14

I have had a few questions regarding my life here, primarily my conversations with local people, and just what daily life it like.

Regarding conversations, there haven’t been too many, due mainly to the language barrier. While the overall English level in Japan was low, every one has still had 6 years of English lessons at school. Here, that isn’t the case. There has only been an English department at my school for 5 years, previously they taught German (there used to be a sizable community of Volga Germans in the area). This means that not only is the English programme here still getting started, but none of the adults have a knowledge of even rudimentary English. Some still remember their German though, so I have spoken more of that in the past 2 weeks than I have since school!

Therefore conversations have mainly revolved around the few talking points I know in Kazakh – Families and hobbies. Something that is of important here is being married, and it’s a guaranteed question, after name and age. Most people are married by the age of 25, and settled into a job and family life, so being 26 with no near prospect of marriage is an alien concept to many people here. I spend a lot of time explaining that its not just me, and that most of my friends are not married either.

With regards to daily life, some of it may come as a shock, and indeed the contrast between luxury and convenience still surprises me. Take for example my house, which has a shower, toilet, sinks and kitchen, along with television, lights etc. All the trappings of a modern house, anywhere in the western world. However, the shower is in the garden, and uses rainwater collected in a bucket on the top (the summer sun is also the only means of warming the water). The toilet is likewise in the garden, and is a squatter. There is also no running water in the house, all of it having to be brought from the pump in the street. The sink/ washing-machine/ kitchen use buckets of water that my sister/mother have to go and get. And I am only able to write this now, as the power has come back on, after a 23hour blackout. There has been such intermittent electricity that doing much of anything at night, or anything using computers during the day has been almost impossible. It is rather frustrating.

Life isn’t hard, at least compared to Africa or other Asian countries, and indeed, I have a house with all the facilities that are required for a comfortable life, it is just that they are presented in ways that are different to the west.

I hope this hasn’t put off anyone who was thinking of visiting me! It was just intended to better show my life here.

13

I haven’t been out to help in the garden yet, but as I have the next two days free, I hope I will. An area the size of a 5-aside football pitch has been given over to the growing of fruit and vegetables, and I can’t wait to help. Strawberries, cherries, red currants, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, beetroot, onions are what I have identified so far (or been told about), but there seem to be other plants around, so summer/autumn should be fun indeed.

While I haven’t helped out with dad’s garden since I was a kid, its something I have become more interested in recently. With the limited balcony space I had in Japan I managed to grow lots of spinach, and try my hand at tomatoes, aubergine and okra.

An increased awareness of what I am eating, and my impact on the environment is something that I have been cultivating (sorry for the pun) for the past two years. It was sparked after watching the film FOOD INC, a documentary that exposes the industrial food complex as being less than positive, for both farmers and us. Anything I can do to help, be it not wearing plastic anymore (only wool/cotton wherever I can), eating local vegetables, cooking all my meals myself and not buying pre-made stuff and, frankly, just thinking about what I eat/do.

While living with a host family removes the ability to cook for myself, the local produce (fresh milk from my neighbour, vegetables from literally outside the kitchen window etc) somewhat makeup for it.

12

So, dear readers, so much has changed since I last wrote. I have always wanted to say that, thanks for indulging me.

Things have though changed, in rather a lot of ways. Namely, I have moved to my permanent site. It is the village of Beskol, about 10hours north east of Almaty, and rather close to the contested Chinese border. It is not quite the mountain village I hoped for, due primarily to the fact it isn’t on a mountain, but there are a few that can be seen from here, so I hope I am able to get up into them often. I am also less than an hour away from Alakol, a massive lake, famous for its fishing and mineral content, so that should also prove interesting to visit. Other than that, there isn’t much to be seen in the area – it is rather flat.

My new host family seem nice and I am hoping that the next 4 months (the minimum stay I HAVE to have with a host family before the option of moving out on my own presents itself) will be fun. The father is a doctor, and mum helps out 3 times a week. They have a 16year old daughter who will also be one of my English students. She seems keen to learn, which is always great. The house is rather less glamorous than my last one, but that was to be expected, and this is a far more ‘real’ Kazakh house. The toilet is a hole in the ground in the garden, the family grows a lot of its own vegetables, and there isn’t a billiards table in the games room (did I mention I was rather spoilt with my last family?)

11

This last Monday was a national holiday, so no school! The Peace Corps organised a trip to an ice rink, but I didn’t fancy spending any of the day in busses, as the weather was the nicest we have had yet.

So, “billy-no-mates” that I am, I went hiking by myself in the hills behind our town. I had the goal of finally scaling the mountain that looms over us. “Loom” might be a bit strong, “look down on us with contempt” is closer. After I finally summited after 2 hours of uphill slog, surrounded by fields of wild flowers, I spent an hour reading under the welcome shade of a still blossoming apple tree. Looking north, the steppe in all its flat, boring glory, extended to the horizon, and indeed it is possible to see the curvature of the earth. To the south, the still snow-capped Tien Shan Mountains tower over, frankly, everything and the contrast between the flat nothingness and imposing dominance is stark.

I really hope I am sent to a mountain village, as I think craziness will surely follow a few months spent living on the steppe. Not simply the fact that I will miss hiking, and the freedom and tranquillity it allows, but just the variety that mountains offer to the landscape, and therefore daily life.

Due to the limited access I have to the internet, and the length of time it takes me to sort through my photos, it is proving hard to not only update this blog on time, but also to upload photos that correlate to the recent posts. Unless I find myself with both more time and better internet at my permanent site, this is unlikely to change, sorry.

10

Another weekend spent at my host cousin’s village, but this time the whole family (almost) were there together; host mother/sister/baby, host aunt/uncle/3 brothers, host uncle/wife/two kid, and grandma. It was a busy Sunday.

Speaking of which, I was woken up at 8.30am by a 5.5 strength earthquake, which went on for almost 8 seconds. It was certainly bigger than anything I felt in Japan. And was certainly exciting, only let down by the fact that I had gone to bed a 6am! An evening/night/morning spent out with my host cousin at a friend’s birthday. It was my first experience of a Kazakh birthday party, and everything that it entails, and was certainly an eye opener. It started out at a café in town, with dinner, followed by dancing, at the same café. The whole time, toasts (and therefore vodka shots) were happening with worrying regularity. After a good number of hours of dancing, with the initial group of 20 or so changing a few faces, there was fight outside. I didn’t get to experience this, as the girls, who had all stayed inside when the men rushed out, suggested I stay inside and keep them safe. So while I missed all the “fun”, I also missed out on the broken noses (at least two), ripped shirt (at least 5), and a limp (about 6 of them). I also lost a few macho points (called “Ponti” in Russian), but think I came out of it better. On a roll, I continued to loose points, when I declined to do vodka shots at 5am. My excuses of, well, anything I could think of, just barely worked.

The upshot of this was that I was able to be woken up (maybe not a positive?) by the earthquake, while my cousin slept solidly until 2pm. I then spent the rest of the day, between babysitting all the kids, up in the mountains, enjoying the wild flowers, and gate crashing a local BBQ. Quite a productive day.

I wrote a small (and rude) Haiku during the drive home about the earthquake.

Shaken awake by the gods.

Not enough sleep.

The bastards

9

We were supposed to go to the Opera today to see a Kazakh classic. Alas, the lead singer (the Prima Dona?) was sick, and there was no under-study, so that plan was scuppered. So dinner at a Chinese restaurant was the replacement. The food, and the flavours (and the MSG) were all novel changes to the normal diet I have had here – namely Mutton, potatoes and pasta – and some of it tasted wonderful. Although judging by this headache, a lot of the flavour was down to the MSG..

We (all 54 current Peace Corps trainees) went to the ballet today, to see the Kazakhstan State Ballet do “Romeo and Juliet”. It was the first ballet I managed to stay awake through! So I guess that means it was a good one, I don’t know. “Youth of today”, “Uncultured” etc I know apply, but, really, I just can’t find the attraction in ballet. While some of it is undoubtedly beautiful (mainly the female dancing), it just doesn’t compete with sports, or reading a book even, for enjoyment. And don’t even get me started on the ‘acting’ in ballet. Really, does it have to be included?

8

Thus far, this has been far more about me, and less about Kazakhstan, for which I apologise, and will try to remedy that.

This past weekend was spent an hour west of Almaty, in my host cousin’s village. It was lovely to get away from the suburbs, and the village life is everything I hoped Kazakhstan to be. The community is close-nit and friendly, everyone grows their own vegetables and there is less litter!

Being away from the sprawl of Almaty not only improved the air quality no-end, but also allowed FOR ME TO GO HORSE RIDING! I think I last time I rode a horse was when I was 8, so it was genuinely exciting to ride around in the hills. I was far too big of my horse, as the photos (link included at the bottom) prove, but great fun none the less. And I was able to help shear a sheep, which was certainly the first time I have done that. “Harder than it looks” would be the phrase I think best sums it up. Fun though! The village life is a world apart from the suburbs where I currently live. It conforms much more with the classic image of rural life that I had hoped to see in Kazakhstan. I cant wait to see where I will live for my main site, but I certainly hope it will be somewhere rural.