Our First Days of School

We have finished six days of school. Terry has a 3rd grade class of 21 and I have 16 in my 1st grade class. They actually go by ages here.  My class is 6.2 and his is 8.1. The decimals recognize which teacher is teaching which class. I suppose they use ages because it's international and all countries do something a little different.

The campus is a K-12 facility with about 500 students. The students come to school at 8:15 and leave at 4. The elementary children are released at 3:06. Some go home and others stay for "activities" three days a week after school while they wait for their secondary brother's and sister's buses to leave. The elementary teachers each instruct an activity at those times.


The students eat family style in the cafeteria. I need to take more pictures because it is quite beautiful. They have a buffet set up for the older students. The little ones have their meal on glass plates ready for them when they arrive. They have silverware, glass glasses, bread, dessert, and fruit. It's a huge spread. Here's the clincher...it is expensive...about $6.50 a day. We were hoping to take school lunch and make it our main meal but at that price it's too expensive. In the afternoons the students get a "snack" delivered to them in the classroom. Usually some type of bread/cake (not sweet). One day they had little rolls stuffed with meat.

Terry's room is right above mine in a two story annex to the main building. We have a sky walk that allows us to travel to the main building without going outside. We both have a beautiful view of the mountains.  

Terry's room before he had it all set up.

 Susan's room. Teaching in progress!

View from Terry's room.

Saturday the 25th we went to an all staff BBQ at our director's home. They live next door to the school in a gated community. There are some staff apartments there and eight more are being built. It would be wonderful to live next door. We have to brave the traffic and it takes us about 15 min in the morning to get to school and 30 min to return in the afternoon. The traffic is thick at 5 pm. Going to and from school is always an adventure! Friday on the 2 lane street, but with 4 lanes of cars traveling on it, a bus and several cars got tired of waiting for the light to turn (it usually takes us about 10-15 min to get through that area) and drove off the road, between trees, and onto an asphalt sidewalk. Then they drove on up in front of everyone and entered at the intersection. It's never boring traveling in Almaty.

 

 Two of our men BBQ shashlik. They use chicken, pork, and beef and BBQ over a special wood with amazing spices.

 

 

August 19

Friday night the 17th we went to dinner with Steve and Gail Errickson for our anniversaries at a Yurt.  The diameter was about 30 feet. After much sign language and charades we finally ordered several new foods to try. In the picture you will see fries, tomatoes and cucumbers with a seasoned oil, and kabobs of lamb, beef, and chicken. This was by far the best meal I've had.

Saturday was an adventure at the car market. We drove about 45 minutes toward Kyrgyzstan to an open market full of cars. It was extremely hot. Did I say hot? YES! We walked around looking for a car to buy. Our directors went with us along with two mechanics and two translators. We would look for the type of car we wanted and the mechanics would check them out. All of us came home empty handed. The cars were old, in bad shape, and overpriced. I guess, about three years ago the car prices in Almaty took a terrific jump in price. Most of the ones we found looked great but really had a lot of rust and were just painted over. We're glad the mechanics were there. The men decided that they will search for cars for each of us, bring them to the school to be examined, and then suggest we purchase them if they meet their standards. We saw some nice cars...Porsche Cayenne for $40 K! We didn't look at the year. Many of the small SUVs we looked at were from the 90s and were $11-$14K. We're hoping to get a Russian SUV called a Niva for $5K. I guess it's bare bones...crank windows, no ac, just a box that will get us to the mountains. I think the price is right!

After our car excursion we spent the afternoon at Mega Mall...our home away from home with Jaclyn and Josh Smalley from Arlington, Washington. Using the WiFi there has been the only thing to save us from insanity while waiting for our internet to be hooked up. Well, we decide to take the old East GermanTrolley to the mall. It passes right in front of our apartment. You can see from the pictures that all the old wording inside is in German! It was quite a trip. We thought that it would make a regular stop near the mall, but not so. After traveling two miles further than we wanted to, we got off and took a gypsy cab back. So far our gypsy cab experience has been great...however, this guy's car kept overheating and he would stop periodically to let it cool off, but we made it.

Sunday, today, we went to the Metro, a supermarket like a Sam's Club or mini Costco. We bought meat, vegetables, tuna, mayo etc. and these two awesome red cups! I really liked it. Now if I just knew what I was looking at! I would have to say the two most difficult things for us are the street locations and purchasing food (or any household items). One of the other teachers, Jaclyn and I were looking for a Woolite type product...couldn't figure it out and a girl speaking Russian went on and on about how this laundry soap would do what Jaclyn wanted...sorry not so, it was laundry machine detergent. While we were at the Metro we found these familiar brands! French Fries from Lamb Weston and McCains! We do see Colgate, Dove soap, lots of beauty products, Lays, Kit Kat, Snickers, Pepsi, Coke...but we didn't expect to see two company names from the Basin. 

What kind of mistakes have we made? We purchased paper towels instead of toilet paper, bought a $12 milkshake at Baskin Robbins, mousse instead of hairspray, "handiwipe" type towels instead of paper towels, if you sit with a group at a table-the bill comes on one ticket with 10% added for a tip. I know there's more...just can't remember them all.

One unique cultural habit is in the observance of the past. When we take our garbage to the trash we see bags of bread hanging from nails around the enclosure. Apparently it is offensive to throw away bread. This is from the difficult days of communism when they were short on food and starving. When the garbage men come they throw it away. I kind of like the respect they are showing for the peril of their ancestors.

I've been trying to get this blog post for days...not much luck. So I'm behind and I hope I can catch you up.

We arrived on the 10th of August about 11:30 p.m. The director and two principals met us along with three other teachers at the airport. We were taken to our new apartment on the 6th floor of Orbita building.

On Friday we had the day to get settled and explore the neighborhood. Saturday the directors took the new teachers on a tour of Almaty. First we went to a park were there were beautiful flowers and trees.



The park included this beautiful Russian Orthodox Church. The building is made entirely of wood without any nails. There were numerous baptisms going. We weren't suppose to take pictures but everyone at the baptisms were, so I joined in and snapped a few without the flash on.





The city has a unique market called the Green Bazaar. Here the people sell meats: horse, pork, chicken, beef etc. There were rows of fruits and vegetables, spices, cheeses, milk, honey and jams.





We've learned much about driving in Almaty. Rule one...if they give you an inch they expect you to take it...pedestrian or automobile. No free rights. Stop on a blinking green. Do not go through a yellow. Don't look at the policemen on the corners...they may motion you over. If we get stopped, we pay the fine directly. It's best not to carry too much money as usually that is what the fine will end up being. Never cross a double white line. There are some expensive cars here. We saw a handsome Bentley, all kinds of Lexus, Mercedes, BMWs, Land Rovers, VWs, and such. We're going to go buy a car on Saturday. AIS (Almaty International School) takes us, has their mechanic check it out, then purchases it for us. We then in turn buy it from them. When we leave they buy it back and put it in their school car purchasing pool. They ran out of cars for us this year...oh ya...Terry wanted the last car they had, a BMW Z3, nope...too much $, not practical for the snow, and how would we get the mountains he so dearly wants to climb?! We hope to but a small SUV.

It's amazing that we've been able to survive without internet, cell phones, TV, or a car. Kind of nice actually except for not being able to communicate at will, with all of you. We haven't been able to talk to Jill. She doesn't have internet yet either. You can check out her blog at: jfinkbeiner.blogspot.blog

We have been walking to the Mega Mall everyday to use the Wi-Fi. The mall is upscale like Seattle or Bellevue would have. They have many American stores...GAP, Adidas, Reebok, Nike, Apple, Tommy Hilfiger, Burger King, KFC, Gloria Jeans, and Hardies (Carl's Junior). Terry decided  to purchase a milkshake from Baskin Robins...we didn't really look at the price thinking it would be around $4-$5. Nope...$12 once we did the converting. Have to say that's the last milkshake we'll buy from there! The prices here are much like America or higher. I hope to find a place like Target to shop but that will be awhile I'm sure.

I asked the staff about unemployment. Everywhere I look there are rent-a-cops, custodial workers, numerous workers in one store (US has been downsizing so it seems odd to have so many clerks.) They said everyone is employed, just not for very much money. The people seem happy. We don't see crying children, angry parents, or sad faces. I wonder if they are happy with the direction their nation is going...more toward the Western influence?

Monday

Today we went on another excursion with our elementary director and secondary director. They took us to Medey to see the ice rink and climb a plethora of steps up the hillside. Alongside the stairs, we were thrilled to see this golden eagle tethered to a railing. Not too many more feet away stood a herd of wild horses.  

The rink is home to some of the Asian winter games and where they also play the game "Bandy." Bandy is somewhat like hockey but with a small orange ball instead. I guess it's a really cold sport to watch. A gondola takes people even further up into the mountain to ski lifts. After our climb we decided to forgo that path and visit our new school. On the way back we saw amazing buildings in their financial center. It's like we crossed into a different world from the Green Bazaar. We ate a rice pilaf type dish and a potatoes and meat dish at a restaurant across the street from the school. All for under $10.

The school is really great. It has a primary gym and secondary gyms, library, computer labs, etc. I even have my coveted white butcher paper to teach GLAD style! Terry and I are in the new wing of the school. His classroom is right above mine. There are three "6 year old" classes and only two "8 year old" classes. So Terry's classes will be a little larger at 20. They would add another class but they have already ran out of room. What's our first impression of the staff. Wonderful. They are kind, giving, and extremely helpful. They have gone above and beyond to help all of out. Again, not a frown in the bunch...including us!  It's been a long day again...tomorrow we're going to try and ride the bus to the school...YIKES!   

 

Tuesday

There are seven new teachers who live in our three apartment buildings. One family with three children live across the hall. Today all 10 of us decided to use the bus system and make our way to the school. That was an adventure! After about a half-hour trying to find out which bus to take we finally made it onto bus 67. The bus was packed without any open windows and a 90' day. It cost 80 tenge or around 60 cents to ride. It took about 35 minutes for us to arrive at our school. We took care of a few nuts and bolts and headed back to our apartments. After waiting for 15 minutes for our returning bus to arrive we gave up and took the 316 bus all the way back. What makes the 316 so different? It's a large van/bus. Mind you, it was already packed full...and we got on with 10 more. We estimate a total of 40 people on the bus! The driver started to take off with three of the men still on the street. I sat on the dashboard right above the stick shift, Terry stood hunched over in the window and everyone else stood in the aisle and hung on for dear life. All we needed were a few goats and chickens! I ended up taking money and handing it to the driver. You have to appreciate Almaty driving to understand how talented our driver was...he could drive, take money, make change, and stop appropriately all at the same time! Amazing!

Tomorrow we start work. The area teachers are assembling at our building for in-service. It will be good to get underway with what we came to do. Well, it's time for me to figure out the washer...our clothes are soaked through every day.