Kim's Input

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a few updates:from Kim....The first day we were here, the school had bought some groceries for us. a large bottle of yellow liquid ( looked like juice or tea).... Dave took a big swig! it was cooking oil! haha. We had a box that had a picture of foamy ocean waves, we thought it was laundry soap- nope- salt. oh well, I heard that salt can clean out a dirty washing machine. We don't have a dryer- but a clothes drying rack out on the balcony worked well- we need to buy fabric softener! The people are stoic - but it isn't in a rude way- the city is big and they drive like maniacs- making three lane as from two- there are very few beggars or drunks on the streets- the women dress really nice- dresses , slacks- no blue jeans - "Houston we may have a big problem!!" Men have a more casual dress, t shirts and pants. Even in this hot 90 +. It's supposed to cool down this weekend. The tengze ($) has just taken a bite from the oil prices so we are getting a good deal on food. We ate out and it was about $15 per person. The server stayed with us when we got the menu- to help us order- she spoke broken English-most people don't- we will learn some Russian!


SCHOOL: The students are ALL world travelers or local Kazakhs. I have 14 kids but only 10 have shown up so far- one of the absent student claim USA as home country. I am teaching third grade, all subjects like a regular American school. They are adorable, some of the boys are wiggle worms- the Korea girls are shy and smart- the Australian girl is sweet- the French boy is passionate and funny- the Austrian boy loves to hunt and cannot sit still- the Korean boy is smart and silly- a Kazakh girl named Olga loves to give hugs and the other Kazakh girl is kind and anxious to learn. Parents come to pick them up, and many do NOT speak English. Conferences will be interesting. The school is huge and I get lost often trying to find my way to the office, bathroom, (toilet) cafeteria. I have a FULL time Aide who is Russian and helps me out with taking kids to other classes, sick room, runs copies, and helps my two Russian students who know very little English. The parents brought me three huge bouquets of flowers on the first day- we don't have vases yet, so they are in serving pots that were in the kitchen. The staff is friendly and have given us tours for shopping and invited us to a party Saturday night. One of my teaching partners, Alicia is from Texas, no accent, she has done this for three years,and lives in our building. She took us out to the neighborhood and showed us the grocery store. We bought some sausage at a German store that will be our closest grocery store- not sure what it was- tasted like meatloaf in a sausage- cooked potatoes and onions and had sliced tomatoes for our first home cooked dinner.I get rides back and forth from school with other teachers in the building, It is limiting because I have to be ready to go when they are- but it gets me out of the building. We are going to ride a metro train today to a downtown green market bazaar- or they have "gypsy cabs" which you flag down and barter prices- they are not official taxi drivers - so I am hesitant to go alone in one. We are walking to stores etc. They have buses too but until we understand the language better we will hold off. Next week we have Monday off so a large group is going camping Saturday through Monday. We will look into going and visit three different lakes with hiking , fishing, boating horseback riding. Talked with some teachers last night about the job prospect for Dave- something to keep him from being bored, but we are trying to be patient. we have only been here for four days. Dasvedanya!!!

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Photos

First Dinner
Not sure what it was, tasted like meatloaf.

First day flowers
Gladiolas, and roses, gave mums to my teaching partner.

Comments

[Karen Petersen]

world travelers
I would expect 8 year old world travelers would be different in many ways from other 8 year-olds, but certainly the same in many other ways. That will be very interesting. It is also interesting to me what kinds of pix you will find on labels. Ocean waves for salt does make sense (at least after-the-fact). You will have to depend on your sense of smell to decide what things are. Being in a foreign environment and not knowing the language seems extremely daunting.

[George]

Buses
Love the blog. You need someone to show you the bus system. It will set you free. They might even have an app for that. :)