and I was alone in Kazakhstan. Give me a break.

March Basically I was just getting excited to go to Ireland.

AprilMy first "real" piece of art, I think. The Cliffs of Moher in Ireland.

MayI just wanted to do something "modern art" ish

JuneEvery artist needs a sunset in his/her portfolio.

JulyJuly is a gift for Jurassic Park-loving Trevor. I just did it today and haven't given it to him yet. It's dorky, but I think he'll like it. Maybe. Even if not, he needs something to spice up his apartment!

Point is: I'm really quite happy that I've had this time in the Peace Corps to have a little "me time" and discover more interests. I don't know that I'll paint when I return to America, but I will definitely keep crocheting and playing the guitar - that is, when I'm not playing the piano. I have a lot of catching up to do.

I went to bed relatively early tonight. I stayed up late last night and was terribly tired tonight, but found myself unable to fall asleep. As I listened to the thunder rolling across the steppe, I decided I needed a little music to act as backdrop. I was brave, and left it up to my ipod to select the music for me. “Slide to Unlock > Music > Songs > All > Shuffle > Hope that Russian Language Lesson doesn’t begin” My ipod did not fail me. I listened to a few songs that fit the mood of the night very well – No DaftPunk or Madonna to interrupt (as I typed this, Madonna , Sky Fits Heaven, began. Creepy. At least it’s a good one.) Then, a song came on that I haven’t listened to in months. It was from an album that I received just before leaving for Kazakhstan and I listened to it quite often my first couple months in country. Now, anytime I listen to this album, I feel very nostalgic for those first couple months. I can’t help but recall the feelings of loneliness, excitement, confusion, adventure, stress etc, etc, etc. I was suddenly overwhelmed by the realization that this whole “experience” will be over in just a few weeks. When at one time, I was sure it would never end – unless I forced to, early. And now – I don’t want to go. I’m having a hard time imagining my life back in America. Jobless, carless, friendless….

Of course, I know I have friends waiting to see me back at home, but I have a hard time thinking that our friendships will be the same as before I left simply because I’m not the same person. I’m a better person. I know it sounds strange, but I feel like I’m more ME. I feel like I’m now the person I always thought I could be but hadn’t quite figured out how to be yet. I have a clearer picture of who I am, and who I want to be.

…Anyway, listening to this song, my feelings came full circle. I had listened to this song and felt tears spring to my eyes while lying on my bed if Issyck, thinking about all the people back home that I missed and wondering how in the world I was going to make it in this crazy (awesome) place. And now, I listen to this song, and again tears well up – but this time for the anticipation of things to come. For the people that I’ll miss. For the laid-back, yet ever-so-stressful life that I’ve had here. I’m going to miss it. I’m going to miss my students and my co-workers and my friends. I’m crying and I haven’t even left yet! I haven’t even said goodbye yet! This does not bode well.

Don’t get me wrong. I am excited to go home. I can’t wait to see my family. I can’t wait to sleep in my comfortable bed. I can’t wait to be in a house with air conditioning. I can’t wait to eat food that I want to eat. I can’t wait to start a new chapter of my life. But I’m going to make the most of my last few weeks here. I want to make them last as long as possible.

Just one song spurred all these thoughts, and I had to write them down (In case you're curious, the song is Hello, I'm in Delaware by City and Colour - yeah, I've mentioned this band before). I feel like I've felt the full spectrum of emotions here in Kazakhstan, and to be honest, I don't want to forget any of them - both the good and the bad.

Ok, ok. I'm done. Here are a couple of pictures from my July 4th weekend in Astana to lighten the mood!

(most of) Kaz-21, dancing it out in Astana

Trevor and I at BaiterekSo colorful! I loved it!Alright. I got all my mushy-crazy emotions out, and a few pictures up (which I've been meaning to do for a week now) so, I think I can go to bed a happy girl. Goodnight!

I did a really bad job of taking pictures of our graduation ceremonies. I did get videos of each of them, though!

We have 3 "graduations". The first is for the 4th graders who are basically graduation elementary school and starting secondary school. The little girls and boys dress up and have their hair done and they sing songs and dance and are generally just the most adorable little things you've ever seen. Here is a bit of the ballroom dance they did at the end on the ceremony:

Then there is the 9th grade graduation. Here in KZ, students can leave secondary school at 9th grade to go to a vocational-type school, or go on in secondary school until 11th grade. So there is a ceremony with the whole 9th grade, even if only one or two of them are leaving. Here's the ballroom dance they did: (The woman in the mauve dress is actually the dance teacher. Boys outnumber girls in that class.)

And finally, the big one - 11th grade graduation. Notice the outfits. Awesome. They sing a lot of "traditional" Russian songs - everyone knows them and they've been sung at these things for years. And they're really cheesy. This particular song is about how grateful they are for their parents. It got some of the girls a little teary eyed. Tender.

The weekend after school finished there was a big holiday in the city square for "Day of Europe in Kazakhstan". I had been really unclear about what it was and what was happening, I just knew that there were going to be English activities going on, and I was expected to be there. So I went and met with the other volunteers there, and actually had a really good time. It was actually a really big production. There were representatives from all the countries in Europe that have embassies in Astana (the capital city of Kazakhstan) and they had booths set up in the square and were giving away food and flags and trinkets of all kinds. Then in the park they had activities in English, German, Spanish and... French? I think? Anyway, lots to see and do. Trevor and I left the English lessons for a bit to go see the speech given (in English) by a European representative, and when we went back to the English activities Garret had taken over and was playing games with the kids. Trevor joined in. I took pictures in the background. Somebody had to do it! :)

Mr. Trevor and Mr. Garret with kids from my school, my counterpart, and the lovely Gunara Kameevna - German, Kazakh, and independent work teacher at my school. She's awesome.

Kids learning English and... some big animal things. Why not?

Mr. Trevor playing Simon Says

A Spainard teaching to count in Spanish using balloon animals. Genius.

And finally, I spent a little time in Almaty for our Close of Service conference. It was really great to see everyone again. One evening I was finally together with the boys that I spent 2 craaaaazy months with during PST for language training. I love these boys. I had so much fun with them during PST. We only wish Nick had been around to hang out one last time, too!

Anna and I had the weekend free before working on some projects at the Peace Corps office, so we went out for a walk on Sunday and ended up in Gorki park - a fun little amusement park. We rode the ferris wheel and took some nice pictures of Almaty. It was just an all around fantastic day.

This makes Almaty cool

Star Wars - bumper cars

Hey, wait a minute...???

That's all for now! I'm not so sure that I have anything exciting happening in the next few weeks, so this may be it until July, where there will be plenty going on - July 4th celebrations, Camp GLOW, and my last days in Kazakhstan. Whoa....

Pictures from May thus far! (The last day of school is this week, and I'll blog that separately) Here's a quick run down of what I've been up to lately...

Lots of субботник's - cancel classes on Saturday and go out and clean up the school grounds!

Maxim, Alina, and Dilya from the 5v classConcerts in the square for "The day for the people of Kazakhstan" (used to be International Peace day, but, eh, screw peace! Let's have a party because we live in Kazakhstan!) and for Victory Day

Sasha, from my 6b class playing and singing. He did a great job.

Pasha, leading our boys in marching around the square.

Some of the Veterans in Krasny Yar

Lots of dances. Like always.

Also for the 9th of May - Victory Day - we had a demonstration in our school square where the 5th - 7th grades marched. My cute little Dana from 6a was the marching leader for her class and it was adorable. Just watch.

6a during the National Anthem

5v

6v and 6b

Dana introducing her class to the military teacher

Aisulu was her class leader. Again, so cute.

I went out for a walk one day after a субботник and took these pictures in the fields behind my house:

Ummm... so that's where the trash goes? Eek.

And when I returned home, there was a horse, a pony, and two donkeys in the street in front of my house. So, ok.

Spending time with friends for Hannah's birthday... (black and white photos courtesy of Hannah)

Pretty

"Garret! Girls hate it when you lick their faces! Watch!"

And yes, yes I did hate it.

I think the conversation was something like this -

Holly: No, seriously, that's gross.

Trevor: Yeah, that's why I did it.

I went to the square one day to have a taste of the best donor kebab in Kazakhstan, and stumbled upon this little spectacle:

Human Hamster Ball!!!!!!!!

That's a party in a ballI had my last class with my favorite group, 6a. I gave them each a book - courtesy of a former professor/RPCV who sent them to me - and some other little trinkets that I needed to get rid of. They were SOOOOOO excited about it. We made thank you cards the next day (which will be hand delivered when I return to America) and spent a good 10 minutes passing around Miss Holly's camera and taking loads of pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

Alibek and Aidar

Zhanara, Dana, Tamiris, Madina

Dana brought her copybook up to me the other day to check her task and "accidentally" opened it to a page that had hearts and Ghundiskhan's name all over it. CUTE.

I can't remember if this was the day before or after, but, another little surprise when I walked in my classroom from Zulfia and Tamiris:

Love it.

Here is the view from my window right now:

Yay for blossoms everywhere!

The neighbor gutting fish as our cat creeps in.And finally, I bought some nylons the other day. I didn't realize I bought the kind for old men?

Ok! That's all! More of May coming soon!

As my facebook status this morning I posted that I had had a dream wherein I took a shower, and it was wonderful.

Suffice it to say, I miss proper showers.

I think I’ve mentioned here and there a little bit about my house/plumbing situation before, but I’m going to go ahead and go into a little more detail for you. Just for fun.

First of all, I am lucky enough to have running water in my house. Granted, it’s always cold and not always reliable, but it’s there. Basically how it works is that we have a well out in the yard, and once a week my babushka takes out this long hose and connects it to the well somehow (I’ve never actually seen her do it, so I’m not positive) and strings it in through the hallway down to the little bathroom where there is a big tub. She attaches a little strainer to the end of the house to filter out rocks and dirt that comes through with the water. Once the tub is filled up, she puts the hose into a big basin located in a closet at the end of the hallway and fills that up. This basin is connected to a generator and is how we have “running water” to the toilet, a sink next to the tub, and a sink in the kitchen.

Can you guess what's behind this door?

(A little history lesson – there used to be “government” water in our house, and all the houses, but when the Russians ransacked the village and left at the fall of the Soviet Union they took the running water with them! My babushka was proactive and got this system set up with the help of her sons, but, in her own words “most homeowners are too lazy to do this, so they just live like aborigines and have to go to the well every day and only use toilets outside.”)

Here are the problems with the generator/basin set up:The water freezes in the Winter timeElectricity often goes out (more so in the Summer time)Sometimes the generator just randomly stops working, so we have to wait until my babushka’s son can come over and fix it. Sometimes that’s a couple of days.

Furthermore, sometimes we can’t use the water because the pipes are bad and get clogged up. This has been a big problem recently because we actually live in a duplex, and the old man on the other side of the house doesn’t care to clean out his pipes – which our connected to ours – and therefore we can’t use water too heavily.

So, what do I do when the water isn’t working or when the pipes are backed up?

OUTHOUSE!

Our outhouse in Ecik

My host family down south only had an outdoor toilet – and it was nothing more than a hole in the ground. Up here though, we’ve actually got a toilet seat… though you’ll never find any evidence of me having touched it ((shudder)), which is actually quite a feat considering the fact that it’s old and falling apart and actually slants backwards at an awkward angle. But, nonetheless, I have mastered it. Enough said.

The trek from the outhouse to the house

The red arrow is where the outhouse is (about 50 yards behind the white green house). The yellow arrow is the banya, and the purple arrow is our fantastic dog Greta.

And what about showering/bathing? Well…. Since I arrived in Kazakhstan in August of 2009 I have had nothing but a banya in which to clean myself. And… We banya only once a week. The rest of the week I just ignore my own stench and hope that no one else notices. Actually, I use baby wipes, as well as a soap-and-water wipe down over the sink after working out each evening. I also wash my hair by leaning over a bucket and scooping out the water from the tub. Yeah, the water that had to be filtered from dirt and rocks. Whatever. So now you want to know how the banya works, right? Good, because I’m going to tell you.

In short, a banya is a little sauna, or steam room, that you also wash in. So, typically a banya has an outer room in which you undress before going in, and dry off and dress before leaving. When you’ve undressed and gathered your heavy duty cleaning supplies, you head into the actual wash/steam room. There is a big basin of water connected to a stove (ours is coal/wood/trash burning, but I’ve seen electric ones, too) that heats the water and the entire room. You can pour water on the top of it to create more steam. Next to the basin of hot water is a basin of cold water. Then you have buckets, and a scooper.

You take a scoop of cold water and put it in the bucket, and then add however much hot water you need to get a comfortable temperature – give it a good swirl to mix the hot and cold evenly. Then… start washing!

Short ceilings! Watch out! (especially for the light fixture. It's HOT) I can stand up straight in this one, though - unlike our banya in Ecik.

The other “fun” little thing in the banya is the birch branches (you'll notice ours in the white bucket on the bench). You take this bundle of branches, get them nice and hot, and proceed to beat yourself with them – unless your banya-ing with someone else, in which case they will beat you. Sounds a little funny, I know, but it’s actually quite nice and relaxing when someone else does it to you – like a massage. I would recommend it. :)

So that’s it! That’s what I’ve been doing here once a week for the last (almost) two years! I actually quite like the idea of the banya. I only wish that I could shower, too.

I should note that while a lot of volunteers live in apartments with showers, or nicer houses with showers (if I remember correctly, I was the only one in my training group in Ecik that did not have a shower. I felt sooo disgusting knowing that all the other volunteers were washing more than once a week!), even those are not showers like we would have in America. There is a tub and a faucet – shower curtains are kind of rare – but the shower head often is not set up high on the wall. Rather, it’s one of those shower heads with the hose and it just rests on the faucet. The idea is that you can sit in the tub while washing. Eh… not really my thing. Also, even if you have a shower, you’re not expected to shower on a daily basis. Two or three times a week is enough (for Americans. Locals on the other hand… they seem to be ok with once a week even when they have a shower).

Pretty fun, right!? Now you all want to take a trip to a Kazakhstan village, right!? As they say in awkwardly translated English, “You are welcome!”

I'm content. I'm happy. And I wish I had been this happy the whole time.

I've listened to this song a lot while I've been here. Maybe it sounds cheesy, but it's been a nice sort of anthem for me to get me through when I'm feeling down. "... When all the hard times outweigh the goodAnd all your words are misunderstood...You must follow your heart."

Here's the truth: These last 21 months have not always been the happiest of times. I've always been glad that I'm here knowing that 2, 10, 50 years from now I'd be really grateful that I went through this experience. Because even through the hard times and emotionally trying times I've been able to see the value of being here - whether it was because I'd see a student get really excited about spitting out a grammatically correct sentence, or because I was having a good time with friends, or because I was happy that I had enough free time here to teach myself to play guitar and to crochet and to paint, or because I could tell myself that no matter what happens to me after this, I can always look back on this experience and say to myself "Well, I survived 2 years in Kazakhstan. I can survive this, too."

I remember talking to a friend once about how we were not very satisfied with our work - he teaches in the college and I teach elementary/middle school students - but we were both frustrated with students being disinterested in class and having issues with communication with our counterparts, and we were both a little embittered with our host families. We KNEW they always meant well, but that doesn't make the misunderstandings any easier. Anyway, he told me that he wouldn't consider these the best 2 years of his life, but when he got on the plane and went home he would put on the rose colored glasses and look back on it all with pleasure. I had to agree. I wasn't going to give up. There were good days mixed in with the bad. And it's always easier to remember the good times in retrospect. But when you're in the middle of it... not so easy.

In February 2010 when my manager came for my first site visit, the director of my school told her that I had "sad eyes" and she hoped that would change. Well, it took almost a year, but the sad eyes are gone.

As I was walking home today - through the mud and bitter wind - I had a smile on my face. As I usually do these days.

Because of training schedules and Peace Corps Kazakhstan goings-on, my service has been shortened from 27 months to 24 months. In all honesty, I was pretty excited about this when I found out. I had hit my low of lows around October, and the announcement couldn't have come at a better time - just before Thanksgiving. Knowing that I had three less months here actually made the end seem sooo much closer. Which I needed at the time.

Now, however, I find myself feeling a little sad that it will end so soon. As of today I only have 3 months and 2ish weeks left here. That's only one more month of school (I already know I'm going to cry at the last bell ceremony) and a quick 2 months of Summer. It makes me a little sad...

I'll miss having lunch and dinner with Babs and watching silly Lifetime-esque dramas with her. Or coming home to see her doing something crazy like spinning her own yarn or wrestling still-live fish from a plastic bag into a big bowl.

I'll miss seeing how excited my students are when they see me on the bus or in the city. They tap their parents on the shoulder and say "It's Miss Holly!" then say hello to me and ask how I'm doing (If you read my previous post, "I'm OK" - I'm over that now) and feel so proud that they spoke English in front of their parents. Often, the next time I see them in class I hear them telling the other kids about how they saw Miss Holly at the bazaar like it's the greatest thing that's happened all week.

One year later and it seems like they've all grown so much!

I'll miss tea breaks at any random time of the day, and walking into the cafeteria at school, greeting the teachers and students with a "приятного аппетита!" and the lunch ladies giving me free tea because because I teach their 3rd and 6th graders... and because they like my pretty smile.

And most of all, it makes me sad to think that I won't be able to hang out with Hannah and Trevor and Garret (and all volunteers, for that matter) anymore. Yeah - I have friends back in Utah (I think I still do, anyway?) but... these volunteers have been with me through some of the most emotionally trying days of my life so far, as well as some of the most fun and crazy and awesome times. They just can't be replaced. I know we'll still be able to keep in touch when I leave, but it'll never be the same again. It's weird, and actually quite depressing, to think that I have this finite limit on our friendship as it is now. Not fair.

Well, now I'm starting to tear up thinking about all the people/things/craziness that I'll miss. But don't worry, I'll just remind myself that I haven't had a decent shower in 2 years and that I've had to use the outhouse for the last week - and maybe for the rest of the Summer - and I'll be happy to be going back to America again where my family is waiting to take me to Disneyland. :)

On the Alice in Wonderland ride in 2008 when my sister and younger brother and I had a Disneyland Adventure. I'm excited for a re-do of this trip a couple weeks after I go home - but this time including my parents, brother-in-law and (fingers crossed) my older brother and his family. It's going to be legendary.

Hello, dear readers!

It's time for me to ask for a little help with a project I'm doing. Sorry to those of you that are hearing this plea for help for the 2nd... or 3rd... or 4th time. BUT! It's really important to me, and I really need your help!

As my last big "hurrah" here in Kazakhstan I, along with 5 other volunteers, am organizing a camp GLOW - Girls Leading Our World. This is a camp done by volunteers all over the world to promote women's leadership, healthy lifestyles, career planning, goal setting, etc. It's is an amazing week that these girls will never forget

But I need YOUR help to make it happen! This camp is funded through a Peace Corps grant, which requires donations from my friends and family back home. The donation is tax deductible (yay!), anonymous, and even the smallest amount will make a huge difference for me and my campers! So how about donating $5 today?

Here's how to donate:

Go to this website: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=306-073

Enter the amount you'd like to donate, click "donate", fill out the info and you're done! You've changed the life of a Kazakhstani young woman! Don't you feel good about yourself now?

We're trying to raise all the money in 1 month, so don't delay! Donate today! (Yeah, I just rhymed that out).

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Winter pros: · Sometimes it’s beautiful (see the Hoar Frost post)· Random unexpected days off when it’s too cold to go out (pro/con?)· It doesn't smell bad

Spring pros: · Beautiful weather· More daylight· A few Saturdays “off” for me while the students have subotnik (cancel classes and go pick up trash instead! I tried to help last year, but they insisted I go home. “You shouldn't be cleaning up our trash!” they say. And frankly… I’m ok with that.)

Winter cons: · It’s cold (really cold)· It’s gray and blah· Very little daylight

Spring cons: · It’s muddy and dirty (I find myself walking down the road, involuntarily grunting and "ick"-ing my way through inches of mud.)· It smells like burning trash and cow manure (I’d nearly forgotten about this part. But it all came rushing back the instead I stepped out of my house on the first clear day of Spring)· The dogs start barking at night. Allllll night.

Nevertheless, I’d choose Spring, hands down, every time.

What a beautiful country. I had an amazing time there in Dublin. I think it's safe to say that this was the greatest vacation I have ever taken. I've had a lot of people ask why I decided to go there - especially since most volunteers choose to do their travelling in this Asian part of the world. I, too, thought that I would limit myself to Asian vacations but when it came down to it... I just REALLY wanted to go to Ireland! In the long run, the cost was about the same (more expensive flight, but cheaper accommodations) than other countries I'd thought about visiting, and to be honest, I really just wanted some European-style R&R. Plus, I was travelling alone, and wanted to be somewhere that I felt comfortable in my alone-ness, and had plenty to do to fill my time. Dublin was perfect for that. And yes, I went by myself, but that did not mean there was a lack of friends. I met some awesome people from all over the world - Arizona (super exotic), Slovenia, Belgium, India, Brazil, England, Wales etc, etc... Sooo! Enough of that. Let's get on with the pictures.

First of all, I flew through Abu Dhabi. I wish I'd been able to get out of the airport and spend a little time in the city because I've heard it's pretty fantastic. Maybe another time? But anyway, I loved how the people in the airport just get cozy - lying down anywhere on the floor to take a nap, sitting around in circles having a picnic in the terminal, curling up in the chairs, or sprawling out in the corridor. I remember seeing the same thing in the Istanbul airport. I loved it.

I arrived in Dublin around 7 am and went straight to the hostel to drop off my bag. I couldn't check-in until 2, however, so I set out to do a little exploring and shopping. I had a few things on my "must-buy" list, including a jacket (I didn't bring one on purpose) and a scarf (just because I like them). I ended up buying those two things, as well as a skirt, tights, a dress and a cardigan.... and later in the week, shoes and a purse as well. I was never a big fan of shopping back in the states, but when you're deprived of good shopping centers for so long, I just couldn't help myself! I LOVED shopping!

After my little shopping spree, a light lunch at a cafe and checking into the hostel I just had to take a nap. I was exhausted from the 19 hours worth of flights/layovers, plus 27 hours on the train. So, a quick nap, then I took myself out for a romantic date on the town. I wandered around the city looking for a good place to eat, and finally settled on Rustic - a "healthy" restaurant with all-natural, organic ingredients. I got the penne pasta and it was the best, most beautifully presented pasta I've eaten in ages. I sat in between two couples on dates, and although I was acutely aware of my singledom, I couldn't have been more happy. I paid the check, and headed down to the River Liffey for an evening stroll before returning to my hostel for the night.

After suffering through the night listening to a gentleman from Wales snoring louder than a pig in the slaughter house, I rolled out of bed and headed out to the Guinness Storehouse. It is Dublin's #1 tourist attraction, after all, so I figured I couldn't miss it. As I was walking there, I stopped to take a picture or two, right along with another boy - Tosh, from Vancouver - who happened to be going to Guinness as well. We ended up going through the storehouse together and it was nice to have someone to analyze the bitterness of the hops, the richness of the barely, and the sweetness of the malt with.... ?? .... because, you know, I'm such a connoisseur.



I then headed over to the Museum of Modern Art for a little new-age culture.

That big ball in the courtyard is made of plastic gas cans found in.... some African country. I forgot which one.

Next stop was the War Memorial Gardens. A really lovely place to walk and soak in the sunshine and fresh air. There weren't many people here at all, so it was really nice and peaceful. A most excellent way to spend the evening.

Then it was back to the hostel where I hung out with all sorts of interesting people.

The next day was perhaps the best day of the entire trip. I took a day tour to the Cliffs of Moher - you know, the Cliffs of Insanity! Princess Bride. That's right. But before we could make it all the way to the west coast of the Island where the Cliffs are located, we stopped in Limerick for a nice view of King John's Castle on the River Shannon.

And then.... the Cliffs of Moher. I don't know what to say besides it was awesome.

We then stopped in the little town of Doolin for lunch at Fitzpatrick's, and then headed off to the karst region of the Burren, full of rocky beaches and a few not-so-sedate cattle.

The last stop was Corcomroe Abby, a 12th century monastery. There are ruins similar to this all over the country. Stunning.

One last stop for a photo op of Dunguaire castle.

And that about wrapped up the day for Friday. Not bad, eh?

Saturday. Big day. (Not really). I spent the better part of the morning just wandering aimlessly around the streets of Dublin. I really didn't know exactly where I was, except for keeping track of when I turned a corner if I would be perpendicular or parallel to the river. I ended up in some beautiful and quaint little residential areas, where people walking their dogs and/or children didn't pass me by without a "Hello! Good morning!" And I even got one "Grand mornin' to ya" and it pretty much made me happier than I ever have been before. If I weren't so camera shy, I'd have taken pictures, but I liked to think that the people passing me by didn't know that I was a tourist, intruding on their little cove of privacy in an otherwise tourist-ridden town.

After walking finding a cafe for lunch and refueling, I set off for three locations: Dublin Castle, Christ Church Cathedral, and finally St. Patrick's Cathedral. And here they are.

I listened in on a tour guide talking about this statue... it represents Justice (Obviously). But notice - she doesn't have the usual blindfold that is customary when representing justice. Also, her back is turned on the city of Dublin, facing in towards the castle and courts. A little prejudice there, maybe? And notice the huge sword? Not very friendly, is she? Lastly, the scales she's holing can actually move, as their known to do on rainy days in Dublin... which is quite often.

Christ Church Cathedral

St. Patrick's Cathedral

I spent that evening walking around the streets of Dublin again, occasionally popping into a pub or cafe for a light refreshment. At one pub, a jazz band was playing in one corner while a football match was being watched in another. I felt bad for the jazz band, who were obviously a little put out by the rowdy football fans. And they were really pretty good! So I gave them my full attention and got a "Thanks for listenin', Love" when they finished.

Sunday was pretty great, too. I set out for Kilmainham Jail early in the morning and took a tour through this dark, cold building. The goal of the jail was not only to hold prisoners, but to reform them and by doing-so, never have to see them there again. This, however, was not a great success. Nevertheless, in order to "reform" the prisoners, they made them do hard labor, such as carrying heavy stones from one corner to another, and then back again. I'd go crazy. Furthermore, all prisoners were isolated (when they weren't over crowded), and only had one hour of "exercise" a day, where they walked around the courtyard in a circle - no talking allowed.

The old section of the jail. Each door isolated from the next by a ramp.

The new section of the jail. Easier for guards to keep an eye on the prisoners - the amazing acoustics were not by accident. The guards used these stairs here, while the prisoners used the winding staircase, because it's harder to "start something" on them.

Most executions were done by hanging, but there were a few done by firing squad. The cross marks the place where these occurred. There is one on each side of the courtyard. This courtyard is closed off - no windows, very high walls, no witnesses.

This is a new balcony, but at the time the jail was in operation, this is where the hangings took place. Thousands of people would gather in front of the jail to watch. Notice the five serpents in chains above the door, to remind prisoners that they are "lower than a serpent's belly"

Yikes. That was a little heavy. It was time to lighten things up a bit, so I took a stroll down to Phoenix Park - one of the largest park in Europe. I didn't have time to get too far into it, but here are a few of the things I saw in there:

Home to the US Ambassador to Ireland. He/She gets a special place near the President's home because the US was the first to recognize Ireland its own Republic.

The home of the President of Ireland. Looks a lot like the White House, doesn't it? That was on purpose. The architect of this building was the same as the White House in DC.

Papel Cross. Erected for a visit from the Pope in 1979. 115 feet high

Wellington Monument, in honor of the victories of the Duke of Wellington. 207 feet high.

And again, back to the hostel where I met up with some friends for a night out. And when I say night, I mean the entire night. As in, until 6 am or so when the girls had to go catch a flight. Good times!

The next day was spent sleeping in, finishing up some shopping that I wanted to do, and touring the Jameson Whiskey distillery. No pictures of that one. I guess I was feeling too tired to take pictures. :) And besides, if we're being honest, I liked the Guinness storehouse better. It was more picturesque.

And finally, my last day in Ireland. It was cold and rainy and gloomy for the first time, which was kind of a disappointment, since that was the day that I went down to Wicklow and Glendalough. So the pictures didn't turn out quite as nice as they could have, but nevertheless, the foggy, cold air actually lent itself to an amazing atmosphere which couldn't have been more peaceful. The bus took us up to the entrance of a monastic sight/church/graveyard, where the first set of pictures are from, and from there we walked to the Upper Wicklow lake. I only made it about halfway there, though. You see, there were a lot of tourists along the path, taking pictures and chatting away. I decided to go against the grain. I walked in the opposite direction up some unknown path. So, there's only one picture of the lake, from a distance, and about a dozen pictures of this path, which was gorgeous. I plugged into my ipod and listened to the haunting melodies of Olivia Pedroli (yeah, her again) and just walked and snapped photo after photo and didn't see another person for the next hour. It was fantastic.

St. Kevin's Cross - the largest cross made from a single Granite Stone

The ruins of St. Saviour's Church

And that was it. I went back to my hostel (but stopped for one last delicious dinner - pear and goat cheese salad with a balsamic dressing and diet coke. Mmmmmm....), got my bag, and was on my way to the airport.

Like I said, to date - best vacation ever. I made some great friends, had some good alone time, got to speak English, eat delicious food, drink delicious drinks (yes, diet coke, I'm talking about you), and take a little breather from the craziness of Kazakhstan.

Speaking of Kazakhstan, I only have 4 months left here....

Because I slept away half the day on my 27 hour train ride from Almaty, I'm not in the least bit tired tonight. So, I spent the evening editing pictures. I've just put them into this lovely little video for your viewing pleasure. Since I have about 160 that I thought were worth sharing, and there's no way I'm going to put 160 pictures in this blog, you can at least see them here... if you want to. Although, the people that actually really want to see them can see them all on my Facebook page anyway - where they're of better quality than this silly youtube video. So, really, I think I just did this video for me. Yup. Well!? I like it, ok!? Anyway, I'll post some of the "real" "high quality" pictures in a blog later this weekend - complete with descriptions, stories, etc. Because I know that's what you want. Right? Right. OK, here it is:

The name sounds slightly demeaning, but don't let that fool you. I wish these pictures captured just how beautiful the hoar frost is. I was a few minutes late to school this morning because I ran back in to get my camera, and then stopped every few feet along the way to snap a shot. It had already started melting by the time I walked home, but I still managed to get a few good ones before it was all gone. Take a look.

This weekend Hannah and I spent Saturday night and Sunday at the home of our friend Gulnara (pictured in the previous post... and later in this one). Her family has a BEAUTIFUL home in Zarenda - about 45 minutes from Kokshetau. It's 3 stories complete with a big screen TV (including cable in English and Russian), heated floors, and a nice kitchen with a beautiful view. They also have an amazing banya. It's got a sauna room, a small swimming pool, a shower, and a nice little sitting area in the entrance. I didn't manage to get any pictures of it, but I'll have to next time, because I want to build one just like it back in the states. :)

A little bit of silliness

So, Saturday night, Gulnara and her husband and daughter picked Hannah, Myles (who lives in Zarenda and was hitching a ride back with us) and I up and headed out. When we got to their home we took a quick tour of the house, then Hannah and I settled in and watched Say Yes to the Dress on TLC, while Myles went down to grind the meat for dinner. We then traded places and Hannah and I helped finish making dinner while the boys relaxed. We had a lovely little "family dinner" that made me feel very nostalgic!

We finished eating at almost 11 pm, and then the girls headed out to the bannya to relax for a couple of hours. We took our time sweating it out in the sauna, then dipping in the cool pool, or, occasionally, running out into the snow. Naked. It was so much fun.

We slept in the next day and took our time getting moving in the morning. Finally, after a good brunch, Gulnara, Hannah, and I went out for a walk/run through the forest. It was beautiful. When you're used to seeing nothing but steppe and a little yellow grass covered mostly by dirt under some blackened snow... this was refreshing.

And there were plenty of opportunities for photo ops. Ridiculous photo ops, in some cases.

After lunch I joined Gulnara and her daughter for a little Cross-Country Skiing. It was my first time. I think I looked slightly ridiculous. And I fell... more than once. But it was fun! And great workout!

Then we caught a ride back home and headed straight to the banya to warm up. Since we were a little hungry after skiing, Gulnara grabbed a bag of apples and we sat in the sauna eating apples. It was awesome. Such a random thing, but it made me so happy and content.

Weekends here are short, so you've got to pack in as much as you can. Mission accomplished.

The past couple of weeks have been busy here in Kazakhstan. So here are a few pictures chronicling the goings-on.

First up, The Young English Teacher's Competition. Myself and 6 other volunteers watched and participated in this competition between 12 teachers in the Kokshetau area. Their first task was to do a presentation introduction of themselves in Russian, Kazakh and English. Next, they did a short "tour guide" segment where they acted as though they were a tour guide for various places in Kazakhstan and around the world such as Madame Tussuad's museum in the UK, the historical museum in Astana, and Hollywood. Then they each showed a video segment of them teaching a lesson. Finally, the last task was to prepare an activity, on the spot - with one of the volunteers, and do it with some students that had been pulled out of class for this. It was simple for me, because both of the teachers that I was paired with already had their activities chosen and planned out. Some of the other volunteers had to be creative and come up with something quick and easy. But, that's pretty much the story of out lives here, so it was no problem.

Volunteers and teachers

All the contestantsThe jury

Presenting with contestant No. 12

The boys looking all spiffy and ready to work. Garret, Scott, Roshan, Trevor and Myles

Gulnara (a woman from Kokshetau who run an English center called Globus. She also comes to our Women's Club, and is helping with a girls leadership camp that Hannah (and I) are going to do this Summer. She's fantastic.

Then the top teacher was awarded with books and flowers (sorry, no pictures of that. They did the awarding in Kazakh, so I kinda missed when they announced who won) and we were escorted out to have a nice tea with all the teachers. It was fantastic.

And of course, no event is complete without a Kazakh dance and other bits of entertainment - like a puppet show about a turnip or a short play with students dressed as M&Ms and Mrs. Goodbar.

A very fun short play.

Later that evening Hannah and I had our weekly Women's club. We invited Scott, who was already in town for the teacher's competition, to do a lesson on self-defense. I'm not sure if the girls really "got it," but we all had a lot fun!

Next up was class presentations at my school. It was optional to participate, and I think we had 7 presentations total from grades 5-9. They were given the option to choose from three topics to present on: Healthy Lifestyles, School of the Future, or A Clean Environment. My counterpart is the Classmaster for 5v, and they did a fun little presentation about living healthy lives, but they didn't win and were very disappointed.

Cute little Alibek presenting

With my 6th grade Kazakh class. I swear, they were smiling seconds before this picture was taken!

And then it was Women's Day! Ludmilla helped the boys in 5v put together a little presentation for the girls. Each of the boys had to do a task (such as introduce yourself, give a "toast" to the girls, tell what you would give as a gift if you had all the money in the world, etc.) and the girls gave each of the boys a grade and then tallied them up and chose one boy as the nicest boy in the class. He then handed out the gifts to each of the girls. Super cute. AND THEN, the best part, they did a break-dance for the girls. It was super funny to watch them fling themselves around the room.

The jury of girls

Ruslan riding a motorcycleI just loved their "costumes"

The boys getting ready to dance

Later that night we had a party at school with the teachers. It was a typical Kazakh party - eat, drink, dance, repeat. I don't have pictures from that yet, because my co-worker Maria was going crazy with picture taking, so I decided to let my camera rest and I'll get the pictures from her. Soon. Hopefully.

And one last little bit of awesomeness. We've been working on modal verbs in 7th grade, and we had a little time to kill at the end of our last lesson, so we had them make posters about things you should/shouldn't do. This is what Kamil and Nikita came up with:

"If you do it you will died!"And on that note, see ya later!

February.... It's a rough month here in Kazakhstan. Cold, dark, snowy. Granted, this year has not been anywhere near as bad as last, but still. It's no fun. I'm itching for Summer time, and canceling classes because it's -30C outside doesn't help. But here's a little of what I've been doing to move things along.

Work. Gotta stay busy. Even when classes have been canceled (only 4 times so far this winter. Last year we had a total of 18 days canceled) I've gone in and done a little something to feel productive. And that hasn't been hard to do with my counterpart asking me to retype all our lesson plans that were previously hand written. Because we have computers at our school now, this is what we do must do ... Yeah. Productive? Helpful for the students? Well... I'm just going to leave that alone. But like I said, at least it's been keeping me busy.

That picture is of my schedule for last semester (on the right page) and the first half of the second semester (left page). As you can see, it changes quite frequently. Keeps me on my toes. Er, something.

Pills. To numb the pain. Ha! Kidding. SOOOO kidding about that (No one needs to call Dr. Victor). But I did have a nasty cold for a little while (oh yeah, that Kreshenya thing? Totally didn't work. I probably did it wrong). So here we have a cough drop, a multivitamin, two calcium supplements, antibiotics for the ear infection that came along with the cold, and Sudafed to clear everything out. I later added Mucinex to the daily regimen. That was a fun week.

Relaxing. Sometimes, after a long day with obnoxious (sorry, it's true) students, you just gotta take time to zone out. My mom sent me this cake for my birthday back in December, but I never bothered making it until this week. So glad I waited. It was greatly needed. I savored every bite, while the amazing vocals and instrumentation of Olivia Pedroli washed over me. It was a lovely evening.

Freakin' delicious.

Jillian. Or, exercisetv.tv in general. But I've been doing this Yoga workout in particular a lot lately and I really like it. Not the meditation calming sort of yoga that I tend to get bored with (no offense to my friends that like it! It's just not my style!) but Jillian keeps it real with some pretty intense moves. Keeps me from feeling like I'm melting into an oily, mayonnaisey, sugary, fried potatoey glob. It's necessary.

Guitar. I'm so glad I decided to put down the money for this cheap, but awesome, little guitar. It's been a lifesaver. I miss playing the piano a LOT, but this certainly helps. I can't play as freely or be as versatile on it as I can be with the piano - obviously, since I'm self-taught and only started about 9 months ago - but I like the music! As cheesy as it sounds, it's therapeutic for me. Hopefully Babs and Denis aren't tired of hearing me play my favorites over and over again.

My fingers get a little beat up. I can no longer have pretty long finger nails. But I'm willing to sacrifice.

Painting. Just another random thing I started doing since coming here. Hannah suggested I do it, so I did. I've never been much of an artist (in fact, I dreaded going to art class in 7th grade because I could just feel the disappointment seeping from Mr. Loulious' (sp?) face every time he looked at one of my projects.) But, I'm not being graded here. So I can do whatever the heck I want, and if it's not up to his standards, I don't have to care! I'll just say it was supposed to be like that.

Friends! Don't know what I'd do if I didn't have Hannah and Co. so close by. Hannah, Olga and I went out to an awesome restaurant on Valentine's day called the Scottish Pub. I had a Caesar Salad with chicken (also available with Horsemeat) and Hannah and I split a plate of BBQ Chicken wings with a bleu cheese dip, and I had cheesecake (weak, but still good) for dessert. I think I sometimes forget how delicious, and flavorful, food can be. I'll be in trouble when I go back to America.



And finally... playing around with Picnik, the new photo editor attached to Picasa. Makes me think I need to invest in some better photo editing software. My camera doesn't exactly take the most impressive pictures, but after playing around with Picnik and some of the effects there it helps a ton (as you can see from the picture above, which wasn't so attractive originally). Someday I'll have to sit down and go through all my Kazakhstan photos and make them pretty and presentable, so that when I go home I can make people watch "slideshows." You know you want to.

February 20th. Only 8 days left. March will fly by since I'll be vacationing for a week in Ireland over Spring Break (yep. Random, I know). Then only two more months of school, two months of Summer - which will be filled with COS conference and Summer camps - and then I'm home! Wow! See you soon....

I was waiting outside the classroom for my favorite (no shame in saying that) class to come. 6a - the group that studies all their lessons (except mine) in Kazakh. They're fantastic.

Alibek and Gudiskhan run up to me.Alibek: Miss Holly! Do all people in America know about Kazakhstan?

Me: Umm.... no.

Gundiskhan: Why not!?

Me: Ummm.....

Alibek: Do your friends know about Kazakhstan?

Me: Yes.

Alibek: Does your family know about Kazakhstan?

Me: Of course!

Later on in the class, while Ludmilla is teaching and I'm distracted by how adorable Dana, Tamiris, Alibek, and Gundiskhan are.....

Alibek whispers (while looking at the globe on my desk): Miss Holly! Do people in America know about Russia?

Me: Yes, of course.

Alibek: Do they know about China?

Me: Oh yes, definitely.

Alibek: Turkey?

Me: Yes, because the name Turkey is the same for Turkey (индейки).

--Alibek translates this into Kazakh for Gundiskhan, who speaks very little Russian, and they laugh--

Alibek: Hmmm.... what else... Mongolia?Me: Usually, yes. Most people know about Mongolia.Alibek: Then why not Kazakhstan!?!Me: Umm.... Maybe because Kazakhstan is a peaceful country. With peaceful people. So we don't hear about it much on the news.Alibek: Will you tell people in America about Kazakhstan?Me: Yes, I will tell people in America about Kazakhstan, and about my favorite students, Alibek and Gundiskhan!--Dana and Tamiris heard this and got all pouty--Me: And my favorite GIRL students, Tamiris and Dana.

Then everyone was happy.

So, there's this country called Kazakhstan. It's in Central Asia, and well, it's HUGE. I don't know how I missed it all those years. But now it's my home, and, despite the grumbling and complaining I do about it sometimes (but don't you dare say anything bad about it! It's one of those "I can make fun of my little brother, but you can't" cases), I really am quite happy here. And part of that happiness comes from these AWESOME students. I don't know that I really will have that much of an effect on their future. I can't say that, even now, I motivate them to want to learn English or achieve more, but I do have fun with them and I do love them, and I will miss them terribly when I go home. I was thinking the other day about how I'll never see these little people again, and I'll have no idea what is going on in their lives. Will they live in Krasney Yar their entire life? Move to Kokshetau? Learn English and study abroad in England, then come back and get a good job in Astana? Who knows. But I hope they're happy.

I walked into my classroom Monday morning, and this was waiting for us on the chalkboard:Ludmilla Iosifiovna! and Miss Holly! We LoVe you. Sincerely, your class 5BHow could I not be happy when I see something like that?

Or like this:

I finally did something that I've been looking forward to since I arrived in Kazakhstan a year and a half ago. I realize that to some people this sounds a bit crazy, but I would never forgive myself if I left Kazakhstan without doing this one seemingly insane thing: Kreshenya.

Kreshenya, meaning Baptism, is a Russian Orthodox holiday. On this day, a hole is cut into the frozen river and priests bless the water. You dip yourself 3 times and you will have good health for the rest of the year. There are also crosses cut into the river where people take water to sprinkle in their homes, wash with, etc. This year the weather was great - sunny and -25 C (that's about -13 F for those of you keeping track). How could I resist?

Hannah and I arrived in Petro on Tuesday and got to catch up with Tes, Elena, Shannon, Nena (a friend from Germany), Becky, Corrine and Nick. The next morning we prepared our things for the river dip and headed out. We got on a bus and rode out quite far and got off when the conductor told us we should - too soon. We ended up walking for another half an hour or so to the river. It was a pleasent-ish sort of walk though, but we were already pretty frozen by the time we got there.

And when we arrived, this is what we saw:

There was also Latin sounding cathedral-ish music being blasted from speakers that really set the tone for the day... er, something. Anyway. First things first. We went over to the crosses cut out in the river and Becky helped Lena bottle-up some water to take home. Then we, somewhat reluctantly, headed towards our goal: dipping in the river.

There were 2 tents set up: one for men, and one for women. Inside the women's tent was another hole cut out, so that we didn't actually have to go outside to do the baptism. Not that it was really any warmer in there or anything, but it just gave for more privacy anyway. But American girls are brave (read: stupid?) enough to do it outside. So we undressed and made our way out.... I'll let the pictures/video do the talking now.....

Some people make it look so easy.

If this little guy can do it (in his underwear) then...

HAD to include this picture of Elena. That look says it all.Still smiling. Somehow.Hannah + Holly = Sitemate Love.Taking off the flip-flops... deep breath...

Getting dressed has never been SO difficult. My body actually warmed up pretty quickly once I was dry, but my toes and fingers just would. not. work! I had to stop every now and then just to warm them up and remember how to make them move again.

That doesn't look forced at all.....

And... a video!

I was pretty upset when I got out and couldn't find who had taken my towel! When I finally found it I went to put my flip-flops on, only to find that it was impossible due to a lack of feeling in my feet. So, I picked them up and RAN for the tent. It took a long time for the feeling to come back - although, when there was feeling again, that feeling was just pain for a good hour or so. Once I had dried off and put my clothes back on, the rest of my body really wasn't *too* cold anymore.

So then we hustled a bus, and then another bus, and eventually made it to a super luxurious sauna and chilled there for a couple hours. And it was absolutely fantastic.

Later that night we went out to a karaoke bar and sang our little hearts out... or, I did, anyway. I didn't know I had it in me. But, for future reference - I do. I totally do. I've only done karaoke twice - both times here in the KZ - and both times I was like "Meh... I don't know, I don't really like to sing in front of people... No, no thanks... What's that? Dream On by Aerosmith? Yeah, I guess I kinda know that one. So, no, you keep the mic. Oh, there's two? Ok, well I guess I'll take it...." And then something happens and... well, you don't need to know what happens next. Anyway!

Then the next day I did a teacher training at Sid's institute. Not so exciting, but I got some work done, and that's what's important!

After the teacher training I had a sore throat from all that talking I was doing... but it's still sore now... I'm not getting sick already, am I? Was that dip in the river all in vein!?! I'll let you know. Stay tuned!

Happy New Year! I celebrated New Years Eve down in Karaganda (about 9 hours southeast of me) this year and had a blast. We ate deliecious food at a Ukranian restaurant, then partied at Elena's apartment, and the next day went to see Repunzel in 3-D (or, Tangled, as I understand it's called in America...) and then had dinner at a fantastic Georgian restaurant. We also stopped at Ramstore (An American-style grocery store only found in a few big cities) on the way home that night and I was able to get Coca-Cola Light - and it was amazing.

Patrick, Audrey and me

Erica and I. Erica is a fantastic hostess - thanks again!

The whole group at the restaurant.

Then I came back home. Things have been pretty slow here in Krasny Yar since I'm still on Winter Break. So I've been keeping myself busy with my guitar, crocheting, and watching movies. Here's my latest, and least ugly hat (I've done a couple others this winter that I'm not so in love with. But I think this one turned out pretty good.)

Sorry for the emo-ness of this picture. It wasn't intentional. Just wanted to show off the hat. And yes, that yarn has sparkle in it. This is what Kazakhstan fashion has done to me.Also, I've been bonding with the cat recently. Since I've been keeping my bedroom door open at night, so as not to freeze to death in my icebox, he's been sleeping at the foot of my bed - to which Baba Valya declared, "Holly! You're sleeping with a man!" And laughed for a good 2 or 3 minutes. Awesome.

Demok, with that evil look in his eye.Meanwhile, Hannah and I were invited to sing after mass at the Catholic church this week. We didn't exactly know what or who we were singing for, but decided to go along with it anyway. Hannah had an nice version of Silent Night that we threw together the night before. Turns out that was a good choice, because after we sang, there was a small choir that sang a few other Christmas songs, and then the priests from Switzerland sang/played a couple of songs also. It was really nice!

It was fuh-ree-zing in there. We could see our breath. So, they all sang with their coats and scarves on. We especially liked the priests in their robes, jackets and scarves. Also - note that the priest at the keyboard is playing without music. He was really good!Proof that it was super cold today (somewhere around -25 C):

Notice the frozen hair, eyelashes, and nose. Fun times.Luckily I had the nice, hot bannya waiting for me when I got home today. Now I'm clean, I'm warm, and I'm ready to get back to work tomorrow. Yay! (There's only a little sarcasm there)

Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGfHJf4NOtw

Yeah, they look all sweet and innocent now...

Ha, no, seriously, I love these kids. Cute, right? This makes me smile. They had a rough time getting the second half pulled together, but they worked it out! 

I’m just gonna say it. Christmas in Kazakhstan is not great. Being a post-soviet country, Christmas is not very well known and not at all celebrated. The big holiday here is New Years. They do put up “New Years” lights, and Grandfather Frost brings gifts for everyone. So at least there are decorations and holiday parties, just not what I’m used to back home. I really miss the Christmas music, too! Both this year and last year I’ve never really felt the “Christmas spirit” when listening to Christmas music. It felt kind of out of place.

Luckily, this year was a step up from last year, and much more memorable. That’s not saying much though – last year, before going to school, I opened up the gifts my mom and dad had sent me, cried a little, then pulled myself together for school. After school I did a Christmas themed English club which was pretty chaotic and not exactly what I had imagined. It was depressing. This year hasn’t been nearly as depressing. I started getting in the holiday mood by attending and helping out with Hannah’s “American Christmas” program at her youth center. Her students performed songs/dances and did a short play of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. She made hundreds of sugar cookies as refreshments and we helped decorate them the night before, which was a ton of fun, and they were gone in a matter of seconds! Crazy. The amazing backdrop, painted by some of Hannah's students

The Who's

The Grinch - Obviously.

Anna and Me!

These girls danced and sang to Rocking Around the Christmas Tree and Jingle Bell Rock

Looking Festive

Garret and Trevor - the new boys in Kokshetau. We're pretty much already BFFs. Er, something.

Then on Christmas Eve it was once again time for the Christmas English club. I usually don’t get more than 4 or 5 girls coming to my English club, but I had 22 students from my 5th and 6th grades come to this one, as well as 4 4th grade girls from the Kazakh class who, while I was prepping the classroom, shyly knocked on the door and said “Are you Miss Holly?” “Yes, that’s me.” “Um, Miss Holly, my friend in the 6a class said there would be a holiday today. Can we come too?” Sooo –ooo-oooo adorable. Of course I let them come.

We started by learning the song “Once There Was a Snowman” and then we decorated stars and used them to play “Pin the star on the tree” and finally played a game kind of like musical chairs – students dance while the music is playing, and when the music stops the last one to sit down is out… which didn’t work quite like I wanted, because we had so many kids and limited space. But it was still fun – I had them dancing to Stephen Colbert’s “Another Christmas Song” Awwwwesome!Kamilla and Zarina - 6b class

Dana and Madina - BFFs - 6a class

Dana and Zhanara - 6a class

Natalya, Tanya, Alina, and Daliria - 5b class

Timur, Sasha (6b) and Ruslan (5b)

Our lovely Yolka!Then my Christmas Eve continued to be awesome when I met Hannah and our local friend Gulnara to attend Midnight Mass – and subsequently drank hard liquor with a Nun.

Gulnara is an English Teacher in the city, and one of her students is a nun, Sister Cecilia, and she had invited us for tea/coffee before mass. We got to the nunnery around 11:20pm and went inside the miniature house – seriously, if I went up on my tiptoes I could hit the ceiling. So we sat down to a table laid out with cookies and chocolates and tea and coffee. Hannah and I begin serving ourselves and Sister Cecilia said she had something to add to the coffee that would be tasty and help warm us up (the church was so cold, we had to wear our coats, hats, scarves, mittens the whole time). We asked what it was and she said it was an herb – Balzam – that another Sister had been given by a Father while she was visiting in Lithuania. We asked if it was an alcohol, and they just kept saying that it was an herb. She poured a tiny bit into each of our glasses and – admittedly – it had a nice taste! Then Hannah and I took a closer look at the bottle… 45% alcohol! Gulnara saw us laughing about it and said “чуть чуть (just a little bit) hard. But it’s ok. It will keep you warm!” Thanks, Sister Cecilia.

Mass was really nice. I’d never been before, so it was a good experience. The cathedral here is really new and nice inside. I had a hard time understanding everything, and the Father’s sermon, but I liked singing the hymns and seeing the whole procession of mass. Afterwards, Sister Cecilia brought us back and introduced us to the Father and another Priest there who spoke English quite well. They were very nice and invited us to come back again. And I think I will.We got back to Hannah’s apartment around 3 am and had some tea to warm up before going to bed. We both had to work the next morning, so we got up early and I took off to get back to Krasney Yar in time for school. Luckily I only have 2 classes on Saturday… but I didn’t stay for the 2nd. My kids were taking a test, and I wasn’t really needed, so I skipped out early so that I could Skype with Mom, Dad and Jeffy. Yay.

Then it was off to the Kokshetau English Teachers Association Meeting. We played a few games, sang a few songs, had tea together and then – as is often the case in KZ – an impromptu dance party broke out. Good times!Garret and I finally made our way out of there and to Hannah’s apartment where we met up with Anna, and just hung out for the night. We finally decided to watch Elf, but Hannah and I were so tired from Mass the night before, we didn’t even finish it before falling asleep.

Anna and I went to the Christian church the next morning. Another new experience for me. Anna told me it was started by missionaries from Canada who were Protestant. It was a much more rockin’ service compared to the Catholic mass! But everyone was really nice, the songs were fun to sing, and I had a good time.

So! That was my last Christmas in Kazakhstan. I’ll go ahead and put the Kazakh stamp of approval on that. Bam!

Now, it’s off to Karaganda for a New Years Eve Extravaganza!

I was just remembering hearing my little nephew say "that's so funny" and me getting a kick out of it every time -- which only encouraged him to say it again and again. And it was adorable every time. So, in honor of his cuteness, that's what I titled this blog.

I just have a few silly things to share with you. The first - something that I haven't done in awhile - the tag from an awesome Chinese product! I bought myself a new purse as my birthday present to me, and this is the happy little note that came with it:

CERTIFICATMy style is Your choiceCHUANQICOOLP LEATHER THE REALGENIUS OF THE RUDY FAMITY AND WITH THE SUCCESS IN DEVELOPING URBAN LIFE SPACE AND DESIGNINGARCHITECTURE. WISHES TO SHARE HISMERITS BYCREATING AND INT-RODUCING HIS LEATHER GOODS CO-LLECTIONS WHICH REFLECT HIS ARTISTIC LEFE WITH THEUNLQUELMAGE OF COSMOPOLITAN STYLE.ARCHITECTURE DESIGN, PERFECTMATERIAL COORDINATION ANDAREMASTERPIECE.

That last sentence is the icing on the cake. Pretty sure some guy just opened up a dictionary and threw some random words down. Love. It.

I'm not really sure if this is fashionable in the US, but my sense of fashion is all out of whack after being in Kazakhstan for over a year. Whatever. I like it.

And next, a text titled "Husky had been very healthy". An excerpt from my 8th grade text book:

Poor little Husky Yellowhair! I hope he gets feeling better and back to that desolate reservation soon!Please tell me I'm not the only one that laughed out loud after reading the first line.

And finally, on a more serious note - it's cold. But only -26 C today. I have to remind myself: it will get worse. These pictures don't really capture it, but the frost on the trees was really beautiful. One redeeming factor of the bitter cold.

Finally, a month later, the rest of the Turkey story. Well, there's not much more of a story, but there are pictures. We spent the next few days after the marathon doing some touristy things around Istanbul, and then a couple of days shopping, sipping tea in cafes and reading. The relaxation was blissful. We spent a few nights in hostels at the beginning and end of the trip, but spent one week with the family of Hannah's friend Cigdem, whom she met during her study abroad in Ireland. Cigdem's family was so extremely hospitable and we had a great time with them.

Hannah and I also had 2 nights in Almaty before catching our train back up to Kokshetau, so we stayed with Org and Hannette - a couple from South Africa teaching at the Almaty International School. They took us up to Kok Tobe our second day there and we had some fun with them.

Istanbul!

Another view of Istanbul...

Istanbul at night

A mosque in Istanbul.

We were interviewed at the marathon expo while picking up our bibs and shirts.

We're famous in Turkey now.

The spice bazaar!

The Blue Mosque

Denise, Hannah and I at the Blue Mosque

Us inside the Blue Mosque

Inside the Blue Mosque

Aya Sofia

Inside Aya Sofia

Denise, Hannah and me in Aya Sofia

We saw these "workout parks" all over the place. Different workout machines made for two people to use at once. Genius!

Awesome workout.

If I remember correctly... this is at Kadakoy bay. The metro station in the distance was built to look like a German castle.

Top Kapi Palace

Top Kapi palace

Top Kapi palace



Shopping at the Tuesday Market -- Olives!!!

Coffee and Hot Chocolate (tasted like a cup of melted chocolate bar. De.Lic.ious.) break before going to Prince's Island with Cigdem's family.

Denise, me, Turkish Momma and Hannah before going to Prince's Island

We had lots of time while waiting for ferries, buses and the tram so... we read. Because we were definitely over talking to each other by that point.

A view from Prince's Island

Hannah, Cigdem and her niece on our horse-drawn carriage ride around Prince's Island.

Denise and Me

Carriage ride around Prince's Island

Hannah and I were super excited about this banana split. And then we took a bite and were not so excited anymore. Disappointing!

Hannah took this photo. Love it. We stopped in this park one evening to sip some Starbucks, read and enjoy the warm weather.

Delicious orange tea. The fruit and flower teas were so beautifully colorful! And we loved these cute Turkish tea cups. They definitely rival the Kazakh piala in tea presentation.

Us with our Turkish Momma. Sweetest, cutest, funniest lady in Turkey. AND a great cook.

Chillin' with some Starbucks.

Hannah, Cigdem, me and Denise

And back in Kazakhstan....

Hanging out with the Beatles at Kok Tobe

Hannete and Org, the greatest South Africans in Kazakhstan!

A traditional Kazakh swing at the top of Kok Tobe. So ridiculously fun...

... But I left my heart in Istanbul.

Yep. I actually did it. I ran a marathon. Here's how it went down...

So.... Myself and 2 friends arrived in Istanbul Saturday morning. We went straight to our hostel, cleaned up a bit, and headed out to the marathon Expo. It was kind of a disaster trying to find the shuttle pick up spot and wandered around the whole Sultanahmet area for about an hour before finally seeing a small shuttle with a little sign in the window that said "Marathon Expo". So we get on with a group of Italians and wait for another 30 minutes or so before finally driving the 15 minutes to the expo center. We picked up our race number and bags and t-shirts, ate some pasta, bought some cheap running clothes, then headed back to the hostel to prepare for the race the next day.

5 am, the alarm goes off. Outside we hear the ominous rattlings of thunder, and see some too-close-for-comfort lightning. Great. So we suit up, carb up, and head out into the rain back to the pick up spot, which luckily was only about 5 minutes from our hostel. We get up there and there is not another soul in sight. Strange. We finally find some sort of night guard person and between the little Turkish we've learned and the little English he knows, we eventually realize that in our blur of preparations and anxieties, we forgot to reset our clocks to Turkey time. We were up 3 hours early. Whoops! SO! back to the hostel for a little extra sleep, then back out to the shuttle pick up at the REAL time, where we saw many other people waiting, and felt much more at ease. By this time, the rain had cleared up, and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Perfect for a marathon!

Well, at least we weren't late!Then the race... it was harder than I expected. I hadn't trained as well as I should have, but was still pretty confident in my ability to conquer this beast. The first few miles went pretty well. At this time I was still feeling that adrenaline and excitement resulting from a huge group of people all running together, being cheered on by people along the streets, and the feeling of doing something awesome. It was fun! And, I'm not gonna lie, I got a little emotional over it a few times. What can ya do??

A beautiful day for running from Asia to Europe.

But, around mile 9, the excitement and adrenaline wore off and the exhaustion started setting in. It was too early to be tired! No good! I think one problem was that, because we woke up and ate so early, I was already drained of carbs/energy by this time. I started getting faint, and found myself spotting ambulances - just in case. Then, around mile 10, there was a water/food station with apples and sugar cubes. I popped the sugary goodness in my mouth, and was good to go. The faintness went away and I didn't have any more troubles with that for the rest of the race.

Unfortunately, it was also about this time that the 15km racers switched paths and I suddenly found myself very alone on the course. This is also about the time that the course became very boring. Bad combination. We turned onto a long highway with nothing very interesting to look at. The first half had been near the city center and along small streets with cute shops, lots of people, bridges, the sea nearby, beautiful mosques and buildings... Now - there was nothing but department stores off in the distance and not much else. I started passing up a few people around miles 15-17, and this made me feel better because, unlike these people, I wasn't slowing down but staying (slow and) steady.

You develop an odd relationship with your favorite pair of running shoes after logging hundreds of miles on them. We love our shoes!

Then mile 23. Only 3.2 more to go. Traffic had opened along the road after 5 hours and 30 minutes. I was expecting this. But we were told we could finish the race running along the sidewalks, and that was what I planned to do. Unfortunately, the "ambulance people" had other plans for us. They came along and started picking up us slow people. I was devastated. I'd come so far and got SOO close! And now they're making me stop!? But what could I do? I was too mentally and physically drained by then to try to fight it. There was a nice looking Russian lady in there, so at least I'd have someone to talk to.

And boy did we talk. Her name was Lubov ( very common Russian name) and she had run 142 marathons in her life. This was her 18th of the year. She told me that she had finished every single one of them - albeit slowly - and she'd be darned if these "dogs" didn't let her finish this one!! We stopped to pick up another woman - an American who was NOT happy about being picked up, but the Turkish people didn't understand her, and she didn't understand them (and all along my new Russian friend was demanding that I "Translate! Translate!" and loving the soap opera unfolding before us), but she eventually joined us and we, together, got very emotional over the fact that we were so close, and not allowed to finish.

But Lubov would not stand for it! She popped her head into the cabin of the ambulance and started yelling her nearly exhausted lungs out, saying "This is not fair! You are cheating us! You are dogs! This is not fair!" Finally, they couldn't take it anymore. The woman driving abruptly stopped the car, and the woman in the passenger seat jumped out, opened the door and yelled at us to get out - which we did, gladly.

And then... I was lost. We'd only driven about a kilometer, but the course had been taken down and I had no idea where to go. Luckily, this other American woman had been in Istanbul for 3 weeks and had been training on the course and said from that point it usually only took her about 10 minutes to power-walk to the finish. So I followed her lead until I could see roughly where the finish was. I lost her at some point, but just kept going - not because I thought I'd actually get a time. I had already settled on the idea of having a big ol' DNF (did not finish) printed next to my name. But, I needed to find my friends and pick up my bag that I'd left with my post-race clothes and shoes. Finally, just a few hundred meters from the finish, a man sees that I'm holding my number (which I had removed from my shirt, because I was ashamed of walking through that crowd as a non-finisher, and just wanted to get it over with, hoping that people wouldn't notice me as I walked up the hill to the finish line). He starts gesturing me to show the number, and nudging a man next to him with a stop watch around his neck. Say what!? He looked at my number, quickly found me in his bundle of papers, and wrote a time down. Then a man said to me "You want medal?" Uhh, yeah I want my freakin' medal! "Wait. We take." I found out then that they had run out of finishers bags, and we had to wait for someone to bring them to a group of about 10 of us who had finished after they ran out. I started chatting with people around there, including Lubov's husband who had finished just before us and was pleasantly surprised to find a young woman who spoke Russian, and a woman who had served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kyrgyzstan a few years ago.

"Ok, bye guys! See you in 6 hours!" Holly exclaimed, as hundreds of runners breezed quickly past her.

I finally got my medal, my race bag, and found my friends, and we slowly made our way down to our hostel. When we got back to our room, I was the first to shower and get cleaned up. I was feeling alright right after the race - tired, obviously, but not in a lot of pain. Until a couple hours later, when I started feeling so sick to my stomach I didn't even want to move. I laid on my bed around 7:00 and figured I'd wait for the other girls to clean up and get ready and we'd go find some food. I heard them get up from a "nap" around 10:00 to go out, but I was still feeling so sick I couldn't even muster the strength to speak. I eventually got up and went to the bathroom to try to make myself throw up, thinking that'd ease the pain, but nothing happened. So I practically crawled back to bed and fell back asleep.

Luckily, I was feeling much better by the next morning. I was sore, but nothing so bad that a couple ibuprofen couldn't dull.

Denise, me, and Hannah. I couldn't have (wouldn't have!) done it without them!

I feel really good about having finished this marathon, even if I was the 232nd of 234 women to finish. At least I wasn't one of the ones that DIDN'T finish, and I wasn't disqualified, and I showed up! There's a whole page of people who didn't even make it to the starting line! Now, would I ever run another marathon? I don't think so. A half marathon, yeah - I can do that. But another full one? No. I think I'm good with saying I ran a marathon in Istanbul, Turkey, which crossed the Asian/European continental divide (cooooool!), and I trained while living in a little village in Kazakhstan. Oh yeah, also, I have a weird heart thing (premature ventricular contractions, or something like that. I just found out about it this when I saw my doctors in June). Running is not easy for me. It hurts, and it's hard work, but I did it! Despite the mental and physical barriers, I ran a marathon! So, basically, I'm amazing.

So. Yep. I ran a marathon.

And then, the fun began...

Stay tuned!

(Please, if you would be so kind, read that title in a "Cowboy" accent. You know, Cowboy. As in, Jack "Cowboy" Kelly. You know... Jack "Cowboy" Kelly, as in, Francis Sullivan. Oh my gosh. You haven't seen Newsies, have you? Go watch Newsies, and then come back and read this blog. Seriously. Go. Get out of here.)

All done? Fantastic movie, isn't it? Which song do you have stuck in your head? For me, it's always the line: "We need a good assassination [hip thrust]! We need an earthquake or a war! How 'bout a crooked politician? Hey stupid dat ain't news no more!" .... What? Gosh, where's Jeffrey [my brother] when I need him for a good ol' fashioned Newsies sing-along? Cause yeah, that's probably the one and only thing that he and I can and will sing along together. Crazy, right? Jeffrey singing Newsies? It brings a smile to my face. Good times. Ok, anyway.... Moving on.

Hey! My friends and I here in Kokshetau were in a local magazine/newspaper thing. How 'bout that!?

I won't go into details... but... basically it just says that I'm the greatest and prettiest teacher that has ever graced the streets of Kokshetau/Krasny Yar. So, yeah. Welp, thanks for reading!

...

What? Don't believe me? Unfortunately there are a couple people back home (and other volunteers that might read this?) that know better. So, Ok, fine... this is what it really says - according to my poor translation skills (For those of you that read the article in Russian and want to correct me - feel free. But, I mean, I remember what I said from the interview. And then I just re-wrote it in strange Russian sentence constructions and that's what we've got here!)

Americans in KokshetauIn Kokshetau schools there are successful volunteers from the USA. In anticipation of the Day of Teachers, they tell about their first impressions of our city, their own work, and students.

Holly Morris, [close enough] teacher of the English Language in Krasny Yar school number 2.“Before arriving to Kazkahstan from Salt Lake City (Utah), I visited many European countries such as Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy. But visited here to learn the culture. Arriving here, amazed by the fact that it’s very cold. I was not quite prepared for the weather. I brought with myself light clothes and boots. I was then rescued by the Grandmother with which I became acquainted. I picked up a warmer jacket, so I will not freeze in the Autumn.”

“The first three months, from August to October, I studied the Russian language, which was difficult. But problems remained with grammar, and to know all the possibilities. Then I learned to understand unusual expressions such as “её-моё” [literally: her-my. Used as kind of an eye rolling “oh come on” sort of a thing] and “ёлки-палки” [literally: Trees-sticks. Kind of an equivalent to “Holy Smoke”] In the English language there is also such slang. Now I can freely speak, for example, in shops, and explain what I need.” [hahahahaha…..yeah. I mean, I try. But I don’t think I ever said that I “speak freely”]

“Before working in Kokshetau, I gave lessons in a village where the majority of residents were of the Kazakh nationality. [I do not recall saying this. I said it was in the south, near Almaty, and so maybe they assumed…? But why would I make that distinction? I wouldn’t.] I remember my first lesson: I was given only 20 minutes, because I was doing the lesson with another teacher. When I communicated with the students in English, they watched me with amazement. They were in wonder to see a foreigner. I began to ask questions: “What is your name?” “How old are you?” and the answer – Deathly silence. In the next three months they became talkative, and the shyness disappeared. And yes, I also stopped worrying.”

“I remember the Day of Teachers. It was touching that students sang a song and gave me flowers. In the USA there is also a holiday for teachers, and students give teachers flowers and homemade pastries.” [Um, no, I said that the students give teachers gifts, but I did not say anything about homemade pastries. It’s a lovely thought though!]

“I’m glad with my work and life, there are hospitable people here and that’s why it feels like home. True, sometimes I miss that there is not enough fast food and pizza to order. Local residents mostly cook at home, and I also learned to cook […at home. From scratch. That’s what I meant there.].”

And there you have it. For reals.

If you want to know what the other girls said in the article... ask them yourself. I'm done translating for today. Phew!

One interesting thing about the interview - at the end of it they finally asked which state/city I was from. When I said Salt Lake City, Utah, the main girl asking the questions said to the translator "Oh!? Ask her if she's a Mormon!" Say what?! How would a girl from Kokshetau, KZ know 1) what/who a Mormon is and 2) That there are a lot of them from Utah (a state most people haven't heard of. Although, many people recognize Salt Lake City because the Olympics were there - awesome!). Needless to say, the translator was super confused by this question, so I just answered for myself in Russian. The translator then asked what that meant and if he should ask me any other questions about it. I just told him that it was my religion and the girl said she didn't have any other questions, she just thought it was interesting. Random!

"You get your picture in the papes, you're famous. You're famous. You get anything you want. That's what's so great about New York." ... er, Kazakhstan? Hmm...(Yes, that was another Newsies reference.)

Ok, that's all.

Every morning I go through the same routine with the students I see on the way to school.

Student: Hello! Me: Hello, ________ (assuming I remember his/her name and know how to correctly pronounce it without him/her laughing at me) Student: How are you? (sounds more like "How ah yu!") Me: I'm good, thanks. [Polite smile] How are you? Student: [slight hesitation] Uh, I'm OK!

And the student runs off giggling.

I don't mind this little interaction most of the time. I'm glad when students acknowledge my presence and feel comfortable shouting at me in the streets. But there is one thing about it that has been bothering me lately…

The students all learned at some point that the answer to the question "How are you?" is "I'm OK." I, and most other Americans, generally answer "I'm good," and when something other than good is answered it is an indication of a slightly better or worse mood. Am I right?

Lately, I've been ok. Not good. Not bad. But ok. When the English teachers at my school ask me how I am, I answer, "I'm OK," and they go on about their business thinking everything is normal. Maybe it's because I've been outside of America for so long now that I don't remember what it's really like to go through the "How are you?" routine, but I feel like the reaction would be different with someone that I see and work with everyday. I would expect a response such as "OK? What's going on?" Or even just "Your OK…?" And then, it's not like I would ever delve into a therapy session right then and there, but I feel like I would at least answer with a "Yeah, just a little frustrated. So what class do you have next?" Or perhaps "Yeah, not a great day. But no big deal. Anyway, where are you headed?" You know, something like that. An acknowledgement of the fact that everything is not perfect, and then we move on with the conversation.

Am I just making it up in my mind that this is how these things go in America?

Anyway, that's all my point was – that sometimes I feel like I just need acknowledgment of the fact that I chose to say "I'm OK" instead of "I'm good" because something is going on. No, I don't want to talk about it. No, I'm not going to burst into tears in front of you. And don't worry, I'll probably be "good" by tomorrow or next week. But, if I'm a little more impatient, or not as bubbly or talkative… that's why. 

So, I'm OK. Acknowledged? Thank you.

… And how are you?

Yeah, that was a Wicked reference. I know, I’m slapping my wrists right now…

So... Two friends and I went to Astana (which is Kazkakh for "capital") for about 24 hours. It’s only 4 hours from where I live, but I’d never been there. So we went. And it was good. And... yeah.

Now look at some pictures. Then maybe I’ll have something else to say along the way.

Me, Anna, And Molly

The Shaw's - the fantastically hospitable missionary couple who make excellent American food.

Baiterek - a very popular building here in KZ. Behind it (can't see it) is the capital building.And now some more crazy architecture... and this is only brushing the surface of some of the crazy buildings there.

The Mosque

Ha Ha. Donkey cart.

The Khan - one of the newest attractions in Astana. It's a big shopping center with a monorail going along the top, an indoor beach, and a catapult-ish ride in the middle.

The gold building with the slanted roof is known as "the lighter" because... well... it looks like a lighter.

And then you get to the edge of the city and.... nothingness. Oh yeah, we're still in Kazakhstan.

The weather was beautiful on Sunday. We went for a walk along the (man-made) river

These buildings represent the tallest mountains in Almaty. I'll go study my geography and get back to you on what those mountains are called (no I won't).

Anna and I are both big tennis fans. We knew the Davis Cup was going on while we were there, and were excited when we actually found it! Switzerland was playing against Kazakhstan. In this match, the Swiss-man was losing. Go KZ.

Questions? Comments? You know what to do.

Well, here it is again, everyone's favorite day of the year... The first day of school! Here in Kazakhstan, the first day of school is like a holiday. Everyone walks around saying the Russian/Kazakh equivalent to "Happy Holiday" (с праздником) and there are no real classes just yet - just a ceremony and some class information is given - much like "Back to School Night" back in the states. So, since my counterpart is a homeroom teacher for one of the 5th grade classes this year, I sat in on that.

As for the ceremony... they call it a linyeka, and we do them regularly at school, but this one is all formal and... ceremonial. A typical linyeka is held each Monday (or sometimes every other Monday or something. Or just whenever they decided)for 15 minutes before school starts. The students gather in the corridor and listen to announcements for the week. Sometimes awards are given if there were competitions or anything going on that week. Stuff like that. SOooo... for this first bell ceremony, all the students line up outside (luckily the weather was beautiful) and parents all stand around and watch and from there, it's a typical Kazakh ceremony. A few speeches, a song, a dance, parading around, little kids saying cute things way too loudly into a microphone, and then mass chaos as everyone begins taking photos and finding friends. Good times. Anyway, who cares about all that? How about some pictures:

Here is the parade of the first grade classes. They're so little and the boys are absolutely adorable in their tiny suits.

Ludmilla and her 5th grade class.

Again, the 5B class... (notice, they moved the piano into our classroom. This brings joy to my heart.)

Ludmilla will be going to the states for 6 weeks for some teacher training and all around good times. She asked me to take a picture of this girl so that she can bring it with her. Notice the tie.

So, my second school year in Kazakhstan begins.

Ready... set....

A quick update on where I've been and what I've been doing. Summertime in Kazakhstan means Summer camps and traveling. I've just finished working (more or less, depending on the camp) at 4 different camps in various cities and villages. The first was at the school in the nearby city of Kokshetau. It was with higher level students and the theme was world cultures. The second was at my own school - we pretty much just played a game called "sniper" (like crazy dodgeball, or for those of you who went to Mt. Jordan, War ball) all day after doing a 10-15 min English activity. Meh, everyone was happy! The next was in the village of Zerenda and the theme of that camp was supposedly Fairytales - though we didn't see too much of that going on. This camp was put on by the department of education, and we just showed up for a couple hours a day and did activities in English. The counselors at this camp were super fun and did a great job with the kids. And the last was down in the village of Zhanatas. It took a 31 hour train ride and 3 hour taxi to get there, and was totally worth it. There were 60 kids, 15 volunteers, and 6 local teachers helping with this camp. Lots of fun! I could go into a ton of detail about these camps, but I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves... for the most part.

The kids at my school:

I was trying to smile enough for the both of them...

Myles and I made AMAZING peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies to celebrate the 4th of July. You can tell by the look on his face that they were the best thing we've eaten in months.During the opening ceremony of the camp in Zerenda:

A fresh water spring in the forest:

And the camp in Zhanatas... On this day, we (or Phillip, rather) taught the students the Electric Slide, the Chicken Dance and the Cupid Shuffle. Here, we are having a little too much fun with the chicken dance.

Human pyramids were a new concept to them. But they sure looked cute doing it!One of the "creatures" that came out of the art show:

We did an egg drop. This team's egg didn't break!

This team's egg did. Poor Sholpan, looking away in horror at the sight of their scrambled egg.

A couple of teams with their flags: (pictured are Perfect Kids and Big Fast Fire. Other team names include The Big Happy Dogs, Golden Pussycats, Good Friends and Black Apples. The criteria for choosing names was that it should be at least one adjective and one noun, and could not have any reference to Twilight!)

The mass water balloon fight that ended the camp.

Drip, drip, drop - like duck, duck goose - but with water!Phillip, Chris, and I acted as "administrators" for the camp, and instead of working with a group of kids we did all the behind-the-scenes stuff - making sure activities were set up, putting up the daily schedules, awarding points, taking pictures, making sure lunch was set out etc. Here those two are looking very official and administrator-like.

We attracted quite a bit of attention from local kids as we played outside. I felt bad that they all couldn't come play with us!

By the end of the week, Phillip and I had spent so much time together, we started dressing like each other. Here is our brownish/greenish ensemble...

And bright green day...(here, we're making American-style hamburgers for the last day's lunch. I had to go to the meat market and sit, staring at the the goat heads and livers and intestines for 30 minutes while they ground up the meat. Yum!)And country-bumpkin day (this picture taken during an impromptu dance party. It wasn't the first, and certainly not the last, of the week.)

Well.... I guess that's about it for now. I've got 5 days here at site, and then it's back down south to Almaty to catch a flight to America! So, to all my friends back at home, see you soon!

Holly out.

Because I don't already attract a ton of attention to myself while I'm out running, I decided to bring my camera with me this morning!

I usually run out onto the main road towards the city. Here is the view coming back into my village:

Looking out to the North. There's a whoooole lot of nothin' going on out there.

Cow's crossing!The morning traffic jam:The cows and horses tend to dislike when I'm running. I wasn't able to get a picture, because there were a bunch of cars right then, but at one point I looked across the street and there was a cow staring me down, looking like she might charge at any second. I decided to take a break and walk for a bit. I have had cows get startled and start running, and one started mooing/howling like crazy at me. That was awkward.

But anyway, after I passed the cow with the evil glare, I noticed this horse trotting alongside me, about 15 feet off the road. I slowed and started walking, and he did, too. Then I started running again... and so did he. It was funny, so I did it a few more times until he started coming closer to me and I thought I'd better back off. He crossed the road in front of me and I caught a few snapshots of him:

And a couple pictures from the bridge. Watch your step here! I don't recommend walking across the pedestrian side of the bridge when it's dark. There are a lot of holes in it.

The main street in my village. Of course, it's called Lenin St.And a very common sight through my streets - the chickens and roosters.

This big guy went a little crazy.

This is behind my house, looking back onto the main road I had been running on. The tower on the hill is about where the pictures were taken with Hannah's students in my last post. So, you can see the outskirts of the city aren't too far away!And then I was home. And sweaty. And stinky. And gross. And I feel like I haven't stopped sweating since then, because my house is so warm, and the windows in my room don't actually open, sooo it's just kind of muggy and gross up here. Thank goodness for bannya night tonight!

I've got lots of pictures to share! I had some internet issues last month, so I'm a little behind. But here are a few snapshots of what's been going on here lately.

First of all, a picture taken from my window at 10 pm. It was still so light outside! It's making me want to stay up later, which is bad since I have to get up early to run. It will be interesting to see how long the daylight lasts over the next few weeks.

And as for the month of May... going backwards here. The next few pictures are taken from Borovoe - the "Little Switzerland" of Kazakhstan. A few friends and I went the day after school got out. It was perfect weather, and a nice little escape from the monotony of the steppe.

I like the squirrels in Kazakhstan better! Notice the crazy hair on his ears. Sooo ridiculously funny looking!

And now some pictures from around Kokshetau. We went on a little walking tour of the city with one of the volunteer's English clubs. At the end, we hiked up the little hill at the end of the city, and this cute dog followed us up. When we walked back down and split up to go home, he started whining and crying because he didn't know who to follow! He ended up waiting with me at my bus stop. :) (Note: I was not brave enough to touch him, like some of the other girls. Dirty.)

In the center of the city is this big statue of Ablahan. They like him around here.

The craziness that is the train station:

The statue outside the train station - she's welcoming you to Kokshetau!

And here are some pictures from our "Last Bell" ceremony. This is the concert/graduation day for the last day of school. Here is one of our 11th grade graduates and a 1st grader ringing the last bell:

The 11th grade graduating class of 2010:

They made me sing at the concert. The music teacher chose the song - Besame Mucho. She didn't realize that it was in Spanish, not English. I did manage to find a Beatles version of the song in English. So I did half Spanish, half English. It was... interesting.

And now, the Shakespeare festival. Schools around the city and from my village prepared sonnets and portions of plays, as well as a few dances, to perform for everyone. It was very well done, and I was super impressed with how well the students memorized Shakespeare!

This was from King Lear. I loved the map they used - we have one in our classroom, too. :) Plus I'm pretty sure they had their lines written on the back of it.

The exciting sword fight/death scene from Hamlet:

Here are a few pictures from Victory Day - celebrating the day the Germany/USSR treaty was signed.

Annnnd finally.... another holiday, the week before Victory Day. I don't remember what it was. Oops! But there was a concert in the village square.

These girls did dances from different countries - Kazakh, of course, as well as Turkish, Russian and Indian, and some others that I'm not sure where they were from, but they looked cool!

These are a group of girls from my school, 5th - 7th grade doing a Kazkah dance.

Last but not least, in the category of "awkward Chinese packaging"....

I took a blow to my self-esteem when I saw that "XXXXXXL" in big bold letters. Thanks, China, for making an average (ok, so I'm tall) American girl feel huge! But thank you for the instruction at the bottom on the "wear way" so that I'm not confused as I try to put the nylons on.

OK, so now you're all caught up on what's been going on over here. Now I'll start off my Summer with a conference given by Peace Corps about project design management, then I'm off to Almaty for my medical/dental exam. Fingers are crossed for no cavities! After that... I'm booked with doing summer camps until the end of July. Then I'll take a little vacation to the fabulous country of... America! Yeah, that's right. I gave in. I'll come back for two weeks to enjoy hearing English on TV, and to eat some good food. Then I'll make it back to Kazakhstan with a week to spare before we get the next school year started.

Happy Summer!

I'm going to run a marathon in Istanbul, Turkey (eek!). After registration, I was congratulated on money being taken from my credit card. huh.

Red ravine = Translation of my village's name. I had been saying "ditch" or "hole" instead of ravine, because that's what my dictionary says, but I gave Google translate a try and it came up with ravine. That sounds much more pleasant, don't you think?

One of our many abandoned apartment buildings.

One of our many abandoned (and destroyed) department store buildings.

A path leading through the park to the main street, with the mosque at the end.

Soviet sightings!

Our mosque.

Happy Nauryz! The Kazakh holiday celebrating the beginning of Spring! We had a few days off school, so the volunteers got together in the sunny southern city of Shymkent before heading over to Almaty for In-Service Training. One of the days in Shymkent, a group of us hopped on a bus and traveled the hour or so to Turkestan to see the Mausoleum of Khwaja Ahmad Yasav. I'm told that three trips to this place is equal to one trip to Mecca. Pretty good deal. Here are some pictures:

And I found camels!!!

I had a great time in Shymkent hanging out with the other volunteers. I basically just hung out at the apartment and watched How I Met Your Mother in between excursions to restaurants where we ate amazing lagman, plov, and peanut butter (thank goodness for Ramstore)!

Then, after a week in Shymkent (including 2 days working with the students of a volunteer who works at the college there - so it wasn't ALL play, but still good times), we hoped on an overnight train to Almaty...

We were the center of attention on this train, and made some friends. Here, we had taught these kids how to play speed. They were getting pretty good at it!

While in Almaty, I did a little shopping. Here I am in a dress that I bought, cradling my precious Coca-Cola light (nearly impossible to find in the North, though rumor has it that it has been spotted) and peanut butter.

And then it was on to the Kok Tobe sanatorium for training. Not much to report about that, except that it did get me a little recharged and motivated for the upcoming year.This is me outside of the building. Please note the hat, which I made myself (thanks to my friend Stephen, who sent the yarn that made this hat possible!). I've gotten a lot of compliments on it, and I'm quite proud of it. I made it without a pattern, and was finished in just one afternoon.

And then I came home to a much warmer, and nearly snow-free village! Although the giant, swampy puddles of mud aren't too fun to slosh around in, at least it's a sign that Spring (and Summer) are not too far off!

^This is the view out my window today. Compare that with the view a couple of posts ago. Big improvement!

^At the end of the road is my school (the building with blue window frames). I walked down this street for the first time today, because I was coming from school No. 1, where I had just been teaching the 10th grade. There are some nicer, newer looking houses on this road which I thought was interesting. You can see the big puddle there.... and this is a big improvement over the day I came back. So there is hope!

This is a picture from that same road, looking out to the west. Can you spot the cow? :)

This is the abandoned lot at the end of my street. I just find it kind of interesting that it was just left in shambles like this.

Cool thing - There's a building across from school No. 1 that is abandoned and overgrown with trees and everything, but I noticed today that it has the old USSR symbol on it. Crazy! The kids were all leaving school at the same time I was, and I didn't want to look crazy taking a picture right then, but I'll get it next time!

Ok, that's all for now. Thanks for stopping by!

I'm not gonna lie to you - I had a bad day. I'm feeling pretty low. So I couldn't just sit around my house and wallow in self-pity (because I ran out of tissues... and therefore I had to keep myself from crying somehow). So I went out for a walk around the village and to take a few photos. And now here they are for your viewing pleasure! I realize this was a bad day to finally take some pictures since it was snowing and yucky, but... better than nothing!

So this first one the field I cut through to get from my house to the village center. My house is behind the tree on the left.

This is our playground. In the back of the picture, to the left, is our Akimat (town hall) and on the right, the pink building, is the Kazakh school. So, looks like a fun playground, doesn't it? Tetanus just waiting to happen.

But don't worry, cause just to the right of me.... Lenon is there, to watch over and protect our little ones.

And then a bus came by!! So I hopped on and went into the city. Here are some pictures of a monument to... WWII, I think. There are a lot of them in this city and I forget which is which! But it's my favorite one in the city.So there are all these names of cities on the big red plaques, through this street, and at the end is that big star. It's kind of hard to see through the snow, so I'll have to go back for a better picture in the sum-sum-summertime.

I liked this one, with the snow on the guy's shoulders and cape. Someone had placed a wreath at his feet. I thought that was a nice gesture. And in front of him in the star/circle there is a fire burning, albeit dimly today.

And here is the blue mosque. It's at the end of the street with all the city names. I wanted to get a picture of the mosque in my village today, too, but there was a car blocking the cool Arabic lettering in front. So, that's a task for another day.

Ok that's all! I hope you enjoyed a look at my snowy day in Kazakhstan. Now leave me a comment and make me feel loved. Do it! Now! Please? Ok, thanks.

Wait, no. Make that three things.

First of all - Mom! That note WAS meant to be for you. I told the girls that I would write a note to my mother like so... and if they wanted to copy me, they could. :) So, that was for you mom. You're the coolest. Rock on. (That's what I would have said if a bunch of 5th and 6th grade girls weren't going to be copying me.)

Ok second: This makes me laugh - or at least crack a smile - everyday. It is how we lock doors here at my school. It is highly efficient, and cheap, too! Good thinking.

And third: I guess it must be warming up... the cows were out for a walk on the street today as I was on my way home from school. I hadn't seen this yet in Krasny Yar (I saw it quite often in my training village, Issyck), so I was slightly surprised when I rounded the corner and saw these big guys making their way down the street. It was one of those "holy crap I'm in Kazakhstan" moments - for sure.

Well, it's International Women's Day here in Kazakhstan (take a minute to think about that one....yeah.) and so here's a peek into what I've done to celebrate it. First of all, at an English club last week I helped the girls write their mothers a card. They asked me how to say things like "You are the most beautiful mother" and "from my heart," which I thought was super sweet.

And last night I went to a restaurant/disco to celebrate with some of the teachers that I work with. We ate some good food and danced all night! Or, until 1:00 am anyway. Those ladies sure do know how to party! It was 80's night - so all 80's Russian music. Not exactly my cup of tea, but I did my best to enjoy the dancing. Our history teacher, Kostya, was there with us celebrating and there's a picture of us slow dancing. It was the first of many. (sorry the pictures aren't great - I didn't have my flash on and it was difficult enough to get the pictures taken in the first place. I didn't want to bother with a redo!) which is funny because I don't remember the last time I slow danced. Oh wait! Yes I do. It was at a super awkward young single adult dance. Oddly enough, I think dancing with a (slightly drunk) co-worker who speaks a different language which I barely understand, to music I don't particularly like was actually less awkward. Hmm. Go figure. 

Annnnd finally, A picture looking out my window. I was shocked to see, for the first time since I've moved here in November, exactly what was out my window. It's been covered in frost and all I've seen is a big blurry patch of coldness. Unfortunately, it was frosted over again today - although not quite as bad. Spring is on it's way! After a couple a couple more snowstorms this week. *sigh*

Ok. Look at the pictures now. Bye!

First, a picture of my one of my 5th and 6th grade classes making Valentines. My mom's co-worker's girl scout troop (are they called troops, too?) had sent us valentines, and my students thought that was SO COOL! We ran out of time making these valentines in return, but I told them that if they wanted to finish them at home and bring them back to me, I would send them to America. But that means I would have to figure out how to do that. Hmm.

On Monday night I went to a "Victory Day" concert, which, from what I could understand was commemorating the day the soviet army left Afghanistan. I tried to find more information about it online, but couldn't. So, I don't really know what was going on. Anyway, here's a picture...I LOVED that picture that they had displayed. There were a couple of those "we love our guns" pictures. Pretty funny. But they played pretty typical Russian-sounding songs (don't know what I mean by that? Don't worry, you're not missing out on anything. I took a video, but I'm not patient enough to upload it right now) and they were continually asking the audience to sing a long. There were a few old guys down front who were getting really into it and it made me smile.

And finally - the hat I crocheted. Sorry it's kind of a crappy picture, but had I remembered to put the flash on and went to the trouble of finding a spot with good lighting, it wouldn't have improved my face or make-up or tired eyes any, so this is as good as it gets. :)

It has been extremely cold here in the North of Kazakhstan this last week. School has been canceled everyday this week, with the exception of Monday, when only the 9th-11th grades studied. Anyway, needless to say, I've had a lot ot free time. Luckily my mom sent me some yarn and crocheting needles in the last package, so I set to work trying to figure it out. And guess, what? I did! And now I have a scarf! I started on a hat, too, but I ran out of yarn. I'll try to make it to the bazaar in the city soon so I can find more and finish it up. Anyway, in the meantime, you can tell me how awesome I am for crocheting a scarf!

I was invited to the President's School in the city of Kokshetau (just about 20 minutes away from my village) to be the Spell Master of the 4th grade spelling bee! It was so much fun, and the kids were so cute! While I was writing out and signing certificates after the spelling bee, they recited tongue twisters and did fun little skipping and jump roping skits. Super cute! Here are a couple of pictures with all the participants, and the top 3 winners. Oh, and the winning word was: animation. Way to go!

And just for your information... the President's School is a private school, brand new this year. They start teaching English in 1st grade, so the students are quite advanced. The English teachers were very excited to meet me and show me around the school. They had flat screen TV's all over, and every classroom had an interactive whiteboard, and most classrooms had computers at each desk. Wow! Very impressive school.

You know how when you're sick all you do is stay in bed and whine and hope that the next time you wake up you'll feel better? And then when you don't, you're really angry, and whine and groan more and fall back to sleep? And then all of the sudden, you wake up and you're about ready to start whining again and you suddenly realize - wait a minute! I don't feel like I'm going to puke!

And then the crazy sets in.

You're not all the way better, so you should still stay in bed and rest, but you're feeling well enough that you're now just extremely bored and restless.

Welcome to my Wednesday Afternoon!

That's pretty much how it happened for me today anyway. So, I took some pictures with my webcam to entertain myself. Here, drinking my 5 millionth cup of tea (bummer I had to take the "I love you" mug - the winter Disney Princess ones are sooo much cooler!) and eating the lemon that my babooshka tells me will also help. I like lemon, so I'm not complaining. (Dad - doesn't that make you crave the lemon pound cake I used to make? Gosh that sounds so good right now!)

That's all I've got. Hopefully I'll be feeling well enough to make it to school tomorrow... cause gee! I love my 9th grade classes and can't wait to see them! :D (Trying out the power of positive thinking here)

Later!

You know you've been in Kazakhstan too long when you start thinking that maybe these home remedies really do work...

I wasn't feeling very good today. I've had a headache on and off all day, and have been feeling a little sick to my stomach. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling this way and was trying to decide if I would be able to make it downstairs if I needed to throw up (don't worry, that was never necessary. I have a stomach of steel). Anyway I got up and went to school today thinking it would go away after ibuprofen, pepto, lots of water and a cup of tea. Well, if didn't. By the end of the school day I was feeling pretty miserable.

When I got home, my babooshka asked if she could heat up lunch for me. I told her it wasn't necessary because I had eaten at school. She asked what I ate. I told her it was a roll with cabbage in it, and a cup of tea. She of course said that it wasn't enough and she would prepare something for me. But I told her I wasn't feeling well and wanted to go lie down, and that I didn't think eating anymore was a good idea. And this is where I made a mistake...or so I thought...

One day, my team teacher came over and Babooshka offered her some food. She declined saying that she wasn't feeling well and couldn't eat. So, Babs made her take a spoonful of dry tea and keep it in her mouth - no swallowing - and Ludmila told me after words that it was an old home ready that probably didn't work, and tastes really icky besides.

...so guess what I had to do? That's right. A spoonful of dry tea, in my mouth, for "a long time." I didn't know exactly what "a long time" meant, but I had wanted to go to the post office at 3:00, which would give me half an hour to rest my poor body, and keep that tea in my mouth. So I gave it a try. 10 minutes later, I spit it out. I had to try to sieve my saliva through my teeth so that I wouldn't swallow the little bits of tea. And anyway, I wanted to lie down and I couldn't do that with my mouth so full. So I spit it out, took more ibuprofen for my headache, then layed down and after 20 minutes I went downstairs to the kitchen and pretended like I was spitting it out just then. After a nice thorough teeth-brushing, I left for the post office against my babooshka's command that I stay home at least until the color comes back into my face. But I had to go pay for my internet! It's the first of the month and I didn't want to go another day without it! So I went. I was only gone about 15 minutes anyway.

I was still feeling not-so-great when I left, but by the time I got to the post office I was feeling significantly better. I even managed to walk home at a quick pace (not like when I walked home from school, which took me 21 minutes with the shortcut, when it usually takes me about 15 minutes without the shortcut). So my question - Could it have been the tea??? Like I said, I had taken ibuprofen in the morning with no helpful results. Maybe it just worked this time around? I think the caffeine in the tea might have been helpful for the headache at least. But the ibuprofen wouldn't have helped with the stomach ache, so how do you explain that!? I don't know. I just don't know...

My dad, who keeps track of the weather here in Kazakhstan from his desktop, informed me that it reached 1* F in the city today! Wow! So warm! And yeah, it was nice. I was down to one layer of long johns as opposed to my usual two!

Anyway, sorry for the delay in posting. Turns out just because I'm paying for internet in my house, doesn't mean I actually get it. Thanks, Kazakhstan. :) But my internet randomly started working tonight, even though they told me it wouldn't until the 1st of February. So I'm taking this opportunity before I go to bed (and before "they" catch that I'm on, in case it's just a fluke!) to let you all know that I'm still alive, I still plan on posting the aforementioned blogs, and I still want you to send me packages. :)

In the meantime, I'll work on thawing out.

-Holly

OK, you caught me. We don't really celebrate MLK day here in Kazakhstan - and yet, I have the day off! Why? Oh, you know, just because it's -38 degrees Celsius! School was also canceled for the younger grades on Saturday as well, though it was only about -32 that day.

So, it's pretty cold. My babooshka says they probably aren't even running the buses into the city today because it's so cold. That means that even if I wanted to go out into the painfully cold air to find something entertaining to do, I wouldn't get very far.

Lucky for me, the Australian Open began today, and although I can't watch it live, I can see the live scores. This pleases me. Go Andy.

I have 2 "real" blogs that I want to post - one is a video tour of my house, just because I thought someone might find it interesting (?), and the other is a little deeper, and more emotion-filled post then you're accustomed to seeing from me. I can't post the video yet because, well, long story short I technically shouldn't be able to post even this blog, and to post a video is even a little more complicated. And the second post I can't put up until I'm good and ready to share my heart with cyberspace. :) At any rate, that's what you have to look forward to in the coming days... or weeks.

Brrr,

Holly

I know it's a little bit late, but, I don't care. Take it or leave it!

Well, I have officially survived the holidays away from home in a caraaaazy country. Nothing too exciting to report, but for all you inquiring minds, here’s a recap of what I did for the holidays.

First, Christmas. I had dinner with my counterpart and her family on Christmas Eve, and then I woke up a little early on Christmas Day so that I could take some time to open the few Christmas gifts my mom sent a few weeks earlier. I turned on some Christmas music, opened my gifts and then had a cup of hot apple cider via the instant mix my mom sent. Then it was off to work. Sadly, Christmas is not a recognized holiday in Kazakhstan. So I worked on Christmas. (And the day after. Yeah, on Saturday. Schools go 6 days a week here. Bummer, right?) so we talked about Christmas a little bit in each class, but that was about it. (My students were surprised to find out that I’m named after a poisonous plant that is used as a Christmas decoration.) Then after school my counterpart, the other English teacher, and myself organized an English club where we played a few Christmas/Winter themed games and gave out candy and prizes. And then… I went home. I probably played with my new Disney Princess Etch-a-Sketch and electronic Yahtzee game (thanks mom!) but I don’t really remember. Anyway, then for dinner my babooshka made monty (my favorite Russian dish) but she went out visiting with her family, so I ate dinner alone. Slightly sad, and maybe a little pathetic, in my mind. Anyway, then finally it was late enough my time and early enough in my family’s time that I could call! So I started with my sister and brother-in-law in Maryland, then talked to my little brother in the Domincan Republic, then my mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law and their kids, and finally my granny-face and grempa. So, that was happy!

Then on Saturday we had our teacher’s holiday party. And I tell you what, those teachers know how to party. Of course we had lots of good food, some fun games, and dancing – of course! Now, this is where I always run into trouble. I’m not a dancer! I don’t know how to move! But of course they tried their best to make me. At one point one of the male teachers got a big red cloth and was doing this whole Matador thing and pulled me into the circle to dance with him. Talk about awkward. But if this experience in Kazakhstan has taught me anything so far, it’s how to break out of my comfort zone and just suck it up sometimes. So I made a fool of myself and everybody enjoyed it and that was that. :)

Here is a picture from that night. The first woman on the left is the director of my school, then on the other side of me is my counterpart (the English teacher that I work with), and then another teacher from our school.

So then – the New Year. I spent the evening with my counterpart teacher and her family (they’re really great, and I’m so happy they don’t mind entertaining me on holidays!). I got there around 9:30 PM and shortly after that we ate some good food, including a Bulgarian rice and Tajikistani meat dish prepared by a half Belo-Russian half Korean man who lives in Poland (my counterpart’s brother) and I found that amusing. I felt so international. We watched a concert that was on TV while giving toasts and chatting. Then we watched President Nazerbyev’s speech right before midnight, and then lit up the sparklers, popped the confetti, and toasted to the New Year! And then it was time for the second meal! Surprise! They tell me the next was a French dish – potatoes, cheese and, of course, meat. It was quite tasty as well. Then we ended the evening with tea and cake and I headed home. It was snowing outside, and although it was about 2:30 AM, it was quite bright outside – a White Night, they say – from the snow and the moon… it was lovely. :)

And now today, January 1, 2010 (I won’t post this blog for awhil, so don’t be thrown off by the date). We didn’t get up until about 10:30, but then had monty and cake for breakfast (awesome!) and then I watched a movie that is a “traditional” film to watch on New Years Day. My parents called to wish me a Happy New Year – love that time difference – and now I’m here writing this blog, after which I think I will treat myself to a Psych marathon. I remember last year watching a Monk marathon on New Years Day. In fact, now that I think of it, I think I mentioned it in my other blog. But I’ve already been through all 3 seasons that I have of Monk, so… Psych it is! And then I have a new book that I want to start reading. I took about 10 from the Peace Corps office and I want to make sure I get through them before I go back down for training in March. Anyway, I’m just rambling now and I want to get on to Psych so… Happy New Year! Or, as we (Russian speakers) say Kazakhstan, С Новым Годом!

You know how I love those awkward Chinese translations? Well I got another for you! I don’t know if anyone else is really entertained by these, but I don’t care. I’m going to document them anyway. :)

So this is from the “Party Popper” confetti shooter thing that we used on New Years Eve. On the back there is a description of the product which goes a little something like this:

“This product is used for inside and outside celebration occasions such as wedding, Christmas Evening, various entertainment parties etc, which can increase the festival atmosphere and promote the celebration to the climax.”

I’m gonna pause there. The thing is, I couldn’t really explain to the family I was with why this is so funny. I mean, the wording is just so awkward. Please tell me I’m not the only one that thinks so? Anyway, it just goes on to say that there are “colorful scrapings” that will shoot 2.5-4 meters and then a warning that says don’t “refit the sprayer privately in case the spring hurt someone.” Yeah… privately? Another awkward choice of words. Or, maybe I’m just easily entertained these days.

Oh, I’m sorry, did I say I was cold? I meant FREEZING! Ok, so I have warm clothes and I bundle up and everything but I mean, come on, really? It was -35* C when I left my house this morning. Ridiculous. So, here’s what it looks like when you walk in such cold for about 15 minutes. I don’t know if this picture will be big enough for you to see but, yeah, even my eyelashes are white from frost. Awesome. Thanks, Kazakhstan. Funny thing – when I tried to open my purse to get my camera out, my bag had basically turned solid. I had to pry it open. So, how’s the weather where you are? Not complaining now, are you!? :) Have a nice day!

Yeah, that’s right, the 8th of December. Oh, you didn’t know? Well now you do. Don’t forget it.

Sooo yeah, my 23rd birthday was definitely a unique one. I mean, not that anything super crazy or spectacular happened. It was just… well, a birthday in Kazakhstan. So here’s how it went down: It was pretty much like any other day here in Krasney Yar, except that my Babooshka was up before I left so she could give me the sock/slippers she had knitted me. She even knew how to sing Happy Birthday in English. How cute is that? So that made me happy (and my feet warm). And then it was off to school, where I was stopped by many teachers who wished me a happy birthday, including the Home Ec teacher who gave me two pot holders made in her class. They make me smile. Then it was on to teaching the 6 classes scheduled for the day. During my 5th grade class, where I was teaching the sentence “I am happy”, one of the vice principals came in and gave me a card from the teachers, and my class was shocked that I hadn’t told them before that it was my birthday. Anyway, the next time I said “I am happy” a couple of the kids said (in Russian) “Because it’s your birthday!” True. Cute. After more classes and teaching and yadda yadda, I went with the 2 other English teachers to buy cake and food which we brought back to my counterparts apartment. We got everything ready and 3 other teachers came over and we ate and I tried my best to keep up with their conversation. And then it was back home, where I relaxed by playing Plants vs. Zombies (don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!), had Monty for dinner (I don’t know how to spell it in English, but it’s a super tasty dish!) and that’s about it! Pretty good day, despite the fact that it was something like -27* Celsius outside (that’s about, -16* Fahrenheit, in case you were wondering). But not to worry, my Highquass coat continues to keep me warm, and the other English teachers bought me a really nice warm scarf and matching mittens, and the other 3 teachers gave me some ultra-warm tights and another pair of mittens – all of which will come in handy!

A little cultural side note: Typically in Kazakhstan, other people don’t “do” your birthday for you. By that I mean that in America, when it’s your birthday, it’s kind of an excuse to take it easy. Someone else cooks dinner or you go out and someone else buys… it’s nice. Here, though, the birthday person (although I have the suspicion that this probably only applies to women, now that I think of it) buys everything, cooks everything for the guests, and has to clean everything up. So, your birthday is more work than usual. I think that’s one cultural quirk I’ll leave behind when I return to America!

And finally, some pictures! Thanks to my mom, dad, and grandma, I can now return to pictorially documenting my life in Kazakhstan. So here are some pictures of the hike to the waterfall – the day I broke my first camera – and some snapshots of my house here in the village, and a couple of shots of the view from my classroom. So beautiful….ahem… right. Enjoy! (Sorry they're kind of in random order, but I think you can figure it out)

Plus! Bonus pictures! More gems from the tags of the tights and gloves I got for my birthday. Please, tell me why Natasha is wearing these ultra-warm tights, but aside from that furry vest, is basically naked. That’s not helpful in -30* weather. Silly Natasha. And the gloves I got, I’ll bet you didn’t know they were invented yet, but they’re actually… Futrue gloves!! That’s right, I own a pair of magic gloves. Magic futrue gloves. I couldn’t be happier.

Thanks for checking out my blog! I can't really talk about the KZ life yet because... well... I'm not there yet. But I will be soon! Just 4 more weeks! So, in the meantime, be sure to bookmark this page or become a follower so you can get all the latest info. Just don't forget about me! :)