Third Month into Kazakhstan's winter

Three months of Winter and just two more months of snow to go L. This past week, my manager Natalia visited Lesnoye for her first site visit. Arriving to a slightly chilly -36C, there were unfortunately no students at school so just school staff welcomed her. Natalia does site visits with all the volunteers in the Akmola and North Kazakhstan oblasts. Over some chai and sweets, she met with the director, lead English teachers, and administrators to casually discuss my professional progress and their professional wants. Thankfully, positive things were shared by the Lesnaya school staff and Natalia gave me sound practical advice on how to reach out to even more students and teachers in neighboring communities.

Lesnoye, though only 900 people strong, is the village center. Every school morning, weather permitting, a school bus brings in students (grades 5-11) from three neighboring villages: Gramikovka (300 people), Richnoye (500 people), and Baistrimovka (500 people). These students are then bussed back to their respective villages in the afternoon. Lesnaya School has about 200 students and half of them come from the three neighboring villages. Presently, I am the only PCV in Sandiktau County and this county is sprinkled with villages like Lesnoye and has a county center of Balkashana which has about 8,000 residents. The plan is to start connecting with other local teachers professionally and socially.