For My Mom

My mom was interested in learning more about my tutoring job and the associated travel to and from tutoring. I am going to attempt to answer some of her questions on the blog with the expectation/hope that others are interested too!

There are a few families in our branch/congregation at church that are American or English speaking. One such family is Korean. The Korean family is here for the dad’s work and the mom, Sare (pronounced like Sarah, only with an “ee” ending: Sar-ee), is actually just a year older than me. They have two small children and it has been fun to visit with her a little bit. She served a mission in Los Angeles, so she can easily communicate with the Americans here. Oddly enough, there is a small but seemingly strong Korean community here. Most (or all) of the ethnic Koreans in KZ and Uzbekistan are descendants of Koreans who were essentially banished/deported from far east Russia to one of those two countries (KZ and UB) between 1937 and 1939. I did some quick research on it and it seems a governor of Almaty defied Soviet sanctions and somewhat enabled the Koreans to keep their language as there was a Korean language newspaper and Korean theatre in operation. But I digress! Sare knows other Korean families that are here in KZ for business. One such family was interested in hiring the new Americans (us) to tutor their sons in English. I was introduced to them and a deal was struck. Their sons “S.Y.” and “S.J.” attend AIS, the international school that Chris attended his last year or two here. I tutor the boys to help strengthen their English skills, mostly in writing.

We met the family our first Friday here in KZ and I started tutoring the following Monday! Our trip to meet them was the only time we’d been in that specific area of the city, and we didn’t even ride the bus, so I naturally wanted Chris to go with me to my first lesson. He refused!! I had to ride the bus by myself, and I will be honest, I was a little nervous about it. Obviously, I survived! I have had a few odd experiences on the bus but for the most part it has been “smooth sailing”.

On Riding the Bus:
My first experience with a packed bus was with Chris and Addie. I was given a seat because of Addie, so I didn’t really get to truly experience the “sardines in the bus” (it seems this baby comes with privileges… whenever I walk on the bus with her a seat is given to me, regardless of how full the bus is already). I return home in the evenings, and the bus is usually quite crowded. That has been quite the experience as I have sometimes had great difficulty moving just 3 feet to the door! I carry a large shoulder bag with my supplies in it, which means I have to navigate more than just myself through the crowd of people.
This past Monday Chris went into the city to take care of some business and I met him before my lesson to pass Addie on to him. He anticipated that he would walk around the area and meet me after my lesson, so I took the diaper bag. I guess he didn’t find much to look at or do, so he ended up going home, which meant I had to carry a lot more home than I am used to. The ride home was especially packed and when I moved closer to the door in preparation for my stop, I had to actually hold my bag on my head (before I moved a woman sitting down had been holding my bag—a courtesy that seems to be quite commonly offered). I know I looked a little odd as I exchanged a few smiles and laughs with some of those immediately around me.
Last week I observed something new, and a little unusual, while on the bus. I was on my way to tutoring and noticed a distinct smell in the air. It became pretty obvious to me that the man standing next to me was drunk. In the course of the trip, a girl ended up between us and after a little while she began yelling at the man. We live in KZ. The people don’t generally speak English here so I had no idea what she was yelling. The guy was definitely on the defensive and spoke back to her. We were near the door, which is where the conductor happened to be at the time (the conductor is a man or woman who rides the bus and makes sure people pay before they exit, they are usually pretty young—probably my age). The conductor then got into the “discussion” and got in the face of the drunk man, who continued to be on the defensive. At the next stop the conductor grabbed the guy and pushed him outside and even kicked him (it seemed to be more of a gesture than to actually injure, though there was a little force behind the kick). At that same stop a guy got on the bus who was even more drunk than the last! He had a seat, so he sat talking loudly, mostly to himself, the rest of the time I was on the bus until just before my stop. The conductor approached the man and began fussing at him. I’m not sure, but I think he kicked him off the bus at my stop.

The Family:
The boys are really good kids! “S.Y.” is older and is about 13, with “S.J.” being 9. I have been really impressed with their abilities. My main challenges are finding appropriate resources for them and keeping “S.J.” under control! =) At this point I think I will just start using grammar resources I find online for native-English speakers of their age because the ESL/TEOFL resources aren’t advanced enough. I think having appropriate resources will/does help “S.J.” focus more. He is such a funny little boy! Easily distracted, he often starts talking about school and other things completely unrelated to our lesson! It seems that letting him ramble for a minute often works better than trying to immediately get him back to the lesson, so I am getting a lot more peeks into the life of a nine year old than I am accustomed to! The family treats me really well and always offers me something to drink and often some kind of snack too. I have tried rice “cakes” that are nothing like what an American would picture (they were very simple, thin, crisp, and good!), Korean chocolate pies (like little moon pies, but different), and most interesting of all: corn tea! For a second I thought the tea might be green tea, so I inquired and learned it was made from corn, by the mom. I was pretty impressed. It tasted something like popcorn—that may not sound very yummy, but it actually was pretty good (of course this is also coming from the girl who loved/craved air-popped, buttery, salty popcorn while pregnant).

On Leaving My Family (for a few hours):
I previously mentioned that I am out of the house (and away from my baby) for the lessons for about 9 hours a week. It’s probably more like 10 if you give adequate time for travel. It is a little weird to leave Chris behind in a country that is quite foreign to me (especially when it comes to language!), but it is probably most weird to leave Addie. The change in time zones (10 hour difference) caused some changes in milk supply and that accompanied with being away from Addie for 3+ hours at a time three times a week left me a little nervous. In the end, all has worked out quite well. My body has adjusted well to the time zones and we have gotten a better schedule for feeding Addie… which means she continues to chunk up! I have found that I really look forward to getting off the bus and returning home (and I really love it when Chris meets me at the stop). Seeing Chris and Addie is the only thing on my mind and it has been really fun, revealing, and thought-provoking to realize how much joy I feel upon seeing them and also how much anticipation I feel until I do see them.

Our Walk Around the City

We took a walk around the city and spent quite a bit of time checking out this park where there is a war memorial for both World Wars. The same park hosts a few other interesting things, which I'll explain with the pictures.

This is the main feature of the war memorial area. Pretty interesting... it really is a pretty magnificent work...

This is from the back. It initially looks like a mass of rock until Chris pointed out the faces. You can see the man's face below -- he is also holding a grenade.

There is another guy here too!



Most major Soviet cities have/had an eternal flame. It is supposed to burn around the clock (hence the name "eternal").

This is the museum for Kazakh instruments...

Chris standing by a replica of one that is in front of the museum. We didn't go inside the museum this trip, who knows, there may be a follow-up post on what we discover inside!

This is the "backyard" view...

...Of this Russian Orthodox Church. This church is especially unique because it is completely made of wood. No metal nails in this building--they used wooden pegs instead.


I love this picture of the front door. Not only is that a monk, but that little dog actually ran into the church. The best part was that the dog wasn't mistreated or anything, the monk was so nice and just made sure the dog knew that it was ok to be there, it just couldn't go inside. =)


I didn't learn what this building was for, but it is right by the main church building. I am quite sure it's affiliated with it somehow.
On our walk out of the park we saw this pink apartment building.

A fun sign I've seen. I'm not exactly sure why, but it makes me laugh.

Ok. Please note the name of this store. Now go back and see what it is that is sold at this store.

Now imagine me getting a lot of amusement out of the combination of the store name & product.

I know I'm just a silly Mormon girl raised to be modest and all that... but really! If it defiles you why would you even wear it??? In all fairness, most of the clothes I have seen in the window haven't been too bad, but still, isn't there a word that would be more appropriate??? =D

Chris' Girls

Doesn't Addie look cute in long socks?? =)

Addie sat by me while I worked on my tutoring lessons for the day. What you can't see in these pictures is the slow and steady lean... we had to keep sitting her up straight, but she's getting the hang of things.
Addie "cutting up"...
Addie "pensive"...

City Day

Two Sundays ago there was a big celebration closing off one of the streets and we decided we would go check things out (just walking through) that afternoon but fell asleep instead. I was disappointed that we missed seeing the festivities, but as luck would have it there was another celebration last Sunday! We were given a ride from church to one of the major crossroads, which also happened to be where the road was partitioned off for the celebration. We decided to walk through and see the party (for my sake of course).

For all of you that can't read Russian, the sign says: Happy City Day, Dear Almaty-ites (Almaty Residents)!

The chalk drawing was actually quite a bit bigger than it looks, and there was more to the scene than is pictured here. here you can see a building on the left and a man (ok so it's a woman...) on the right.

This guy was riding this bike around selling cotton candy. Later we saw him pull out balloons and start blowing them up to make something for a child.

I thought this was cool... a tree made of balloons...
I loved the little buggy and especially the little pony to the side of it!

Do you see the woman in blue and white? She was one of a few dancers in traditional Kazakh garb.

I took this picture of the stage when it was cleared between the presentations of the dancers and the Uzbek performers. If you will notice, the backdrop is an apple tree and the main part is an apple cut open, the stage being a portion of that apple. "Alma" in Kazakh means "apple". Alma-Ata is the old name for Almaty and it means grandfather apple. It is believed that apples come from Kazakhstan--the oldest genetic strain of apples was traced here and they grow wild in the mountains.

There were apple depictions everywhere. The big round circle is an apple... and then the gold with red balls is a depiction of an apple tree. I realized a few days later, when walking by a government building, that they have flowers/plants landscaped in this same form.

These were the Uzbek performers. The video is a little shakey, but if you watch the whole thing you get an idea of some pop/rap music out here. It was actually a lot of fun to watch for a few minutes.

Alert Little Addie

Ever since her arrival everyone has commented on how alert our little girl is. It's true too! She watches everything and is quite the social butterfly.

The other day Chris put Addie in her bouncer in a unique and resourceful manner... tummy down! She was quite happy as it meant she could finally look at the little bees!


First she looks at you...

THEN she smiles! =D
And my oh my, what a smile! We love it and her so much!

A Couple of Rolls

To preface: I have been working as an English tutor to two young Korean boys for six hours a week for the last two weeks. I'm gone for about three hours three times a week. Wouldn't you know it but the first time Addie truly rolls on her own (and on purpose) is when I'm not there! I was able to see her in action soon enough, but it was a little sad for me. Ah well. We were able to capture her on video one of the next times she did it, and then we recorded it again. The second video was during the day, so it's a little easier to see.

Addie woke up from her nap and decided to perform for us! Chris thinks that you can see her focusing on her form--she ends with her hands out--the little "gymnast."

Our Kitchen

I thought we'd give you a quick tour of our kitchen... The first few pictures are a quick scan of the room, and then I will focus on some of the fun Soviet style details of our kitchen.

This is what you see when you are walking to the kitchen... That's our kitchen table, and behind it is our fridge. The fridge is set up a little differently than the average American fridge, but nothing so spectacular as to justify a picture...

Next you see our big window and our tiny trash can...

Followed by our stove!
This is our sink. It doesn't stand very tall and it is extremely shallow. That's our brand-spankin' new filter on the left. It has helped to remove the need of daily grocery shopping! We no longer have to buy 6 liter jugs of water everday!
This is our washing machine. On the floor in front of it is the power strip we have to pull over from the fridge to use not only the washing machine, but also our oven, the oven's overhead light and exhaust fan, and our toaster.

What you cannot see from our picture is how deep (or shallow) our washing machine actually is. About ten inches. No joke.
Our kitchen table. We have two more stools stowed away on our balconey, but I think they are more for replacement purposes... Also take note of the cloth stool covers. When Chris' family moved to KZ the children (especially the girls) were told not to play/sit on the ground because its coldness will make you infertile. Chris thinks that's the main reason for the stool covers.
Let's go back and get some perspective on how tall our stove truly is... If Addie is just shorter than 2 feet tall... this baby (the metal oven) has to be about 3 feet (possibly a little taller). It is also very narrow. The burners are practically on top of one another, which makes using multiple burners something of an adventure.
Let's not forget our dishes drying rack! I actually really like that it is stowed away. I will say that it's definitely on the small side, that big blue pot taking up tons of room is not very big...