A Happy Meeting in the South

Returning to the North after a couple of weeks in the South demands transitioning. I forgot how it felt like to be naturally warm after experiencing 5 months of straight bitter cold. When I left Lesnoye for the train station back in late March, a windstorm hit the village and left over a foot of snow overnight. It was questionable whether the buses would operate due to snowy conditions. Thankfully, they did and after a 3 hour bus ride to Kokshetau and 29 hour train ride to Shymkent, I arrived in the South to +20C sunshine. Just some shades and a coat and you’re good to go. After Shymkent, I headed over to Ecik (my first town) for a few days to see some local friends and then to Almaty for a 3 day long Peace Corps conference. I didn’t realize how much I missed the local friends in Ecik until I saw them. Catching up with other volunteers and listening to their stories showed me how diverse our experiences in Kazakhstan can be. Some volunteers have high-speed internets in their rooms and nice showers while other volunteers have no running water in their homes or at their schools. Others serve in sites which are completely Kazakh and others in sites almost completely Russian.

Lesnoye is over 90% Russian and everyone speaks Russian. Meeting Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Azerbaijanis, Uighurs, and even a couple of Indians down South was a change. Cooling down with a beer is something you would not do in the North during early Spring. But coming back North isn’t so bad. Getting back into the groove of teaching is energizing. There is still snow in Lesnoye and for the first time in over 10 years, I went skiing in the forest. Skiing in April! Only in the North.