Globalize Your Mind

If you are interested in reading blogs from other teachers who traveled to Brazil, Morocco, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Ghana or India, you have to check out this blog that has collected them all in one spot.  Thanks to Leanna Phipps Buckwalter you can peruse photos and read stories of teachers who participated in the Teachers For Global Classrooms Program funded by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Cultural Affairs.  What you will find are posts that are informative, funny and mind-blowing.

"To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries." ~ Aldous Huxley

Check it out:

Discover Morocco . . . and Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Brazil

Yes, give me 1.5 kilos of almonds, raw chicken, 1.5 kilos of chocolate, a sheep's head and three apples please. Thanks so much.

I think that wherever you happen to live you have very set ideas about what things look like or how they are presented.  It is human nature.  Perhaps one of the most fascinating things about traveling to another country is seeing and checking out food; how it is eaten, how it is sold, and how it is presented. 

 This is the outside of a convenience store in Zarachney Kazakhstan.  It is right down the road from our hostess Yelena.

 Store hours are posted.

There was a counter in between me and the products you see here on the shelves.  In this store, as was the case in many aside from large grocery stores, the person working behind the counter would assist you once you made your choice.  But this was only for one part of the store.

 There seem to be chocolate factories all over the place from what I saw and heard about.  This area was no different and these are the chocolate choices for buyers, also only accessible through the shop hand.

 On the opposite wall were cleaners, dish detergent, shampoos, etc.  You could pick these out yourself in this store.  I went to a pharmacy, and items such as these were behind glass that had to be unlocked.  I did not really understand that from my perspective. 

These are beer taps also self-serve in this particular convenience store.  Alcohol and soda were self serve.

 We stopped one day at Yelena's favorite place to buy fruit in town.  Fruit is super fresh in Kazakhstan.  It was perhaps my favorite thing to eat especially the apples.  Kazakhstan legend states that it is the original home of the apple.  We saw apple statues everywhere and the apple is a major symbol of this country.

Apple statue in Almaty.  One of a million.

 Again, some things behind a counter only accessible with help and the two pics below were examples of things you could grab off the shelves yourself. 

 The lady who worked at this store was nice.  She remarked that Kristi and I were the first Americans she had ever seen in her store or in person for that matter.  Many people in Kazakhstan we met had never met Americans. 

Aside from small stores like these, there was the huge open air market in Almaty.  I saw some pretty interesting things here.

 Fruits of all kinds. While here I had a banana every day for breakfast and usually apples and pears throughout the day or served with meals. 

 Cheeses.  A lot of cheese in Kazakhstan tastes like sour milk.  It is very strong and very salty. 

 I loved the way they presented their apples and oranges, in pyramids.

 Dried fruits and nut vendors would try to lure you toward their stand by offering samples. 

 Fresh eggs.

Canned goods, and vegetable and fruit salads of all kinds were offered at many stands.  Each vendor has their own place about 8 x 8.  I wondered how so many people in one place all selling similar items as many other vendors close by could make a profit.  I was told that shoppers often found vendors they were of course, comfortable with and each vendor had a steady loyal following too aside from people who walked by and saw something they liked about either the food or presentation.
You could haggle the price a bit depending on what you were trying to buy.

Sheep's head is an occasional dish in Kazakhstan although while I was there I did not see it - thankfully.  Although it may be good, the thought of something staring at me from a platter does not sit well given the culture I grew up in.  Sheep's head is baked and served for symbolic purposes.  When finished cooking it is passed onto an honored person in the room familiar with the tradition of serving it.  An ear is cut off first and given to the youngest person so they listen to their elders and learn well.  Next a piece from the eye is given to a person who is important to the server so they will be attentive.  Lastly a piece is cut from the forehead and given to someone with a challenge to help them be smart about it.

 Chicken.  I had to wonder as we saw this how the meat did not go bad sitting outside of refrigeration. This man does not look worried one bit.  He is keeping busy reading. 

Beef tongue.  I tried this on a salad at the beginning of our trip.  It tasted like iron.  And had the consistency of pot roast. 

Spices of all kinds were sold, along with flour, sugar, rice and noodles.

 Cookies.  They were fabulous.  But not as fabulous as the Oreo.  Sorry Kazakhstan.  I love my Oreos.

In the next section of the market each vendor had a different hardware section.  Instead of the home depot you went to an individual stand for wallpaper.  Then another for paint.  And yet another for fixtures and so on. 

And the lawn and garden section was here too.

 You could find shoes, clothing, really anything you could think of at the market.  And across the street was the huge chocolate factory.  One stop shopping that was locally owned and operated and supported small business.  A long way from WalMart.  I loved it.

Other things I saw in food markets, convenience stores, or markets that made us stop and take a closer look or chuckle:

 Crab and cream of mushroom chips.

 Candy bars found here in the US were no problem to find in Kazakhstan.  As a matter of fact, I saw many school cafeterias that sold all of this stuff along with home made lunches.  It was most unexpected. 

 Something I have not seen in our grocery stores, although I may just have missed it because I don't really have any recipes that call for sheep's milk.

 Kids love their cartoonish, sugary cereal no matter where they live.

Ya, that is a bunch of food in a short blog.  There is tons more obviously.  You will have to travel to Kazakhstan to see all of it.  I highly suggest it.  My experience there was fabulous.  If you are a vegan, well you can get by.  A friend of mine I traveled with was able to avoid meat while there with relatively little hassle.  These meat loving people didn't exactly understand why she chose not to eat meat, however, they respected her.  I only heard the statement, "go ahead and try meat.  We won't tell anyone," only once.  Ok, maybe twice. 

If you think you know what hospitality is and you have never been to Kazakhstan - you don't.

Hospitality in Kazakhstan is serious business.  Schools, homes, politicians and businesses went all out when it came to welcoming new friends to their country.  The amount of food that was offered was like nothing I have ever seen, and no matter how much you ate, your plate was never allowed to be empty.  The generosity, kindness, and  hard work the people of Almaty and Kostanay put into making us feel welcome I shall never forget.  Our concepts of hospitality are more informal here in the USA in comparison to what I found here.

Let me introduce you first to our hostess with the mostest, Yelena Bozhko.  She is the best Kazakhstan teacher I know.  She has been teaching English in Kostanay for close to 30 years and judging from the interactions I saw between she and her students, she is one of the best teachers at the schools she works at.  She keeps in touch with students from her past as well, and we met many of them throughout our stay with her.

Yelena set up a schedule for us that was demanding, challenging, fascinating & fun.   We visited 8 primary & secondary schools and taught 15 classes.  We gave a lecture to university students who were preparing to become teachers.  We led 8 workshops for teachers throughout Kostanay Oblast on topics including the US Educational System, Teaching Methods In US Classrooms,  and American Teenage Culture.  We visited museums, churches, mosques, and farms around the area.  We met numerous political and business leaders.   She scheduled dinners with families & time for a Russian banya (sauna).  She also arranged for us to go on the state Morning Show - sort of a Good Morning America deal.   She answered and re-answered our endless array of questions patiently.  She got us whatever we needed and welcomed us into her home for wonderful dinners & stellar company.  It was awesome.  To her I owe my biggest thanks.  Without her we would have been completely lost.  She was our anchor and in her I have found a life-long friend.

 Before going on the Morning Show, we were getting prepped with questions they would ask.  The broadcast was live.

 One of Yelena's best pals is the blonde in the pic above, whose name is Yelena too.  We were at her summer home in this pic getting ready to sit in the banya and hang out after a long day.

 This is the Akim or county governor of Kostanay.  There are 16 appointed by the President of Kazakhstan throughout the country.  He was a down to earth fellow who sat and spoke with us at length about economics & education in his area. 

He presented our school systems with a seal of Kazakhstan.  It was an honor.  We will be taking these back and presenting them to our Superintendents as a token of friendship from the people of Kazakhstan. 

After a workshop given to Lisakovsk City English teachers called "Peculiarities of Teaching in American Schools."

 It was common that we would receive gifts after presentations or from people we worked with.  The generosity displayed was overwhelming.

I was eating lunch in one of the school's commissaries and started chatting a bit with one of the lunch ladies.  We were discussing school lunches, and how all of them in Kazakhstan are home made from scratch.  In my bag I usually carried some maple candy and salt water taffy from my home state to hand out to kids for presentations, so I grabbed a handful and gave them to her too for taking time to talk to us.  She immediately ran out back and when she came back out - presented me with chocolate. 

Many teachers asked to have our pictures taken with them after workshops.  Many kids too.  There have to be millions of pics out there of Kristi and I as a result.  Sometimes the corner of my mouth hurt from posing and smiling so much.  People in Kazakhstan love a picture or three (for good measure or just in case).

Between classes, conferences or workshops, we were treated to tea.  I drank so much tea while over there that I am bringing back a tea set of my own to start a tradition in Maine with my friends. 

 Hospitality was perhaps best shown by one of our favorite people we met here aside from Yelena and Yelena.  This is Olga, and she is a retired Kazakh teacher.  She invited us over to have a traditional Kazakh meal and to meet her granddaughter.  We were treated to a feast of food and lots of laughs.  She discussed what life was like under the Soviet Union and, like many others we spoke to, stated numerous times that she preferred life under that system for reasons of security in employment and healthcare.  Since Perestroika it has been very hard for people in former Soviet republics to get used to independence and the change in economy is hard to navigate.  Students graduating expressed stress surrounding the possibility of unemployment if scores to graduate are not high enough to get them into the best schools.  And even if they get into those schools, there are no promises for employment opportunities when they get out. 

Olga cooked us a dish called Besbarmak.  It is a dish consisting of boiled horse or mutton meat and is one of the most popular Kazakh dishes. It is also called "five fingers" because of the way it is eaten. The chunks of boiled meat are cut and served by the host in order of the guests’ importance. Besbarmak is usually eaten with boiled pasta and onions, and a meat broth called shorpa, and is traditionally served in Kazakh bowls called kese.  You drink the shorpa and it reminded me of drinking gravy that you would serve with turkey in the US.  I was encouraged to drink and eat as much as I could and when my plate looked like it was getting empty, Olga would hop in and serve more food onto my plate.  This is part of Kazakh hospitality.  We learned to eat slowly.

One of my favorite things I found to eat in Kazkahstan was Baursaki.  They are a doughnut-like pastery and consist of friend dough and are shaped into either spheres or triangles.  Sometimes they are served with home made jam, and in this case Olga treated us to wild strawberry jam.  They were so good.  Below that you see a tray that has raisins, dates, almonds, and apricots.  This was on every table we ever sat down at throughout our stay.

Speaking of tables and hospitality, here are a few tables we sat at and food put on them for us:

This all may help to explain why it is that my clothes are fitting a bit snug over the period of this trip. 

The two pictures above are of the traditional Kazakh drink, kumis.  Kumis is fermented mare's milk.  It smells like sour milk.  I did not partake in this tradition as the smell of it was enough to turn the stomach.  There are some things I could just not do.  This was one of them.  Note the look on my face as the woman next to me waits for me to drink it.  I hated to disappoint her, but I did.

Lastly, every school we entered had prepared long and hard to put on a show for us.  The students here in Kazakhstan impressed me with their musical talents and abilities.  They had no fear in front of the audience and their peers always chimed in with applause or clapping to assist the production.  Plays, demonstrations, presentations on history or important individuals, songs and traditional dances were all given in honor of our presence in their schools.  Here is a link of a montage I created out of all the footage we took of them mostly during our stay in the Kostanay region.


The heart of the Kazakh people is in their hospitality.  Their giving and generous nature left a lasting impression.  I would like to find a way to bring that hospitality back with me and share it with my friends and family.  Tis a goal of mine upon return.