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.

September Adventures: Car Bazaar and Iron Chef

We had a number of good adventures this month.   We went to the car bazaar on the 11th and bought a new VW Golf -- hooray!  We really like it and can't wait to drive it.  It might be about 3 weeks before we get the keys in our hands, though -- there are a lot of hoops to jump through and a lot of paperwork to submit.  Two of the school's mechanics came with us, as well as the school director (who likes a day in the sun with a bunch of cars -- this was his third trip there!), a fellow teacher acting as translator for us and the mechanics, and three other pairs of teachers looking for new cars.  It was a long, long day in the sunshine, but with good company and a successful catch of car booty, we were pretty cheerful about it.

We took some amazing hikes this month, too.  There are some beautiful places up in the mountains of Almaty, and so many trails heading into dense forests and crystal-clean glacier water gushing from the peaks.  There are a lot of teachers at our school who like a day on the trail, and are willing to go for the fun of it without having to race to the top (thankfully for me and my sea-level lungs).  We even got to stop at a delicious Georgian restaurant (the country, not the state!), and replenish valuable fluids with some local brews.  Nice.

One very cool thing we did this month was an Iron Chef challenge at our friend, J's, house.  J made up a whole bunch of rules about how teams would be formed, how much time could be used, and which ingredients were mandatory... she also allowed us each to bring our own "secret weapon", which was any item from our own pantries.  The mandatory challenge ingredients this time were puff pastry, carrots, zucchini and mozzarella.  I got paired up with another friend's husband, P, who had an awesome idea for a stir-fry with the carrots, zucchini and his secret ingredient (peanut butter!).  I brought in my secret ingredient from my pantry, Pumpkin Pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, etc.) and made a tiropita-type cheese pastry with the Pumpkin Pie spice on top.  And we won!  So, so glorious!  We get to be judges next time.

How will the Iron Chef Brooke spend the next month?  Choosing the next challenge ingredient, of course!  I wonder what people would do with the horse-meat sausage I see around town... ?  :D

Quotes of the week

Quotes of the week (from an earlier Facebook posting):

"Mr. Michael, I want to be a writer when I get older. Could you please grade my essays harshly? I want good feedback."  Students were writing personal narratives (vignettes) in our writing class.

"Mr. Michael, is it okay if I write two poems instead of one?"  We were writing acrostic poems and I asked students to use vocabulary words from the Cultural Studies class (ancient history) that I also teach.  There are some great poems that I might share a bit later.

"Mr. Michael, can I answer the review questions at the end of the chapter even though they weren't assigned?"  Of course!  It's a different world. This, in fact, is more common than it might seem.  I've caught students not listening to me in class because they're answering chapter review questions which I rarely assign anyway.  I guess it could be worse.

"Mr. Michael, would it be alright if I used my iPhone in class so I can take a picture of the assignment so I don't have to take the book home."  Yeah, that would be just fine.  Good thinking!

Hoe, sickle, stick

I’m really enjoying teaching my 12-year-old students (7^th graders) here at our new school in Almaty.  In our system of international schools we use ages instead of grades because students are coming from so many different school systems around the world that use different grade ranking or numbering systems.  This alleviates a lot of misunderstandings among parents about their kids being placed in the correct classes.

The kids, generally, are very eager to learn and challenge themselves.  I love this because it was totally me when I was their age.  I think I’d drive my teachers nuts by giving them a lot of extra work to review.  Mrs. Wood’s world studies travel itinerary assignment for one country turned into an epic round-the-world journey annotated with current exchange rates for the countries I’d be in, visa requirements, and alternative flight and overland connections.  Spanish homework would be also done in French to make it more of a challenge.  I can identify with many of my students.

I teach two sections of three different classes, reading, writing, and cultural studies (history), plus a homeroom.  There are about 40 12-year-old students in total so I see each of them three times a day and I think we’ll really get to know each other.  In reading and writing we’re doing poetry units.  In order to get to know each other better, we’re writing personal narratives in the form of a vignette.  They have picked an event from their lives which they think has made them into who they are today and tell what they learned from that experience.  It has been interesting.

In cultural studies we’ve been learning about hunting-and-gathering societies and the agricultural revolution and the changes farming brought to societies around the world.  One of the technological advances that came about during this time period was the development of tools for farming, including sticks, sickles, and hoes.  “What’s a hoe?” one Russian student asked out loud, shattering the silence of a whole class reading.  Okay, in America, in just about any classroom I’ve worked in, this would summon hysterical laughter and possibly even initiate a volley of personal insult on each others’ mothers.  Here in Almaty, in my 12-year-old class, not a snicker.  Eyes were on me, “Yeah, what’s a hoe?”

"What's a hoe?"

“Ah, it’s a tool used in the garden that you can use to dig a trench to plant seeds.”  Not being an artist, I did my best to draw a hoe on the whiteboard.

“Oh!  I know that,” said a Hungarian student.  “My grandmother has three of them in her shed.”

A Kazakh student added, “We used a hoe this summer at our dacha to plant vegetables.”

Gotta love it!  The students were making text-to-self connections.  In their 12-year-old way, they all wanted to tell a story (lessons can easily get sidetracked by the number of stories these kids like to share with each other).  They were giving examples of the use of the tool.  And there wasn’t a single reference to “street walkers.”  (Brooke's students at her old school in Oakland could, from their classroom windows, see prostitutes working on International Boulevard.  The students even had nicknames for the 'regulars', and knew when any one of them was having a 'good' day!)

These kids are great.  I do miss my students in Oakland though and am happy that many of them send me emails keeping me updated on the goings-on at my school there.

We're enjoying how social everyone is here.  There's a gathering nearly every night at someone's house if you want to get out.  We've gone to game nights several nights this week.  On weekends, there are lots of outdoor events like hikes in the Tien Shan Mountains just a few minutes out of the city.  It's all very supportive and friendly and we're having a great time.

First week in school, and it's a whole new world

Michael and I just got through our first five days of long school meetings, and our first three days of teaching.  It's been such a change!   Don't get me wrong, I love my teenagers and my wonderful co-workers at my lovely Life Academy in Oakland (I have to give a special shout out to them because I really took for granted how together and organized they are there!) -- but there is something truly joyous about teaching a group of kids who are even more enthusiastic about learning, and just about as in love with reading as I am!   I'm so used to introducing an 'assignment' and bracing for impact, waiting for the "awe, maaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnn!" which inevitably flows from the mouths of teenagers being asked to write down, say, the date on their paper.

Today, I said that we were going to do some math and the kids ... cheered!   We moved on to Writing, and I was even more shocked by their eagerness to expand their knowledge.  "Can I write five sentences instead of two?"   Then Reading:  "Can you help me choose some more challenging books? I like to challenge myself!"  "Reading!?  Yay!  I love books!  I! Love! Books!"  And so began the chant, raising in volume as my twelve little 7-year-olds sat in a circle on my "Reading Zone" rug.   I pulled out two books, Blueberries for Sal and Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, to applause and excitement.  "I love those books!"  "I have that one at home!"  "She follows a bear!"  "Maybe we should let him drive the bus this time?"  "Noooo!"  Giggles, and then, "Shhhhh!  She's going to read!"....  Ah yes, a whole new world for me.

On the other side of the school, Michael opened a poetry unit today.  He announced this first unit somewhat hesitantly, ready to convince and cajole his 12-year-old students into reading and writing poems -- only to be met with enthusiastic readiness:  "Will we get to read Edgar Allen Poe?!", "Can I write a poem and set it to music?!", "Will we get to share what we read?!", and the winner:  "Poetry is so cool!"

I continue to be shocked by the seeming randomness of the kids' love for learning.  I'll be cleaning up something in the room, during a transition from one activity to the next, when K, a Kazakh boy, runs up so close to me that I'm sure he can smell the laundry detergent in my sleeve.  "Will we have some math today?  I love math!"  Me (shocked):  "Uh, yeah.  We'll do math today."  K: "Yaaaaaaayyyy!  I hope we do some super challenge math!" (my phrase for math I think should be 'hard' for them, but usually isn't) and he runs back to his table to reassure his friends that math is indeed on the agenda.

I'm also shocked at the depth and breadth of their knowledge.  These seven-year-olds have had the benefit of true and literal investment in their education.  Tuition to this school is half my annual salary.   Most of the kids have their tuition paid for by their parents' company (as part of their compensation package), but if the kid is from Kazakhstan, that means that their parent is most likely paying from their own pocket.   They get to read a LOT at school and at home, have tutors and intensive instruction in several languages, and have visited almost as many places in the world as we have -- and that's saying something!  I put up my travel photos today and every one of the kids identified at least two of the locations (without looking at my captions), exclaiming something like, "Oooh!  Paris!  I loved Paris!"  To which someone else says, "Me too!  Did you go to the Eiffel Tower?"  ... response:  "Of course!"   Third kid:  "I liked the Taj Mahal better."  Fourth kid:  "The pyramids are cool, too!"  Collective agreement.  They turn to me:  "Have you been to the Eiffel Tower, Miss Friz-zizzle?"  (They haven't learned to say my name quite yet, but we'll get there!)  Me (stunned again):  "Yes.  These are my pictures."  Collective awe. "Coooooool."  Fifth kid:  "What's your favorite airline?  I like Turkish Airline, Boeing 737-800!"   First kid:  "Yeah, Turkish Airline has video games!"  Other kids shout out names of airlines, and describe seats and fun little perks that I associate with First Class.  Ah yes, this is a different place indeed.

On the flip side, we're also having to "make do" a bit here.  Our annual shipment of workbooks and supplies didn't arrive from the USA.  Technology isn't working properly because of some issues with upgrades, compatibility and lack of specific know-how.  Electives teachers "aren't ready yet", which means that my kids are with me most of the day instead of going out for all of their extra classes.  So, even though I'm in a much more 'privileged' school, my old-style public-school background of pulling solutions out of thin air has helped me a lot here!  Skills are priceless, my friends!  I learned mine in public schools. : )

What's your favorite airline?

Foods from the Kazakh market

We found out that we have a little bazaar quite close to our house and took time to explore it today.  It's much smaller than the big (Green/Zeloni) bazaar that we went to yesterday, but it still had plenty to offer and is great for day-to-day shopping.

We've been pretty happy with the foods we've found so far.  I've seen more than six or seven types of melon here -- all ripe and sweet-smelling, with beautiful skins of all different colors.  I can only identify two of the melons... the rest are a mystery.  A tasty mystery!  We bought one with a bright orange peel and a green flesh -- it was kind of like a honeydew.  The watermelons are delicious and very melon-y.  Peaches are kind of flat (like they were spun on their axles while they were still growing) but taste so yummy and are very juicy.  There are also an abundance of sweet apricots, apples, and other fruits that you'd expect to see in summer:  grapes of many kinds, tiny sweet strawberries, plump black currents, blackberries, gooseberries, all full of flavor and, of course, locally-sourced! :)   Veggies are also in large supply, along with herbs and spices and a variety of home-made pickles in jars from the sellers' homes.

Meat has been an interesting thing to shop for.  In the bazaar, we saw EVERY part of every animal hanging from hooks or laying on table tops.  Even though there was no covering or refrigeration, it was spotlessly clean and didn't smell at all.  There are also a lot of cured and smoked meats, like bacon and sausages. Michael bought a big chunk of  bacon (not sliced), as well as some sausage.  Horse sausage.  Yeah -- Americans are a little squeamish about eating horse, but it is so common in Europe.  We eat it every time we visit our extended-family in Belgium and have found it in delis all over France, Germany and other countries.  It's all about perspective.  I love eating kangaroo meat, too.  In outback Australia, that's as common as beef, but in the cities, it's still a little 'exotic'.  Lamb is the thing there... but in Korea, eating lamb would be as abhorrent as eating a family pet.  Americans generally love pumpkin, but in Belgium, that's horse food.  Some people love goat cheese and goat milk, while other people are used to eating horse milk (both fermented and un-fermented, here in Kazakhstan).  Which brings me back to horse meat.  You've gotta be open to new things.  The sausage, by the way, is hecka tasty.  Michael's talking about bring some to the staff outing tomorrow to see if anyone is willing to try it.  I hope they do.

And yes, I did say "fermented and un-fermented horse milk".  It takes up half the dairy case.  There are as many different brands and bottles as there are types of bottled water in the US stores.  When your from a culture where horses might be the only livestock you have outside your yurt, that's what you go for.  Now, there's a lot of cow milk and goat milk, too.  I haven't tried horse milk yet, but I plan to do so when I get a recommendation for where to start!

In case you were wondering, we brought a few things with us from the USA.  Michael packed a five-pound back of corn tortillas.  We also brought Cholula, Chipotle Tabasco, whole dried chillies, peanut butter, Vegemite, and a few other things that we couldn't get when we were living in Japan four years ago.  Happily, we're finding that the Kazakh markets are certainly well-stocked.  There are some things that are hard to find and/or strangely expensive -- like cereal bowls (all too small), butter knives (two for $8!), and Tupperware-like containers.  I guess the bonus is that all of those things only need to be bought once.

Michael's in the kitchen making a pizza-type dinner out of some fresh round bread we bought today and some yummy-smelling tomatoes and basil.  (Post-note:  dinner was great!  Here's two photos:)

I hope in winter there are just as many yummy things to eat.  Fortunately, that feels a long way away today, as I sit here in the sunshine and cool breeze, settling down after a 90-degree day.

Also, I'm feeling happy that I got to talk to my parents in Australia, on Skype video-phone (free, over-the-internet, long-distance calls!).  Technology is so cool.

Bazaar Day

Today we got a little tour of the city, out on an excursion with the new teachers at our school.  We went to Almaty’s ‘famous’ Zeloni (Green) Bazaar, which is impressively large and has more stuff than you can possibly see in one trip.  We also went to the city’s main park, which is where the beautiful Russian Orthodox Church is located (a very old wooden church, with onion domes and golden crosses, made without any nails – only dowels, dove-tails and gravity!), along with a few war memorials and statues of influential people.  We ate shaslik, the Kazakh dish of skewered meat (usually lamb), grilled over a wooden-coal fire with plenty of steam and yummy spices.  Yum!

It was nice to get a chance to talk to some of the people we’ll be working with.  One of the directors stated that there are more than 100 staff members at the school (for 430 students) – a huge number, especially considering that my last school in Oakland ran on about 30 staff members (for 260 students).  One of the new teachers is going to be teaching 2nd grade.  This was actually the role I requested, since I’ve never taught at lower-elementary and I was told that this would be a good place to start.  I was offered first grade, which makes me both nervous and excited because that is such an important year for building foundational knowledge.  It turns out that this new teacher is actually a first-grade teacher, and she wanted to teach first grade, not second!  So, we were both nodding at each other and wondering, “wanna trade?”   We’ll see… we’re both going to think about it this weekend and then get back to the director, who thinks it would be fine to make that arrangement if it’s what we’d like to do.  On one hand, 2nd grade is what I wanted to teach and I feel less intimidated by it:  I’d be building on knowledge rather than setting the foundation.  On the other hand, I’ve been preparing myself to teach 1st grade since January, and it would mean that both the new teacher and I would get a chance to try something new and expand our experiences.  Either way, I’ll be enthusiastic and willing to dive in. 

We bought a map today and found out where our neighborhood bazaar is, so we’re going to go back tomorrow and see what’s on.  On the map, we also spotted the mosque we can hear so clearly at night.  I’d like to see what it looks like so I can picture the imam in his minarets when I hear him singing his beautiful song of praise.

First day in Almaty!

So, we’re just had our first 24 hours in our new home of Almaty, Kazakhstan!  It’s amazing to finally be here, after so much planning and more than a day in transit. 

The ladies at the United counter in Las Vegas were SOOOO helpful and sweet!  We got all 10 packages on the flight and they took care of us the whole way (we paid $200 per bag for 6 of those bags, since the first four were free).   We had our 8 bags plus our two bikes (foldable Dahon bikes that we rode around Ireland last summer).  (There's a photo of a very full truck-bed on the way to the airport.) After we checked everything in, we had this mini anxiety-moment when we thought “what if it doesn’t get there” and then “are we bringing way too much?”  All you can do in that situation is just take a deep breath and hope for the best.

We flew from Las Vegas to Chicago, Chicago to Frankfurt, and then Frankfurt to Almaty.  On the last flight, we spotted a family that we recognized from reading their blog about living in Kazakhstan.   We also met another couple of teachers for QSI at the baggage claim, since they also had ActionPackers coming down the conveyor belt!

Two of the school directors were there to meet us at the airport, along with four drivers with big vans to carry all the luggage.  It was so nice to have friendly faces to greet us at 2am in a new land!  Another employee from the school went shopping and picked up some basic kitchen supplies for us – milk, eggs, ham, yogurt, soap and a few other things to make sure we could make breakfast in the morning.  It’s nice to know that the school is well organized and has thought about the little things that help new teachers feel settled in a place where so many things are so new.   They helped us carry all of our stuff into our new place, deciding that it was indeed a nice apartment and we were well situated in the city. 

Even though we were quite tired from the trip, we took some time to unpack a few things (the quickest move-in ever!), when, at about 4am, we heard the call to prayer coming from a mosque in the distance.  We stopped what we were doing and went to the open window, listening to the song coming across the breeze and admiring our view of the city at night.  At daybreak, we crawled into bed.

We then got up only a few hours later, finishing our unpacking, doing some cleaning, and moving furniture to look more modern and less ‘ex-soviet’ :D.  (All of the couches were pushed against the wall in this huge room, and the window treatments covered the entire wall – even though the window was just average-sized – white sheer fabric with a pink valance-type fabric ‘accenting’ the top.  Add to that the blue ambient lights in the ceiling, and you’ve got a prom-photo backdrop in a room set up for a rave.)  "Before" and "After" shots are included above.   After we moved a few sofas, took down the curtains and gave everything a dusting, we were very happy with our place.  So much storage!  So many windows!  Such a great breeze!  What a modern kitchen!  And we have all new appliances and a brand-new flat-screen TV (which hooks up to our laptops with an HDMI cable, making it easy to display videos from the Internet on the television screen).

We then took a 6-hour walk around the neighborhood, seeing what food was around and what shops we had, getting a feel for prices (not too bad), the architecture (ex-Soviet, with some modern stuff popping up here and there), the driving culture (a little cray-zay!) and the fashions (mostly up-to-date and stylish for people our age).   We don’t immediately stand out as foreigners here, but, once people get a little closer to us, they might smile and say “hello!”  People walk at night, kids were playing outside at 9 pm, and grandmas were outside talking and sharing fruit.  We’re also hearing the calls to prayer more than 5 times a day, since its Ramadan (Holy Month).

Today, (Friday the 13th) we visited the school and saw the campus.  It’s beautiful: green grass, a rose garden, athletic field, new projectors and equipment, big windows, modern floors and plenty of supplies.  People were getting ready for the school year in the same ways we’re used to:  enrolling kids, having meetings, re-stocking books, patching holes in the walls, and generally getting excited about meeting new teachers and starting the school year.  I’m looking forward to it.

Kazakhstan is cool!  Even though we’re still a little melancholy when we think of how much we miss the Bay Area, we’re certainly not regretting the decision to come.

Start spreading the news...

We’re leaving for Kazakhstan in the morning and we are way too tired to be enthusiastic!  Actually, it’s past midnight, which technically means we’re leaving today… eeep!

We spent the last two days packing everything we think we’ll need in order to ‘survive’ for two years.  Have you ever really thought about how many of your possessions you could live without?  It’s really hard to decide which things are ‘vital to my day-to-day life’ and which are ‘nice to have, but could do without’.  Everything we’re going to bring has to fit into the 8 bags we have between us:  Kazakhstan is a land-locked country, which means that shipping things there is neither easy or cheap – we’ll need to fly in everything we want as accompanying baggage.

Four of those ‘bags’ are actually large Rubbermade containers, called “ActionPackers”, which are about the size of a large suitcase and have lock-able lids.   Michael read about them somewhere and decided that they sounded like the right thing to move our stuff in, but no-where in Vegas seemed to them.  (We’ve been visiting Michael’s mom there.)  While we were on our 8,000-mile Road Trip across the USA and Canada, Michael found an ACE Hardware in Denver who carried them.  We already had a full car, but I found a way to fit them in the back seat by playing Tetris with our stuff.

And now we’re back in Vegas, trying to fit everything into our bags.  We’ve got kitchen things, clothes, bathroom supplies (cold medicines, etc.), and a few classroom/teaching supplies (this was the hardest thing to decide on – which books are “best” when you use more than 20 on a regular basis?).   Plus, every bag has to weigh fewer than 50 pounds, which also limits what we pack.  Every bag over the first four (we’re allowed two free bags each) will cost us (actually the school as part of our shipping allowance) $200 each – so we’d better really want whatever it is we’re packing!  Everything else is staying in the storage unit we rented in Vegas, for us to decide on again later (when we move wherever we’re going next).  Also in the storage unit is our car.  Michael's mom is helping to take care of things while we're gone and will go and take it for a spin every month or so.  We got a 10x25-foot bin, which gave us room to put a bunch of boxes in the back.

We did a midnight run to Walmart (yes, there’s a 24-hour store here) to pick up luggage locks for the ActionPackers… only to find that the locks are very small and don’t hold the lid on!  Ha ha… So, we had to put on two locks to keep the lid on… which means we now don’t have enough locks and will need to go back to Walmart on the way to the airport tomorrow.  Sigh.
I love the adventure, but I hate moving.

6 years and counting

Today is our 6th wedding anniversary.  I am so happy Michael took me as a wife 6 years ago!  That’s a Friends reference… but in Greece, where we got married, that’s pretty much what happened.  Michael had to pay the mayor a goat for marrying us, then Michael signed a paper stating that I am now his wife.  I signed nothing – just stood there and looked pretty while the ‘trade’ took place.  (I was happy with the deal, though!)

I love you, Michael!  I’m glad we do everything together, since it’s hard to be homesick when I have my “home” with me everywhere I go.

8,000 miles on the way home

We’re home from our four-week, 8,000-mile Road Trip!  We had so much fun traveling around the USA and Canada, seeing places we’ve never seen and visiting friends and family we haven’t seen in years.  Here’s a basic summary of the cool stuff:

• Mount Rushmore:  it totally rocks!  I was really amazed by it.  I was expecting to like it, but I was way more impressed than I thought I would be. 
• Wisconsin:  probably one of the prettiest states we drove through.  Red barns, blue silos, green grass, golden wheat and black-and-white dairy cows that look like they were just Oxy-cleaned.  Add to that some great barbecue and a pack of squeaky cheese curds, and that’s a winner!
• Niagara Falls (Canada side): beautiful views of the water and a bustling town center with plenty of activities (Coney Island-style) for the kids.
• Montréal’s old town center:  cobbled streets, old buildings, local beer and some very yummy foods.
• Québec City and Île d’Orléans: a beautiful fortress city with so much to see, just by walking around.  The island is only a 20-minute drive away and very much worth the day-trip away from Québec.  It’s one of the oldest towns in North America, settled in 1642.  Buy some fresh strawberries from the guy who grew them – on farms that date back four hundred years.  Then, go into town and buy some fougasse, beautiful bread stuffed with olives, ham, feta, or whatever else they want to put in it. Yum!
• Portsmouth, New Hampshire:  a very picturesque New England town, also dating back to the 1600s.  We had such a lovely time visiting family there, hanging out with my aunt, uncle and young girl cousins.  We went swimming at nearby Pleasant Lake – aptly named, I must say.  We also went blueberry picking in Maine (only a 15-minute drive away) and ate some juicy lobster.  Hard to beat!
• Cape Anne and Boston, Massachusetts:  we got to visit some old friends and enjoy more lobster!  Nice.  Boston’s Freedom Trail is a very cool walk – seeing Paul Revere’s house and following his ‘midnight ride’.  Some of the countries more well-known ‘patriots’ of the American Revolution are buried there, near Boston Commons.
• Washington, D.C. and Front Royal, Virginia:  more family and friends to visit here (yay!).  We also got to see a Civil War re-enactment, and learn a lot about ammunitions and fighting methods of the day.
• Utah:  I talk about Southern Utah every chance I get because it has to be one of my most favorite places on earth.  GO THERE!  You cannot be disappointed by Arches National Park (Moab), Zion National Park, or Bryce Canyon National Park (in my top 3 favorite parks).  It also adds to it for me when I get to visit my wonderful family in Salt Lake City when I'm there.

There were so many other experiences every day that made the trip so worth the many hours of driving, and it was nice to see family again!

Okay, now we have to switch gears and start packing for Kazakhstan.  We haven’t been getting excited about it because there are so many things to do between now and then… difficult logistics often get in the way of enjoying an upcoming adventure.

We don't know each other but at all!

Brooke and I are having a fantastic roadtrip.  What a great way to say au revoir to North America (Do I sound like a Canadian?) until we can come back next year.  We're currently driving back to Las Vegas and will leave the US from there to Kazakhstan on August 10th so there's not too much time before then to get things done.

I'm blogging from the middle of Illinois.  The title of this posting?  I'm just having a little fun with one of Chandler's lines on Friends.  I think we know each other pretty well.  But, apparently Brooke had always thought I'd been to Chicago.  I haven't.  I thought she'd seen the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.  She hasn't, but she will today when we cross the Mississippi.  So much to learn about each other still after knowing each other for 17 years.

There are some blogs we'd like to catch up on writing soon about the places we've been and some great food we've had along the route.  I hope we can get to that soon, if not before leaving, then from Kazakhstan.

Jacuzzi sweeeeet! @ Niagara Falls

After our short time in Sault Sainte Marie (Michigan), we crossed the border to Ontario and began driving towards Niagara Falls.  I'd never been there, and Michael hadn't been since he was a teenager.

We arrived pretty late, getting into town at about 10:30 pm -- but we were surprised to see that the place was absolutely hopping.  People were everywhere.  Every business was open, loud music blared from stores, and outdoor eating areas were full.  We knew that the lights at the falls would be turned off at midnight, so we were working fast to park the car, find a room, and get down to the viewing platform in time.

I must have been pretty giddy about seeing the falls, because the lady at the Days Inn must have thought we were on our honeymoon:  we walked into our discounted room to see that she had given us a jacuzzi suite!  Yeah -- jacuzzi sweeeeeeet!  We made sure to thank her.

The falls are amazing!  We've been to Iguazu Falls in Argentina/Brazil, so we've seen some super amazing falls... but Niagara still had the beauty and grace of a well-respected older woman.  (Like the Helen Mirren of waterfalls...?)  She was still very impressive!  We went back before checking out of the hotel, to see it in the daylight.  Lots more people around than there were at night, but still plenty of space to admire the falls.

Unfortunately, we had a problem to solve:  somewhere between Las Vegas and Niagara, one of our tires sprung a leak.  We didn't notice it until the Badlands National Park (South Dakota), when we thought the tire appeared low.  Then, we noticed in Sault Sainte Marie that it was certainly losing air, since it was half-way flat.  We drove across Ontario, stopping every 100 miles or so to top up the tire.  So, after only a day in Canada, we had to dip into New York to get to the nearest Firestone (we have a tire warranty as well as a number of other "lifetime" service plans with them).  The tire got a nail in the sidewall, which is an un-repairable injury.  So, they replaced the tire and sent us on our way.  We were pretty happy to have it fixed.  It's a good little car, our Focus!

So, with a tire fixed and Montreal still on the agenda, we knew we wanted to get back to Canada.  Did I mention that we're pretty tired?  Yeah... staying up late a few days in a row and getting up early to get on the road -- it all adds up.  Oh well.  We made it. We're in Brockville, Ontario for the night.  The border patrol was a little curious about our crossing twice in one day, but after several questions to establish we were not undesirable, he bid us good day and sent us back into the beautiful wilds of Southern Ontario.

It's beautiful here!  The "1,000 Islands" of the Lawrence River, the marshes and the low-lying fog... it's very picturesque.  We're hearing a lot of French on the radio already, and I can't wait to see Montreal!  I've been wanting to go there for quite a while.

Adieu!

Update for the past three weeks

It has been an eventful past three weeks.  Here are a few things we've been up to since the last time I updated our blog:

1. Sadly, we left the East Bay on June 30th, I driving the U-Haul and Brooke driving our car behind me.  We had breakfast at our favorite Cole Coffee in Rockridge in Oakland and then we got on the freeway and left town (for now).  I say, "for now," because I don't like to think it will be the last time I am there -- I'm sure it won't.  Will we live there again, I'm not sure.  The idea that you do something "once in a lifetime" doesn't sit well with us.  I don't really like that expression.  We had a great time in the Bay Area, but now it's time for other adventures and new chapters in our lives.  We'll definitely be back to visit our friends and will once again be sitting at Cole Coffee (if we can get a seat) drinking our favorite dark elixir.
   
2. We put our belongings into storage in Las Vegas.  Those things we decided to keep are boxed up and will be there for us when we decide what to do with them -- maybe ship them to some other location where we'll be living.  For now, though, they're not coming with us to Kazakhstan.  Our car is one of the things that will go in the storage bin (and take up the most space).  My mom will drive it now and then for us to keep it in working order, but we figured it would be cheaper to store it than to rent a car for the summer when we come back next year.
   
3. We visited Brooke's family in Salt Lake City for the 4th of July.  That was great.  Family, fireworks, barbecue, and just being able to catch up.
   
4. We went for two nights to Flagstaff to meet up with Brooke's uncle, aunt, and kids from Phoenix and Brooke's aunt, uncle, and cousins from Salt Lake.  They rented a cabin and we had a great time playing together in the woods (my introduction to motorsports!) and cooking and eating...before we had to leave to...
   
5. Attend a funeral in Southern California.  Actually, it was a double funeral for my Uncle Steve who passed away in May and my Grandma who passed away in June.  It was a nice time to reflect on how much these people meant to our family and to celebrate the memories that we had with them.
   
6. Take off across the United States and Canada on a ROAD TRIP!  Brooke and I really enjoy traveling together, obviously.  Last year, when we realized that we would probably be living overseas again, we decided that we needed to take a road trip across the US and Canada.  With so many places to go, we decided that it would be pretty cool to see some areas of the US we haven't been to yet.

• After the funeral we went back to Las Vegas for a couple of days.
• Then we set off up the I-15 through Nevada, Arizona, and Utah to the I-70 to Colorado.  This route is so beautiful.  The rocks and canyons are all different shades of orange and red.  It's definitely easy to stay alert.  In the middle of nowhere, we rescued a stranded motorist in Utah who ran out of gas and whose radiator was leaking all over the place.  We stayed the first night in Fruita, Colorado.
• The next day we continued the next day into the Rockies.  Amazing mountains!  The route passes famous ski resorts like Vail and Breckenridge and twists through narrow canyons.  We went to Rocky Mountain National Park and ended the day in Greeley, Colorado where we visited some of my former students whose parents moved their families to find work in the meatpacking business there.
• We continued on through Wyoming, Nebraska, and into South Dakota.
• The next day we saw the Crazy Horse Memorial and then went to Mount Rushmore (impressive).  We really enjoyed the rolling, mossy green hills of this area.  We continued after Mount Rushmore to Badlands National Park and then stopped in Murdo, only because we were tired.
• We continued on through South Dakota, into Minnesota, and then down into Iowa for the heck of it, and back up to Minnesota.  The corn fields were beautiful.  We entered Wisconsin and stayed for the night in Thorp.
• We both thought the farms of Wisconsin -- beautiful red barns, silos, cows, and lush green fields -- was a highlight of our trip so far.  It reminds me a lot of the polder in Flanders, which I love.  We continued on up into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  I was surprised at how dense the forest is!  We had lunch along Lake Michigan and then walked in the water in Lake Superior.  Now I'm writing from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan just across from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada where we'll continue our trip tomorrow.

That's a lot of stuff.  We'll be one the road for a couple more weeks visiting family and friends along the way before we head back to Las Vegas and then leave to Kazakhstan.

Make your own rice paper rolls

Tonight, despite having food in the fridge to eat before we move in a few days, we decided to go to a great Vietnamese restaurant in Oakland, Bình Minh Quán.  The Life Academy staff went there after graduation and Brooke knew it would be right up my alley.  It was.

I love the make-your-own rice paper roll platter: tons of fresh herbs with grilled shrimp, fish cake, pork, chicken (and maybe something else).  It's fun to dip your own dry rice paper into the warm water, put it on your plate, load it with various yummy textures and combinations of sweet, sour, salty, and bitter flavors.  I want to go back.  We might have to go to Cam Huong before we leave for our favorite bánh mì.

Packing & Purging

Brooke and I have spent the day packing up our little cottage.  The living room at the moment looks like something out of the TLC TV show Hoarders.  There's stuff everywhere, but it's been productive.  We've been going through old school stuff (from Schwäbisch Gmünd, Melbourne, and SFSU) and throwing lots of stuff away.  We did what we thought might be impossible and have gotten rid of a lot of books.  (We love our books.)  We have a pile that we're going to send to Amazon in exchange for Amazon credit and a ton of others that we're going to take to Half Price Books in Berkeley and hopefully get some money for.  I've never sold books to them so I have no idea what we'll get.

Basically, our belongings are going into one of four categories:

1. Stuff worth taking with us to Kazakhstan (clothing, any books we want to use to teach with, special kitchen stuff).  If it's going to Kazakhstan, it will go as luggage with us on the airplane.
2. Stuff we're putting into storage for next year when we come back or stuff we might want to ship to a future assignment.
3. Stuff we're donating (mainly clothing and books for our schools).
4. Stuff we're selling.

Fortunately the furniture is all sold to the future tenants, all except for our beds which we're giving to our niece and nephew in Las Vegas.  We're very happy not to have to play Tetris with the sofa and table in the back of a U-Haul.  Actually, I'm sure Brooke would have a bit of fun with that.  We went to Target today and bought some plastic bins for packing books.  She was pretty proud of herself when she found just the right sized books to fit into the gaps.  The downside: the boxes are often pretty heavy.

There's still a lot more to do and it would be great not to have to pull and all-nighter the night before we move like we usually do.  Gotta reserve the U-Haul.

Another few steps closer

We're getting another step closer to moving to Казахстан (Kazakhstan).  I filled out our visa applications and sent them to the Embassy in Washington, DC today.  It's the first time I've needed a "letter of invitation" to apply for a visa -- a remnant from Soviet times.

Aside from that, I was up in the attic today pulling down our boxes so that we can start packing things up.  Brooke has already started.  We're lucky that the new renters of our cottage have bought most of our furniture so that we won't have to move it.  One of Brooke's colleagues bought our TV cabinet today so the TV is sitting on some boxes.  There is a lot of stuff in here and we're going to have to figure out what exactly we want to take with us to Kazakhstan and what will be put into storage for later.  We'll have a fully-furnished apartment provided as part of our contract in Almaty.  Our school has advised us to bring anything we want as luggage rather than shipping it due to issues with customs in Kazakhstan; the school is providing us an allowance for excess baggage.

Emotionally, it's a tough time.  My uncle passed away last month and my Grandma just last week.  Our family is having memorials for them in a couple of weeks and it has been a tough time for all of them.  We're also coming off the high of postsession, a time of year where we teach a group of students an all-day, three-week long art or PE class.  Brooke was teaching a food and culture class.  My class is bicycling and boating (kayaking, crew, and dragonboating).  I've taught that class for three years now and this year was the best: great co-teachers, students, and activities. It was good to end on a high like that, but it's really hard to say goodbye.  We love our schools in Oakland, colleagues, students, and where we live in Berkeley.  We're excited though for the opportunities that we'll have overseas and the chance to learn a new culture, language, and to teach new subjects.  I hope our friends and family will take us up on the offer to visit us at our new home in Central Asia.

All done, California

After four years of teaching in California, we're packing up our things for another international move.  Michael and I are moving to Kazakhstan!  We're sad to be leaving California, our friends and our students.  But, at the same time, we're very excited to be moving on to a new adventure.   We'll be working for Quality Schools International, a network of international schools providing an American-style education in over 35 locations around the world.  We'll be teaching in Kazakhstan, at Almaty International School.   Michael will be teaching Social Studies and English to 12- and 13-year-olds, while I'll be teaching 1st grade!   It will be a huge change from high school, but I'm really looking forward to it. 

So, last Friday was the last day of school for us here in California, and it was hard to say goodbye to the people that I have come to love.  At the same time, I'm happy to think that my world of friends is about to expand.  Kids I don't even know now will be "my kids" by the end of the year.   And a city I've never seen before will be "home".  It's not the first time we've moved internationally.  I know there is a lot of work to do between now and then, a lot of surprises will come up and a whole bunch of new situations will be thrown at us.  But we'll also get to grow as professionals, learn a new culture, and see new places and meet new people.  Best of all, we get to go together!

So, all done California!  We've loved living here.  We've loved teaching here.  We've loved the landscapes, the people, the schools where we've worked.  We promise to come back and visit. 

Reflection on 2007 visit to Pashupatinath Temple

Earlier this week I used the new Google Buzz to comment on another teacher's reflection on his visit to the ghats in Varanasi, India. You can visit the original article and see my own reflection to a similar visit in Nepal below.

I've seen this ceremony in Nepal, at Pashupatinath Temple (पशुपतिनाथको मन्दिर) on the Bagmati River near Kathmandu. It was one of the most interesting sights I've seen in travels to about 45 countries. Your story brought some of these memories back, though I don't remember smelling anything like roasting meat.

What was so interesting was that never before had I seen strangers dealing with death before. Men paid a few rupees for someone to shave their heads along the side of the river before the ceremony began. Sons placed bundles of burning straw on the mouth of their loved-ones. A particularly vivid image is the wood of a funeral pyre collapsing, crackling and sending embers breaking off, falling from the ghats and floating down the Bagmati. Out from the weakened structure and its wrappings came a woman's arm, fingers stiff and pointing toward the sky. It was as if the deceased woman was holding the flames in her old, wrinkled hand making her own offering. Families waited for this pyre to be extinguished as they removed their own family member's body from the back of a delivery van. Meanwhile workers swept ashes and chunks of unburnt wood and bone into the grayish-brown waters of the Bagmati and another crew of men quickly set up the next pyre before the smoke had finished rising from the concrete platform. In Nepal, all waste is sifted through multiple times and everything has many uses. The larger chunks of wood swept into the river didn't have to float far. They were scavenged about 100 meters downstream. I stood mesmerized watching the cremations happening on multiple platforms as these scenes repeated themselves.