July 22, 2005: Headlines: COS - Kazakstan: Blogs - Kazakstan: Personal Web Site: Peace Corps Volunteer Betsy in Kazakstan: The Top 10 Reasons to move to Kazakhstan

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Kazakstan : Peace Corps Kazakhstan : The Peace Corps in Kazakstan: July 22, 2005: Headlines: COS - Kazakstan: Blogs - Kazakstan: Personal Web Site: Peace Corps Volunteer Betsy in Kazakstan: The Top 10 Reasons to move to Kazakhstan

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-37-25.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.37.25) on Tuesday, August 16, 2005 - 6:08 am: Edit Post

Peace Corps Volunteer Betsy in Kazakstan: The Top 10 Reasons to move to Kazakhstan

Peace Corps Volunteer Betsy in Kazakstan: The Top 10 Reasons to move to Kazakhstan

"The people I have met here have been among some of the nicest I have ever met. Their hospitality is demonstrated by the wonderful tradition of “ghosting” or visiting in Russian. People are not invited, but simply drop by people’s homes where they are usually graciously received and a huge meal is often prepared."

Peace Corps Volunteer Betsy in Kazakstan: The Top 10 Reasons to move to Kazakhstan

Friday, July 22, 2005
Top ?????

Would like to thank Merril for her vision in creating a top ten list. Here is mine, with a few overlaps…..

Top 10 Reasons to move to Kazakhstan (or to come visit)

1.Ghosting: The people I have met here have been among some of the nicest I have ever met. Their hospitality is demonstrated by the wonderful tradition of “ghosting” or visiting in Russian. People are not invited, but simply drop by people’s homes where they are usually graciously received and a huge meal is often prepared. Example: a month ago Becky, Tomoko and I were shopping with our friend Asel, when she decided to invite us over for lunch. We agreed-still not comfortable dropping by places uninvited-and were treated to a HUGE meal of salads, Bishbarmak-traditional meal heal of noodle type things, meat, potatoes, and carrots, and dessert. Her parents who were not expecting whipped this up for us like it was no problem.

2.Dancing and General love of music: Most Kazakhstanese that I have met, LOVE dancing. It is common after a dinner party, to move the table crank up the music and start dancing in the living room. There are many summer cafes here, and they all include a large dance space. And everyone dances. Even the men. And they dance well-well the women here are excellent dancers.

3.Fruit: The fruit I have had here: strawberries, cherries, oranges, apples, and bananas has been the most delicious fruit I have had in my life. Very fresh, sweet, and natural. You haven’t truly tasted a strawberry until you have experienced a k-stan strawberry.

4.Ice cream ie. Morashnia: You can buy ice cream on almost every and it only costs about 30 tenge. (i.e. 22 cents). My personal favorite is a chocolate cone in a bag, but unfortunately I haven’t found it here in Uralsk yet. But Uralsk definitely has a fine variety of goods.

5.Banyas: As I described in a previous post, I don’t know why Americans haven’t picked up on the whole banya trend. It is a fantastic, and relaxing way to spend a day with friends and you feel so refreshed when done. Maybe I will open a Banya when I come home…

6.Public Transportation!! (on a bad day this could very well go on the things I hate about K-stan too) BUT for the most part since I live in the center of town I can go anywhere I want to (almost) by bus-or marshutka small mini-van type vehicles- for 20 tenge (about 15 cents). And again, because I live in the center of town if I miss one bus to work, another is no more than 5 minutes away…its truly great to live in a culture that does not rely on cars…

7.Chai (tea) is an essential part of Kazakh culture. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner…no matter how hot it is Chai is drank at every meal. And at work. Usually every morning about 10 am the women in my office “chai it up” which is basically a big gossip break where we drink chai, eat chocolate, and gossip…well, I haven’t quite evolved to the gossip (spletnee in Russian) level of language yet, but I can understand most of it…

8. Fashion: lets just say colorful. Patterns, lace, sequins, Black with navy, socks with sandals, poorly executed English phrases on shirts (my personal favorite is the “bad ass lover” skirts that are popular among girls ages 4-8 here…hmm) Don’t need to have a fashion sense here cuz really anything goes. Including see through shirts, and skirts that make daisy dukes look like church attire…lets just say I have seen the bras of 80% of my co-workers, who again I’d say average age 45.

9.Goolating: (which means walking in russian) but it is the number one way to meet members of the opposite sex. Every night if you are between the ages of 13-25 chances are you are dressed in your finest attire and goolating around the streets of Kazakhstan. And if you are a man, chances are you have a beer in your hand because beer is not considered alcohol here, and it is perfectly acceptable to walk down the street with an open Baltica 9 (which I believe is 11% alcohol…)

10.Packets: So despite the mismatching patterns, people like to dress UP here. Very high heels, makeup, and everything needs to be ironed—even jeans. But despite dressing to the 9’s instead of briefcases most people carry around packets everywhere. A packet is a colorful plastic bag that can be bought at the bazaar for about 10 cents, but people value packets here like there’s no tomorrow. Don’t be caught throwing one away! So I love this tradition because on my peace corps budget I am able to afford a stylish “briefcase/packet”.





When this story was posted in August 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:


Contact PCOLBulletin BoardRegisterSearch PCOLWhat's New?

Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
The Peace Corps Library Date: March 27 2005 No: 536 The Peace Corps Library
Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today.

Top Stories and Breaking News PCOL Magazine Peace Corps Library RPCV Directory Sign Up

Military Option sparks concerns Date: August 3 2005 No: 698 Military Option sparks concerns
The U.S. military, struggling to fill its voluntary ranks, is allowing recruits to meet part of their military obligations by serving in the Peace Corps. Read why there is rising opposition to the program among RPCVs. Director Vasquez says the agency has a long history of accepting qualified applicants who are in inactive military status. John Coyne says "Not only no, but hell no!" Latest: RPCV Chris Matthews to discuss the issue on Hardball tonight.

Top Stories: August 1, 2005 Date: July 31 2005 No: 693 Top Stories: August 1, 2005
Paul E. Tsongas Public Service Award unveiled 21 July
Charlie Peters writes book on Wendell Willkie 25 July
Protests against Peace Corps in Bangladesh 30 July
Christopher R. Hill leads talks with North Korea 29 July
Chris Shays blocks senator's plan to reopen bases 29 July
Dr. Joann LaPerla-Morales leads Middlesex College 28 July
Jacob Mundy supports struggle in Western Sahara 28 July
Paul Theroux blames big oil for ‘catastrophe’ in Ecuador 28 July
Bruce Wilkinson has called Africa home for 17 years 25 July
Taylor Hackford producing "E-Ring" for tv 25 July
Robert Haas to retire as head of Levi Strauss 24 July
Brent Lynn turned Janus Overseas Fund around 24 July
James Rupert says Musharraf walks tightrope in Pakistan 23 July
Thomas O. Mann describes Carp Fishing in France 22 July
Rob Quigley receives Maybeck Award in Architecture 22 July
Blackwill says visit by India PM a 'historical breakthrough' 21 July
NPCA studies membership structure 21 July
Mark Lenzi says Poles deserve the West's support 20 July
Mark Gearan weighs in on Bush's Supreme Court pick 20 July
Ofelia Miramontes championed bilingual education 18 July
Hank Stelzer supports school for blind in Lesotho 16 July

Special Events for RPCVs Date: July 31 2005 No: 694 Special Events for RPCVs
RPCV's "Taking the Early Bus" at Cal State until Aug 15
"Artists and Patrons in Traditional African Cultures" in NY thru Sept 30
See RPCV Musical "Doing Good" in CA through Sept
RPCV Film Festival in DC in October

July 17, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Date: July 17 2005 No: 690 July 17, 2005: This Week's Top Stories
C. Payne Lucas writes "Can we win the war on HIV/Aids?" 11 July
Director Vasquez hints at expansion in Bangladesh 17 July
Why didn't I spend my life helping others? 17 July
John Beasley returns to the islands of Micronesia 17 July
Jennifer Field to study glacier melting 17 July
Tucker McCravy works with Serendib in Sri Lanka 17 July
David Vick writes "Waging civilized warfare" 16 July
Tom Petri says Nelson helped to promote civility 16 July
Peace Corps Director Visits Volunteers in Mongolia 15 July
John Bridgeland writes "An example for Boomers" 15 July
Robert Blackwill says India and US have a great future 15 July
Peace Corps debuts new internet recruitment tool 14 July
Eight New Country Directors Appointed 13 July
Shelton Johnson Honored for Buffalo Soldier program 13 July
Bill Lorenz leads trek for Sudanese refugees 12 July
Emilie Pryor says Peace Corps ignores Lariam problems 12 July
DDN is Award Finalist for reporting on PC Safety 11 July
Randy Lewis to hire 200 people with cognitive disabilities 10 July
Maryland needs people like Tom Lewis 10 July
Dan DeWayne puts on music festival 10 July

Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000  strong Date: April 2 2005 No: 543 Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong
170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.


Read the stories and leave your comments.






Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Personal Web Site

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Kazakstan; Blogs - Kazakstan

PCOL21688
32


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: