Friday Night in Kazakhstan

Well, it is nearly 11pm here in Kazakhstan—by now I would normally be in bed trying to get some sleep before the usual 3am alarm of car horns outside. Tonight is something of an exception, though. My neighbors downstairs have just begun working on ‘ремонт’ (re’mont)—or renovations. Over here, you don’t hire a construction company to take care of renovations—you do them yourself, along with any friends you can convince to help out. Of course, that means that re’mont is done after work, on weekends, and late at night. It will probably be another late night here in Almaty—a good opportunity to sit down and catch up on some writing about events here in the city, rather than the adventures in China. Re’mont is just a fact of life over here—not worth getting upset over—you just have to accept that it will occur at inconvenient times and move on with things.

It is hard to believe that I am already in my sixth month of living in Kazakhstan. In some ways, it feels as if I have just arrived—but in other ways, it seems as if I have been here an eternity. Things that would have seemed so unusual just a few months ago now just seem to be part of everyday life. At a club last weekend, a friend and I met someone here on business for three weeks. Our new acquaintance kept looking around and pointing out things that he thought were incredibly strange. But…to Amelia and me, everything just seemed normal. We didn’t know what he was talking about. Yes, we have definitely settled into life in Almaty.

The adaptation is readily apparent in how we dress. January has been pretty cold—if temperatures are above 10F, it is a warm day. Fur has become a necessity of life over here—I bought a fur hat that I wear just about everyday, and REALLY wish that I had brought the fur coat that belonged to Memere (my grandmother). I could wear it just about everyday over here—because when temperatures are this cold, everyone wears fur just about all of the time.

Strangely enough, although it is so cold outside, my apartment is lacking in cold water. There is an abundance of hot water, though. Make that scalding hot water! The lack of cold water is even more of a problem than not having hot water. At least it is possible to boil water—but it takes much longer to cool water down. I have taken to putting a bucket of water on the balcony at night, so that I can add a huge ice cube to a bathtub of scalding water in order to be able to wash my hair in the morning. Today was the 10th day without cold water—we now have a trickle of cold water, but the water pressure on the 4th floor is nearly non-existent.

Not having cold water makes it difficult to do laundry in my agitator. I have to drain the agitator several times to wash one load of laundry—usually, I have to reach into the machine to remove an article of clothing from the drain. It is rather difficult when the water is scalding hot, though. If we still have cold water in the morning, I anticipate a rather long day of laundry.

At least there has been sufficient heat in my apartment during this cold weather. In fact, my apartment is too warm—by my standards, at least. I have to leave my balcony door open a few inches at night—or it is too hot for me to sleep. But…I keep being told that I am not taking proper care of myself. Among the “facts” I have been told—sitting on a seat without putting a scarf down first is bad for your liver; sitting in a draft will freeze your ovaries (but men also aren’t supposed to sit in drafts, so I don’t know what the problem is); drinking cold milk is bad for your lungs. My incredibly warm German wool coat is also considered to be insufficient—I really should buy a new, warmer coat (my coat is incredibly warm, even though it looks lightweight). I love learning all of these “facts”! All you can do is to appear to pay attention and say ‘thank you’ for the information. People are just genuinely concerned—they are brought up to believe that cold weather is bad for your health. Considering the lack of control over heat in just about every building, it really isn’t surprising—once you have spent time in a building where there is no heat, it becomes incredibly difficult to get warm (as is the case at the university—where there has been no heat in the office all winter).

I am still doing some teaching at Ablai Khan University. However, I have finished teaching geopolitics and am focusing on American Studies. Fulbright likes us to be involved in the community and do some volunteer work—for me, this is teaching. The university wanted to hire me officially once the language grant ended at the end of December. However, to do so would require officially translated copies of my diplomas, passport, curriculum vitae or resume, and a few dozen other things. Just so I could be paid $200 to teach for 4 months. I convinced the department that I would stay for the semester and teach 2 sections of the class (essentially giving the same lecture twice, to classes that meet consecutively) on a volunteer basis. Of course, they responded by giving me a list of documents that they needed—for me to volunteer! The list was identical to the first one they gave me (which would have been problematic, anyway—since my diplomas are somewhere in a box in Kansas. University transcripts aren’t sufficient). We eventually agreed that I would host an “English club” once a week. No paperwork, and the flexibility to leave to do my own research (the reason I am in Kazakhstan!). It is incredibly difficult at times—the universities need so much help, and I have to balance their needs/requests against Russian lessons, my own research, and having time for myself.

I have recently been introduced to a new coffeeshop here in Almaty—which makes the ‘time for myself’ aspect MUCH easier. The cafe is owned by an American who is married to a Kazakh woman—and they sell REAL brownies!!! And chocolate pie, real muffins, lemon meringue pie, and GOOD coffee. All at affordable prices—and the shop is less than ½ mile from my apartment. It is my new favorite place. I have been meeting one of my friends there for coffee just about every day—I can’t believe that I didn’t know about it before now! For those of you back in Lawrence—it is incredibly similar to Prima Tazza. I love experiencing Kazakh culture—but there is absolutely nothing like a good coffee shop!

Well, there has been silence from my neighbors for the last 30 minutes or so—I’m hoping that they are done with re’mont for the night. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day—and I’m supposed to meet some friends at a club in the evening—so I’m going to try to head off to bed now. It is only midnight, though—so who knows what will happen for the rest of the night!