Summer (it’s a long one – you may want to get a snack)

It’s been an eventful summer. Like the entire Peace Corps experience it was full of ups and downs. And tomorrow it all comes to an end as I go back to school to start the scheduling process.

Summer kicked off with school not ending. What? Classes stopped, but I kept going because we had a summer camp at my school that lasted the entire month of June. There were two parts to the camp – an overnight camp for younger students and a day camp for older students. The younger students had more of what I would consider a camp experience. The camp for the older students was a “subject camp.” Apparently what that means is that teachers from every subject are present at the school for a month to teach lessons to students who said they would come…but may or may not actually do so. Sort of like non-credit summer school with no attendance incentive. It has some room for adjustment.

I enjoyed the last two weeks of camp because that’s when I started working with the younger kids. Activities for them were much more fun for me, and it was hilarious the things that we (Kevin came down for week 3, Lindsey for week 4) had happen during the time with the little ones. At one point I think I must have had half a dozen or more 5-year-old kids hanging off of me. Kevin thought it was hilarious. I thought they were getting heavy.

After my escape from camp, it was off to Almaty. All the Kaz-20s had mid-service medical in July. On the way down, Lindsey and I made a brief stop in Astana. Her time in Kazakhstan was running out and she still hadn’t seen Astana. Mostly, she just wanted to see Baiterek – a Sunsphere-looking monument that is a fairly famous national symbol. Once we’d had our fill of the glories of Astana it was on to Almaty.

My doctor for the mid-service exam was the one and only Dr. Victor. He’s a really awesome guy. He was an officer in the Red Army and served in Angola. He also really loved the Soviet Union. Still does. To this day I believe that Dr. Victor’s stories about his life and experiences, as well as some great stories about what life was like in the Soviet Union, were some of the most culturally enlightening portions of my training. Long story short, clean bill of health.

Next it was off to the Kyrgyz consulate to get a visa. Good thing the majority of that happened after medical, otherwise my blood pressure would have been highly elevated. Let’s just say things were less than smooth. Within months of my travel group’s intended departure date it had been possible for Peace Corps Volunteers to get a Kyrgyz visa for $15 within 24 hours. Apparently the rules changed before we arrived, though. Now the visas (single-entry tourist) are $90 and require 3-4 days to process. Oops. After submitting our payment and paperwork and sitting outside the consulate for several hours (all the time thinking we would have to pay a bribe to get the visas), the consular officer told us that we would be able to get our visas the next day. And there was no bribe required. Once again showing what happens when you assume!

Once we had visas in passport it was off to Kyrgyzstan! We went down the pricey way – taxi – but it turned out to be a nice, albeit expensive, ride. Our destination was Karakol, a small town near the southeastern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul. It was a cool town and we stayed at a nice hostel. In the town the three big attractions were the Dungan mosque, the Orthodox cathedral and the animal market. Check, check and check. We took a day trip to the lake and then it was off to the mountains and a little hot springs community called Altyn Arashan. Our hostel there was also owned by the same folks who owned the one in Karakol. There we spent some time relaxing and soaking in the natural beauty and soaking in the natural hot springs! Then it was back down to Karakol for a night and then back to Almaty by bus.

Then it was off to Taldykorgan. I spent a few days doing some work for my secondary project, and then Lindsey and I went to a nearby city for another camp. This camp was with Bastau, a private school that several of the volunteers in Taldy work with. The school does great work and Igor, the director, is one of the coolest guys I’ve met in Kazakhstan. He’s got a great vision for the school and he’s got the drive and determination to see it through.

Bastau camp was challenging but fun. And it lasted two weeks. After those two weeks the whirlwind continued. The next stop on the summer tour was exotic Pavlodar. OK, it’s not all that exotic. But I had to come back because Maher, one of the Kaz-19s in Pavlodar, was getting married. It was my first wedding, and it was a great time. Maher and Vika looked amazing, and it was fun for everyone who came.

Next, I took a breather. Just kidding. Then it was on a train to Almaty. Lindsey was on her way out of the country and my mom and brother were on the way in to visit. They actually got to meet as mom and Aaron were arriving and Lindsey was preparing to depart. After saying hellos and goodbyes – it was a crazy morning – the family and I headed back to the hotel, had breakfast and got ready to see the sights. We didn’t see many, though, before we had to head to Shemalgan and visit my host family from PST.

That was a fun visit. My family got to meet, well, my family. We had a wonderful time and they got to learn a little bit about Kazakh culture. I think it also helped them both to have a better understanding of what my life here was like those first few months. The next day we flew to Pavlodar and continued on to Aksu by taxi.

After trying to regain a little lost sleep we all headed off to Pavlodar to meet Jeffrey, who gave us a tour of the city. We hit the high points and called it a day. The next few days were spent in Aksu. There was a tour of the city as well as dinner with my second host family. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to visit either my director or my first host family as they were busy with a wedding almost the entire time my family was visiting. Kazakh weddings take several days and the timing was just off. My counterpart also was at the wedding, but on the last full day in the Aksu area we were able to have lunch with her family in Pavlodar. That was fun because we had beshbarmak. It wouldn’t have been a complete Kazakhstan experience without it. Plus, there was horse sausage (қарта) and fermented mare’s milk (қымыз) – two other traditional food items.

Once back in Almaty we finished sightseeing and souvenir purchasing and it was back to America for mom and Aaron. A few hours later, back to Pavlodar for me.

I took a few days to rest and then went to Bayanaul to watch a teacher training seminar that Mary organized. I want to host one in Aksu, and I wanted to get ideas and take notes. The seminar was great, but a bit hard to follow. The volunteers who held the seminar did the entire thing in Russian. It was really impressive.

Another cool part about Bayanaul was getting to hike in some beautiful country. The area has Kazakhstan’s first national park. In fact, it was actually a park before Kazakhstan was a country. It was the Soviet Union’s only park in Kazakhstan. It’s amazing there. Took two really great hikes and got to meet and stay with a really cool local. I don’t know his real name, but everyone calls him Forest Brother. He’s a ranger in the park. His father was a ranger, too. The guy is a blast and a great guide…but he walks REALLY fast. He showed us some great spots and also helped arrange a trip for us to one of the nicest camps at a nearby lake. He also made us fresh shashlik one night.

And that’s my summer in a (very large) nutshell.