Well I have to say that Friday night's sleep was a bit chilly. I am a woman from Maine who was prepared and quite toasty. Every other night has been fine before and since. Maybe I was suffering from a case of the chills. Who knows.
We spent the first part of our morning with English language classes at Zarechny Secondary School with 5th graders & later 10th graders. They were a lot of fun. We showed my video on American Teenage Life and students looked at Kristi's student photography projects learning about culture of kids in the USA.
Kristi had her students write short descriptions in English on the back of her photos so kids in Kazakhstan could practice their English reading skills. Genius idea!!
We went on to see the Akim (County Governor) and Chairman of the leading political party in Kazakhstan, "Nur Otan." We had great discussions about economics in the region and he asked us many questions about our schools in The United States. We were given seals of the country & city, along with the national Kazakhstan pin (Yelena was jealous) and beautiful scarves. Yelena worked hard to get us this meeting and worked hard for this schedule she set up. She is amazing!!!
We next traveled to the city of Kostanay and participated in a press conference with students and teachers of Kostanay school-gymnasium by Gorky. These students asked detailed questions and were disappointed to find out that American students do not study Kazakhstan and know little about it. When asked what they thought progress looked like, they replied that they wanted to continue traditions while moving ahead with improving infrastructure of their country. They want to be known on a world level. As a well-situated central Asian country, they feel the history of them being a crossroads of many cultures & religions gives them the advantage of moderation in viewpoints & actions. I would have to totally agree here. What I have seen since I got here is one of the most tolerant cultures I have ever known. And what is more, while maintaining diversity & tradition, they cooperate to forward their national identity. It is a phenomenon I would like to see in other countries. I believe what they have going here could be a key to peace among nations.
We had lunch in the school commissary. When I went to pay, the lunch lady tallied up my choices using this abacus. Kicking it old school and it was fast.
There are sinks outside of the commissaries in all schools. They look like this. Students are expected to wash hands before entering and we are reminded by our host every time we are going to lunch.
We left the school and set out on a 2 hour drive north to visit an ACCESS school in the city of Lisakovsk for two meetings. The first was with city English teachers entitled, "The Peculiarities of Teaching in American Schools." The teachers wanted to know about methods, technology, discipline, etc. that we deal with as teachers in The United States. Come to find out, we deal with the exact same things as teachers. However, they are held much more accountable for student failures and the community and police rely much more on them for their students' behavior even outside of school. They seem to stress about their accreditation process (yes teachers of ELHS, they do it too!), and their evaluations. They are tested every five years to check qualifications.
Above and below are some shots we took while driving to the meeting. They give you a look at the geography, infrastructure, architecture & colors we saw in this area.
Typical gas station.
Kazakh cattle farmers.
Crows nest in nest apartments. I was screaming on the inside when I saw it. It reminded me of the movie, "The Birds." Nightmarish indeedy.
Kazakh cowboy.
These are service trucks that electricians or plumbers may use. Some are used as ambulances here. Some as postal trucks.
Mining for iron ore is a primary industry in this area.
These banners state announcements of activities as well as slogans to encourage people.
Bus stop.
Brooms for sale.
This is an apartment building. There are many throughout Kazakhstan, some more well kept on the outside than others.
This is a fire extinguisher set outside of the gas station.
Color in Kazakhstan is a unique thing. Sometimes areas can be drab and devoid of a lot of color. I find the particular placement of color interesting in this country. What appears to be drab never never is in the end. Inside everything here I have found immense beauty that I did not expect. Beauty comes in many forms. The way you look at it has to be through different lenses while traveling. This I learned here.
In the middle of most towns you will find an Orthodox church. They take my breath away every time I see them. Between the beautiful domes & mosaics that don the front of many of them, they are a sight to behold.
After the teacher's meeting we spoke with students and once again, gave our presentations on American Teenage Life. These students had some of the best English we have hears thus far. Students in this school come from economically disadvantaged situations or are orphaned. Their teacher spoke to us at length about choices given to them and her curriculum offers a lot of choice to her students.
We were then, to our delight, treated to a presentation from the students that they created to show us what their school life is like. They highlighted projects they had done throughout the year that included studies about Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and debates about whether men or women work harder.
Group shot with the ACCESS kids. Loved every minute we spent with them.
Back in the car we went for the drive south. We stopped at a huge grocery store that resembled Sam's Club here in the USA. We saw this pic of Legos so I took a pic for my special Lego Master, Mr. Sean Bagley.
Round the corner I went I ran into these chips which of course, made me think of Gavin. I miss him terribly. I saw these flavors and wondered what he would think about eating chips flavored like caviar or meat kabobs. Cause those are two of the choices here. Kristi and I tried a mushroom and sour cream chip that was pretty tasty. It tasted exactly like Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup.
After we collected some things for dinner we headed to Yelena's friend Yelena's summer home in Kostanay. We traveled down a very narrow dirt rutted road and wondered where we would be going. The fences rusty, and some of the places looked like shacks. But once again, beauty revealed itself in a way most unexpected. What we saw dropped my jaw.
The back yard Yelena's son totally designed and built that included a waterfall, sandbox area for his son, patio, outdoor grill and yes, this traditional Kazakh yurt!!
This is one of two fireplace areas for hosting guests.
Yelena's son & grandson who was playing shy.
But he eventually came around and gave us a good picture of he and his talented father.
This is Yelena inside her yurt. The table is where people sit. Guests always sit facing the door in a yurt, never are their backs to the door. The reason why eludes me at this moment. I will check and post it here later.
This is the outside of Yelena's summer home. She spends as much time here as she can. She is the Director of the Ak Yerke private kindergarten. She is a busy busy lady. Talented too. She is quite an artist. She was kind enough to give Kristi and I hospitality, great conversation, awesome company, a wonderful dinner and some hand sewn creations to take with us back to the USA. She also let us use her Russian banya which is the hottest thing I have ever experienced.
Fireplace inside.
This is our host Yelena just outside the door of the Banya. She is explaining the following process for banya: shower, go into banya that is 125 F degrees, let your eyeballs burn out of your head (ok, she didn't explain this, this just happened to me), while standing there be beaten about the body with this birch branch, stay as long as possible (in my case less than 2 minutes), and step out and shower again with cold water. Repeat, 10 times. Each time you go into banya for another round, you "get younger." We would go a round in the sauna, then come out shower, wrap in a towel, sit at the table in the living area and eat & converse, then go back in and repeat all over again for about 4 hours. So fun, and she was right. Our skin looked amazing.
Yelena's dog with his "kind eyes." Dogs are pets to many people in Kazakhstan. There are many stray dogs as well. I am unsure if they have such a thing as a Humane Society for strays. I am guessing not given the amount of dogs that seem to be out and about and run after Kristi and I when we are on our morning runs. They don't seem to be vicious even when chasing us. They seem to do that just to see us run faster and then drop back.
This was the kitchen in the house. Loved the cabinets.
We returned home at 12;30 last night, hence the blog posting tonight as opposed to last night. I hope you enjoy it.
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