Friday, August 30, 2013

Construction

There's a joke about Montana--There are 4 seasons in Montana--nearly winter, winter, still winter, and road construction.  That joke holds true for Astana as well.  (Except, it's not just a joke, it's quite true as well!)

Also, Astana is still a quite new city.  It was founded in the 1800s but was rather small until 1997, when the president of Kazakhstan (itself a brand-new country) moved the capital from Almaty in the south to Astana.

Kazakhstan is the most prosperous of all the Central Asian countries, thanks to a stable government and oil money.  And so Astana, a new capital city in a new country with high aspirations, is constantly under construction (and not just road construction).

My second year here I switched schools.  My new principal had been in Astana for over 3 years.  Every time we went somewhere, he would comment that this or that building had not been here when he had arrived.  Mega, the popular mall I live next to, was not there.

Now I have been here for over 4 years.  And as I drive people around, I find myself commenting on this or that building that hadn't been here when I arrived.  Astana is such a different city from what it was 4 years ago!  Which was such a different city from 3 years before that!  It's amazing!

Construction was recently finished on a new school building and so over the summer all of our things were moved into this nice, new building, which is about a fifteen minute walk from the former building.  When the land was purchased for this new building (over 4 years ago), there was nothing there.  Now the school is surrounded by construction--so much so that it is hard to get to!  The road that leads from the main road to our entrance is completely obstructed by construction.  Luckily, there are other ways to get to school, but you will pass construction and torn-up roads on your way to the school.  There's no way around it.

I enjoy being in a city that is changing so much.  I especially enjoy the new, fancy concert halls that are appearing, as well as the new opera theater which is grand and amazing and finally opened a few months ago.

Pretty soon winter will hit and then construction will slow down... but once the snow melts (April, May) construction will begin again!

PEANUT BUTTER!!!!


I think I found a consistent supply of peanut butter, and I'm so happy if this works out!

(See this post for a description of the ordeal of hunting for peanut butter in Astana)

Across from Keruen mall (near the Beiterek tower) is a small store called Fine Foods.  It sells expensive European products such as bread, jellies, and fresh fish imported from Europe.  A couple times last year I bought peanut butter there--1800 tenge (over 11$) for just 500 grams (a normal-sized jar) of Dutch peanut butter.

Since returning in early August, I haven't found peanut butter at any of the usual places, or at Metro, which only recently seemed to acquire peanut butter, and so I stopped by Fine Foods yesterday.  I couldn't find peanut butter, so I asked a worker, who had never heard of peanut butter but was convinced they had what I was looking for, and showed me something like Nutella as well as different kinds of butter.

A German guy (perhaps the owner?) came and he knew exactly what I was looking for and said it was in stock.  I gave them my name and number and they said they'd call when they had it in the store.  Also, he seemed to imply that I could order peanut butter from them and they would get it, just for me.

A few hours later they called to say they had peanut butter.  I haven't had time yet to go pick it up.  But I'm excited.  It's expensive, but if I can order it, then that means I'll always be able to get it.  Yay!

Saturday, August 24, 2013

A "Forest"


I'd heard of a forest near Astana; Sophia had gone there on a field trip in 2nd grade and it was mentioned on the Astana International Club web site as a day trip.  So I wrote down the directions to the forest as well as the directions for a suggested path to take, and off we went, just Sophia and me.

The forest is about a 30 to 45 minute drive from downtown Astana, past the huge Metro store on the Karaganda highway.  We parked in a small parking area with a few other cars.  A family was picnicking to our left.  To our right there was a small guard station and an entrance to what I assumed was the forest.

We first walked around the area near the parking lot.  It was similar to a small woods, with birch trees and quite a bit of undergrowth.  It has rained quite a bit this summer for Astana, so my guess is that there is usually not that much undergrowth.  There were overgrown trails and it was nice, nothing special.

Then we decided to try the recommended path.  We passed the guard house and turned left down a dirt road and soon turned left again onto another dirt road.  Here we came to a fork; judging from what I had written down, I guessed that we should go right.  We walked for quite a bit down this road, never near a forest.  (In fact, the only "forest" we had seen so far was the cluster of trees near the parking lot.)  We weren't in the steppe either; there were some small trees planted in rows on our right; on our left were bushes.  Some of the bushes had red or orange berries.  A family drove up and got out to collect some berries.

The temperature wasn't too hot, but the sky was clear and the sun bright, and soon we were hot and not quite happy.  I pressed on, and soon we came to what looked like an overgrown meadow with some birch trees.  We wandered through here a bit, off the dirt road, and finally turned around.

On our way back, we met a Kazakh man who had gone mushroom-picking.  He told me the name of the berries, which unfortunately I have forgotten, and that they are edible.  Each berry has one seed on the inside, almost as large as the berry itself.

I'm wondering if I should have turned left at the junction.  The people who wrote about this forest on the International Club web site seemed to really enjoy it.

It could perhaps be a nice place to go for a picnic, when the weather is a bit cooler.  But Central Park in Astana is also nice, and a lot closer.  We'll probably come back at some point, just to get out of the city!

Later on, I remembered a "resort" that is further outside of Astana, near where my friend is building a house.  Her brother-in-law had discovered it and recommended it, so one day last year we went.  We had to pay go go in (not much) and it was just a small, dirty place, with a tiny and incredibly dirty pond.  In comparison, the forest is marvelous.
Near the parking lot

Our hike--maybe we should have taken the road on the left?

Berries!  If anyone can name them for me, I'd be delighted.

Meadow?  Forest?  It was pretty.


View of Astana from to road to the forest.




Monday, August 19, 2013

Seeing Astana with New Eyes

I've been here so long that sometimes it's hard to remember what it was like to be new here!  This year the new teachers have all lived abroad, so that helps with the culture shock, I think.  They still have to learn what Astana is like and they have to deal with not knowing the language, but they are used to the surprises that await you when you leave your home country.

Last week I took one of the new teachers to Артем  (Artyom), a large, crowded mall that I enjoy going to, although sometimes it can give me a headache!  The ground floor is mostly full of vendors selling food, and sometimes teachers like to come here for fruits, vegetables, spices, etc.  The second floor has home items as well as souvenirs, pharmacies, and other odds and ends, and the next few floors have clothing and shoes.  The top floor has two cheap restaurants, cheap hair places, and cheap tailors.

When I shop at the fancy, modern malls such as Mega or Khan Shatyr, I hear so many foreign voices and often run into someone I know.  When I shop at Artyom, I never hear foreign voices and the vendors seem surprised and happy to see me.

Some foreigners don't like Atyom so much--it's crowed and dirty (and the clothes aren't cheaper than Khan Shatyr!) but the new teacher loved it.  She found quite a few items she needed, and said it would be a good place to come to practice speaking Kazakh.

She has lived the past several years in China and said it reminded her a lot of China.

A few days later we took a walk through Central Park.  It was around 9 pm, the sun was starting to set, and it wasn't too crowded.  There were still some vendors out--selling corn, ice cream, buttons with names on them--and there were still rides and games.  My co-worker said that this also reminded her a lot of China.

Per her experience so far, Astana is a lot like China, only smaller, less crowed, and cleaner, with much sunnier weather.

Sounds like a great place to live!

Uzbek Restaurant

One of the new teachers lives in my apartment building, and last week she said she wanted to go eat at a local restaurant.  And suddenly, I realized--I've lived here for 4 years and I don't have any recommendations for restaurants serving local food!  Sure, I've eaten local food, but where?

Luckily I have local friends so I texted one and got 3 recommendations--Russian, Uzbek, and Kazakh.  The Russian and Uzbek ones were within walking distance, so we walked.

These two restaurants are located with several more expensive restaurants, in the area that's called the 'round square'.

This round square is located behind the KazMunaiGas building that is across the park from Khan Shatyr.  If you're standing in front of Khan Shatyr, you can see Lovers' Park across the street, and behind that the KazMunaiGas building.  You can even see beyond, to Beiterek.  It's a lovely view and a lovely walk.


We found the Uzbek restaurant, but did not see the Russian one, Самовар (Samovar), so we ate at the Uzbek one, Кишлак, (Kishlak).  As far as I know, Uzbek and Kazakh foods are very similar; at least, this restaurant offered quite a few dishes that I associate with Kazakhstan.

We settled on shashlyk and lagman, with baursak for bread and some vegetables.  Shashlyk is like kebab--it's meat grilled on a stick--and the one we got was lamb mixed with something else.  Usually the shashlyk I get is not mixed or ground, it's just the meat, and I did not like this one as much.

Lagman is a type of noodle; this one was served in a soup-like mixture with meat.   It was very good.  Baursak is a puffy fried bread-ball and is one of Sophia's favorite foods.

The restaurant seemed very Uzbek to me, the waiters were in traditional costumes, and the tiles on the walls reminded me of the mausoleum in southern Kazakhstan.  My friend, who had spent the past several years in China, said everything--from the décor to the costumes to the food--reminded her of western China!

So I'm happy I got to experience a local restaurant, maybe someday I'll try Samovar or the Kazakh restaurant.



Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Language Learning Is Not As Easy As It Seems!

My senior year in high school I opted to take a Russian language class instead of higher-level mathematics.  My family hosted a Russian foreign exchange student for half the year.  In university I decided to continue to pursue my interest in Russian, and I took Russian language classes as well as Russian history and culture classes, for the first 2 1/2 years.  I even took Russian while studying at the Sorbonne in France my junior year.

Then I put Russian aside and mostly forgot about it.  I liked the Russian alphabet and sometimes doodled in Cyrillic when bored, but that was it.

Then I moved to Kazakhstan.  I found some of my old Russian textbook tapes and listened to them in preparation for the move.

My first year, I worked at a school where there was very little English.  I got to practice my Russian with my co-workers as well as my students, and I became more confident in very basic conversation.  I learned how to say 'Sit down!' and 'Be quiet' and 'Because I said so!' in Russian.

I also learned how to communicate, at a very basic level, while out and about--I learned vocabulary and phrases for shopping and eating at restaurants as well as giving directions.

Sophia struggled immensely, despite being 6 years old and immersed in the language and taking 8 hours a week of intensive Russian.  By the end of the year, she had learned enough phrases to play on the playground, and she knew the Russian alphabet and could sound out words.  In sum, very little Russian for a young child immersed in the language.  I'd always heard that language learning was so easy for young children, especially if they were immersed in it.  Yet, it turned out that it's nowhere near as easy as we think!

Then we moved to an English-language school, where we hear English in the hallways, my co-workers all speak fluent English, and of course English is required in the classroom.  Sophia had just 3 hours a week of Russian.

We've been at that school for just over 3 years now.  I love this school and it's wonderful--a great environment for me to teach in and a great environment for Sophia to learn in.   But it's not great for learning Russian.  (Which is fine, since it's an English-language schools and the parents who send their kids here are more concerned with their kids' level of English than their level of Russian.)

My Russian now is not much better than it was 3 years ago, and perhaps still worse than it was in university.  Sophia's has barely improved in the past 3 years.

Yet we live in a Russian-speaking country, surrounded by Russian!  You'd think we'd be fluent by now!  And Sophia has watched countless hours of Russian cartoons.

On the one hand, it's embarrassing to admit how little I know.  On the other hand, language learning is tough!  It's not something that comes naturally when you're immersed in it!  It's something that takes a lot of TIME and EFFORT--and time is something a single working mother doesn't have much of, and effort is something a stubborn child doesn't have much of.  There is no need for either of us to speak Russian (other than the basic Russian I already know), and need is usually the driving force for language learning--the children at our school learn English because otherwise they can't communicate.

I watch the students at our school learn English and realize just how hard language learning is.  They are immersed in English for 8 hours a day; they are surrounded by teachers who care and who try to help them every step of the way.  They get special small-group intensive English instruction.  They are motivated by the strong desire to be able to communicate.

And it is so hard.  They struggle, they feel frustrated, they act out.  Some learn more quickly than others; usually this is because their parents are fluent in English and help them at home.  The children whose parents do not speak English usually learn the slowest.

Some children are naturals at language.  They embrace English and love it and work so hard, happily and constantly, and excel.  Other children just can't figure it out.  Sometimes they try hard and just don't get it, other times they don't even want to try.

In the end, they all learn English, and I am so amazed watching them.  But they have the ideal, perfect circumstance for learning a language--the immersion, the caring teachers, the small teacher-to-student environment, the time (no job, just full-time students!)--and it takes a lot of time and effort.

So how can I learn Russian when I don't have all this?  I don't have 8 hours a day to dedicate to learning Russian.

The point is, language learning is not easy.  Even for kids, even for people immersed in a foreign country.  It is easier for some people than for others.  And some people are more motivated than others.  And it is possible for all people.

Just it takes time.  And I will continue to work on my Russian, and maybe one day I will be able to have a decent conversation in Russian about something other than weather, family, shopping, directions, and a menu.

A Doctor House-Call

April 2013
On and off during her life, Sophia has had mild breathing issues--sometimes she feels like she can't breath, and this happens in all sorts of situations--during activity, during rest, outside, inside, hot weather, cold weather, humid weather, dry weather.  She was having more difficulty this past spring, so I decided to find a doctor in Kazakhstan.

I emailed my co-workers for suggestions, and one woman suggested the family doctor she'd been using with her two small children.  She was quite happy with him and he made house calls.

I had a friend call him and he agreed to meet.  However, I had to either pay the taxi fare for him to come to my place or I had to pick him up, so after school one day we drove to pick him up.  He lived on the other side of town, far away from the school, and it was rush hour, so it took over an hour to get him and then get to my place.

He was perhaps in his 50s or 60s and carried a small doctor's kit with him.  He spoke no English, and my friend had to translate.

Note--however good someone's language skills are, there are always areas in which they're not familiar.  My friend's English is awesome, but her knowledge of technical medical terms is not that vast.  My knowledge of technical medical terms isn't that vast either.  So while my friend did a great job translating, there were some terms she couldn't translate.

The doctor spent an hour with us, asking detailed questions and examining Sophia.  He even had her do some exercises so he could check her breathing after them.

However, he wasn't sure what was wrong, especially since she was breathing fine then.  It could be allergy-related, though he really didn't think so, and he was sure it was not asthma.   His best recommendation was to go to an allergist.  He also explained something to do with the nervous system that my friend was unable to translate well and made no sense to me.

I was happy with how thorough the exam was, and he did listen to her chest quite a bit.  It didn't seem like her troubled breathing was a big deal, which was good.

When I asked him how much, he said however much I wanted to pay.  Well!  I had no idea!  I gave him 3000 tenge, 20$.

This summer, we explained the same problem to Sophia's American doctor.  He was just as stumped as the Kazakh doctor; however, he thought it could be mild asthma and prescribed an inhaler.  Sophia's been fine since then, so I don't know yet how well it will work.

So far, I've had little experience with Kazakh health care, and I can't quite recommend this doctor based on one experience.  I do know others who have experienced the health care here, and I do know that I prefer to return to the US for most my health care.

But it was nice to have a house call!  We don't get that in the US!