Another Miscellanious Update

Now that i've gotten the hang of posting pictures with my blog, i've decided to 

make an excuse to add some more by writing another day's worth of ramblings. We just had the independence day holiday and everyone is still in the "holiday" mode of rest and relaxation. My real work hasn't really picked up completely yet, mostly because my college is super laid back, and secondly because the groups that I teach are all away at practicum. Every one of my teachers has only 2 classes all week! Therefore, I am left with ample time these weeks up until just after the new year. This will give me just enough time to feel like i'm not doing anything worthwhile, another cultural perspective i'm working on controlling. I'm not worried though, I've been working hard preparing visuals and games to use more frequently next semester. I am looking forward to meeting the groups that I still haven't taught yet. Next week we're having a Christmas/New Year's Extravaganza style Talent Show. 

This time of year is the busiest for many of the teachers in the Colleges and Schools. There are "grades" to be marked and checked off in signature bureaucratic fashion, and teachers logs to be stamped. So, my teachers, who can sometimes let this kind of menial paperwork slip by, have been scrambling to finish it all. Thus, I have focused on my own classes and miscellanious speaking activities i've prepared. I've seen and notified a preliminary need in the community I am working in. The teachers I work with are very interested in TOEFL. 

Which is an entrance English test for anyone who wants to study or work abroad. There are three components: Reading, Listening and Writing. The last criteria is the biggest weak point for most of the people who take this test. I want a goal of mine to be helping to improve writing skills in interested people who want to take this test. 

I plan to do short term, bi-weekly smaller and shorter seminar at my college for teachers in the area and hopefully a full scale workshop sometime in Spring. This is all tentative but I hope it gives a good idea of the kind of projects I am looking towards doing. I have had a lot of time to start thinking about these kinds of things since I haven't been teaching so much lately. I have also been writing a lot of flashcards, as you can see. I have luckily had many opportunities for relaxation, amusement but just as much I have had many hours free to study my Kazakh flashcards.I am working on learning upwards of 30-50 words a week, as well as getting really good at basic grammar while learning more difficult structures. I really love being able to use this language for getting around as well as just connecting with someone I would never have the ability to otherwise. I look forward to being able to articulate myself even more that just the "information gap" function of language. 

Тәуелсіздік күні (Independence Day)

On December 16th, 1991 Kazakhstan became it's own nation, it was formally the KSSR (Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic) under the USSR. During the Russian reign since the mid 18th century, there were many projects on Kazakh soil, including infamous nuclear testing sites in the northeast. Here is a comprehensive outline of Kazakhstan's Independence that I got from orexCA.com. 

"On 16^th December, 1991 Kazakhstan adopted the Constitutional Law on the independence of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 2001 Kazakhstan celebrated the 10^th anniversary of its independence.

Kazakhstan is a very young independent state. But during this short period, large-scale institutional changes have occurred in the country. The people of Kazakhstan voted for a presidential form of government. A two-chamber Parliament was established, a court system created, the new capital determined. Fundamental national legislation was passed on the economy, social security and security. More recently, executive powers such as the Armed Forces, the Republican Guard, the Frontier Troops and the Navy were created.

There are 16 political parties and over 2,500 non-governmental organizations in the country, ensuring political plurality and social stability.

Selected landmarks of the creation of Kazakhstan:

25^th October 1990 - Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Kazakh SSR.

5^th October 1991 - People's Party Congress of Kazakhstan.

16^th October 1991 - Law on elections of President of Kazakh SSR.

10^th December 1991 - The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic is renamed the Republic of Kazakhstan.

16^th December 1991 - Law on elections of the President of the Kazakh SSR.

Today and tomorrow I have no work. Many kids were setting off small fireworks in the streets and most everyone had shortened classes. There were also many concerts in the kazakh schools celebrating only the 19th year of independence. Kazakhstan is such a young independent nation even though the history of the land goes back to ancient times. It's amazing what a name and a few boundaries can do for a nation's state of mind. 

Today my family and I went to a large celebration at a very nice cafe in Zhezkazgan. They served us plovf and yes, horse meat. I only tried a tiny bit because, one i'm not a huge fan of meat in the first place, and two, I knew I might get sick from not being used to it. Horse meat in this country is so expensive and prized. They especially love the liver and intestines. Subsequently, the word liver in Kazakh is бауыр [baou- ur]. This word also is used to describe a close person, or жакын адам [zha-kan  a-dam]. So if you want to say "my daughter or my son or my close friend, you can call them a liver. Very кузык [kuh-zuk] or interesting. There is another word I learned that is also a weird way to say "to be irritated". Lungs in Kazakh is өкпе [ook-peh], and the verb, to be irritated is өкплеу [ook-peh-leyoo]. Why did they decide that "to be irritated" needed to come from the word for lungs? Maybe because we waste breathe with people we are upset with? Whatever the reason is, I find these kind of associations to be the most amusing part of learning a new language. It is fun to learn these kind of different word combinations in this language and there are plenty to find, that's for sure. I will post again soon.

Interview

Last week I had an interview with a very nice Russian lady and an awesome interpreter.

 It lasted for about 45 minutes and they took my picture and everything! I don't know what the actual article says fully in Russian but they basically a

sked me a series of questions about where I am from, what I like to do, what I am doing in Zhezkazgan, Peace Corps, etc. They asked me a series of questions that I had to respond with only one word. Questions like,"What is your favorite color?" (green), "What is happiness to you?"(health).It was a lot of fun. The article just came out today. Here is a link to some pictures from December and there are some closeup's there.  I have had the article translated by my friend Aygul. Here is the summary. 

The bold print next to my name reads: 

Introducing: Laura Marshall, an American student of Psychology and Art (yes, the fact that I am no longer a student was lost in translation..),Clever, Attractive,Ambitious

 Volunteer left her family

 in Los Angeles, the city of Angels, and is working and living here in our Zhezkazgan.

The Q&A section below my name reads like this:

(only one word answers)

Favorite Color?

Green

Favorite Day?

Friday.It is the start of the weekend

Hobby?

Rockclimbing. Anything active.

What is happiness to you?

Health.

When were you born?

1986

Who gave you your name? 

My Dad liked the name Laura. >

The title in bold on right side of my name is : 

Generation V(5)

In December everyone around the world celebrated International Volunteer

s Day. 

[Start of the article]Laura teaches English at the Humanitarian college here in Zhezkazgan.

 She lives with a Kazakh family and is studying the Kazakh language. She has participated in many Kazakh traditions and embraced the culture of the Kazakh people.Last week she celebrated Kurban Ait and will also celebrate the upcoming Nauryz in March. She also participated in the Kazakh ritual of cutting string around a child's legs when they take their first steps. She has had the national dishs, baursaouk and beasbarmak and likes it but admits that the dishes are very heavy for her. If she ate those

 foods on a regular basis she definitely would need to 

do some more exercising. Laura is anything but inactive. Her schedule is busy but she still found time to meet with us for an interview. I asked her to say something in Kazakh and she spoke about her family back home in California. We were very suprised at how much she knew and with her speaking abilities. She simply said: My name is Laura [but in Kazakh]. 

-What did you know about Kazakhstan before coming here? [Me] "Mainly I knew about the geographical situation of the country and that's really it."

Laura has been to Almaty and Zhezkazgan but has plans to visit many other cit

ies in Kazakhstan like Pavlodar, Petropovlask and Astana. 

-Is this your first experience volunteering? [Me]"No. Last summer I spent a few weeks in Tanzania and I worked with preschool kids and at an orphanage. That experience reassured my Mother that I could handle living abroad and volunteering in a foreign country for two years." 

Laura is a very clever girl who's passion is to go all over the world. She didn't know that fate would 

bring her to sit with us today. 

-Do you have any volunteers in your family? [Me] "Yes. My family has always be

en involved in domestic and international volunteering. We participate in fundraising for local organizations, hospitals and orphanages."[a little embellished but I think it was a little lost in translation again] Laura has worked with kids at summer camps every summer since she was about 15 or 16. It was then that she decided she wanted to become a volunteer. [There is one more 

sentence but I forgot what it says! I will update again tomorrow with the ending]

New Snow!

It has been about 2 weeks since I last posted anything. I recently discovered that I can type in Kazakh on my computer, which is so great and I will at some point in the post, write out a few formal greetings and phonetic ways to say them. Currently, at 11:30 at night, it is 1 degrees F outside. Cold? I THINK SO. Today was the first day of the "chill" that everyone has been telling me about. I am definitely in for an adventure in that respect. Certain basic needs, like feeling stable, can make some mental processes slow down so much. I understand how some people, who have to work twice as hard to do certain tasks that, thankfully, we have conveniences for, don't look much past their own doorstep. For example, going to school in the morning has its multitude of challenges. One, and perhaps the most challenging, not having a personal mode of transportation. This kind of convenience really doesn't matter to me, except when its 1 degrees F outside. I have to walk about a block and a 1/2 to my bus-stop every day. The cold isn't so bad, it's the wind. The month of december in Kazakh is желтоксан [zh-e-l-tok-san]. So the literal translation is 90 (токсан) days of wind(жел). YES. 90 full days of siberian style wind chill. mmm. This is exactly what I signed up for when I joined the Peace Corps. I am ready for the challenge.I have been here a whole solid month and the time has star

ted to go by much faster! I have started to work with the other teachers and I am f

inding everything to be going really really well. I have my own classroom 3 times a week, and the kids all are very interested in my lessons. So far, at least.

 I know I am one of the first native speakers of English for them to meet, so anything I do is interesting. Coming up this month, we are planning a Christmas Party. Well, it will be more like a New Years Party. Complete with contests, lots of food and dancing! I am looking forward to it. So, since I have my Kazakh keyboard available, I think it would be fun to type out some formal greetings and sayings and their translations. 

сәлеметсіз бе! [salam-at-siz  ba]   Hello!

калыңыз калай? [kal-ing-uz kal-ai? How are you? (Polite)

кайырлы таң! [kay-ur-luh tuhng] Good Morning!

кайырлы кун! [kay-ur-luh koon] Good Afternoon!

кайырлы кеш! [kay-ur-luh ke-sh] Good Evening!

сау болыңыз! [sao- bol-ing-uz] Goodbye!

These are the main greetings the Kazakh people I've met use. There are a variety of forms of "Hello" but the most common is the one I have written. The emphasis in their speech is always on the ending syllables. They have a very distinct intonation and pronunciation to their language. The grammar is pretty crazy since everything is in "post-position". There are all of the cases (superlative, ablative, possessive, etc.) and ALL of them take place at the end of the nouns and verbs. The only thing that I can take comfort in is the lack of articles (a, the) and there is no gender. So in that respect I have some leeway. :)

I hope you are interested in learning just a little bit of what I've been studying, because I'm going to show you! 

For example, 

кітап [ki-tap] the book

менің кітапым [men-ing ki-tap-um] my book

мен[ің] кітап[ым]

[ің] genitive case (my, his, her)

[ым] ablative case (possessive)

I have been writing full texts with this stuff! It's definitely a brain exerciser. I am really enjoying it. My teacher is a Kazakh woman who teaches Kazakh at a Russian school. Since most of the students there aren't that thrilled to be learning Kazakh, she is super happy to have any student who is willing to learn. We are building a very nice relationship and I look forward to learning more from her. I am settling in very nicely in Zhezkazgan and I am having a great time getting to know my new city. There are plenty of things to do here and I'm getting to know the right people in the bazaar. 

I am also finding it a little easier to go from speaking English to Kazakh quickly. In my first few months, I couldn't make my brain work that fast if my life depended on it. At this point though, I've hit a good level of understanding. I must go finish my Kazakh homework and lesson activities. I will post again soon.