October updates

We just wanted to update you all on how things are going here in Almaty.

We're nearing Fall Break and will have a week off!  We've been working hard.  Brooke has been enjoying teaching mythology and Ancient Greece to her seven year-olds.  They made some great "armor" and had a chance to show it off.  They also wrote election posters for characters they learned about in their mythology unit.  Brooke and I teach, of course, at the same school, but she teaches on the other side of the campus so we really don't run into each other in the hallways.  I had the chance to visit as the kids were putting on all their armor and they were soooooo excited.  Fantastic.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the school, I've been teaching about Mesopotamia and reading short stories with my 12 year-olds.  Our latest story was "Seventh Grade" by Gary Soto.  I think the kids could really identify with the themes, especially the awkwardness and embarrassment that can come from trying to act cool in order to impress the opposite sex.  Last week there was a school dance and the kids had all sorts of drama and awkwardness going on as they decided who they were going to ask to go with them.  I enjoyed reading notes that I confiscated or that were left behind on the desks when they left the room: things like, "I can't go with you.  I've already promised so-and-so."  Mind you, if someone asks you to go with them to the dance, you still must pay for your own ticket and you'll still end of dancing in a circle with all your classmates anyway so it's mostly symbolic.  I really enjoy working with these 12 year-olds.

We're going to Kyrgyzstan for Fall Break in a group of ten teachers from the school, if we get our visas, that is.  There isn't much time -- just two more days.  Basically the Kyrgyz Consulate has been stalling, we think, in order to get more money from us.  Hopefully our negotiator from the school can work it all out with the money we've given him for our visas.  We heard that there was some physical aggression on one of his visits to the consulate.  If/when we do make it to Kyrgyzstan, we're going to the capital, Bishkek, and then taking a trip around Issyk-Köl, one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world.  Bishkek is just a few hours drive from here.  As the crow flies, Kyrgyzstan is 15 miles directly south of us here in Kazakhstan, but the big Tian Shan mountain range, the northernmost extent of the Himalayas, stands between the two countries.
We've had our car for nearly two weeks now.  It's been nice to have to get us around town whenever we want.  Traffic here is pretty crazy.  Lanes don't mean anything and there are always more lanes of cars than are painted on the asphalt.  People are pretty selfish drivers and don't really think of others on the road with them.  I'm staying calm and trying to be as safe as possible.  There have been some minor mechanical issues that, I guess, you'd come to expect with an older car.  Our school employs mechanics and they take care of all our cars for us.  We don't have to pay for labor, just parts.  It's a good deal.  We've used them a few times already.  We had a window that wouldn't roll back up.  In case it rained, we left it for the weekend at our school director's house because he has a covered parking area.  We got it fixed, but now the trunk/boot isn't unlocking as usual.  There are a few other issues that I'd like to have looked at like the idle and having the air conditioner repaired, not that I'll need for another few months, but so that we won't have to breathe so much bus exhaust when it warms up again.  Although the mechanics are very nice, I'd like to wean myself off their services.

Something that we've mentioned before that Brooke and I really enjoy is how social our school is.  Several nights a week we have parties and different teacher's houses, hikes, TV nights where we watch current US programs and have dinner together, shopping together, and our weekly themed potluck dinner.  So far the potluck themes have been Moroccan, Mexican, Indian, Korean, German, Italian, and Indonesian.  We're really fortunate to have such great colleagues and support.  It makes living so far from home a lot easier.

Everyday brings something new and that's what makes life exciting.

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Photos by Brooke,
map and flag sourced from the internet

Oh, Canada! Our Thanksgiving host's native land...

Today, we had an awesome Thanksgiving dinner.  Cathy, our good friend from Montréal, showed off her cooking chops tonight with some amazing carrot souffle, rosemary chicken and stuffing, cauliflower and cheese casserole, pumpkin pound cake, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes and gravy... yeah, it was awesome.  Well done, Cathy!

Happy 10/10/10!  Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!  Yes, we're thankful four our new friends.  They're pretty awesome.

A car, no gas, the brothel and the mechanic

Yeah... this sounds like a good story!

In case you didn't know, we bought a car four weeks ago at the car bazaar -- the place to buy a bizarre car!  Basically it's a place where people bring their cars they want to sell and you walk around looking at them.  You can't test drive them so you'd better know what you're looking for or bring a mechanic.  We did the latter and brought our school's auto mechanic.  We spent the whole day there looking at cars with colleagues who also were in the market for an automobile and some who just wanted to see what the car bazaar was all about.

So, after four weeks of waiting to drive our car (waiting for the registration to be turned over to the school, and then to us) we finally got the keys on Friday!   It's a not-so-bizarre 1997 VW Golf, which is a car I've been wanting for several years.  I'm happy to have something that's reliable, easy to park, and big enough to tote friends around with us. The car now has yellow license plates, which signifies that we are non-Kazakhs.  It also has Japanese registration stickers on it, since it was imported from Japan to be sold here (the steering wheel is on the correct side for Kazakhstan, though). It's a purpley-grapey-plum color.

Anyway, we were very happy to get to drive it... even though it was raining -- the Almaty streets are exciting enough without having to add rain!   We noticed, however, that there was no gas in the tank.  The mechanics have been driving it to it's registration and inspection appointments, so we were surprised that they hadn't put at least a quarter of a tank in it.  Since it was after 5pm and the mechanics had gone home (there is a car shop on site for fixing teachers' cars and the school's buses), we decided to just drive the car to the closest gas station (about 4.5 kilometers away).  We headed straight there, no dilly-dally!

And yes, you guessed right (did you read the title of the blog? Activate your schema, people!  What do you already know?  What can you already predict?),  not even 3 kilometers from the school, at a red light on a very busy street, in the rain, the car lurched, and then died.  The light turned green, and a fury of angry drivers leaned on their horns.  Michael and I just looked at each other and tried not to panic.  I started pushing (while he steered), then Michael started pushing (while I steered).  Cars were zooming all around us -- and this is not a country that respects pedestrians, so we were freaking out.  We were on one of the busiest streets in our part of the city, in rush hour traffic, pushing a car up a hill onto a street we'd never been on before.  Don't panic!  You just have to go into Bear Grylls mode!

Suddenly, two awesome guys came out of nowhere and started pushing the car with Michael.  I steered us around the corner, out of the intersection, and into the parking lot of a hotel.  Michael thanked the guys sincerely, then got into the car and caught his breath.  He looked at his phone -- it was almost out of batteries.  As it turns out, I had forgotten my phone this morning (the first time I've done that in Almaty!).  We crossed our fingers that we'd have enough power to make a few calls, and called one of the school's logistical managers in charge of getting teachers out of emergency situations.

She sent us into the hotel to see if there were any taxi drivers who had a spare gallon of gas in their car.  While she spoke on the phone to the receptionist, Michael and I started to realize what the hotel really was.  Either people were renting rooms by the hour, or there was a convention for women in thigh-high boots and tube dresses (being escorted by guys with slicked hair and pleather jackets).  Our school helper told us that no one at the hotel could help us with gas...  She was sending the mechanic to us, and we needed to sit tight for an hour.  So, we did.  We sat in the car park, watching the action through the rain and our very steamy windows. 

Finally, about 65 minutes later, the school's head mechanic who helped us choose the car at the bizarre a month ago, showed up with a smile, an apology, and a gas can full of fuel.  He'd also been the one to register it and take care of everything that needed fixing, so I think he was a little embarrassed that he forgot to put a little gas in it.)  We joked for a while, then gave him the beer we'd purchased for the get-together we were missing (our friends were really understanding and were glad to hear we were rescued).

Soon enough, we were at the gas station getting a full tank of gas, then at home having hot showers after a cold and wet evening in the car.

So, I think we are record holders at the school:  trouble in under 3 kilometers!   Champions.

But, hey... we still love our car!

End of summer in Kazakhstan

I have to admit that Almaty has some really beautiful places.  The weather has been really nice, with lots of sunshine, flowers and pretty golden leaves falling from the trees.  Cathy and Brock (our adventure partners here in Kazakhstan) have been taking us on excursions every weekend.  Recently, we took photos around Almaty to record the change in seasons (that's the Golden Man statue, below), went up to Kok Tobe (Көктөбе in Kazakh means "Green Hill"), a large hill which over-looks the city.  There's a little menagerie with birds (bold peacocks!) and goats, a coaster-ride (hecka fun and scary!), and a tea shop where you sit on bean bags outside, looking out at the city.  It's how I imagine Yurtle the Turtle must have felt -- the king of all I can see!

We also went back up to Chimbulak, the mountain ski resort where we hiked on our first weekend here.  (That was an un-planned hike... 4 kilometers up a 12%-grade hill because the school didn't bring a strong enough bus to make the journey!  This time, we drove to the top of the hill, then took the ski lift to the resort.  It was so different than the last time we went up there -- all of the green summer colors have turned to browns, golds and oranges, and the air was fresh and clean.  We had a picnic at the top of the hill, looking down upon Kok Tobe and the city beyond that.  Again, the kings of all we can see!  There are so many beautiful vistas to behold.

We've had a very busy social life here!  We have a hard time shopping for groceries because we just don't know when we'll be eating it... we have so many invitations to go for dinner that we might not eat out of our kitchen more than three times a week.  Transitioning to a life overseas becomes so much easier when your friends make you feel so at home.