As The Crow Flies

Call me completely out of the loop, but I finally heard this idiom employed for the first time a few weeks ago at one of our weekly english clubs. I felt a little silly since there were a few idioms that I didn't recognize and had never heard. Maybe out in CA we're so amazing, we don't need to rely on such words or phrases to express ourselves? I'd like to think so, but I figure it's simply a slight of chance situation.

Anyway, In keeping with the theme of this post, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line and that is EXACTLY what I'm on at the moment. Things are more clear for me than they have ever been. I call it a blessing but at the same time, the days and days spent waiting and looking towards the next transitions I will take seem to be taking forever. At the same time, however, time seems to be slipping. It's a strange place of consciousness to be in. One day seems to last 48 hours while the whole month is gone in a flash at the same time.

A bout of snow has finally come to Zhezkazgan and has packed down into some very slippery ice, mixed with mud. Not the most pleasant to try and not fall on whilst going to work everyday. BUT, I only have 5-7 weeks left of my second and final winter in my tiny blip within this massive steppe. And for that, I cannot complain about the inconsequential weeks ahead. Things are moving right along that line, as I mentioned before. I am looking towards March, when we'll celebrate the Kazakh holiday of Nauryz in Shymkent. Jenny and I have already begun preparations for camp GLOW which will be happening in June/July this summer. GRANT SITE LINK COMING!

I'm also coming home 90 days earlier than expected. I have an "accelerated" Closing of Service [COS]. I found this information out on Thanksgiving day while I was hosting the volunteers in our area and I almost had a conniption. Violent elation. Should I be admitting this so blatantly? That I can't wait to leave this place? I think I'm more excited about coming home during summer and possibly starting grad school in the Fall [of which I made a mad dash and applied to one program, i'm not holding out too much home for this year, but we'll see]. I guess it's the idea that I won't be sitting twiddling my thumbs for the last three months [Sept-Nov] that makes me the happiest. I will be able to let the next volunteer start well into his/her first semester without me there, crowding their space.So, there's that.

I've had a great few lessons lately. I think I've finally [after all this time] figured out how to make teaching enjoyable for me too. and let's face it, my students don't study, but they're fun to practice Kazakh with.

Enough about me, I was struck by something that I should have understood a long time ago at English club the other day. We were playing a circle game called categories. Everyone shares a series of hand movements and at a certain point everyone must name on item in the category I name, or they are out of the circle. I picked the category "film titles". Some of the films these kids knew were surprising [i.e. inglorious bastards, american pie]. Some extremely mainstream and somewhat offensive, films that I only assumed they had no access to or didn't know due to lack of motivated interest. I could not have been more wrong. I think there is a certain view that settles into us as "volunteers" but namely as outsiders in a culture we're so desperately trying to assimilate into. And that is "they" [i.e. everyone around you, who isn't American] don't share even the most remotely similar ideas about entertainment, knowledge acquisition and everyday living. The fact of the matter is, they do. Way way way way more than I ever gave anyone credit for. I simply mean, that once the superficial language barrier is knocked down you can find striking autonomous opinions that shock and excite you, even amongst the young and the most impressionable. The point is, it doesn't matter where you hang your coat at night or where you were born, every people group has those who fit the norm and even more who don't. You just have to be willing to discount your assumptions one person at a time. And anyone who has worked or lived abroad for more than a week can relate to just how difficult that can be.

I don't mean to say that I have been in any way racist or prejudice, I have simply taken my mental "shortcuts" and trusted judgements to my prior experiences without much deviation. This past English club was a perfect example of how growth stunting that kind of thinking can be. You miss out on the most fascinating part of a different culture, only because you simply thought it wasn't there or there was no bridge to get you there. I have no idea if any of this in translating as well as I hope it is. If it isnt, sorry for not making sense. Thanks for reading anyway.:)

On another note, I'm into my final 27 weeks. yes. 27 weeks. I can't help but feel ecstatic, accomplished and sad all at the same time. What a mess of emotion. I'll be sure to update soon.