Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween! Halloween is a holiday that most of our students have heard of, but not one that is generally celebrated here. So the yearly Halloween party that we throw with our classes is always a lot of fun. We started last week, teaching lessons on the traditions of the holiday and (one of my favorite lessons) the art of storytelling. At our English Club on Friday we took our cue from the season- our topic was ghosts, witches, and fortune telling. It was a great opportunity to discuss the reality and dangers of such practices.

The weekend was spent preparing for the party (pumpkin shopping, anyone?) and putting together our costumes. It's interesting to do it without the benefit of ready-made costumes and props, though Sara did find a shop with some cool stuff. She and Jennifer ended up portraying the 1940's and 20's respectively, and I got a chance to try my hand at victory rolls. Word to the wise- they are not so easy. We would have done better to have a bit more time to practice. But it turned out well enough in the end. Amy went as a clown and I, true to form, was still wandering around the apartment at 1am the night before looking for inspiration. I ended up going as a nun, though I felt more like Maria von Trapp.

Our class parties went well, although we were decidedly more organized with our second classes than with the first. We bobbed for apples, told scary stories, had a costume contest, and did a mummy wrap. Everyone had fun, and we now have sweets and beverages enough to last until the end of time (or at least Thanksgiving break).

After classes, we had our various non-student friends over for a second party. We ate a lot more of said sweets and played a few fun games. The evening took a more subdued turn, though, when the doorbell rang around 11:30, and not with cute kids looking for candy. Our upstairs neighbor had come down to complain of the noise and inform us that she had called the police. We quieted down, of course, and several of our friends hung around to talk to the police for us. We were so grateful for their presence. Not only were they able to translate, but they also were able to run interference with the police and reassure us, as locals, that it was nothing to worry about. In the end, we simply recieved a verbal warning and multiple reminders of the law about keeping quiet after 11pm. The policemen also took it upon themselves to usher our guests out the door before them. Needless to say, after this we will be imposing an 11pm curfew on our friends hanging out here. If we want to hang out more after that, we'll go to a cafe.


All in all, it was a (mostly) fun, event-filled day. Though the ending left a little something to be desired, it was certainly memorable. Never a dull moment when you live in Kazakhstan!

Pictures of Kazakhstan

The other day I was sitting on a minibus on my way to school. There was a perforated metal partition separating the driver from the rest of the bus. As I sat there I noticed that if I looked past the driver and out the window, the circles often framed perfect little vignettes of the city as we drove by: a woman crossing the street, people walking down the sidewalk, all the cars on Bukhar Zhirau (the main street in town), a bus driver reflected in his side-view mirror, a family at a bus stop, the father smoking a cigarette... I wish I could have caught them on an actual camera, but it just wouldn't have looked the same.

Since I can't share those little pictures with you, I thought I'd try to paint some word pictures of life here, gathered over the last few weeks. So here you go- snapshots of Kazakhstan:

• Meeting friends just to go for a walk. Why do we hardly ever do this in the states anymore?


• We're ordering a combo at a fast food restaurant, and they won't allow us to choose which fountain drink we want, despite the fact that all three options cost exactly the same price. When we ask for a 7-UP, they simply point at the picture of the combo. See? It comes with Pepsi.


• Cramming four people, plus purses, school bags, and at least one computer bag into the backseat of a taxi. It was cozy.


• A big pickup truck parked in our courtyard one day and opened up the back to reveal hundreds of sacks of potatoes. He produced a scale and lockbox out of the back seat and then proceeded to sit on the tailgate calling out to passersby. I did not stop to buy some at the time, and have regretted that decision ever since. It has now become a goal of mine to buy potatoes from the back of a truck before the year is out.


• Some students were giving us a ride home after classes one evening and the guy was carrying a bag of trash for me (I was just carrying it until I could find a trash can). As we got into the car I noticed that he didn't have it, and figured he'd found a place to throw it away. Then I looked out the window as we drove away and yep- there was my trash bag sitting on the curb, all by itself.


• Walking a friend home after dark one evening. Our arms are linked as we navigate around mud and various puddles, and she's telling us about an old Kazakh superstition that if you give a baby a terrible name, it is more likely to survive. That's why some Kazakh names apparently don't stand translation!


• Buying milk in a bag. I don't know why, but it just cracks me up every time.


• We got locked inside our classroom in my first class one day. That's right. Locked inside. Someone from the school must have come by and thought the room was empty. We had to pound on the door and call out for someone to go get the key and let us out! :)


• On our way home one night, the marshrutka (mini-bus) stopped about 4 stops early and kicked everyone off. Apparently he just decided that he was done for the night!


• It's a beautiful day and the courtyard is full of people (50 or more): old men and women sitting on benches talking, mothers with strollers, little kids on the playground or chasing each other around cars with imaginary guns, boys playing soccer, clumps of teenagers talking or playing cards, people on their way to or from school, work, the bus stop, or the store, people hanging out their laundry to dry or beating their rugs... I love this kind of community!

So there you have it. Mental snapshots of my life here in the past month.

Oh, Kazakhstan... Sometimes you confuse me, often you make me chuckle, but mostly you just make me smile!