CHRISTMAS IN KAZAKHSTAN

Well yesterday was my first Christmas away from home, and it was quite an experience. First of all, I did get to talk to my family by phone in the morning, so that started the day off quite well. Secondly, the weather here is a lot more Christmassy, although a little chilly at about 15 degrees. When I stepped outside for the first time, I was hit with another one of those, “I’m living in Kazakhstan” feelings and this time it was because I knew it was Christmas day and I was not in the normal surroundings that I’m used to on this day. Christmas day was bright and sunny and with the snow on the ground it did feel a lot like Christmas, so it wasn’t so bad.

My day was spent by preparing food in the morning, visiting friends in the afternoon, eating food, visiting friends, and eating more food. Although it was more difficult to find key American ingredients for cooking and baking our traditional Christmas foods, we made out quite well and I was thoroughly stuffed by the end of the day.

From a cultural standpoint, most people here do not celebrate Christmas day in any fashion. It is not considered a holiday and school and work still continue on as normal. We asked many of our students what they knew about Christmas and most of them had heard bits and pieces about it either from their classes last year or from other sources. Instead of Santa Claus, they have what they call Grandfather Frost who actually doesn’t come until New Years and instead of coming through the chimney, he climbs through windows; which is fortunate because most homes and flats here don’t have chimneys.

From a Biblical standpoint, many students do know the real CHRISTmas story for which we celebrate this holiday and they have heard about it each year that they take the English course because we usually have the students put on a Christmas program for the school.

GIVE US SOME FIGGY PUDDING??

Who’s ever had figgy pudding anyway? Is it any good? I’ve always wondered. Well I may not have had figgy pudding for Christmas, but one of my favorite traditional meals at Christmas is corn pudding; a family recipe that we all look forward to during the holidays. Well I just have to say…it’s amazing what creativity can come out of a single bachelor living in another country when he wants Christmas food bad enough.

This Christmas I attempted to make the corn pudding myself, and I tried to do it without key ingredients such as cream corn and Jiffy Mix. With the help of my talented cooking teammate, Karl, we put together a mock recipe of corn pudding using the ingredients I could find and creating ones that I didn’t have. It didn’t turn out too bad…it was a little grainy because I didn’t use enough liquid to completely cook the corn meal all the way through, but that’s what cooking is like here in Karaganda…it’s an adventure every time.

And even if the corn pudding had not been edible, my back up plan was jello salad. I had obtained from a friend two packages of jello which gave me an easy backup for bringing food to the homes I had been invited to on Christmas day. Since the corn pudding was mostly edible, I ended up bringing both the jello and the pudding. It was quite an accomplishment in cooking for me on this Christmas day!

CHRISTMAS PROGRAM AT SCHOOL

Each of the classes worked on a song, skit, or dialogue to share with the other students at the Christmas program. Because my class was a business class and because most of my students had already participated in the Christmas program last year in the regular English class, I was less than enthusiastic about spending three or four classes practicing for a Christmas program. So I searched high and low for an appropriate “business-like” part that our class could present to the class. What I found was quite an amusing dialogue on the 12 Days of Christmas from a business standpoint. It was an analysis of the efficiency of each of the 12 days that explained whether or not each of the 12 items would remain employed or be replaced by more efficient and cost-saving alternatives.

There was a separate analysis for each of the days and I asked my students to act out or present pictures to describe each of the days. I thought it was very funny, but it was at this time that I was again reminded by a former teacher something that is very true…”If you think it’s funny, your students will think it’s dumb. If you think it’s stupid, your students will love it.”

Well my students didn’t get it at first and I think it may have gone over there head. After a bit of explaining and a lot of motivating, I finally got my first class into the project and they began to enjoy putting together presentation items for each of the 12 days that they would present to the school.

Below is a sample of two days along with pictures of what my class did, I hope you’ll find it amusing…

The two turtle doves represent a useless position that is simply not cost effective. In addition, their romance during the working hours could not be justified. The positions are, therefore, eliminated.

The five golden rings have been put on hold by the Board of Directors. Maintaining an investment collection based on one commodity could have negative consequences for company investors. Diversification into other precious metals as well as a mix of strong bonds and high technology stocks appear to be in order.

So as you can see, we had a fun and the program was enjoyable. We had about 100 students in attendance and each class presented something different. We heard the Christmas Story, The Gift of the Magi, The Night Before Christmas, and Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.


- posted by Joel @ 12:36 AM

 
PICTURE OF A FROSTY DAY IN KARAGANDA

Thanks to the generous upgrade from BLOGGER, I can now post my pictures directly to my journal.

For my first picture, I thought you might like to see a photo of a frosty day in Karaganda after a snow storm. We had huge snowflakes the night before this picture was taken and they stuck to pretty much everything they landed on. This is the road that leads up to my apartment complex which is on the left hand side.




- posted by Joel @ 11:24 PM

 
WHAT LANGUAGE MISTAKE CAN I MAKE TODAY?

Well I’m starting to learn a little more Russian and I am “attempting” to create logical sentences by which other human beings can actually understand. It works, but the problem sometimes is that I don’t communicate the correct things that I want them to understand.

During my last Russian lesson I came in and sat down and began talking with my teacher. She asked me how my week was and I told her it was a good week but that I was tired. She asked me why I was tired, so I gave her what I thought would be an impressive and detailed answer about my week. In Russian, I told her that I was tired because last night I went out and played soccer with my student. The only problem was that instead of using the word for “played”, I accidentally used word for “stole” and so my teachers eyes got wide and she said, “You stole a soccer ball?!” Oops…oh well. I had made it sound like I was tired because I was on the run after stealing the ball. Well I quickly corrected that mistake and hopefully I won’t make that some one again. Unfortunately the words are very similar and it’s difficult to remember.

Today I made another mistake in Russian and this one was a bit more embarrassing. After our English Club we all went to an Uzbekistan café to have something to eat and enjoy the fellowship. Eating at a café (or anywhere for that matter) doesn’t usually go by without having some tea at the same time. As I was preparing my second cup of tea, I began to do a visual check to find where the sugar was located on the table. It was a fairly long table seating about 12 of us and I couldn’t find it so I asked my friend next to me, “Where is the sugar” in Russian. Oops again…apparently I pronounced it wrong (not for the first time) and my friend turned all red when I mentioned this word. I knew immediately that I had just spoken an inappropriate word to her.

So here’s the problem. Sugar in Russian is pronounced something like “socaar” but with a very soft “c” sound and what I said sounded more like the Spanish (which I studied in college) word for sugar which is more like “soockar”. Actually I mis-pronounced the Spanish word too and just ended up saying a highly inappropriate word in Russian. Well my face turned beet red really fast too and embarrassed my friend and I at the same time. And of course someone else at the table heard what I said as well and it soon became a lively topic of discussion about how sugar in Russian and Spanish were very similar but had very different effects depending on how it was used or pronounced. Ahh…the joys of learning a new language!

Tomorrow I go to my language class again and I hope that I can tell my teacher that I did not have any run-ins with the law this weekend regarding thievery or any other mischief of that sort. I wouldn’t want her to think that her pupil is some sort of fugitive who might try to steal the sugar from her kitchen when she’s not looking.

FOUND: BARBER, GOOD QUALITY, LOW PRICE

Warning: This entry is strictly for fun and is not considered to be useful for anything other than a good laugh and a look at the cultural side of getting a hair cut. Read this only at the risk of considering me to be a ridiculously weird person…in case you haven’t already come to that conclusion.

For all you men out there looking for a place to get a haircut that involves more than a few snips and a buzz while at the same time costing you 10 bucks…look no further!! Believe it or not, I have found a place where you can get a haircut for $2.00 that includes washing your hair before and after the haircut while at the same time gives attention to detail not found in your normal “chop and buzz” barbers around town.

Yes I went to this little corner shop the other day with a friend and I had an experience that could be described as the closest to getting a perm as a man would even want to talk about. Of course I don’t know what getting a perm is like, but if women have to pay $40-50 dollars for one then there must be some sort of pampering and attention to detail done during that time period. But let’s not talk about perms any further; it’s a disgrace for a man to even mention such a thing!

Now this is a great place but there are two slight problems you’ll have if you want to get your hair cut here…I’ll share those later. Anyway as I was saying, I sat down and the lady (is there such thing as a lady barber, or do they just call them hairdressers?) proceeded to start off by washing my hair. Then she started to trim away ever so carefully around my sideburns and ears. She spent a long time cutting my hair and getting it just right that I almost started to get a little impatient waiting for her to finish, but I didn’t say anything because I knew that it’s not wise to rush art! By the time she was done, I looked much less like a potential hippy and a lot more like a regular “Russian” guy on the street. And then she proceeded to wash my hair again! After the shampoo and two different types of hair gel had been massaged into my scalp, I began to wonder if the aroma from my hair was going to attract pollinating insects. But then I remembered that no pollinating insects exist in Kazakhstan when the temperatures are sub-freezing so I had no problems. After the hairdresser finished her masterpiece, she told me that I had to pay 300 tenge which is about the equivalent of $2.00. What a deal! The only drawback is that it took about 40 minutes, but if you have free time on your hands, it’s kind of relaxing.

So men, what do you say? If you want to check it out let me know and I’ll hook you up! As I was saying there are two small problems that you’ll need to overcome if this is worth it to you. First of all you need to uh…well…fly to Karaganda, and uh…secondly you’ll need to have someone go with you who speaks Russian because I sure can’t tell you how to say that you want a number 2 trim tapered with 3 inch sideburns. Other than that, it’s a great deal!

- posted by Joel @ 11:25 PM

 
THE HOLIDAYS ARE COMING QUICKLY!

Wow, is Christmas and New Years coming as fast for you as it is for me?? What has happened to 2003? It's gone by so fast and now the new year is approaching along with the rush of the holiday season. At least the food is good...

It is not not common here for Kazakhs to celebrate Christmas over here, but as American teachers here, we have still used this holiday as an excuse to invite our students over for Christmas parties. Of course that means lots of food and sweets as well as the chance to share with them about the meaning of Christmas from both a traditional Biblical perspective and a non-relgious perspective. Some of them know about the details of Jesus' birth, but they don't always know the exact details and characters included in the Gospels. They also know a little about Santa and his traditions, and they actually have their own version of Santa called Grandfather Frost. I don't know a lot about him, but I am learning a little...apparentley he comes at a later time than Christmas and he enters different homes by climbing through windows rather than going down the chimney. That's a good thing too because there aren't any homes that chimneys to come down.

I hope all of of you are doing well and enjoying your holidays and that you have a chance to sit back for a bit and just enjoy the Christmas holiday and the New Year celebration. It's sure easy to get caught up in everything that goes on and forget to just relax and enjoy for a bit. Even here we seem to be busy with planning for Christmas plays at school, parties at different homes, and shopping for gifts for others. It can cause quite a bit of stress as you all know! May God bless you all during the holiday season and allow you to receive and relish in the greatest gift given by Jesus the Savior who came not as a gift wrapped in fancy paper with a bow but in a simple blanket, lying in a manger...willing and able to take away the sins of the world.


INDEPENDENCE WEEK

To add even more to the holiday celebration...this week is the week that Kazakhstan celebrates its independence day for when it became a separate country. Everyone has two or three days off from work and school and people usually just relax and rest during this time. I have asked many people about this holiday, but not very many seem to know a lot about it or have many traditions associated with it. Most people just see it as a chance to relax and rest and prepare for the most popular holiday of the year, New Years. January 1st seems to be the biggest celebration day of the year for most people here and they also have two or three days off for that in which they celebrate with family and friends while giving gifts to each other and enjoy many different parties.


MORE SOCCER ADVENTURES

Last week I went to play soccer again with my student and I had a really good time with him and his Russian friends. It was once again a good cultural experience for me to be able to play and listen to them speaking in Russian for most of the evening as I was forced to do my best to listen and learn. Fortunately, soccer doesn’t require a whole lot
of talking and its easy to play the game even if you can’t communicate with words.

The way they play the game is also a fun cultural experience. All of them are good sportsmen in the sense that they are fairly careful about not turning the sport into an intense competition where the players get really aggressive and try and injure others. That’s one thing I always disliked about soccer is that tensions and frustrations can mount easily. In fact whenever a player scores a goal, almost everyone on the court claps for him, especially if it’s a really good play. It makes the game much more enjoyable when everyone is respectful of each other, having a good time, and not just playing their best soccer without worrying about talent and skill level.

We had a funny experience occur about half way through the night. The soccer ball got caught up in the netting that was hanging down the side of the building to protect the windows from wild shots. The players tried to loosen the soccer ball by yanking on the netting, but it wouldn’t come out. I eventually got an idea and I went and grabbed my sturdy water bottle and brought it over to where the ball was hanging about 20 feet in the air above us. I through the bottle up at the ball a few times in an effort to knock it loose, but I couldn’t get it to come out either. I thought that eventually I could hit it, but one of the other guys wanted to give it a shot. I let him and he took the bottle, stepped back a few paces, and proceeded to toss the bottle at a wider angle. As a result, he missed the ball completely and the bottle flew up past it and right through the single-pane glass window! There was a loud crash as the bottle when sailing through the weak single pane glass and out into the freezing night air where the snow cushioned the landing of the bottle. I shook my head in disbelief while the others all burst out laughing. I couldn’t resist a little grin myself as I felt like a little kid who had just helped hit a baseball through the window of the neighbors front yard window. Fortunately the gym personnel didn’t seem too concerned about the window because there were several other windows in the gym that were already broken, cracked, or missing altogether. We all laughed about it and after the game was over went out and retrieved my bottle. It certainly endured a beating on this night because there wasn’t a dent or crack to be found on it. It has lived up to its name so far for being virtually indestructible.

- posted by Joel @ 6:29 AM

 
SLURPEES ANYONE?

We’ve had quite the strange week for weather. Normally at this time of year, the snow and the ice a have combined to form a permanent walkway in almost every part of the city and it usually lasts until the spring time. I did not expect to see the ground again for quite sometime. To my surprise we had a rise in temperatures this week above the freezing point and on Wednesday morning there was the constant downfall of….rain! Not snow this time, but rain, and it was very unusual to see.

As the rain came down and the snow and ice began melting, it developed into a mixture of slush and mud that caused havoc for anyone attempting to travel outside on foot or by vehicle. Imagine if you will that you are trying to walk down the sidewalk on your way to work, but you have to watch every step you take because someone has decided to dump tons and tons of Coca-cola flavored slurpee all over the ground and now you are walking in it. That’s what it was like to walk to school yesterday. And to make matters worse, there are very big potholes all over the place and sometimes it is very difficult to tell if you are stepping into a thin layer of slush, or foot deep into muddy water. My winter boots were fully tried and tested after the day was through! No leaks thank goodness.

CHRISTMAS IS COMING

Living here in Karaganda has had strange affects on my ability to recognize the normal holiday season. Thanksgiving came upon me suddenly and I didn’t even realize what had happened before it had come and gone. And now Christmas is fast approaching and it doesn’t seem like the end of the year could possibly be here already. Even if I don’t have a Christmas tree or lights this year in my home, the cool thing about living in Karaganda is that it really does look like Christmas here. There is snow everywhere, the weather is cold, and hot chocolate tastes really really good when I come home from teaching at night.

Our classes are planning on putting together a little Christmas show to present to each other on the last class before Christmas. We have seven classes who are involved in practicing a Christmas song or skit to present to the rest of the students. One class will act out the Christmas story and others will be presenting a more humorous Christmas theme like “Grandma got run over by a reindeer”. It should be a good time and I hope that the students enjoy it.



- posted by Joel @ 11:19 PM

 
WRITING FROM THE SOUL

I have found during my time of teaching here that one of the best ways to get to know my students is by reading their journal entries that I assign to them each week. It never ceases to amaze me how the barrier of a foreign language fails to stop them from sharing with me personal, profound, and sometimes hilarious thoughts that tell me much more about who they are than what I can learn in class. I enjoy reading them each week and communicating with the students by writing comments in the journals about their thoughts and ideas about life and about their future.

Here are some extracts from some of the best lines I have saved from their journals…

On work…

“…work it is just work and nothing more, work is a slice of life, it’s not the whole pizza.”

“If a person focuses on work and nothing more…he will not live, he will just exist.”

On success…

“During movement to success, it is necessary not to forget about soul, about eternal truths, and true values.”

“Russian Proverb…’A fool is rich by his own thoughts’.”

“Success (for me) is to be loved and not to be hurt by the people I love”

“Animals and plants cannot be successful since they don’t have an understanding about what is it. It can only be applicable to a logical creature – a man.”

On friendship and love…

“…that part where Sam wants to follow Frodo to the end, and I understand what means friendship.”

“When you love, you don’t need words anymore”

“I think that friendship, love, and grace is the things that help us live in this world.”

“Since I can remember, we (my best friend and I) have always been making troubles…our teachers are very frustrated when we write the same answers on the tests.”

“Time is the test because all people know that real friendships never die.”

“There is no guarantee that some of them (our friends) will leave us, so this is life and we shouldn’t miss them”

“It’s easier for me to make friends with boys. Girls often make too many problems from nothing.”


DEVELOPING RELATIONSHIPS

As I continue to get to know my students, it has become easier to talk with them on a more personal basis and to discuss life issues with each other. Tonight in our discussion about life and eternity we talked about someone who knows when I sit down or stand up…and what I am going to say even before I say it. We discussed the marvelous creation of our bodies and how amazing are the intricate delicacies of our inward parts.

It was a great subject to talk about and to share with those who believed that someone could know all our thoughts, and to listen to those who had doubts and questions that it was really possible for someone to be able to do that. I know for myself that it was such a wonderful and encouraging subject because when I sat back in California in my Sacramento apartment, I knew that I could rise up…”take the wings of the dawn…dwell in the remotest part of the sea, and still never escape from the one who has charted the path ahead of me”

Tomorrow instead of counting the sand on the shore…I’ll count the snowflakes falling from the sky to remind myself how innumerable are the thoughts of one who loves me.

- posted by Joel @ 6:21 AM