Can you really put titles to random blog posts?

Bishbarmahk, a tasty treat. Perhaps this can go in a cooking magazine.


Team Egypt heading to the front.


At Alga teaching seminar, watching the performances.

Wednesday, June 23, 2008

Teacher Training Seminar-
During the third week of June, after travelling down to a village in South Kazakshtan near Shymkent, I participated in a teacher’s training seminar. A volunteer set this up to train a number of school teachers and students who just graduated from teacher’s college. The seminar went well, and (as usual) it was a great opportunity for the trainees to learn about various activities, methods of teaching, and how to lesson plan well.

Marshmallows-
Kazakhstanis have a remarkable ability to boil just about everything. Most dinners can be made with a single pot on the stove, and will actually taste quite delicious if done by a decent cook. Meat, for instance, is virtually always boiled – so no medium-rare steaks or anything like that. One of the few exceptions is Shashlik which is a delicious meat kebab cooked over a grill. Even for things that aren’t boiled, food and drinks are typically served hot, as typically cold drinks and/or room temperature food is considered something that can make you sick. Anyway, we have been introducing S’mores to Kazakhstan. We started at the camp in Alga. The locals were intrigued at the method of cooking the marshmallows, and likened it to how Shashlik is cooked. (They were also confused because we, as volunteers, were fighting over proper technique. Some crazies taught the locals to stick the marshmallow in the fire, burn it black, then slap it on the cracker. Others of us (with, dare I say, a more refined palate) taught them to slowly roast the marshmallows to a deliciously gooey golden brown.) The locals found the combination of graham cracker, marshmallow, and chocolate. Unfortunately I think only a few actually liked the desert. … Then we cooked them during an outing last week near Shymkent. We showed the bag of marshmallows to the volunteer’s local Counterpart. He eyed it suspiciously before asking, “Do you boil it?”

PS- I just learned (thanks to spell check) that marshmAllows is spelled with an A and not an E. Crazy.

Travelers-
There’s a website called www.couchsurfing.com It networks people who have places to stay with travelers looking for a place to crash. Several PCV’s (volunteers) are on the site. This combined with the fact that Shymkent is a Central Asian hotspot means that the people in that region meet many a foreigner traveling through. Over the weekend I stayed at an apartment, which, for complicated reasons, is currently unoccupied. Whilst there, a German traveler couchsurfed her way there, as well as a Swiss couple. The German was biking from Berlin to India, and the Swiss couple was, apparently, just travelling around wherever they happened to enjoy. It was especially nice meeting the Swiss couple because they had just returned from Tajikistan on an excursion that nearly mirrored one that I hope to be taking in a few weeks. A route that’ll take me up into the Pamir mountains for some exquisite views at over 10,000 feet. “The Roof of the World” is how travel agencies sell the Pamir’s. It’s also teeming with history and is an area largely untouched by outside influences.

Bumper Boat-
Shouldn’t that be bumper boats? Nope, not in Aktobe. Head over to the city’s park and, for a mere 3 dollars, you can have a blast in a 10 meter diameter above ground pool with, count it, 1 bumper boat. You can spin in circles, travel straight two dozen feet, or ride along the edge of the pool. The options are limitless. Come on down.

4 Photos from and near Shymkent.

I plan to update the blog again tomorrow, or within the next few days. Check back in to see what I've been up to in the past week.
Currently location: Shymkent


The director of the school where we had a teacher's training seminar. Here we are having dinner together.


An activity with future teachers.


A cave overlooking a beautiful valley near a village outside of Shymkent. Man oh man I wish there were sites like this near Zhez.


An elaborate Dasterhan (table) decked out with food. This, by the way, didn't include any of the main dishes. Very nice place.

A bit of a rant...

Rant-
The following post is a bit unusual in that it raises some specific problems volunteers perceive in Kazakhstan. Many aspects of service are quite positive, and I hope this blog has demonsrated that. On the other hand, however, there are problems and issues worth raising that are quite negative. As a reminder, this blog in now way represents the views of Peace Corps or the U.S. government in any way. It is my soley my opinion.

Peace Corps Kazakhstan volunteers have a constant question lingering in the back of their minds. The answer to the question is unclear. Or it is perhaps so depressingly obvious that we force ourselves to believe the answer is unknown for our sanity. The question is simple: Can we help this country?

Well, that’s a positive manifestation of the question. To be honest, “can this country be !@#$ helped?” would be the more accurate rendition playing in our heads. Volunteers see it from different angles. Some know the answer already and have a sublime sense of calm with it – “no.” You want to be saddened by their response and tell them they’re wrong – if only to have a good conscience – but know that there is far more ammunition on their side of the argument. It’s not that the counterargument can’t be made and won, it’s that there’s too great a risk it will end with you exasperatingly admitting “you’re right.” This surrender is often followed by your own rant. You rail against the arguments you just made as if to prove to yourself you weren’t actually so naïve as to believe them.

Others struggle with the answer. They want to believe the answer is yes, but are too often dealt a blow that smacks their hope back down. It’s an up and down ride, and every volunteer experiences it. You’d think in a country so large this wouldn’t be the case; that it wouldn’t be a given that you’ll find blatant bribery, nepotism, racism, and corruption at every volunteer’s site across the country. But it’s there, it’s pervasive, and it affects all volunteers. Peace Corps has a saying – the ideal volunteer integrates into the community and is liked and respected by all. I think the definition sounds noble, but have always chuckled in the back of my head at it, because by that definition, the ideal volunteer is corrupt as hell. When you make stands, such as refusing a teacher’s request to help her student cheat, or point out that taking money for grades is wrong, you become less liked. That’s one less person to integrate with. Surprisingly, in some instances you even become less respected. If you recall from a previous post, cheating isn’t wrong. So by taking a stand you don’t even gain respect, just confusion and distance. Just a few weeks ago I had to decide whether I wanted to “help” a student from another university on her final exam. If she failed, her past four years were in without purpose, if she passed, she’d be another English language graduate that can’t speak English.

This obviously bothers volunteers. Some try to numb themselves to it. They don’t try to answer the question so much as they attempt to ignore it. After all, having your ethical standards tested almost daily is a rather unnerving, especially when you have no recourse. You can vent to other volunteers when the opportunity arises, but the fact is there’s no one to back you up when make an ethical decision, and no one to see when you let your standards slide. Should a volunteer tutor the director’s kids privately instead of giving a club open to the public, or should he cross the main person who can (and will) make his work environment hell for two years? Should an OCAP volunteer refuse to give an important training seminar because the higher-ups at the institution demand certification for completing the training they won’t take part in, or should she give up on the hope of demonstrating integrity and proceed anyway?

On the other hand, a few volunteers feel very comfortable saying “yes, we are doing a lot of good.” And, to be honest, this is probably the truest of answers. After all, we’re undeniably improving English levels across the country and are typically successful cultural ambassadors. Good thing too, as that’s our specific job. But what concerns many of us it that that’s not enough. Often times it seems as if teaching English successfully is at odds with the system, at all levels. Teachers often aren’t interested in doing so or won’t work with volunteers because of the additional work involved. School administrations couldn’t give a flip whether or not their students learned English so long as all the administrative paperwork is in order and there is an official stamp on every document. Education boards announce their inspections months in advance, as if begging teachers to make that one day of class perfect at the expense of all the rest. (A perfect class, by the way, is one that has been rehearsed, not one where students learn English.) Local and city governments seemingly don’t even attempt to hide their graft, but when money does flow where it’s supposed to it’s outrageously misappropriated. (Example: Many schools have many $10,000+ interactive boards despite the fact that the teachers don’t know how to use it, but don’t offer students or teachers so much as paper to write on.) One can’t help but wonder if the motivation or desire to teach students even exists at an official level. Imagine how frustrating that is for a volunteer.

So, yes, to be fair, we are definitely doing good, but there’s so much more potential for more. We’re swimming against the current, if you will. We’re heading in the right direction, we just need the education system (at the very least) to join us instead of fighting against us.

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So, I began writing the above out of frustration at a particular event that simply pushed me over the edge. Now that I’ve spoken about egregious problems we face, I’ll give a specific example.

A volunteer did a phenomenal thing. She got her local government to contribute almost 500 US dollars for supplies and equipment, plus room and board for 10 volunteers for a two week camp she intended to have. It would invite 100 kids and 10 local teachers. The students, most of who have never worked with a native speaker, would each receive 40 combined hours of English instruction. The 10 local teachers would team-teach the same hours, lesson plan with the volunteers and also participate in daily training session. All in all, an incredible opportunity for all the locals involved, with the total government investment amounting to less than $1 a day per student. Pretty straightforward, right? ... Ha. Ha.

I remember asking around if my local government in Zhezkazgan would contribute money – even just $100 – for a camp. Most people just laughed. I mean, hell, teachers across Kazakhstan typically don’t get paid for months at a time because the funds evidently don’t exist, so what makes you think the government is going to dish out any additional money? I knew I was sunk immediately because I don’t have close connections with the Akimat (townhall.) But, what if a volunteer did? Would it be possible to get money?

It turns out, that if you know enough connected people, let Akimat people have a degree of control over which students and teachers attends the camp, and can use the media promote the local government, host institution, and other figures appropriately, then it is, in fact, possible, to receive funding from the Akimat. … Who knew it was so easy? Don’t say you need money so that ten educated and trained native English speakers can teach the kids more English in 10 days than they usually learn in as many weeks, say you need money so that the local government can receive credit and hype up the fact they invited 10 Americans. It’s all very simple.

With that set you can spend the money that Akimat has graciously awarded you. Of course, when you’re ready to do this, the offered money has, for reasons unknown been slashed by 50%. (In undoubtedly unrelated news, the school purchases a new modem.) But that’s fine, you can still make ends meet. Well, except for the fact that you’re only allowed to spend the money at one particular store in town, and nowhere else. Oh, and this store has the most expensive prices, priced upwards of 50% more than identical items found elsewhere. Hmm.

Despite the monetary setbacks, the camp went very well. The students loved learning from us and the teachers were thrilled to work with us. It was a great experience for all involved.

On the last day we had closing ceremonies. We had used a few hours on Thursday and an hour on Friday to prepare a 5 minute song/dance/skit for each class. Nothing crazy or elaborate, as the focus was on teaching English, not preparing dances. And so we had our closing ceremony, and each group, which represented a country of the world, performed for 5 minutes. All went well, and the kids especially, had a great time. After the ceremony, though, as we were cleaning up, we find that the “Akim” (mayor) had decided he wouldn’t host the volunteers next year. His reasoning: “the performances from the groups didn’t represent the countries and furthermore were not very impressive.” That’s right. The Akim, who never came to a class, or even so much as asked a teacher how the camp was running, decided to cut funding because he didn’t like the skits and dances that 12 year old kids put on. Perhaps team Ireland’s Irish song wasn’t Irish enough. Or maybe team Spain’s Spanish dance and singing of “La Bamba” wasn’t Spanish enough. More than likely, however, the worldly Akim was probably cued in most when team Russia’s 5th graders sang “You Are My Sunshine” instead of a Soviet hymn. Who would’ve known that the biggest mistake we made was teaching English to the students as opposed to spending the whole camp preparing a huge show for the Akim?!

I, for one, was furious at what can only be described as sheer ignorance and ineptitude of this particular individual, not to mention the lead up to it. After a few hours, however, I realized that my anger was misdirected – I/we should’ve known that the biggest mistake we made (in regards to procuring future funds and appeasing the Akimat) was teaching English instead of preparing for a big show. That’s how things too often work here. The volunteer didn’t receive money in order to teach the students English, she received money to impress the Akimat and Akim, and teaching the kids well is not a good way to do that.

So, what’s there to do? Refuse to put a camp on next year? Not a bad idea in principle, but why screw over the kids due to their shortsighted leaders? Maybe write a letter on behalf of the volunteers to the Akimat? Again, not a bad idea in principle, but one that will result in devastating consequences for the volunteer. (You can’t play hardball when you have no position of leverage.) It seems one can’t really do anything except blog about what goes on here, and even then, you’re only receiving part of the story. My writing in the public forum is restricted. I have to self-censor myself. Asides from the fact that I’ve already probably crossed the line in what Peace Corps allows, I have to think about the fact that a number of locals are reading this blog now too. And, despite what I’ve mentioned, I’ve barely covered the tip of the iceberg in regards to the problems that plague this country. I can’t give the worst details or write about the most egregious acts of corruption.

I can’t tell you about the volunteer who was robbed by the police. I can’t tell you about the time a police officer, who saw a volunteer in clear physical danger, ignored his calls for help and walked away. I can’t tell you how I know that a sizeable percentage of men who frequent an (obviously illegal) brothel in one volunteer’s town are policemen. How NGO’s are forced out of their buildings because they refuse to collaborate with the Akimat on asinine policies. Etc.

Well, anyway, I can’t keep writing forever. There are a number of problems here. System, ingrained, institutionalized, accepted, etc. problems. Teaching English is great. Helping NGO’s is great. But when you have problems like this staring you down, you can’t help but ask “Are we able to help this country?”

A few photos...

Picture of the volunteers at the school.

Volunteers and local teachers in school auditorium. They provided a small feast and gave a concert for us to thank us for our help.

Group photo of volunteers, teachers, and administration.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Camp-
Camp in Alga is still going well. We enjoyed a brief respite from the grind on Saturday and Sunday, which was quite welcomed. But since Monday we’ve jumped back into camp mode and are working with the kids. The camp has an Olympic theme, so each group of students along with their volunteer and local teacher chose a country to represent. My group chose Egypt - no particular reason why, but they seem psyched by it nonetheless. The camp focused not just on improving the kids English and helping the local teachers but also on instilling good sportsmanship and ethics/non-cheating behavior. The countries receive “Olympic Points” for being good sports and/or not cheating during games. If the entire class shows up exactly on time at 9AM your country gets points, etc. If a student or teacher uses a cell phone during class, you lose points. Such things may sound simple or trivial, but in a country where volunteers have to ask each other “wait, do you mean Kazakh time or American time?” to determine whether or not to be punctual to an event, it’s quite helpful. Basically it’s an attempt to show how to run things fairly, with no double standards, and with no excuses. It is, unfortunately, a bit of a new concept for both students and teachers alike.

Anyway, the students continue to have a great time. We volunteers look more like zombies than human beings each morning as we gear up for the next packed day, but it’s worth it and ultimately quite fun and rewarding.

Travel Time Poll-
For those of you who voted in the last poll, 50 hours was the correct answer. That’s how long it takes to get from Zhezkazgan to Aktobe. 13 hours From Zhez to Astana by bus, a 11 hour layover followed by a 26 hour train ride to Aktobe. I did get to cheat the travel time by 1 hour, at least, as I got off in Alga, which is an hour shy of Aktobe.

There is a new poll for you to vote in – it’s on the right of the page below the slideshow. Make your best guess!

Dacha-
On Sunday we headed out to our Kazakh Teacher’s dacha. A dacha is a summer house/garden house that you use in the summer to grow fruits and vegetables . Russian’s typically had dacha’s, but for some, such as Roman, it has caught on with the Kazakhs. His house is about an hour walk from the village. We enjoyed the walk and fresh and helped weed his garden. For lunch his wife brought out some Plov – a rice dish with meet and carrots – and we ate that around his table in his 1 room house.

On a side note, the dacha area (as there are many dachas clustered together) has an insane irrigation system that I’ve no idea how it still works. There are leaks throughout, all the pipes are above ground, and they extend in all sorts of directions. My best guess is that some residual Soviet magic is somehow holding it all together.

In NW Kazakhstan

Teaching leap frog.


Kids doing relay races.



"Coach" Robert.


Modeling potato sack races.



In front of the school in Alga.


3 volunteers and 3 team teachers.



One of the teachers and I working.



Me talking with the kids on the opening day of the camp.


Showing teachers how you can make and use board games to let the kids have fun while learning English.

Teach A Man to Fish…-
“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he’ll never go hungry.” This common adage, I’ve found, is misleading. It oversimplifies situations it applies to by suggesting that if you just teach someone something, even very well, then you’ve achieved success. In Peace Corps a significant emphasis is placed teaching/training people. We’re drilled by Peace Corps to make sure projects are sustainable by training locals, teaching new things, and leading by example. The main idea being that once a volunteer’s service is complete, the locals will be able to take the reins and carry on the better practices. Success is thus defined by whether or not the trained person can do what they’ve been taught. A typical example for education volunteers would be that the teachers we work with can teach a class using the (better) methodology we use.

The problem with this setup lies with a false assumption – that if you teach someone to do something better, they’ll do it. You may be able to teach a man to fish, or fish better, but sometimes it’s just easier to eat less than to go through the effort of fishing. And that’s even when it benefits you. There’s even less incentive when you don’t directly benefit, so just imagine the lack of incentive if your superiors actively dissuade or even reprimand you for using a different system (as often occurs in Kazakhstan.) Take, for instance, a volunteer was scolded by her administration because during an “open lesson” (where faculty and admin can sit and watch) they couldn’t understand what was going on. They literally complained to the teacher and volunteer because the lesson was all in English! … Yeah. But this is just one of many stories. Similar situations are quite common. The point being that training someone doesn’t necessarily make for a success story. You have to train many in hopes that you find the diamonds in the rough – those who will utilize the training despite the many obstacles preventing it. Success is incremental. For every successful person trained or taught, another statistic needs to be taken – who of those really went on to struggle for positive change. You can teach a man to fish, but you can’t make him do it once you’re gone.

Astana-
As you saw from the previous photos, I was in the capital of Kazakhstan on Saturday. It is a city of striking contrast. For brief background, Astana was made the capital in 1998. At the time it was just a small town. It was chosen for a number of reasons, but one of them was that it could essentially be built and designed from scratch - a model city for a rising country. It is probably the most beautiful city I’ve seen in Kazakhstan (I still have an affinity for Shymkent, though.) It was nice walking around and seeing a few sites, but what struck me most about Astana wasn’t the monuments, architecture, or beauty, but its many glaring contrasts.

Astana has been built at a feverish pace. One admires the newer buildings and sense of spritely development, but can’t deny how forced the city development feels or how there lies behind a rundown feel behind its surprisingly thinly veiled beauty. In a sense, it’s a brand new city that already feels run down. But, no… “run down” isn’t the right word. Because everything is new. It’s more… incomplete. There are modern glass buildings with windows missing for no apparent reason. There are fountain areas with decently landscaped lawns and bricked walkways – the only problem being that it looks as if a sledge hammer has been taken to parts of it. Bricks and tiles are already broken; handrails have popped off their hinges. Everything is pre-manufactured, but only 2/3rds assembled. There are brand new bus stops that have a sleek bench and a spot for a glass advertisement or poster to go, but the glass hasn’t been installed and below the benches is either smashed up concrete or dirt. I was walking down the main promenade to Beiterek – the symbol of Astana and Kazakhstan – but tripped on the walkway as the stones had ruptured out of place due to a poorly placed pipe. The city clearly doesn’t have enough skilled workers to meet its demand for new, and it doesn’t seem to have enough workers at all to even attempt to repair the just built. It’s moving too fast for its own good and using the IKEA of construction materials too. Everything looks great, but come a bit closer and you often see not just shoddy construction but very low quality materials.

I won’t go on, as I don’t want to bore you, but it was very interesting to see. I would like to point out that on the whole the city does look decent and there’s a sense of optimism in its development and architecture. One just hopes that the often obtrusive flaws are just minor cuts as opposed to deeper scars.

Bishbarmahk-
For one of the activities in my class I was introducing animal vocabulary (in preparation to rock out to Old McDonald Had a Farm.) I showed a picture of a cow and they correctly identified it. Then I asked what color it was and how big it was. Next I asked “what do cows make?” One of my students excitedly shouts out “BISHBARMAK!”

Alga-
Ok, I am in Alga giving a camp right now. However, time has been very short. I’ve had little time to blog. We teach from 9-11, then 11-1 have activities with the kids, then 2:30-3 we give a lesson for the teachers we’re teaching with, then 3-4 we plan our next lesson with our team teacher, and typically then go on to work another hour or more creating the materials for what we’ve planned. All in all it’s extremely exhausting, particularly when you add in guesting with the locals and other unscheduled events. It’s a good time, though, and I think we’re all having fun working with the kids. I’m working with 5th graders. Oh, and Alga is the name of a village an hour from Aktobe (a larger city in NW K-stan.) I’m here with 10 volunteers giving a camp to 100 students. It goes from June 1 – 14. I’ll try to write more about the week, but until then I hope you enjoy the pictures which I’ve hopefully successfully posted.