tain 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 started 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.
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