Greetings once again,
I write to you now from the desert sands of the southwestern corner of Kazakhstan, the delightful little stretch of paradise where I will, in all likelihood, be spending the better part of the next two years of my life. The nature lovers amongst you will be disappointed to learn that I have forsaken the mountain peaks and verdant fields outside of Almaty for far more, well, bleak surroundings. Out here there is essentially nothing green, just endless expanses of desert interrupted by towns and small settlements. That being said, I am enjoying the novelty of my new surroundings, and I feel as if this is more in tune with the Peace Corps experience I had imagined in my mind before arriving here.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am living in the city of Kyzylorda, the first capital of Kazakhstan and the current administrative and economic hub of the Kyzylorda Oblast (one of Kazakhstan’s fourteen regions). The Oblast itself is actually enormous from an area perspective, but it is one of the least populated in Kazakhstan (and one of the least developed). Kyzylorda is the most ethnically Kazakh city in the whole country and is thus considered by many to be the heart of the “real Kazakhstan,” as supposed to the predominantly Russian north and the ethnically mixed southeast. Most people here are fluent in Russian as well as Kazakh, a Turkic language, but I have resigned myself to the fact that I will need to learn at least some basic Kazakh expressions.
I teach at City School #2, which draws some of the best students from across the city and specializes in English. Students start taking English classes in the 2nd grade (around age 7), and by the time they reach the end of high school they are practically fluent. Having trained in a small village school with fairly weak students, one of my greatest challenges during these next few weeks will be adjusting to such advanced pupils. As I understand it, I will be teaching 5th graders and 9th graders, and I am very much looking forward to it. I arrived in Kyzylorda at the beginning of a school break, so these past few weeks have been less about teaching and work than about taking care of a few administrative things and getting to know my new surroundings. Among the many exciting tasks I have undertaken is registering with the local authorities, including the department of education and the immigration police. I also had the first of what may be occasional run-ins with the local police, some of whom don’t take too kindly to foreigners running around the country. I look forward to working with them in the months ahead.
I am one of three Peace Corps Volunteers in the city, and we have two more in a village about an hour from here, so I am not completely on my own. One of my colleagues here has already been serving in Kyzylorda for two years and decided to extend his tour for one more year. He has quite a network of friends and contacts in town, and I have gotten to know a few of them. Peace Corps has actually been active in Kyzylorda for almost twenty years, so there is a substantial group of locals here who are familiar with the work of PCVs and welcome us with open arms. Most of them also speak very good English.
My new host family is, not surprisingly, ethnically Kazakh. They seem like lovely people, and I have no concerns about my housing situation. Truth be told, I live in what might best be described as a palace by local standards. Sit toilet, shower, big screen TV (I almost feel guilty……almost). I have a 15 year-old host sister who is a student at my school and a 17 year-old host brother who is preparing to study law in college. My host father is a fairly high-level police chief, which means I have an important ally in the local administration. All in all, a pretty nice deal. Peace Corps mandates that we live with a host family for the first six months of our service, after which we can look for our own apartments.
Well, that should do it for now. My best to all of you. Also, my new mailing address can be found below:
32 Zheltoksan St. O/C 14, P/O 46
Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan 120014
32 Ул.Желтоксан о/с 14, А/Я 46
Кызылорда, Казакстан 120014
Alex
