We’ve been back in Kazakhstan for almost 20 days. It feels like it is flying, most of the time.
We arrived in Almaty with only one delay, but with no luggage. It was all good though because we were able to stay an extra day in Almaty and enjoy fresh ground coffee and delicious lagman. Our luggage finally arrived and was brought to the front door of PC HQ and then we boarded a train (for which we bought tickets ON LINE!! WHAT? WHAT?) for Karaganda.
We arrived in Karaganda at 4AM (our timing was all messed up) so we stayed up and watched a movie (or two) before falling asleep. Then we met with our counterparts, showered them with gifts from AMURKA and created new schedules for the new year.
Our RM (Regional Manager) stopped by to check in with us and we also met with the Board of Education for the entire Karaganda Oblast. This was awesome, until my counterpart brought up Camp GLOW (which I had mentioned to her and gave her a brochure about). My small idea of Camp turned into this GI-NORMOUS idea of 80 girls + 17 PCVs + an overnight camp at a beautiful camp 3 hrs from Karaganda, etc. However, the Board of Education would pay for it entirely which means… no grants!! Hoo-rah! We’ll see though. They have about 2 weeks to make it happen, or else, grant writing HERE WE COME! 
Then I spent 2 days doing site development with Olyessa. Site development is a totally new, awesome part of my job here in Kaz. It consists of me visiting brand new/or old sites and talking with prospective directors and counterparts and seeing host families and filling in lots of paperwork. So far, I’ve been to 8 villages and I have had about 50+ cups of tea.
One site, I’d like to share with you…
Imagine, driving for about 1 1/2 hours through the steppe. There is NOTHING except beautiful snow… sparkling with the rise of the sun. Then… you see a small village.. maybe 50 people… you can only see about 10 houses… that’s IT. That is the village. You drive some more… make a joke about the extremely small village you just saw and then you turn off the “main” road onto a very very small, icy, narrow road. There are a couple of houses… we stop an ask for directions, “Where is the School?” The locals give us directions using their hands mostly because it’s too cold to take your scarf away from your face… we follow the hand signs down the “main” street of the town and sure enough at the end of the road… BAM! This giant, gorgeous, wonderful school is sitting there. Of course, from the outside it looks like a regular school, but wait… as soon as you walk in.. you just KNOW something is different about this one.
We are immediately taken to see the director, who then immediately calls 3 zavuches and 2 English teachers into the room as well. We are all sitting around a very tiny table and introducing/discussing Peace Corps. I look around at the faces of the teachers and everyone is hanging on to every last word my Regional Manager is saying. They are asking questions, they are worried about the qualifications of the volunteer, they are worried because they had a volunteer in the past and things didn’t work out and the school asked Peace Corps to take him away from the school. They want to make sure they get the best volunteer (which is kind of strange to hear).
But, then we get a tour of the school. Of course, every time we go to a new school, there is a tour… but this tour is like no other. Remember how I mentioned something being slightly off when I walked in the building? Well that’s because all of the art work is done by the teachers and students. WHAT? That’s right. Teachers and students work together to create murals and paintings on the walls. The students’ works are hanging everywhere. It feels like teachers are proud of what their students have accomplished. There is a different theme in each classroom. There are super small class sizes in the upper grades to FOCUS on SUBJECTS. All the doors are opened and even when students see us in the hallway, they stand. It is super quiet and yet you can hear everyone working… I can’t describe it.
Then, we are taken to the Internat. An Internat is like a boarding house where the students stay if they don’t live in the village. THIS SCHOOL HAS A BOARDING HOUSE?! WHAT?! Not only is the boarding house like a college dorm in America, but on the ground floor there are rooms for specialized things: dance, art, handcraft (sewing/woodworking), military studies, exercise room (with LOTS of equipment). I was super impressed that they have a kitchen where students can practice cooking and then a table especially for learning manners, setting the table, etc.
Then, in the Internat, we had Chai (tea) with the director. Only my RM and I. The director sat at the head of the table and explained his educational philosophy to us. He said something about being in the army for 15 years and how he regrets it because he has also been at the school for 15 years and he could have done so much more for the kids if he’d just started his career at school instead. He talked about how he interviews teachers for positions on his staff and tells them something like… if money is what you’re interested in… this school is not for you, we’re here for the kids. He talked about how in Kazakhstan (I didn’t even know this) there has been a problem with school children committing suicide. He said that at his school they try to give the students as many options as they can for success so that they can feel appreciated and worth something. He complained how a lot of schools get a lot of special privileges but reveled in the fact that his students enter the university not because of who their parents are, but based on the merit of their own work. He talked about the fact that his students graduate from the Universities around Kazakhstan and then come back to work in this small village because they see the effects of that kind of education and they want to help educate others. What I thought was about 20 minutes was actually 2 hours.
We had missed another appointment because we were entranced by this director and his accomplishments. The most important thing about this school and the director is that you could SEE what he was describing. You were just being fed fantasies or things that he hoped to do… these were things he was actually doing at his school with his students and teachers. I hope they get a volunteer… and I hope that volunteer is a rock star. There is SO much potential for that site… and definitely one of the coolest parts of my job is having tea with someone like that.
Well, that’s quite enough for this post. On a way lighter note… there is a Photo Competition right now that Peace Corps is holding and I’ll leave you with some pictures I’ve submitted…
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