AUGUST BRIDES

Well I should have written about this a little earlier (like August maybe) but I never got around to it until now. I would like to share about weddings here and how it is possible for everyone in downtown Karaganda to be involved in your wedding if you choose to have it here in the city. The reason I say that is because the wedding tradition is similar to ours but a little more extreme in the way they celebrate once the ceremony is over. Not only do all the invited guests get to throw rice (actually I don't know if they throw anything) and wave good-bye to the new couple as they climb into their elegantly decorated car, but the rest of the people who are innocently wandering around downtown can share in this celebration whether they like it or not...

Imagine you are walking downtown in Karaganda on a fine August day minding your own business and looking for a cafe to stop and eat lunch. Suddenly out of nowhere you hear a lot of loud honking coming down the road. As you turn, you see what looks like a line of cars trying to have a parade...only they forgot to get a city permit to have the roads closed off for the afternoon. So here comes a brand new Mercedes (yes they have them here too) all decorated and the driver is honking his horn and swerving around all cars that get in his way (even buses are no longer king of the road). Inside this Mercedes are the bride and groom sitting in the back seat enjoying their five minutes of fame and attention thanks to their oh-so-careful driver. Behind the lead car come at least three or four other cars similarly decorated and honking their horns as well. The cars continue on down the road, breaking countless traffic laws as they go.

When I first saw this little Karaganda wedding tradition, I was quite amused. But then after walking downtown for about two hours that day, I saw it happen not once, but about five or six times! Everyone gets married on Saturday in August in Karaganda! And after a while it is not funny anymore, but annoying and dangerous because the drivers pay no attention to traffic laws. Fortunately since they are honking all the way down the road, it is usually easy to tell when a wedding party is about to pass through...kind of like when you hear the sirens for an emergency vehicle. Hmm...that's quite a contrast.

BACK ACHES/DREAMS CONTINUED

Well fortunately after much wrestling and bargaining with my bed, I have rigged it in such a way that I no longer experience any more aches...at least for now. So that's one good thing out of the way. My dreams on the other hand are an entirely different story. I cannot explain how some of these dreams are getting into my head at night but they are entirely random. I cannot even share in detail because they are just too strange. I continue to analyze my sleeping patterns to try and understand what's going on inside my head at night. I think maybe that's when I let out all my stress. I guess that's better then letting it out during the day when I'm actually around living people. The drama continues...and everyone wants to know, "what will Joel dream about tonight?!" Then again...maybe you don't.

- posted by Joel @ 12:49 AM

 
MORE BUS ACTION TODAY

Today's bus ride downtown was unusually eventful inside the bus. I have shared a little bit before about what it is like to ride on a bus in Karaganda's just like most buses in the sense that most people keep to themselves. There is not a lot of conversation going on between people unless there is a group of younger or older friends riding together on the bus. Well today I observed another chanting demonstration from two young Arabic speaking children. Today it was a young boy and a young girl that were making their rounds on the bus and asking for money. Today was a little different because as soon as the young boy started his chant, the ticket collector for the bus immediately began to scold him in some way that I did not completely comprehend. I knew that the bus collector was unhappy about it, but the boy continued his chant although not with quite the same enthusiasm. After the boy finished, both he and the girl went up and down the aisle asking for money. There was a unusually vocal older gentlemen standing next to me at the time this incident occurred and soon he was conversing the ticket collector about the boy's song. I could not tell if the older man was agreeing with the ticket collector or telling him to let the boy alone. After the ticket collector moved on down the bus, I found it amusing that the older man continued to debate with no one in particular...or maybe he was talking to me and I just didn't know it (I usually try to avoid eye contact when someone is talking in an animated fashion in Russian). So the whole experience was exciting just because the bus ride is usually uneventful and not many people talk during the ride.


- posted by Joel @ 9:52 AM

 
WEATHER CHANGES

Well today we had the first "real" cold day of the season since we arrived in Karaganda. I looked out the window at the thermometer this morning and saw that it was a chilly 8 degrees Celsius. The wind was blowing pretty well and I suddenly remembered what it was like to live in North Dakota for a year and a half. Of course this is only the beginning...I didn't have to put on a hat or gloves yet, which was good because I haven't bought any gloves (that's my mission this weekend).

It has also been raining the last few days and today it actually turned to snow for a little while. So I don't know if this weather is here to stay, but I guess I better get used to doing a lot more activities inside.

ETC. ETC.

Classes have gone well the last two days. We have been discussing occupations and analyzing the definition of business. The class seems to be enjoying it so far. Yesterday they performed the activity of writing down one occupation for each letter of the alphabet. One student was very creative for the letter "U" when he spoke up and said that his group wrote down a UFOgrapher: someone who studies UFO. :) We had a good laugh over that one.


- posted by Joel @ 11:33 PM

 
September 21, 2003

VISITING THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

(Note: Today's entire journal is based on my personal observations of today. I do not make any claim to be a expert on the religion and rituals of the orthodox church, so if I explained anything wrong or observed something that just seemed very out of place or contradictory, please forgive me and then write me to let me know because there were a great many people in this service and a great many things going on at once that I tried my best to remember)

Today I went to visit the local Russian Orthodox church here by are apartment. I was going for the cultural experience, but I also was interested in the religious aspect of their methods of worship and belief in God. As I entered the church, the first thing that caught my attention was the people who stopped at the front entrance of the building and made the sign of the cross and bowed before the large portrait of baby Jesus and Mary hanging out on the front entrance of the church. I would continue to see many more “signs of the cross” for the rest of my time inside the church.

All women in the church wore a head covering. Many were older women (Babushkas/grandmothers) who were very devout in their methodology and worship during the service. I surprised to see such a large number of women there as compared to the men, although the older women were not unexpected because the average life span of a man in Kazakhstan is about 55 years old.

I entered the church, which they called a temple, and walked into the sanctuary. I immediately saw one of the priests walking slowly around the outside of the sanctuary, swinging a instrument with bells and a tea cup-like contraption on the end of it. Apparently it was some sore of incense because every time he would swing it out, smoke would come out of the cup on the end of it. The scent of the incense was apparent immediately.

In this sanctuary, there are no chairs, except for a scattered few benches reserved for those who could not stand for long periods of time. The rest of the congregation stood for the entire service of about two hours. I noticed a couple of lines forming as soon as I entered, and I saw that one of them was a book store type of area where people could by icons and pictures of Christ and the saints. The people were also purchasing candles which they used later on during the service. Another line forming made its way over to a table were other people were making purchases of some sort. What they were buying, I could not tell.

Another table had a icon of a crucifix, and a picture of Christ on it. Many people were coming to this table and placing lighted candles that they had purchased at the book store into candle holders in front of the crucifix. Most would stand silently and make the sign of the cross while praying. A lady stood by and replaced the candles when they burned down too low which allowed for others to put their new candles in front of the crucifix and say their prayers.

The inside of this church was beautiful. There was artwork everywhere around me on the walls and on tables. At the front of the sanctuary was a massive wall of carved wood that reached from floor to ceiling and corner to corner. Carved into this wall were picture frame locations, and each of these locations held a gold-framed portrait of Christ or some other Biblical storyline such as the Passover Feast or the baptism of Christ. Up at the top of this wall hung a large portrait of Christ portrayed to be sitting on the throne in heaven. Above his head was a image of the Father and many angels surrounding Christ. To His left and right sat Mary and Joseph. To the right and left of this portrait of Christ hung an individual portrait of each of the twelve disciples with what I believed to be Peter and John as the two closest portraits on his right and left. The remainder of this wall had many other portraits, but at the bottom in the center of the entire woodworking was a set of intricately carved wooden café style doors that must have been about 15 feet high. When the service started, these doors opened to reveal a table with many sacraments on it. The priests were in this room and they entered in and out of this area during the entire service.

The service began with a male voice chanting some sort of prayer in Russian. I soon realized that he was standing in a balcony in the upper left corner of the sanctuary. His voice resounded throughout the entire place and could be easily heard. Soon after, a choir of female voices rang out from the balcony and I had the strange feeling that I was in some movie with singing nuns…at least it was a like a movie. The voices were angelic to listen to and I knew at that point that I was not about to be singing and praise and worship songs on this morning.

The chanting and singing went on for a long time while the priests performed various ritualistic motions that I did not really understand. Many times the priest with the incense would come out and shake it in certain directions. Many times at certain points in the prayers and singing the people would do the sign of the cross and bow toward the front of the sanctuary. I heard from a friend about the symbolism in the way they make the sign of the cross. The sign is performed with the right hand and the thumb and first two fingers are joined together in a triangular formation while the last two fingers are placed in the palm. The first three fingers represent the trinity of God, while the last two fingers placed in the palm symbolize the nail prints in the hand of Christ (I think that is correct, but I could be wrong). Anyway, I saw this motion performed quite a bit more often than I expected.

The message was very short, perhaps only 20 minutes, and then there were several other rituals performed before the end of the service. Toward the end of the service, the chanting prayer person led the congregation in a singing of one of the creeds and also the Lord’s prayer. At this point, the service seemed to end and some people dispersed. The remainder of the people stayed for communion. I was curious and so I observed for a little while and found that the people lined up to make their way up to the priests. Each person would approach the two priests, and one of the priests would take a spoon full of the wine (I suppose) and give it to the person to drink. The second priest would then use a towel to wipe the chin of the person. Finally the person would lightly kiss the base of the cup from which they drank the wine. The next person would then approach the priests and do the exact same thing. They all shared the same spoon and rag and kissed the same cup. At this point I decided I would go home and come back another day. I had hoped to take pictures, but I did not know if I was allowed, and I knew the crowds would be in there for a very long time.

All in all, it was a very interesting experience, and I thought a lot about what God truly means to all of these people as they were performing their rituals, singing the creeds, and taking communion. I children following their parents around in obedience of the rituals, I saw many older women who were very serious about the entire process, I saw older men, some who seemed serious, and others who seemed only to give the sign of the cross at certain times they felt important…like they were doing the bare minimum, I saw a young girl walk to the back of the church holding her nose in disgust as the scent of the incense perforated the room, and I also saw a women visibly sobbing after the service while standing and looking at a picture of Christ. So I saw many different things today in the church, and I think that it is very similar to other churches around the world. Some are there and are fully committed to the teachings of the church, others are there to relieve the burden of guilt from their week of living according to their selfish desires, others are extremely focused on performing the same rituals over and over again whether it really means anything to them, and some are there not because they understand but because their parents brought them.





- posted by Joel @ 11:09 PM

 
FIRST WEEK OF CLASSES

So you probably want to know what my first week of class has been like. Well to put it bluntly, the Bible verse, “pray without ceasing” has certainly played a part in my days this week. Of course, I’ve been so busy that I have sent up a lot of those little “mini prayers” that often are the only option when you know you don’t have time to get on your knees by yourself and pour out your heart.

My classes are configured in such a way that I have the same students every night. So I teach two classes of 90 minutes each Monday through Thursday. This week, it has been all I can do to stretch out the material for that amount of time. Of course I am getting better with practice and learning better how to make an activity more interactive with my entire class rather than just having some of the students participate. My first class ended up much too short, and since then I have been learning to adjust so that my lessons will last longer and complete the given time period. Wednesday was the first time I actually had more material than I needed to use for the class period. I know I will get better with that in time. Next week I will be looking to develop a better idea of what type of business topics we will cover during the remainder of the semester.

My first full class period was spent continuing my introductions from last week’s 30 minute class. I used a US map to show my students where I was born and how many places I had moved to while growing up. I then handed them some pictures of my family, my roommates in Sacramento, and…what I thought was a picture of my dog, Charky. What I had forgotten was that I had decided not to bring a picture of my dog and instead bring a different one. Some students in class started giggling as I told them about Charky, and I couldn’t figure out what was so funny. Finally, one girl took the picture I had handed out (I hadn’t looked at it before giving out), and showed me that it wasn’t a picture of my dog at all, but of me and my roommate, Dennis, at a baseball game! They all thought it was funny though and I quickly corrected myself and told them where that picture had been taken. I ended that first day of classes by asking if I could take each of the student’s pictures with my digital camera so I could “place a face with a name.” They all let me, and it has helped me a lot with remembering names and recognizing faces. I know almost of their names now.

On Thursday, we discussed the highest paying jobs in America and none of the students guessed that the highest paying job on average is a doctor/surgeon. Here in Karaganda, doctors and surgeons are paid much lower for their work, so there is a big contrast in salary for that field of work as compared with America. I also stumped them on the word, Podiatrist. Most did not know the word, but at least one student in each class thought that this was a doctor who worked with children. I thought that it was very good guess, but corrected them and shared that it was actually a foot doctor. They could not figure out why a foot doctor would be paid so much money.

So my classes are good and my students are enjoyable. I know it will be a great challenge this year to plan all of my lessons, but I think that I will develop some good relationships with these students over time and have many chances to spend time with them outside of class. Your continued supplications for my time here are so valuable…


YO QUIERO CHIHUAHUA

Last Sunday, I added to my list of unusual foods that I have eaten in my lifetime. Today the seminary pastor took us to a nice Korean restaurant downtown after church. We ordered sabatchka soup and sabatchka salad. I was excited about eating “little dog” soup for the first time and it tasted half-way decent…like a mix between beef and something else (dog maybe?). About 15 people went for lunch and most of us tried at least a little bit. I couldn’t quite finish my entire salad though because there were actually some long bones sticking out of my meat and it looked too much like the real thing to me. Why is it we don’t get grossed out when we eat a chicken leg, but when it comes to little dog bones in our meat, it’s hard to stomach? I’m not sure, but I guess the fact that chickens aren’t considered “man’s best friend” makes them a little easier to digest. Anyway, the soup and salad were actually not on the menu, and we had to ask specifically for them. It was quite an adventure and I got some good pictures of our time, but I think that will be the last time I try to lower the stray dog population of Karaganda. Of course there are a lot of homeless cats wandering around too…

- posted by Joel @ 11:47 PM

 
WHERE'S MY DAY-TIMER?

So many things occur in five days. Tomorrow I complete my first full week of teaching, and it has definitely been a challenge to come up with a new 90 minute lesson for each day of class. All of the sudden, my schedule does not seem so open anymore. I believe that I will start feeling like I am back in college all over again once I begin to commit to evening activities because then all of my time will be taken up.

ANOTHER BUS EXPERIENCE

So this week I had another interesting cultural experience on the bus. I took a much less crowded bus at 11am on Tuesday morning and sat quietly in the back minding my own business. At one of the stops, I noticed two young boys step hesitantly on the bus, whispering to each other as they came on. Once the bus doors closed shut, the younger of the two boys began to sing a chant. I realized that he was chanting in Arabic (the boys looked like they were of middle-eastern decent). He chanted some sort of song that I did not understand, but it reminded me of being in a mosque or at Muslim service. After he was finished, the two boys walked up and down the aisle asking for a donation for their performance. Some people gave a few coins, others did not. I sat and watched attentively, and I was very interested in the whole situation. The rest of the bus ride was uneventful, but I'm sure this won't be the last time that I write about my bus rides.

BIRTHDAYS IN KAZAKH CULTURE

I was told last week about how special birthdays are here in this country. Traditionally, a birthday (no matter what age) is a very special occasion here; just like in America. However, when a person has a birthday here, the procedure is a little different. The birthday person is actually the one who is expected to throw a party for everyone else, invite them to come, and have all the preparations made. It is not normal for a friend to throw a surprise party for someone else's birthday. In fact, if the birthday person does not tell other people that they had a birthday, it is possible to offend many friends because they expect a party and an invitation to that party. Finally, on the birthday, it is traditional for the guests to honor the birthday person with many compliments and toasts. For example, one should say something like, (speaking to the birthday person) "You are a great person, may you live long on the earth and have great happiness." This should be done often throughout the day by different people.

On to my experience in the birthday culture. During my second night of classes this week, one of my students (Tatyana) asked me when my birthday was. I replied by telling the class what day I had my birthday. As I watched for their reaction, I was literally shocked to see that almost every student in the room immediately wrote down my birthday in their notebooks. I think that I stood there with a silly grin on my face because one student (Denis) looked up a second later at me and said with smirk and a smile, "We will be there." I couldn't help but smile back, and at that point I knew that I would be planning a birthday party and inviting everyone in my class to that party.

WEIRD DREAMS/SLEEPING ACHES

Ever since I arrived in Karaganda, my dreams have rushed upon me at night with wild abandon. I have had some very strange dreams about my past. Some about old friends, old places, and some that are just plain odd. I have not enjoyed them much, and so I've been praying that they would leave me for now because, on occasion, I wake up disturbed by them in the morning. More recently, they have been better, although last night I dreamt I was in Moscow driving a car that looked like a Mini and trying to escape a nuclear bomb that had been dropped just outside the city. Not very comforting is it? For those of you who know me well, I usually do have strange dreams, but these have just been so out of the ordinary lately. I know it has a lot to do with my new surroundings, so please pray that I will begin to have more normal sleeping patterns shortly.

The bed has been a challenge to get used to as well. It sags quite a bit in the middle, and one morning I woke up with quite a lower back ache. I tried to fix that sag by placing some extra sheets under the mattress, and I thought I had conquered the problem until I woke up the next morning with a sharp pain between my shoulder blades. I tried changing again and I woke up on a different morning with a neck ache! One of these days I'll get it right! Tonight I should try sleeping on the floor….oh no bad idea, and that reminds me of another cultural no no...(see THE GROUND IS EVIL)

THE GROUND IS EVIL

This is a phrase I have to remind myself of constantly. Here in Karaganda (and many other places), the ground is dirty, and it is considered very inappropriate to sit on or let certain belongings touch the ground at all. Let me give you some examples...

Last Sunday at church, I took off my jacket, sat down, and laid it under my chair once the service started. Very normal right? Even though it was a cement floor, I didn't think much about it because I had rolled the jacket up and let only the outside touch the ground. Bad idea! The ground is evil. About half way through the service, the man behind me tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Excuse me sir, but you your jacket has fallen on the floor." Boy was I embarrassed when I looked down and realized that I wasn't supposed to have my jacket on the floor. I sheepishly picked it up, placed it in my lap, and told the man thank you for his observation. Of course now my jacket was actually dirty and I got some of it on my pants, and then I spent most of the rest of the sermon trying to adjust my jacket in a way that would reduce the amount of dust that I smeared on my pants.

On a second occasion, I jumped into a Mashrutka (the local van-bus) for a ride home, but their was no room to sit down so I had to either stand bent-over at the waist, or squat down and hold my balance. Well I wanted to perform neither of these acts because my during my last Mashruka ride, I had to squat down for about 6-7 minutes and I thought my knees would snap in half from the pressure. So on this night I decided I would kneel down and let my knees touch the carpet on the Mashruka. Bad idea! The ground is evil. As soon as I did that, I heard some mumbling and murmuring from a few of the older ladies around me, and one of them immediately tapped me on the shoulder, scooted over in her seat ever so slightly, and told me to sit next to her in the chair. Well there's one way to get a seat on the Mashrutka. At least I was able to get half of my rear end onto the seat and balance myself the rest of the way home.

Another example... it is improper in public to sit on the sidewalk, the curb, or any area on the ground that is not considered to be clean. I see many people here who will squat down without actually letting their rear end touch the ground. It is okay to place your bag on the ground in certain places, but you should not sit or lay down anything other than a bag on the ground because the ground is dirty and evil.

A final example. The people here are very superstitious, and they have a belief that if a women sits on a cold surface such as a rock or a slab of cement, they will become infertile for the remainder of their life. At least I do not have to worry about that problem, but once again I say, THE GROUND IS EVIL. And I must remind myself of that constantly so I will remember not to make anymore culture cleanliness mistakes.


- posted by Joel @ 11:58 PM

 
September 12, 2003

JOIN THE SARDINE RACE

Well they have a saying back in America that those who live in the big city go out every day and join the rat race. When I think about the rat race, I often picture in my head an overlooking view of a freeway showing many cars driving up and down; sometimes moving quickly, other times stuck in traffic. Or sometimes I picture many different people in their business attire, walking quickly to and from work. Here in Karaganda, we have a different race during the morning commute to work. I call it the sardine race.

This morning, Karl and I had to be downtown at the school for a meeting at 8:30am. So we got to the bus station around 8am to wait for our bus (Bus #45). When it finally arrived, and my eyes communicated to my brain what I was seeing in the bus, I knew I was in for another adventure. Not only was the bus packed out, but all the people waiting with us at the bus stop were about to fill it up a little bit more. When I say packed out, I am not talking about all the seats being filled, I am talking about the bus door not being able to open and close because there are too many people jammed in the bus. Well we had no other choice but to get on the bus because we were going to be late for our meeting. I shimmied myself into the school of people entering the bus, but not without second thoughts of attempting to make this trip. I soon found that I could not turn back because once I put one step onto the bus, a man behind me began helping me up the rest of the way. He of course was determined to get on the bus as well. I soon found myself at the top step of the bus entrance and I looked back to see that Karl had made it onto the first step of the bus; that was as far as he would get. The bus door made about three attempts to close before it finally stayed shut. I was thankful the driver didn’t decide to take off before the door did shut.

I had many strange feelings and sensations during this particular bus ride. First there strange experience of seeing everyone climb on this bus as if it was a normal occurrence. No one said a word, everyone silently pushed and pulled their way into the bus…and most were polite and gentle about it. Secondly I had the vague feeling that I needed to act like this was normal for me and that I did not need to freak out like a crazy person and start screaming hysterically and waving my arms on the bus. That wasn’t about to happen anyway since I had no way to move my arms above my waist (Eventually I did get a hand out to pay the money collector and hold on to a railing). So instead of having a panic attack, I stood there silently, pretending like I had done this a hundred times. There was only one thing that gave me away as a foreigner; I was chewing gum. And I wasn’t just chewing gum; I was ruthlessly annihilating that gum as I stood staring off into space like everyone else. My vigorous chewing helped to keep me from acting hysterical and having a claustrophobic fit. I always knew that gum was good for other things than freshening breath and keeping me awake. (of course this part about the gum and hysteria is slightly exaggerated, but I did seem to be chewing quite vigorously)

Even though my breath was now fresh and clean, I suddenly realized that I should have brought deodorant to share with everyone else because as we started moving, about three arms reached over my shoulder and grabbed onto the railing in front of me. Since I was unable to turn around, I couldn’t see their faces, so I tried to study their hands and guess if they were a man or a women by the shape and cleanliness of their fingernails (two men and I woman, I guessed). I found it amazing the things I will do when I don’t want to think about the fact that I am now in closer contact with strangers than I am when with most of my friends. So that was another pleasant experience I enjoyed during my ride. The bus stopped a few more times, and there were several attempts by others to squeeze onto Bus 45. Some succeeded, others gave up without trying. The person I felt most sorry for during the whole ride was the money collector. This individual’s job is to go and collect 20 tenge from each new person who gets on the bus. Well when you are able to move about 2 inches per second on a crowded bus, it can be quite a challenge to find people who just got on and collect their bus money.

Eventually we made it to our stop, and I was glad to see that Karl was still on the bus with me. My last sensation of this trip confirmed something I had always wondered about. At international soccer games, I always wondered how people could get smashed or crushed by a rioting or crazy crowd of people pushing up against the fence. Well when we got to our stop, I didn’t have to try to get off the bus, the crowd took me off with it. If a person wanted to stay on the bus they sometimes had to get off the bus and then back on again to continue their trip. The movement of the crowd is a little like swimming with the current. You can’t really go against it (unless you are one of those flying salmon fish that jumps upstream), you can only steer yourself in a certain direction with it.

People have asked if I have experienced culture shock yet since coming to Karaganda. Well the experience I had this morning might just qualify for culture shock, and hopefully next time I will be able to complete it without vigorous gum chewing. I don't think sardines like gum chewing anyway.

Another day, another adventure.

- posted by Joel @ 10:22 PM

 
September 11, 2003

FIRST DAY OF CLASS

What an awesome experience. I will never forget this day as long as I live. We began our first 4pm class session by placing all the students in the upper meeting room as we had done on the day of placement testing. This time only the students who were attending the 4pm class were present. We went through what could be described as an opening ceremony. Each of the people heavily involved in the Small Business Training Center (SBTC) got up and spoke for a time to welcome the students, and then Karl (our team leader) got up and presented to the students an explanation of the coming year, an introduction of each of the teachers, and he shared his expectations for the students in our English classes. After about one hour of speeches and presentations, all the students got up and followed their teachers to their respective classrooms.

I was assigned to teach on the second floor in room 18. That will be my classroom for the coming year. My first class had fourteen students, but it will increase to fifteen with a new student on Monday. I spent the 30 minutes of our shortened class period introducing myself, allowing the students to ask questions, and having each of them interview each other. The 6pm session was much the same as the 4pm session with the execption that there were 18 students. We went through the same ceremony and then the same procedure for beginning class. I enjoyed this second period a little more because I was more relaxed.

I say this experience is awesome because I realize (with some fear) that I will be watched closely (James 3:1) and because these are my students and they have been placed in my life to teach and to be a light to for the next year. I realized after class that I am not up to that job at all, so I knew that I was being reminding that I will need to pull all my strength, courage, and wisdom from the one who sustains me in all situations especially when I feel my lessons are inadequate and my students are not having their needs met. I only hope that I will be a respected teacher in the sense that the material I present and will lead to the opportunity to share with these new friends outside of class.

AN ANNIVERSARY IS REMEMBERED

We all remember what happened on this day, two years ago. It is much different to be on this side of the world during such an anniversary. I have heard nothing about this day except on the American internet news sites that I have visited tonight. It is hard to believe how much has changed in our country (and the world) as a result of that day. I won't forget the images passing through my mind as I listened to the radio in the car on the way to school the morning the towers both collapsed. It was one of those "where were you when this happened" moments that most of us will not forget. It is this type of dramtic event that many people look back at and say that their life was forever changed in some way, shape, or form. I don't usually look at those events like that, but ironically I have to say that the combination of my Intro To Islam class at CSUS (which was my first class of that morning) and 9/11 that really affected my interests in learning about other religions, and my interests in missions and seminary. Of course it was not one thing that brought me to the point I am at now, but I hope my knowledge that I have gained about Islam will provide conversations for me while I am here.
- posted by Joel @ 12:33 AM

 
FIRST DAY OF TESTING AT SBTC

Monday was our first day of testing at the school. It was a memorable scene as we (the ESI teachers) all met upstairs on the fourth floor of the school and saw with our own eyes the new students entering the room, eager to learn English. There were about 150 students packed into all the chairs in the room. Those who wanted to take the regular English courses would be taking a written test and then an oral test with Karl and Andy. The students who wanted to take the Business-English course with me were siphoned off to another room where we had them fill out a registration card that gave us information about each individual. I counted exactly 30 students in my classroom. As they finished, I had them all go outside of the room, and then one by one, I interviewed each student with the intention of hearing them speak English and also to get to know a little bit about their background and hopes for this new school year.

I enjoyed the interviews thoroughly. The students ranged in ages from 13 to 35, some single, some married, and most could speak English fairly well. Most of them were born here in Karaganda, but some were from Almaty or other cities in Kazakhstan. I may have met one or two students not from Kazakhstan. Once again, however, the students exhibited various ethnic backgrounds (Russian, Kazakh, Korean) and histories. It was very nice to meet so many people and hear about their family life and what they liked to do for fun. Many of the students were visibly nervous... their hands shaking as they handed me their registration card at the beginning of the test. I hope that I was able to help them feel relaxed as we went on in the interview.

EXTRA ADVENTURES

I thought today that I haven’t written about the driving conditions around here. Well to say it simply, the roads are pretty bad. And what’s more amazing is that people tell me that two or three years ago, they were even worse. I am surprised that they could be much worse than this without being dirt roads. The drivers here pretty much do not obey traffic laws and everyone fends for themselves. I have not found myself in fear of an accident since I mostly ride the buses, but there are some times as a pedestrian that I know I should be more careful. I have heard stories of other teachers actually seeing people being hit by cars. A person here cannot assume that cars will stop just because he/she is crossing at a pedestrian crossing.

We had one adventure last week when all of us went on a bus, and the driver decided to go off the side of the road to pass a bunch of other cars in a traffic jam. He came back on the road a little while later and pulled in between some other buses. We were all laughing at the humor of it all (again, we were not scared because we realized this was a normal driving technique), and the girl who collects the fare was watching us from the front and smiling at us. She then whispered to the driver that we were sitting in the back laughing. Another American man who has been here for a year told us that they would be talking about the “crazy Americans” for a week.
- posted by Joel @ 11:41 PM

 
SECOND SUNDAY

Today we went to the Joy church on the other side of town. It was quite an interesting service. The service was all in Russian. I did my best to try and read along with the worship songs on the projector even if I did not understand what they were saying (except for those songs I already knew)

After the service we met with the pastor in his office and we each introduced ourselves to him. He was very happy to meet us. I was encouraged to listen to him. The pastor came from South Korea 10 years ago. When he came here, he did not know any Russian, and it was very difficult to find any Russian speakers who could teach a Korean speaker. He learned Russian on his own, and now he can speak it well enough to preach a sermon in Russian to his congregation. I admire him greatly for that accomplishment.

He encouraged us to think about the opportunity of leading an English club at the church. He told us that it would be a good opportunity to bring in new youth because they want to learn English. I felt that this may be a good opportunity for me to take advantage of during my time here.
- posted by Joel @ 11:35 PM

 
UNUSUAL FEELING

Today I helped out a couple of other teachers at their school with their initial testing of new students for placement into English classes. I was fairly relaxed coming up to the time to go to the school and begin the testing, but once we got there, past out the tests, and began watching the students as they took the test, I found that my heart was beating fast and that I was actually a little bit stressed out. This was quite a new experience for me to be standing on the other side of a test in a school. Just three months ago, I was sitting in a classroom at Sacramento State taking my final exams for my last upper division business course, and now here I am giving exams for English placement classes! I was actually a little sentimental about the whole idea that I wouldn't be taking tests anymore because (yes I'm one of those types) I actually enjoyed school and I will miss it.

After the written test, we interviewed each student on their oral comprehension of English. It was great to meet each student individually and see what it will be like to teach this year. Most of these students were in high school and lived with their families. The students showed a wide range of speaking levels for English and they were pretty nervous, but we did our best to try and make them feel comfortable. It was also great to see students from so many different backgrounds (Russian, Kazakh, & Korean). Once we were finished with the interviews, we tallied up their scores. The will be placed into classes based on their speaking/writing abilities.

My own school will start testing this Monday. I will have two classes of students who will be signing up soley for Business-English, so I will be interviewing them on my own and making a determination regarding which students will go into each class. After testing is completed, we will begin our first class on the 11th of September. Once we begin, it's off and running until Janurary, and I'm sure it will be quite an experience. I'm looking forward very much to meeting my students and building friendships with them. Please keep these students in your thoughts and concerns as they begin our classes, and also think of us as we prepare to teach and build relationships with these students for the coming year.

(EXTRA ADVENTURE)
A minor note regarding another adventure. Yesterday I gave Karl and myself a scare in the elevator at Andy and Mike’s (Andy's roommate) place. We were heading to their apartment on the fifth floor and I asked if we could take the elevator because I was carrying a heavy bag. Well we got into the elevator and I saw that none of the buttons were marked. I counted from the bottom up, “one…two…three…four…five..” and then I pressed the button that logically seemed to be number five. Well right after I pressed it, we found that the electricity and the lights in the elevator went completely out. At first we were horrified because we thought we had just experienced a power outage while in the elevator. I immediately tried opening the doors with my hands, while Karl saying something like, “We DID NOT just get stuck in the elevator.” I was hoping we weren’t but then Karl thought that maybe my button pushing had something to do with it, so he proceeded to press the button above the one I had originally pressed. Lo and behold, on came the lights, and we were back in business. I couldn’t believe my eyes and I kept pointing to the button I pushed saying, “Why would anyone put a power off button in the middle of all the other buttons, and not mark it?!” At the same time, Karl was begging me not to press anymore buttons until after we got safely out the elevator. I agreed and left them alone. We soon found ourselves on the fifth floor and both breathed a sigh of relief to get out of the elevator. I don’t know if we’ll take that one again for a while.

Signing Out For Now: Good Night
- posted by Joel @ 12:10 AM

 
IS THIS SPOT TAKEN?

Today at the market we experienced a cultural phenomena that we had heard about at training but not yet seen since coming to Kazakhstan. I was standing at the end of the line to pay for my groceries with a couple of other teachers when another woman (shopper #1) comes up to me and asks me a question in Russian. I assumed she was asking if I was the last one in line, so I began motioning that this was the end of the line and that I was the last person, she said something else that I did not understand, so I just said “yes, yes" (da, da) in Russian, and heard her say “good” in Russian and then she walked off. I wondered what it was all about, but shortly later a different woman (shopper #2) came up and asked me the same question, so of course I gave her the same answer. She realized I didn’t understand and then she walked off. Soon after, shopper #2 came back and got in line behind me, making her the last person in line. A couple minutes and a longer line later, shopper #1 comes up and starts talking to both shopper #2 and I in Russian. I suddenly realized what had happened, and I was little embarrassed, but there was not much I could do except let shopper #1 cut in behind me and in front of all these other people. Here’s what happened…

In the CIS, it is culturally acceptable to go up to a person in line and ask them to save a spot for you while you shop a little while longer. Then you can go back to that spot in line and claim it…even if other people have lined up since that time. Well I had unknowingly told both of these ladies that I would save their spot for them, and so they came back and expected to have their spot in line. I had quite a good laugh about it after that, but I felt bad at first because I didn’t know all the rules for this method. Was it acceptable to save two spots for people, or just one? What if one person is buying a liter of milk, while the other is buying a shopping cart full of food? How do I referee who gets what spot? Can I boot certain people farther back in the line if I decide they weren’t patient with me when I tried speaking to them in Russian? So many questions!

Another day, another adventure. I continue to “live and learn”.

- posted by Joel @ 11:52 PM

 
FIRST SUNDAY

Today we went to a church close to our apartment. It was located in a office like building that was one large room set up with many fold-away chairs. The walls were painted white all around, and it was well-lit, but what I noticed as soon as I stepped in was the different presence in the room. There was a lot of joy and smiling faces in the room, and I immediately felt uplifted and refreshed to be within the Body again. The Light is shining here in Karaganda. The songs, although in Russian, were great because I recognized all but one, so I was able to sing along in English while the rest of the church sang in Russian. And the one I didn't know, I clapped to with the rest of the church. This was also good because, as many of you know, I can only do one of those at a time anyway. We met several English-speaking people associated with the school. The sermon was in English and translated into Russian, so we were able to understand and enjoy it.

After the service, we met two new teachers at the train station and welcomed them to Karaganda. We spent the afternoon relaxing and then we got together again for dinner and fellowship in the evening. Now back again, we prepare for the new week ahead and the time of preparation for the beginning of classes next week.
- posted by Joel @ 12:27 AM