The Surreal Life, Part I

Happy Kazakh Independence Day! Today marks the day that the Kazakh SSR declared their sovereignty from the USSR—although they did not become truly independent until later (16 December 1991). The celebrations that I observed throughout the city were very similar to those for the city’s birthday two weeks ago, with the notable exception of billboards celebrating the “Kazakhstan 2030” campaign—President Nazarbaev has established a plan to have Kazakhstan be a world leader by that year. And, of course, there were images of Kazakhstan all over billboards, and—on the façade of the old government center—a large poster of Nazarbaev standing in the middle of the steppe. Absolutely fascinating—and more data for the dissertation, too.

The last week has been pretty hectic, and I haven’t had much time to sit down in front of the computer and finish writing some updates. Between conferences, lectures at the embassy, teaching, visiting a Kazakh discothèque, Russian homework, there just hasn’t been much free time. But I do want to describe some of these events, since they are so far outside of everyday experience back at home.

As I mentioned in an earlier posting, I was asked to participate in a conference at Ablai Khan University. The theme was “Innovations in Education in Kazakhstan as Key Factors in Achieving International Integration”. At least, that is an approximation of the translation of the conference theme—in actuality, it was much lengthier and more ponderous in name. When I come home, though, please remember that I am next in importance after the ambassadors from Germany and Greece, and the UN Delegate to Kazakhstan. Or something. It was great to be invited to the conference, and a fascinating experience. However, I don’t delude myself that it really was me that that they wanted at the conference. The university really wanted to be able to include my credentials, and to be able to glean some prestige from the Fulbright name. Presenting entailed relatively little work on my behalf, and also earned some goodwill from the university both for myself and for Americans in general. In the end, everyone gained something.

As a direct result of participating in the conference, I made a contact at UNESCO. Apparently her team is in the process of finishing a final report on the status of elementary and secondary education throughout Kazakhstan. At the current time, the report is being translated from Russian into English. The problem is that they need the report in “real English”, as understood by a native speaker of the language. She asked if I knew of anyone who would be willing to undertake the final revision. Since this is data that I would want to include in my dissertation, I volunteered to do the revisions myself. The end result is that I will be paid to do research that I would be doing regardless, plus it’s another line on my CV (which is getting rather lengthy these days, thanks to these conferences and other volunteer activities).

Back to the conference, though. It was completely unlike anything I’ve ever participated in. I was in the plenary session, which meant that I sat at a long table on the stage in a large auditorium. There were about ten speakers, and we each had our names and affiliations listed on a placard in front of our seat (I was Kristine Byork—a slightly different translation of Burke than I am used to. Normally, I’m Kristine Boork. Plus, I discovered that I represented Massachusetts University. Sorry, KU!! I let the Rector know later on—discretely—that while I am from MA, I am here as a representative from Kansas).

In order to fully appreciate the situation in the conference hall, I should first explain that I normally deal with the vice-rector, Gulnara. She is a rather physically imposing woman (it seems that any woman in a position of authority here is rather large—approaching what might be considered battle-ax stature). Gulnara has been tremendously helpful to me here at the university, and is a great person to have for support. She has ensured that my teaching has gone well, and that the departments have given me an extremely hospitable welcome. I like working with her a great deal, although I understand that others consider her rather intimidating.

At the conference, Gulnara was responsible for ensuring that all of the logistics went smoothly. It was the rector who was clearly running the show, though. I first met the rector at the conference, and spent the next three hours of presentations trying not to laugh at the absurdity of the entire situation. If Gulnara is physically imposing, compared to the rector she is dainty and petite. The rector has a very commanding physical presence, as well as a surprisingly deep voice. She sat up on the stage with everyone, and occasionally pulled her microphone toward her to tell the students to be quiet or—when the conference ran late and people had to leave to go to other obligations—instructed the ushers to lock the doors and not let anyone out. It didn’t matter if anyone else was presenting their material at that time—she still went ahead with her instructions. As soon as we all took our seats—with Gulnara scurrying around ensuring that all of the rector’s demands were being met—I had the sudden urge to start laughing (which would have been incredibly rude). All I could think of, though, was an old cartoon (Merry Melodies, I think) that had a lily pond with all of the happy insects running around and a large bullfrog sitting in the center being waited on hand and foot by all of the smaller frogs. The image stayed with me throughout the entire conference, and I was later complimented on how much I seemed to enjoy all of the presentations. As long as they don’t know the truth….

Afterwards, as I was trying to get to Gulnara’s office for the special tea for the presenters, I was accosted by a student who is studying in the English Translation department (as it turns out, she is a student of my friend Sarah). She was determined to convince me to agree to speak English with her every day, so that she could practice her language skills. It took me 15 minutes (with the rector calling for me too!) to get away. Apparently, as I am a native English speaker, it is my responsibility to ensure that others learn to speak the language as well (?????). At least, that is what the student tried to convey. My reality is a little different—the US government is paying me to learn Russian, not to practice a language I’ve spoken for over thirty years.

Overall, the conference was a great experience. The rector now wants me to work on a university-wide training session for teachers. She’s pretty intimidating, even for me, so I found myself agreeing. It’s something that I will be working on with other universities, regardless, so it really isn’t a problem for me to do. Plus, since I participated in the conference, my paper (which discussed the need to develop critical thinking skills among university students—perhaps not the best topic, but all I could do with 12 hours of preparation time) will be published in the conference proceedings—complete with my picture. Gulnara emphasized that this publication should be included in my CV, along with my more recent article “Observations in Almaty” for the university paper “World of Languages”. Perhaps in a separate section of the CV, since they really aren’t peer reviewed articles. Either way, it was great fun to be involved. It was a serious conference, but with incredibly delightful absurdities. I’m still smiling.