It all begins... (or began 3 months ago and I'm just getting around to making a blog)

New Blog!

I have started a blog to keep people back home updated throughout my Peace Corps journey in Kazakhstan. I wasn’t sure how I felt about the whole blogging thing – you know, exposing your life to the world wide web – but I read another volunteer’s blog and it was actually pretty cool. I think it’ll be nice for me to have when I finish my service in two years. So – here goes my first attempt at blogging! (Be warned – I tend to be long winded…. Feel free to skim!)

My Life:
 I’m living in a city called Kokshetau in Northern Kazakhstan. There are about 130,000 people in the city, but area-wise it’s pretty small. I just moved here about two weeks ago, so I’m still trying to find my routine and figure out what works for me. I think I’m going to absolutely love living and working here. It’s definitely good so far – just a little overwhelming adjusting to so many new aspects: a new family, a new city, a new job, and having to function in Russian all day every day. 

My Family
My new host family is absolutely GREAT. They have a really nice house – with a shower, internet, AND piano! And they are the nicest people ever. It’s a mom, dad, and 18-year-old son. The dad is a builder/constructor worker, and he is so kind and considerate. He’s very interested in history and cultures, so half of our conversations are comparing America to Kazakhstan, or discussing the English vs. Russian vs. Kazakh words for all the food or tableware at dinner. A few nights ago I was on the computer and my host brother was studying around midnight. The dad came walking in with two plates with little freshly-washed apples for us to snack on. He then noticed that I didn’t have topotchkee (slippers) on, and came back with a pair for me so I wouldn’t be cold. He’s just a very kind and considerate guy.
 My host mom teaches a poetry club at the organization I work at and stays home the rest of the time. She’s really great as well. I was sick yesterday and she kept checking up on me in the night to see how I was doing and asked me what I wanted to eat and went out and bought oatmeal since they didn’t have it just because I asked for it. 
 My host brother – I love having a younger brother. It’s been so much fun talking with him. He also sings and plays piano, so we spend a lot of time comparing music tastes or learning new piano songs. He also started learning English a few months ago, so we practice English and Russian together. There are a lot of mistakes made between his English and my Russian, so we laugh a lot. The other night he asked me for advice on girls. I thought it was so cute, because he tried to ask in English, and it took about 8 tries for me to finally understand what he was asking about! I’ve never been an older sibling, and he’s never had a sibling, so I think it’s fun for both of us. 

My Job
 Along with everything else in my new situation, the organization I work for is really neat. The name of it is Детский Дом Творчество which basically translates to Children’s Home of Creativity, or maybe Creative Home for Children, but you get the point. They offer tons of classes all day long for children: dance classes, art classes, science club, chess club, dombra lessons, voice lessons, knitting club, etc. Kids here have school either in the morning or the afternoon, so there are clubs going on at all times. Next week I start teaching three clubs. I will have two English clubs (a younger and older group) and a vocal studio. The clubs meet two times a week, so it basically means I’ll be doing studios or clubs twelve hours a week. My counterpart and director really didn’t give me much to do the rest of the time at work, so I kind of created my own project for the time being. There are about 35 teachers there plus the full-time staff, so I made a survey in Russian just asking what they teach, what they usually do in their clubs, their favorite part of the organization, and what could be improved about the organization. It’s been a good way for me to meet each of the staff, get an idea of everything the organization offers, and see possible areas for improvement in the future. When I’m done meeting everyone, I will take their pictures and make a bulletin board for the lobby with all the teachers and staff and what they teach or do. They don’t have anything with all the teachers, so I hope it’ll be a good way for parents to see what other programs are available while they’re waiting for their kids to come out of the clubs. Hopefully once I finish the bulletin board I’ll know the organization better and my Russian will be better so I can actually help them out with one of their current projects. 

My Russian
 Hmmm, Russian is definitely the source of most my stress and uneasiness, however it’s also the source of most my laughter since I’m always making mistakes! It sounds sweet to say that it’s all Russian 24/7, but it’s really not that great. It doesn’t really mean I speak Russian all day long – it just means I talk a lot less than I normally would, listen a lot more, and understand a lot less. Trying to function in a job where English isn’t spoken has taught me several things: It’s actually not important to understand every word (or even half of the words) to get the meaning of something, you can still get a feel for other’s personalities and show your personality with little talking, and a lot of things in life can be acted out. (Side note: In two years I dare anyone to take me on in charades – I’ve definitely been practicing!) 
 Some days it’s really good, and I feel like I understand a lot and I’m able to get my point across. But some days when I’m tired, I feel like I understand nothing and can’t say anything right. I know I’ll have to learn quickly, and in a few months it’ll be a lot better. It’s just kind of exhausting trying to always push myself to study or learn more. I know I’m expecting myself to have way too much Russian capabilities after only 3 months, but I’m not a very patient person when it comes to communication. It turns out I like to talk!