Happy Halloween everyone!!
We spent the last few days celebrating with everyone in Karaganda and today I’m heading off to Almaty. I’m really excited and super nervous because, again, I’ll be travelling alone. There is no way Nick can take a week off of school at the end of the semester… BUT we are planning to travel to Zhezkazgan/Satpaev together during Fall Break (which is just around the corner)!
So… this past weekend was awesome. Friday, we had Nick’s Halloween party complete with students dressed in costumes and then were bouncing off the walls waiting for the party to begin. They were SO SUPER excited they couldn’t even contain themselves. It was great. I served as bouncer once the party started. One kid arrived a little late and had a bag wrapped around something and ketchup on his face as blood. Then, he showed me what was in the bag… and it was a real AX. That’s right… REAL. Nick’s counterpart and I asked him, “What is your costume?” He said, “killer.” We exchanged glances (totally normal for a kid to bring an ax to school mind you) and decided to put the ax into the teachers’ office. He enjoyed himself thoroughly bez ax though.
I was really nervous about this party because Nick really wanted it to be amazing. All in all, I think he was really happy about how everything turned out. There were three teachers there and about 20-25 students.
OH! I almost forgot! Nick also showed PSYCHO for his movie night the day before the Halloween Party. IT WAS AWESOME. The students were so into it (he showed it with Russian subtitles so that the students would be able to understand more) and it was great to watch everyone jump and/or cover their eyes once the music faded out/in. Nick’s counterpart loved it too, which was great. I think Nick is going to try and show videos once a month since the students really enjoyed it.
Then, Saturday! The girls from Zhezkazgan came and I met them at the train station. They were all smiles except for a little conductor fiasco, but they just wanted to forget about it.. so we did and headed off to school. They met my counterpart and we discussed the plans for the day. 4 girls stayed and helped prepared for the party and 4 girls went and got an apartment. I could not have done this party with out their help. They prepared everything themselves and they took control of their stations and explained games, etc ALL. IN. ENGLISH. They got so much practice working with kids and they just had a good time.
Nick also came and helped out.. he was a great photographer too.
Then, we all headed to Halloween Party #2. This one was a slightly awkward because we didn’t know our roles or responsibilities for this party… but, once we got there and saw the faces of new people we’d never seen before and how excited they were about Halloween, it helped us to get excited! Even though the girls from Zhez were SUPER tired, they perked up and helped decorate the room and even got to play in all the games. They were all smiles and that was awesome to see.
Sooo… now, I’m packing for Almaty. This week will consist of arriving tomorrow, bright and early. Catching a bus to the Peace Corps office. Handing over documents and passports and waiting around for visas to be extended… along with preparing for Counterpart Conference. I will be presenting three sessions: Working with beginners, teaching through music and English clubs. I’m pretty excited to see the trainees that we hosted in Karaganda! 
Here are some pictures from the past few days! Enjoy!
ALSO, SEE YOU IN THREE WEEKS!!!!! YAYAYYAYAYAYAY!!!!
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