A View from Home

About a week and a half ago, my mother-in-law gave a speech about Kazakhstan to her fellow townsfolk. She wrote out her whole speech to help her prepare and shared it with us. With her permission I am posting her writings about Kazakhstan and her view of it from home. Please feel free to leave comments for her and we'll be sure to pass them on:

Yearbook Theme – Seeking Growth Today – Doing the Things We Love

When we came up with that theme, I thought everyone, including me, would talk about their hobbies.   So, I thought, do I want to talk about fly fishing?—no, not really.  Golf, no, not really.   Another thing I like to do is read, and right now I am reading Apples are from Kazakhstan.  (Apples, we just love ‘em?)  It’s true, botanists have traced back the beginning of the apple tree to this Central Asian country.  Wild apple trees grow in some regions, and the fruit covers the ground in the fall.  They have an apple in KZ called the Aport which grows as big as a baby’s head and is sweet and delicious.   Tulips are also from KZ and trousers.    But KZ is a land that no one knows much about.  But I’m not really going to do a book report.  I am going to tell you WHY I am reading this obscure book about this obscure country.

You know how wonderful it is to HELP your children, grandchildren and nieces and nephews grow?   And then all of a sudden, some of them are doing things you never even dreamed of, and all of a sudden, they are helping YOU grow.    My middle son Levi—the quiet, artistic, introverted, son, and his wife April—have opened my eyes, widened my horizons, and made me seek growth. 

About five years ago, when most of us in this country were still reeling from 911 and harboring some real fears of Islamic people,  April took at job in the United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi, at a charter school where her uncle was the dean.  It was an all boys school, and she mostly worked with the teachers telling them about how schools in our country teach Math.  The next year they moved to Dubai.  There Levi worked for a magazine as a graphic designer.  The UAE is pretty bilingual, so they got along ok speaking only English. This is what April wrote to me about the Middle Eastern people:

   The people I met were so incredibly nice and curious about America; I never felt any hostility from anyone (OK, maybe a bit during Ramadan on the road - but who wouldn't be cranky when they've worked a full day on an empty stomach!). The teachers I worked with were willing to let me into their classrooms, which is a feat for teachers around the world to let someone in their space.  They spoke to me with respect (which of course I returned). They wanted to teach me about their culture and their language. Many of them commented how awful the Taliban is and how they are not liked by most of the Islamic community.  From these stories and interactions I knew that I wanted to spread the word to Americans about how much we stereotype Muslims. 

So, they came back home and bought a house and a dog, and April got a job at GOAL Academy on-line school. Levi went back to his graphic design job here.  But then they got restless to do it again, so April starting looking for another international teaching job.  In July Levi called to tell me they would be moving to Kazakhstan in three weeks.  Where?  I didn’t even know where Kazakhstan WAS.  It’s there, point down, 12 hours ahead [as she stands in the USA].  And here they were going all by themselves, not knowing anyone, not knowing the language.   Getting their Visas took longer than expected, but finally they got there, about 3 weeks ago, with their little pug dog.  April’s job is at a Gifted and Talented high school, and she will be teaching Math in English.  Almost no one in KZ speaks English, most speak Russian, although many speak Kazakh, but they are teaching their brightest students in all three languages.  The government sends 3,500 students abroad to university on a full scholarship plus living expenses on the condition they will come back to work for only three years.

KZ is the 9^th largest country in the world.  Texas can fit in it 5 times, and it’s larger than all of Western Europe.  It is located West of China, South of Russia, and bordered on the west side by the Caspian Sea.  Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan border it to the South.  It is approximately the same latitude as the Northern United States.  Levi & April are in Shymkent, a city about the same climate and size as Denver.  There are only a few cities in KZ.  It is a Republic government.  President Nazarbayev was elected as the first President when the country became independent from the Soviet Union and he has been in office over 20 years.  The Kazakh people seem to like him and they keep reelecting him.  Its historic culture is that of nomads living in yurts.  Under Russian rule, the people were forced to settle and farm.  Then the Soviets in the 1900s ruled the country and built large communist-styled bloc apartment buildings and factories.  Levi & April live in one of those old style apartment buildings.   It’s big and comfortable, and they have great, fast internet service, but no dishwasher, no clothes dryer, and the refrigerator is in one of the bedrooms. 

The present Capital city Astana is 1,000 miles away with nothing but steppe in between.  Astana is a brand new, very modern city built in the middle of the country just in the last twenty years, since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Many different nationalities live in KZ now, most of whom were forced there by the Soviet regime or came as refugees from wars in their countries.  Different cultures get along and accept one another, having past hardships in common.   About half of the people are Muslim and half are Russian Orthodox, but nearly everyone is moderate, not devout or extreme in their religious traditions.  They wear western clothing.  And they love music and love to dance.  The students at April’s school flash mob and line dance during their breaks.  

Levi tells me it is not just for the adventure that they have chosen to experience other cultures.  They wanted to challenge themselves by getting out of their comfort zones.  They wanted to see people from a different angle.  It has made them appreciate what we have in the U.S., and not take it for granted.  And it has made them relate to people who don’t speak our language, to experience being on the other side of the language barrier, how to communicate with few  words.   My kids are aware that they are representing Americans, and they try to be their best and break the stereotypes many people have of Americans.  I am so proud of them because I think it takes courage to do this just as regular people, not as part of an organization with an agenda, and not with a tour guide.  I can’t imagine doing it myself.  They are meeting real folks, not just service employees in tourist destinations. 

The most surprising thing my son told me is this:  Being in a completely new place makes you focus on the details, the things you take for granted at home.  That slows down time, and makes you live longer.         Well, we can’t all travel to the other side of the world, but we can all get out of our comfort zones, and experience something new.    Dosvedania!

Presidential Ponderings

Nursultan Nazarbayev (taken from www.akorda.kz)

So I've been thinking a lot of the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev. [You may recognize the last name, the school system I'm working for is named for him] He's had an incredibly diverse life here in Kazakhstan. He grew up a farmer boy, helping his father take care of their small plot of land, and travelling everyday to stand in line for bread. When he started school he lived with an uncle, but then went on to live at a boarding school. He became interested in the Young Communist League (YCL) (even though his father did not approve). As a teen he was attracted to a job in a steel mill in central Kazakhstan, but arrived to find the mill still under construction and therefore went to the Ukraine to work, until the other location was ready. Although, he worked at the mill, he stayed involved with the YCL, which ultimately saved him from becoming a life-time steel worker.

Nazarbayez officially joined the communist party at the age of 22 and rose quickly through the ranks. It seems that he was one of the few that was bothered by the construction and corruption of the party. There was disorganization and inequality everywhere he looked. This is an excerpt from Apples are from Kazakhstan that describes the type of corruption that was abundant:

"Under the Soviet system it was essential to be on good terms with powerful Moscow officials. All the income from the factories of every region in each republic was returned to Moscow, divided up, and sent back to the republics. Kazakhstan, with its natural resources and heavy industry, was automatically the victim of such a system, for while billions of rubles flowed to Moscow, only a fraction found its way back. Anyone with a good personal relationship with the finance minister could expect a few extra million rubles in their budget, while a friend of the chairman of the State Supplies Committee might receive extra cement, metal or timber for their factories. The corrupted command system demanded that all the republics play the game, and no one considered the consequences of taking someone else's share" (p. 265).

In 1991, a failed coup in Moscow attempted to overtake the government from Mikhial Gorbachev. Things started to quickly unravel for the Soviets and their communist system. Nazarbayev, as head of the communist party in Kazakhstan, asked for equality with Russia, instead of independence like other republics. He was afraid that independence would create disaster in Kazakhstan, as all of the industry was tied to Moscow. Many talks and meetings occurred throughout the year, finally on December 21, 1991, the republics met to sign a treaty for independence. 

Nursultan Nazarbayev is the founding father of Kazakhstan. He has brought them through ups and downs, and has a passion to continue the fight. So, going back to the beginning of this blog, and why I've been thinking about him so much, relates to a few conversations I've had over the last few days about politics in the United States. Barack Obama is not our founding father, George Washington is (well, one of many anyway), and we put him on quite the pedestal. He fought for our country - out in the trenches - he put in his time and risked his life for our freedom. Washington had a heavy burden placed upon him when becoming president. Overseeing the beginning of a new government and the emergence of a new and proud nation, stumbling through the steps but overcoming many obstacles. 

Almost 250 years later, we have very little reverence for our leaders, many of whom have not fought in the trenches for our freedom. Obama has come under a lot of fire lately and it's disappointing to see our nation struggling so; it was refreshing to hear positive comments about him coming from some of my foreign colleagues. A New Zealander was gushing over him (yes, gushing!) and praising all of the foreign policy work he's done over the last few years. An Australian co-worker was confused as to the dissension among Americans over Obama's policies and could only agree that he has been one of the best things to happen to the US in a while. Even a fellow American sang his praises, a Political and Historical degree holder, he had evidence and the intelligence to back up his claims. Several of my colleagues have spent recent years in the Middle East and talked about the love those people have for Obama and all of the right and wonderful things he's doing in the US. These statements are not meant to start a fight or an intense discussion about who is right or wrong here, it is meant to show the world view about Obama and the confusion about many Americans' reactions to his policies.

I guess this is just another one of those lessons I've learned being overseas. When you have a more global perspective your eyes can be opened a little wider and you can accept that maybe things are not as bad as they seem. As Americans we have a lot of power over our government (even though sometimes it doesn't seem so), we just need to remember to exercise that power - write to your representatives if you're not happy about something - Facebook is not the way to get things done in the government, direct contact with government reps is the better way to go. Good luck!

Nazarbayev and Obama (taken from en.tengrinews.kz)

Fresh New Design for A Fresh New Place

Sassafrass has done a bang-up job keeping everyone updated with our new experiences, so now I have finally gotten around to sharing some of my first impressions.

We have been in Shymkent for almost 3 weeks now and I can't speak for Sassafrass, but I feel like I'm settling right into the groove of this place. There is still a lot of new things to discover, but we've done quite a lot of exploring so far. I also still have a lot of Russian language to learn (or remember from high school Russian class), but I feel like more and more is coming back to me every day. I'm loving the fact that I can finally put some of it to use! The people here, in general, are very patient and accommodating for those of us that can't speak the language very well yet. It's also a very humbling experience to be on the opposite side of the language barrier from what we are used to in the states.

Anyway, here are some pictures of our new apartment during the first week we were here and some of the surrounding areas I explored in those first days.

Our interior front door, there's also a sturdier
exterior door that leads to the staircase

The living room (the bus stop pictured in a previous
post was taken from the window behind the TV)

The opposite side of the living room (Pug not
originally included in the apartment :) )

Spare bedroom/Office - the couch here seems to be
able to fold out to a bed, like a futon

Kitchen w/ gas stove - the table has since been
moved to the wall under window to open
up more room

Left side of kitchen w/ clothes washer - Notice the
absence of a dryer and dishwasher. Can you
guess what else is missing? The answer
will be revealed later in the tour.

The kitchen entrance from the opposite corner

Bathroom - it does the job and it could be worse.
The picture below is the type of toilet you find in a lot
of restaurants and stores around town.

And, here's the refrigerator in the second spare room. 

Did you guess correctly? 

No room for the fridge in the kitchen? Just put it in the 

guest room. Why not? 

The master bedroom - After living out of our suitcases
for almost two months, it still took us several days
to get around to unpacking

All in all, it's a pretty nice place considering some other places Sass' co-workers are living in and I feel grateful for what we have. I may have to take another set of pictures after we get our new place set up the way we want it. For now, here are some pictures of the exterior and surrounding areas.

The exterior of our building - it's got a
lot of character, huh?

Playground in the courtyard right outside our
building. This is a nice, shady area where a lot
of kids play and people gather to socialize. It's
a lot bigger than what this picture shows. 

The mosque at the end of our street, next to the
monument below. Belts out the familiar "call to prayer"
chant at regular intervals that we got so used to hearing
in the UAE.

We haven't had a chance yet to walk around
this monument, but here it is from the opposite
street corner

This is another entrance to the giant bazaar
behind our neighborhood that was pictured in a
previous post

Around the corner from our place is this giant
appliance and electronics store

On the opposite side of our neighborhood
from the monument and mosque is a
nice, sculpture park

Oversized sculptures of jewelry are throughout
this park. Here is an ornate bracelet that you can
walk through.

Oversized ring sculpture

walkway leading up to fountain

I'm not sure what this building is, but I thought it
looks very official

This building makes me think of a giant, orange juicer.
Now, where's the giant oranges?

Well, that concludes our quick tour around our neighborhood. There's plenty more to see and plenty more to share, so don't hesitate to ask questions or make comments. Pepe is getting eager to get out and explore himself, so we may have some of his pictures to share soon as well! ;)

A Wander Around Town

Lights above the street

Saturday afternoon we had lunch with my co-workers and then everyone went off on their separate ways. Levi and I wandered down the street and I started taking pictures. We found some interesting things!

Lights above the street at night

Tulip shaped water fountain (we missed the water!)

Sign near the water fountain - at least you can still skateboard here lol

I don't have to go far to find some Avon

Random grass stand in the street

Camels chillin' at the Adidas store

This homeless kitty came to eat some lunch with us

Our 'hood in Shymkent

Within our first 48 hours we managed to walk all over our immediate neighborhood and check out the goods. Right in front of our building we have a little restaurant, a cell phone store, a row of stores packed full of shoes, clothing and other accessories, and a bus stop. Every day there are temporary vendors that set up on the sidewalk too. These may be selling underwear, pantyhose, fruit and veg, or anything else they so desire! Even in the alleyway between the buildings there is a small little shack that sells drinks – water, fruit juice, soda, etc.

View of the bus stop from our apartment

View of the bus stop from street level

Behind us is a large indoor/outdoor market that sells everything you can think of. We walked through one day to get a feel of the place and see what they had. The place is like a maze, you can take twists and turns all inside of it, and could probably be there forever based on the size of it all. Levi had a chance to scope out the place in a little more detail while I was at work last week. He picked up some lunch from one vendor, found packing tape at another, and some outlet adapters at another. He said that he walked all over and could see that several vendors even carry the same stuff, so if you can’t bargain for the right price at one, just walk ten feet and bargain with someone else. I hope to go back soon to peruse the goods and buy some cheap stuff.

One of the many market entrances

If we walk two blocks up from our place that is a park called Ken Baba. Inside it are some amusement park rides, fountains, and restaurants. Our first Saturday in Shymkent we ate at a little café with my supervisor and his wife. The menus are all in Russian and the servers hover over you waiting to take your order. So we had to order quickly that first time, but we have since returned and told the waiter we needed some time. Upon the second trip we managed to order some type of sangria fruit concoction (no alcohol) to drink while we translated the menu. They have a wide selection of salads, pasta dishes, shashlik (kabobs), and other meat dishes. Another restaurant within the park has terrible service and we won’t be returning, but while there we did try the national dish – beshbarmak – that consists of slices of meat and onions on a bed of pasta. The beer at these places is amazing and fresh and cold. We quickly found out that the alcohol content is much higher than our beers at home and two beers is more than enough!

Local beer selection

Beshbarmak

Fountain at Ken Baba

Central Park is only a few blocks away too. It’s very shady and cool, so it’s a great place to walk and hang out on hot days (which it has been!). Throughout the park there are paths and park benches, there are also several plays grounds for kids. On one side of the park is a water fountain. The sculpture in the middle doesn’t look like much when the water is off, but once the water is turned on you can see that it’s meant to look like dandelions when they’ve turned fuzzy and white! It sprays the surrounding area a bit and keeps you cool as you walk by. We’ve mostly used this park as a short cut to Mega (the mall), but I would like to return on the weekend and spend some time relaxing.

The dandelion fountain

Central park

Mega is the nice, new, big shopping mall about 1 mile from our place (shorter if we walk through the park). It’s mostly made up of trendy stores that I’m not interested in, but does contain a good grocery store. On the basement floor of the mall is an ice rink and it can be seen from the third floor food court. It looks like the rink is made of plastic and not ice, but we saw a group of kids taking lessons and it looked like fun.

Outside Mega

Bottom floor of Mega, looking up

Top floor of Mega, looking down

Top floor of Mega, looking outside

Across the street from Mega is Tsum. This used to be the big shopping market before Mega was built, but still contains small shops packed in back-to-back. We’ve only managed to tackle one-third of the first floor (we found a decent deal on cell phones at one shop and that was it so far), so hopefully we can go back soon and check out the rest.

Tsum

 Last night we were looking at a city map of the Shymkent. There are several other large parks throughout the city that we’d like to check out and there is a zoo! At the end of October we have a short fall break from school, so this will give me some time to explore with Levi without the rush of the weekend.