katy perry, you are welcome

after over thirty hours of travel, a quick stop in amsterdamm, and only throwing up twice I am in semey, Kazakhstan! we flew into almaty and had a long layover so we went to the home of a native family where we slept a little, ate a little, and saw the southern country side of Kazakhstan. it is geographically diverse with mountians and fields. the family we stayed with is of Turkish origin so in their home lived three generations. the food they served was strawberries picked from their own fields, a kind of Turkish fried rice, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, and black tea. they were so hospitable but did not speak much English. the youngest son spoke a little English however he is fluent in Russian, Kazakh, Turkish, and two or three other languages. he showed us some videos of his brother’s wedding. the wedding was traditional Turkish style and consisted of cutting a goat’s throat, the bride rubbing honey above a doorway, and the groom dancing with knives. it was an arranged marriage and the bride now lives with the groom’s family; they had a baby about two months ago.

upon arriving in semey we were greeted by some of the our students. we were taken to the university which is one building and shown the English resource center. we then drove about thirty minutes to a large house out in the woods. the students call the house “base”. the base is extremely comfortable by Kazakh standards. there are flushing toilets and two showers. we live here with sixteen students; three boys and 13 girls. their ages range from 21 to 15. they are here for two weeks for English camp. in the morning we eat breakfast at 8 a.m. which is usually some kind of pourage made of rice or corn, then at 10 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Luke and I teach English. the students want to know how to speak in American English so we concentrate on idioms, slang, bigger vocab words, and we have the students in groups of four. we are trying to improve their critical thinking and conversational skills. we have only had two days of lessons. after these two weeks are up new students will come and stay in the house with us. at noon we eat lunch which so far has been beef soup or cabbage with tomatoes and beef. after lunch we all hang out and sometimes walk down to the river. the river here is very large and we might swim in the future. for dinner we have rice with carrots and bread. bread is served with every meal. it is white and hard and eaten plain. and there is always black tea at every meal.

after dinner we watch mtv in Russian. the show “next” is popular and the the music videos are hilarious. we play mafia a lot, too. the most popular singer here is Norwegian but sings in Russian. everyone in Kazakhstan speak Russian and Kazakh. they use them interchangeably. later at night we meet in the dining hall and dance in the dark to techno. the best song so far is a techno mix that starts out with the “last of the Mohicans” theme song. mostly the students want to know English but when I hang out with the girls they want to know about girl stuff. they ask me if I have a boyfriend and things like that. a lot of the girls want to be English teachers or doctors. and they know quite a few American movies. they really like will smith and Angelina jolie. really they are just like us. being here is kind of like being at a regular summer camp in America except everyone finds you interesting and they want to know what you like to do and what you think about everything. the southern part of Kazakhstan seems to be more traditional than the northern area. I ask the girls here when they want to get married and they all say they want an education and job first so they are very similar to American girls. the biggest cultural influences in Kazakhstan are Russia and turkey, even though semey is very close to china there is hardly any Chinese influence.

they want to know the music I listen to so I have made a mix and have given it to a few girls. it’s mostly katy perry, fiest, rilo kiley, and the killers. and we talk about books like my Antonia, Tolstoy, and Shakespeare. all the people at this camp are so beautiful. I love them all already. right now some of the girls are laying out by the river and a girl in the room next to me is playing the guitar and singing. it already feels like home.