I will be spending the next two years of my life in a country called Kazakhstan. Don't be sheepish if you didn't think it was a real country.... Before I received a placement letter from the Peace Corps, I had never spent ANY time thinking about Central Asia in general, let alone Kazakhstan in particular. Needless to say, I've learned a lot in the last few months and have much, much more to learn in the upcoming years. So now is a good time for me to answer some of the most frequent questions I field about my upcoming adventure.
"And where is that?"
Kazakhstan is in Central Asia. It is one of those former Soviet Bloc states that unless you took high school geography within the last 20 years you probably never learned about (and even those of us with more updated globes and maps likely only think of them as a whole bunch of 'stans). Kazakhstan is nestled beneath western Russia, alongside western China, and above Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Because it is located near such geographic giants, it is easy to miss that Kazakhstan itself is huge. It is the 9th largest country in the world (geographically)!
"Where will you live?"
I don't know yet where in the country I will be placed, but for the first three months of training I will be living in a town near Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty (in the south east). My final placement could be anywhere--very rural to semi-urban, extremely cold to kinda cold, etc.
Kazakhstan has two major languages: Russian and Kazakh. Both use the Cyrillic alphabet, but they come from two different families of languages, so actually have very few similarities. The predominant language varies north to south and urban to rural, so I'm not sure what I will speak most of the time, but I hope to gain some level of proficiency in both (probably more in one than the other). I have learned woefully little so far, but three months of training and intensive language learning should give me a good start.
"What will you be doing?"
I will be teaching English to high school aged students. I will work with Kazakh English teachers to provide enrichment, English conversation opportunities, and cross-disciplinary application of English. I will also dedicate a lot of energy outside of the classroom to engaging with the community and finding ways to put my time and skills to good use.
"When do you leave?"
Soon! I will fly to Washington DC for a day of "staging", then will leave the U.S. on March 9th.
"How will you stay in contact?"
I don't know exactly what my internet access will look like, but I will try to update this blog when possible with stories, reflections, and photos. I hope that you all will also keep me updated! My email address and mailing address are on the left side of this blog--please, please send me news from your lives!
