Dec 17th 2010

What a difference a year makes. Last winter, I struggled with filling up the breaks of time once lessons ended. Numerous instances arose where I questioned myself whether I was useful or needed in Lesnoye. This winter, there simply isn’t enough time. On top of my 22 lessons, I am occupied tutoring, writing up a grant, planning seminars, keeping in physical shape, and of course integrating. Tutoring a few extra dedicated students when that early winter sun sets is motivating, writing up an English Resources grant has taught me much professionally, and planning teaching seminars keeps me in tune with the bigger educational picture in Sandiktau County. So, yes I am finally seeing some concrete results at my pioneer site. After coming back from a Peace Corps mid service training conference, the village mayor expressed her appreciation for my service by posting a banner of Peace Corps with me in it at Lesnaya School.

This is the latest Blog from Roshan, sent Nov 6th '10
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Many interesting days have entertained me this past week. This past Wednesday, I led a round table at the Teacher’s Institute in the city of Kokshetau . Getting to Kokshetau from my village tests your patience. Waiting for 30 minutes in the snow with a strong wind for sure gave me energy for the presentation. There I am, waiting with the snow whipping into my face in my suit and polished shoes. The round table went well and it was worth the trip. When I arrived home in the early evening, Anatoli (my host father) yelled, “Roshan you want kill pig?” Anatoli is a meat businessman and I’ve always wanted to see him at work. He tells me to hurry up and get out of my professional clothes and into my dirtiest clothes. Of course, I simply watched the process. Those were 30 minutes in which I was glad I was in my scruffiest of clothes.

Blog#4 ( view earlier Blogs first)

This past week, the county I volunteer in hosted a big English teaching seminar. English teachers from 3 counties came for the 7 hour seminar. The head of English education in the state also attended so there was a bit of tension in the air but thankfully all went well. In addition to assisting in organizing the seminar, I played an active role during the seminar: co-taught in one lesson, co-hosted a English Jeopardy game and led a round table discussion on lesson planning with measurable objectives and team practice activities. Two other PCVs, Scott and Myles, helped out at the round table and that made the practicum flow more fluidly. It was a great professional day and one to remember when I experience those future inevitable not so positive teaching days.

Blog# 3 (read earlier Blogs first)

Returning after international travel is tough. For ten days, I visited New Dehli, Jaipur ('the Pink City'), Agra, and Hyderabad. This was my first international travel after joining the Peace Corps and it was an important trip for I got to reconnect with my parents and Indian heritage, Pictures better capture India's beauty and uniqueness than words. Hope it does not take too long to readjust to the gray cement buildings and empty streets of Kazakhstan.

Blog#2- Read earlier email first

Arriving in Kazakhstan as a tourist is a rare thing to the locals. The tourists Kazakhstanis usually encounter in the North come from Russia so language isn't an issue. However, when Americans come over with no Russian, communicating the simplest of requests becomes an art. Hence, when my parents visited for a week, my Russian fluency increased dramatically.

The three of us visited Astana first and it was a first for all of us. Astana is an exception to Kazakhstan. After the cleanliness and modern facades of Astana, we headed to 'raw Kazakhstan.' My parents enjoyed Lesnoye and expected less accomodating conditions from a village of 900 people. Their hearts are more at ease now after being warmly and generously welcomed by the locals.

Hello everyone - my aplogies for not updating several of Roshan's Blogs , as I was in India & had major difficulty trying to do this. So you will see a number of his blogs , starting from the earliest he sent.... Roy ( Roshan's Dad)

Roshan's Blog:

Touring Kazakhstan as a volunteer during the summer is great. You vacation while you work and in the end Peace Corps views your travel as work so no vacation days are counted against you. There’s a Peace Corps rule that states you need to spend at least 30 days at your site during the 3 months of summer. Initially, I thought this would be no sweat. As of now, even after leading a summer camp at my site, I will barely make the 30 day summer quota. This wasn’t intended but so many opportunities to travel and work presented themselves in the forms of summer camps and projects that I could not let them slip by. Serving in a village, I dedicated my time to opportunities in Kazakhstan’s cities. Thus far, I have visited TaldyKalgan, Almaty, Karaganda, Kokshetau, and Petropovolisk this summer. A couple of villages have entertained me as well but I will remember the cities for I missed the city rush after the cow and sheep traffic of my village. The pics are from more good times in Petropovolisk where I played the role of a Russian-English translator at a history museum for about a week.

Summer Camps & Having Fun

TWO BLOGS FROM ROSHAN:

1st Blog -Summer Camp & Having Fun

Summer time flies by as a PCV. For you future Kaz volunteers, the summer is a much deserved gift after the drawn out limitations brought by the cold. After the school year ends, education volunteers often transition from educators to summer campers. Almost every volunteer travels by train around Kazakhstan to either lead or assist at summer camps.
My first summer camp took place at my site. It was the county’s first ever free summer language camp so the pressure was on. Many locals did not know what to expect from three Americans. I led the summer camp but two other PCV friends (Erica and Charlie), my counterpart, and three students provided essential support. Coordination was key and that was the main reason the camp was an overall success. The camp entertained 5th, 6th, and 7th graders from Lesnaya and Balkashino secondary schools. The camp theme was American Culture. Charlie led Art, Erica led Dance and Song, while I led sports. Throughout the weeklong camp, around 40 to 50 students came daily. Since the camp ended around 1pm each day it was in session, there was lots of ample time to hang out with the volunteers afterwards. Great Times!

2nd BLOG - Another Camp & more Fun

South Kazakhstan has some great cities and landscapes. For my second camp, I headed down to Taldykalgan (a city of about 200,000 people) to assist at a camp organized by PCV Ford’s organization. Taldy’s a small lively city with a modest sized Uighur and Korean population. You can buy ice-cold Shu-bat (Camel’s milk) on the streets and dine on dog meat at a few Korean restaurants if you go with a local. The second camp took place about an hour away from Taldy in the high hills. It was a chill two week language camp where we stayed with the kids the entire time at the campsite without TV or internet. Simple living: squat toilets and banyas (Russian saunas). It was all good. We assisted the language instructors a couple hours in the late morning and after that the camp was chill. There was plenty of time to go hiking in the neighboring hills, play ball with the campers, and just lounge. Over the two weeks, the campers participated in sport activities, treasure hunts, dance competitions, and dress-up skits (one where the gender roles were switched for a night).

Now for the Summer Action

Winding down the school year demands patience and flexibility. The school year ended on May 25th. After all the testing and grades, I can still honestly say I still love teaching after four years of it. So, the first year of Peace Corps teaching has ended. What am I going to do during those long summer days when the sun only sets around 11pm? I’ll be busy at summer camps and traveling. As of now, I’ll be leading a summer camp in Lesnoye, assisting at a camp in the southern city of Taldykalgan , and then helping out a fellow volunteer with his museum project afterwards in the north. Finally, I’ll probably tour Kazakhstan with my parents after savoring spicy curry and drinking some cooling coconut juice with them in South India .

Almost everyone in Lesnoye grows their own vegetables and potatoes. Cabbage, onion, radish, beets, and carrots grow well in Kazakh soil. My host family has substantial property. Their vegetable garden is huge and demands lots of work. On top of growing vegetables, they also grow strawberries, boysenberries, and blackberries. After getting home around 4, I till the earth and shovel soil till about 9pm with Aliona and Anatoli. Getting to see the results of your hard work and feeling your back muscles strengthen is a reward in itself. Plus, you sleep like a sack of potatoes after working. This rigorous farm hand work is a first for me in my life. I wouldn’t make a profession out of it but it’s great for the time being. After all this work, the family and I went to the nearby forest for some R & R.

AHH! The thrill of Spring!

Kazakhstan is not all barren rough steppes. The snow has melted and many wildflowers and streams have surfaced almost overnight in the north. Though professional projects and duties occupy much time, I still have time leftover to relish the outdoors since the sun only sets around 9:30 nowadays. Two fish species swim through Lesnoye for a period of 10 days. The locals are on this. At the streams, locals catch the 6 inchers with their wire nets. The fishing is relatively simple: dip your wire net into the stream, hold it very still for about 10-15 seconds, and finally pull it swiftly out of the water. Sometimes, there’ll be as many as 3 or 4 six inchers flapping away in the wire meshing. Over the course of two hours, Viktor (one of my students) and I caught about 70 fish. The locals enjoy salting and sun-drying the little fellas.

Russian food does not have the best reputation. Yes, Russian food is generally on the bland side of the taste spectrum but when you sample fresh Russian honey and sallow, your opinion on Russian cuisine will change. My host father Anatoli is a businessman. He sells honey to local villages and pork to the cities. He has ten pigs in the sty year round and raises 6 bee homes (about 50 hives) during the warmer months. So, this means we sometimes eat very fresh pork and get to sample fresh honey. Honey straight off the comb is out of this world delicious. Sallow is a Russian delicacy. It’s like really fatty tasty bacon (see pic) without the meat. So, it is 100% pig fat and keeps you real warm and satisfied during the 6 months of snow.