Home Sweet Home

Oh the sweet pleasures of home. I can drink from the faucet. I can flush my toilet paper. I can buy shampoo with labels in English. I can surf the 150,000 channels where nothing is on...but it's all in English! Oh the simple pleasures! :)

Here are some of my favorite Christmas pictures. Note that the nieces are included!!

So far it's been a peaceful return. Now that Christmas is over though, I have been a bit sad as my heart is realizing I'm not just back in the US on vacation! But being with family is so sweet right now.

Packing 101: When things just don't fit.

Saying goodbye at Saramoldeava

I wish you could see the kids in person- the way they smile and laugh, their little fears and hurts, and the immense love you can pour in only to find it is you that has been filled up.

If you can't meet them, I'd love to show you my videos...especially the crazy ones with the balloons.

But if you can meet them and you can't see my videos, how about some pictures from my last day at Saramoldeava?

Negotiating the Bride...and Midnight Disco

So on the eve of Eid, my family (including me) caravaned out to a nearby village (2 hours!). We went to celebrate what they said was a wedding, but was actually the negotiations for the bride!

First came the "unveiling." The bride, supported by her friends bowed continual as music was interspersed with the calling of relatives names. The appropriate relatives (his and hers) came forward to give money. The more money, the higher the veil until all the names had been said and her face was exposed.

Then we all headed inside to dine (more Bisbarmak, the 3rd time that day!) and LOADS of people and food. Every room was packed. :)

We finished, cleaned, and I was thankful to see it was before 10pm. Maybe I would be in bed by midnight after all! I had work the next day! Yea...no such luck. We sat around waiting and waiting. I finally asked and was told we were waiting for some of our relatives. Oh. They came, they ate, we sat some more. I asked again and was told we were waiting for her relatives.

Then came the realization that I was going to be there a very VERY long time. An hour later my Mom came over to say that this was a real "Kazakh drama" I was getting to see. Her family had been locked in with the bride-to-be for a long time and was NOT happy. And hour later they came out...and guess what... yes, we ATE AGAIN! Remember this is following the 4 meals I had at various houses for Aid and the meal I had already eaten there!

An hour into the meal and toasts, more serious negotiations began. I was stuck with the eldest siblings and so sat respectfully and tried not to yawn. FINALLY my Mom had mercy and...sent me out to the disco! I couldn't believe it! Oy vy! Again, realizing that I was not leaving any time soon, I figured I should make the best of it...and I danced my socks off to the utter shock and delight of all my Kazakh relatives and the townspeople! My older cousins helped me ward of the jigits (young men) who drank to much and we had a GREAT time!

At about 1:30 am or so I finally was DONE! I couldn't dance or hop or even hum another song. I went in to find out how close negotiations were (no where near done) and was directed to the "sleeping room." SLEEPING ROOM! How come no one told me about that 3 hours earlier!!! In any case, I literally fell onto a pile of pillows on the floor at which point my host Mom decided she should get me home... if only I had known that a performance of exhaustion was the ticket home, I would have done it a lot earlier! Anyway, I tucked into bed somewhere near 4:00 am, and surprisingly was no worse the wear the next day...with a great story to share!

Eid (the crazy fun blog)

So my day of Eid began at 11am.
And let me start off explained that my host mom is one of TEN children. With marriages and kids, that's a lot of people!!

So my host brother and I head off to one aunt's house and just before leaving are redirected. We show up to a two room apartment full of 20 people! More keep arriving. We do the official Eid having tea, sweets, nuts, and of course bread.

Then I'm encouraged to relax so I play about an hours worth of Uno with the boys. I've become a favorite among the cousins from 3 to 23 because I show up to family times with fun games!

Soon, Bishbarmak is ready (big flat noodles with fresh sheep!). It's a traditional dish called bis (5) barmak (fingers) because it is eaten with the hands. So we dine...again!

Another hour or so...and we're off another persons house. Friends instead of family and we have yet another tasty meal. I'm pretty much full at this point, but being the American, food is heaped on my plate and I oblige with slow nibbles.

Another hour here and we go back to "home base." Then we're off to another sisters house. I was left alone to "christen" the house with my tea drinking and apple eating. By this time I've switched to fruits and teas hoping I can make it through the day.

We head to another place, but stay outside with increasing numbers of family gathering. Then as the sun sets and evening approaches...we head for a wedding!!!! But that's three more meals and another story!

Eid (the education blog)

This past week was the Muslim holiday of Eid (pronounced Aite here in Kazakhstan). According to Wikipedia online:

Eid el-Adha

Eid ul-Adha (عيد الأضحى), or the Festival of Sacrifice, falls approximately 70 days after Eid el-Fitr (end of Ramadan) and is celebrated in honor of the prophet Abraham willingness to sacrifice his son as a proof of his loyalty to God (Allah). Celebrations usually include presenting an animal (usually a cow or a sheep) sacrifice, and the meat is shared with family, friends and those in need.

This holiday is a "drop in day." This means every woman cooks the days or nights before Aite (which lasts 3 days) and prepares for unexpected guests. All the traditional food is eaten and families come together.

So it's been a busy few weeks. With just 6 days left in the country and only two of them in the office, I'm trying to catch up on my posts...

First, here's a glimpse of our time at Savva orphanage. For me it was saying goodbye, but I made it through. A couple of the older girls have become especially close to me. They were sad when I said I probably wouldn't make it back in time for graduation, but they have said they'll keep writing!

We also had a long discussion with several of the older girls. Two or three times a year we bring supplies for them to write their sponsors. Unfortunately the girls said they've written and written, but had no response! When I'm in the states, I hope to encourage sponsors to write to their children. It's a big deal to get a letter...or not to get one.

Bear or Pig? Vote now!

Our Kids Connection group have had a long running debate we now submit to the public eye. At the Saramoldeava orphanage there is carved animal. So far about 8 people (including Ken & Kiikzhan) believe it to be a bear. On the other hand 6 people (including Sara & I) believe it to be a pig? So what is it????

BEAR OR PIG??? You decide. Leave a comment.

Goodbyes in the village

I had my final weekend in the village with Moldir and her family. It was so wonderful to be with the children and their families. We played our favorite card games (Uno, Skip Bo, and Old Maid). I brought stickers for the little girls which was a big hit, especially the fuzzy hearts and the kittens!

I had a special gift for them, family portraits. I brought my camera to visit their homes and we had a lot of fun with the photos. Here are my favorite.

And they had some special gifts for me too!

These are friends who have such different lives than me, across the world from where I grew up, but who are so precious to my heart! I am incredibly thankful for all they've offered me whether it be a home for the weekend, a fun game, or their love and acceptance.

House building with his own two hands

So I recently heard that one of my boys, who was studying at Shu, stopped attending in order to...build a house! Yea, he's building a house! His sister lives in Taraz and is a part of the Youth Impact program. She's said that not only has he been building a house, but he's close to being done. He wants a place for his sister to live when she finishes school, so they can live and work as a family. Can you imagine?

Shu bound

November 21st was a wonderful day for me. We headed to the village of Shu were boys who have graduated from Savva orphanage attend technical school. If you remember some of the kids who are most special to me live at this school.

We had a really good day! 4 boys of "my 10" were missing, but the others spent almost the whole day with us. The Youth Impact team did an AIDS seminar and then we did a giant obstacle course with them. The boys had great attitudes for the day and expressed a lot of thanks. And it was great to see that for the most part their eyes were unclouded and didn't show the effects of substance abuse that we saw on our spring visit.

At the end of the day, Youth Impact gave them shampoo and soap and other such items. And I was able to hand out letters, warm gloves, socks, and winter caps to those boys I know well. I also let them know I was leaving Kazakhstan, but hoped to return. They all agreed I should just get a five year contract! I laughed and let them know I would keep writing even when I was away. Since they have no emotional support where they are, I know the letters mean a great deal to them. For me it's a comfort to see them whole and well, starting to work and slowly making their way.

You've never been shopping like this!

Thanks to a special US sponsor, Ulan children are getting to go shopping for the holidays! Interlink was given the opportunity to provide each child at Ulan with a gift for the New Year (they don't celebrate Christmas here) worth 2,000 tenge ($18). So we thought... instead of buying the gifts for them, we'll take them shopping...all 150 kids! Yup, we're a bit crazy, but with a little bit of organization, it went as smooth as butter. We worked with one of the larger shops here (a little Wal-Martesk) and arranged to bring the children in groups of 10-15 with a staff or volunteer member to escort them around the store. It was great!

My morning began with a set of boys, 10 and 11. One boy got a shirt and the other got some wheels to strap on to his shoes (like roller skates). Then I had 3 little girls determined to get baby dolls. I made sure they saw all their options first, but baby dolls it was, all pink with bibs and bottles and all! My morning finished off with two slightly older girls, one who has become very special to me over this past year. Both girls managed to find jeans on sale (shocking!) and under the cost (another shock!).

My afternoon was a bit more difficult. I had 2 older boys who more interested in the electronics the store did NOT offer, than what was available. They finally spent their money on some nice colonges and other such products. The older boys seemed the only ones not so happy with the shopping deal. But THEN they wer followed by 3 older girls. I need a cart for them! The girls sought out all the deals to get the most shampoo, lotion, soaps (etcetera) that they could! Oy vy! My next two groups of boys and girls were quickly satisfied with clearing out the barbie aisle and picking out some cool warish boy toys.

The two best moments of the day were when Inabat, my special girl, walked around clinging to me and smiling. It's children like her that are going to make it so hard to leave Kazakhstan. The second sweet memory was a comment Kiikzhan told me another girl had made. It went along the lines of "So that's what shopping is like." She had never in all her 14 years gone shopping!!! The whole day was worth it! We'll probably do this twice more in order to get all the kids.

Thanksgiving Installment 2

So here's the other half of the story! It's a little late but I've been having trouble posting photos!

Friday, Day 3, Meals 2 & 3 So on Friday we had another Thanksgiving with our office staff. We prepped and invited them over for a long lunch...and it was a success. They pretty much LOVED everything which is a good sign! They especially seemed to like my grandmothers recipe for sauteed mushrooms which is a staple holiday food at my house! We also participated in the tradition here of writing something special on the Thanksgiving tablecloth. Many of them wrote how thankful they were for their jobs and the staff. When we went around verbally one even expressed how we together were like a family. I was so sentimental I could hardly get out that I was thankful for this year. Somehow I couldn't say more, the joy was so great! Friday night was followed up with leftovers and a game night for Sara's birthday. More food! :)

Saturday, Day 4, Meal 4 & Baking Saturday we gathered again for a Thanksgiving meal, yummy leftover sandwiches! We saved some food for those that had missed the staff dinner, divied up the leftovers to share at our Kazakh homes and called it a wrap!

Thanksgiving Installment 1

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! This post was really Jason's idea, but since you might not read his blog, I thought you'd be interested in our Thanksgiving...which lasted 4 days! This blog covers Day 1 & 2.

Wednesday, Day 1, Shopping
20 lbs potatoes
3 LIVE turkeys
2 huge pumpkins
8 cans mushrooms
8 cans corn
2 gallons milk
4 lbs butter
6 cans evaporated milk
6 dozen eggs
10 loaves of bread
2 bags frozen green beans
2 pounds of onions
4 heads of garlic (about 35 cloves)
10 batches of pie crust
1 bag marshmallows (imported!)
Flour, sugar, and the rest more than can be tracked!

Thursday, Day 2, Cooking & Meal 1
Turkey
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Mushrooms
Creamed Corn
Plain Corn
Green Beans
Homemade Rolls
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan (Walnut) Pie
Apple Pie
Ice Cream

We literally cooked ALL DAY (9am-10pm) on Thursday breaking only for dinner around 5pm and a game of Canasta around 8pm while the oven was full! We joked that we had lakes of corn pudding, mountains of stuffing, and a whole city of pumpkin in various stages of roasting, cooling, and mashing!

Family is sweet

My host home is just me and my Mom and my host brother. They have work and school respectively in the evening hours so it makes for a quiet apartment. When my friend Farzana invited me to her home to meet her family, I was thrilled! I met Farzana through Interlingua, a local English school here that Interlink helped found years ago. Farzana is one of many English teachers but for some reason we just connected. It may be our love of music, our love of laughter, or that something you just can't put your finger on. In any case I spent an evening learning how to make manty (large dumplings) and one of many special Kazakh salads. I also got to spend time with her husband, son, and adorable daughter! Here she and I (not at home) but at the Interlingua 5 year anniversary party!

Meltdown!

Some things you have to learn the hard way.

So on a regular orphanage visit to Ulan we took melty-beads. If you don't know what these are, check them out, because they're fun. Anyway it basically entails small plastic squares, thousands of tiny beads, and an iron to melt them together. Hence being called melty-beads.

In any case, Ken, Kiikzhan, and I headed out to share this cool craft with Ulan kids in their free time. What we hadn't planned on was that it was a school holiday and instead of having the normal 10-20 kids, we were inundated and had up to 70 at one time! There wasn't room to walk and our supplies were definitely drained. I think a few beads were lost in the carpet but the other 4,999 were used!

Then...we realized a bigger problem. I had one iron and it took 3 minutes for each plastic craft. 1 iron, 3 minutes, 70 kids, and less than half an hour before we were to leave! Yea, we didn't do the math so well. We ended up extending our stay another 40 minutes and Kiikzhan and I fought to keep the children from sticking their fingers under the iron where they tried to take their still melting craft! In our last and absolutely final batch we had 7 crafts but 15 kids all claiming it was theirs! AGH! Definite meltdown!

But we kept our cool, figured out what belonged to who and headed home! That afternoon we were brave (foolish) enough to try again, this time armed with two irons! We ended up with only a small group of girls... Thank goodness!

The importance of big brothers

This month I've met two big brothers who are carrying a little bit of the world on their shoulders.

One boy, Pasha (14 years old), just recently came to the orphanage with his little brother (7 years old) and sister (5 years old). They stopped attending regular school and were found at home in poor conditions. For their well being they were placed at an orphanage.

I first met his brother and sister in the smaller children's group. Upon asking questions I found they didn't know their birthdays and had trouble with their family name. We later met their brother who was able to give us this information. Just imagine at 14 being the head of a small family! I felt how huge the burden was on this young man's shoulders. I'm thankful that he's getting help now from caring people at the orphanage.

Then, I got to celebrate his birthday with him. From his reactions I think that this may have been his first birthday celebration with cake, candy, music, games, and gifts. You could see he was working hard not to spend the time grinning, but he was definitely radiant. It was so touching to watch his eyes light up. And he even went out and brought me this little flower which I promptly put behind my ear. I plan to write him letters to encourage him in the future.

The second brother I encountered was Igor (thanks for the photo Sara). Igor has one younger brother and, honestly, he's a handful! I don't think he stopped for more than 2 seconds the whole time we were with the kids. And unfortunately it seems that the majority of dealing with his brother falls on Igor's shoulders. He is far to young for this responsibility that I'm sure would exasperate two healthy parents! I only spent a little time with him, but I plan to write him a letter of encouragement too. Being a big brother is important, but hard work!

Never fear, the clowns are here!

We've decided to make better use of our supplies and we're starting with the clown costumes!

What happened is we helped out at a Halloween Youth Impact carnival and then kept the costumes on for Ulan's birthday. They kids responded with so much joy that we wore them the following weekend at the Savva birthday party. Now we're considering wearing them on a regular basis. It reminds me of the Patch Adams philosophy which could be said to follow a proverb that says "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine."