Children's Home
Starting on Thursday, I began work at an orphanage house teaching English with the other interns. As our " Muskateers" group of MJ, Bretislav, Marko, and I worked at the summer school for the past month, we never worked with the orphans before as the other interns were.
On Thursday I began my first day of teaching at an orphanage a bit of a trip away (closer to the mountains). The difference was clear from the beginning. The kids in our summer school were relatively advanced. Most of them already had an extensive vocabulary in English, and could even hold a basic conversation with us.
On the other hand, these students are still working through colors, animals, and have barely touched verbs. It's still largely necessary to write out how the words sound in cyrillic because they haven't yet fully grasped the English alphabet. (Understandable by the circumstances, however, as the kids in our summer school often were in their second or third year in the program.)
What's more, attempting to get them to learn has been also quite chaotic. As we teach literally opposite of their bedrooms, they know that if they can manage to get out of the classroom they can hide in their rooms and avoid learning. This happens quite a bit. It's fairly difficult when you have to judge whether a kid really means hes going to the restroom, especially when more often than not you see them take a right towards the game room the moment they leave the class. Still, despite this sudden change from the summer school and the apparent "hard mode" that is working here, I must say it is still a wonderful time.
Firstly, with the kids knowing so much less English, I have constant practice with my Russian with them (In the English summer school, we were asked by the administrators to only speak in English and not let them know if we knew any Russian.)
Also, it's been great trying to find what works and what doesn't for bonding with them. One of the earliest ways that I've managed to gain their attention for me was showing off the origami I learned back in 7th grade. While most of them just kept demanding I do every step for them as I said it since they couldn't get it right away, it was still a fun activity I enjoyed and, based on their attitude, they enjoyed as well.
Speaking of activities, one of the most amusing parts of this group is their bizarre sense of pride. These kids are around 10, but they will refuse to do anything they perceive as "childish." This includes charades, several games, anything involving sitting in a circle, and even drawing. HOWEVER, I must say I have never seen a group of children so enthusiastic about sing-along songs in my life. They can go for a solid 10 minutes singing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes despite having sang it yesterday, and the day before that, and so on. When we put on Old McDonald Had a Farm they were climbing over each other to get the best spot to see it as if it were a World Cup game.
The time certainly hasn't been without its funny moments either. When playing Hide and Seek this week, one kid found the amazing hiding space of the top of a cabinet. However, while he could work his way up, he couldn't get down on his own. He suddenly doesn't care anymore about his elaborate hiding spot and starts yelling "Помогите мне!!" By the time I was there, Lucija and about half the class were already looking at him trying unhappily to find a way to get off the cabinet without falling. Seeing every opportunity to teach English, I told him I didn't understand and asked him what he was saying in English. He didn't know though, and made sure in Russian to inform me that he didn't know and that I should help him now. After telling him it's "Help me" in English, he kept repeating that even as I offered my shoulders for him to slide onto. Shouting the entire way down, even as I was kneeling so that he could step off, he finally reached the floor and proceeded to kiss it before repeating over and over again "Thank You" (IN ENGLISH, so certainly some of the teaching is working.)
I'm glad to continue working with these kids, and hopefully they will become more attentive to the lessons over time.
Beyond Almaty
This past weekend, I went to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on my own trip (With Zhanat joining so that I wouldn't accidentally find myself in Tajikistan). Now, this trip is far too long for me to include in this blog post unless it would be postponed by a week and a half, so I'll save series of stories for a later time.
Still, while I was gone those interns in Almaty had a wonderful time in their own right. Visiting Charyn Canyon over the weekend, they managed to narrowly escape heatstroke while enjoying breathtaking views. I'm sad I didn't see this with them, but am certainly glad they had such a great experience.
Beyond that, there haven't been many adventures beyond Almaty for this past week. However, it is worth noting that in less than a week I am planning to go to Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
On the other hand, these students are still working through colors, animals, and have barely touched verbs. It's still largely necessary to write out how the words sound in cyrillic because they haven't yet fully grasped the English alphabet. (Understandable by the circumstances, however, as the kids in our summer school often were in their second or third year in the program.)
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| Two of the students taking turns smacking the guitar while I hold chords with my left hand |
Firstly, with the kids knowing so much less English, I have constant practice with my Russian with them (In the English summer school, we were asked by the administrators to only speak in English and not let them know if we knew any Russian.)
Also, it's been great trying to find what works and what doesn't for bonding with them. One of the earliest ways that I've managed to gain their attention for me was showing off the origami I learned back in 7th grade. While most of them just kept demanding I do every step for them as I said it since they couldn't get it right away, it was still a fun activity I enjoyed and, based on their attitude, they enjoyed as well.
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| This is as close to their attention as I got for the first week |
Speaking of activities, one of the most amusing parts of this group is their bizarre sense of pride. These kids are around 10, but they will refuse to do anything they perceive as "childish." This includes charades, several games, anything involving sitting in a circle, and even drawing. HOWEVER, I must say I have never seen a group of children so enthusiastic about sing-along songs in my life. They can go for a solid 10 minutes singing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes despite having sang it yesterday, and the day before that, and so on. When we put on Old McDonald Had a Farm they were climbing over each other to get the best spot to see it as if it were a World Cup game.
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| Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes: Round 10 |
The time certainly hasn't been without its funny moments either. When playing Hide and Seek this week, one kid found the amazing hiding space of the top of a cabinet. However, while he could work his way up, he couldn't get down on his own. He suddenly doesn't care anymore about his elaborate hiding spot and starts yelling "Помогите мне!!" By the time I was there, Lucija and about half the class were already looking at him trying unhappily to find a way to get off the cabinet without falling. Seeing every opportunity to teach English, I told him I didn't understand and asked him what he was saying in English. He didn't know though, and made sure in Russian to inform me that he didn't know and that I should help him now. After telling him it's "Help me" in English, he kept repeating that even as I offered my shoulders for him to slide onto. Shouting the entire way down, even as I was kneeling so that he could step off, he finally reached the floor and proceeded to kiss it before repeating over and over again "Thank You" (IN ENGLISH, so certainly some of the teaching is working.)
I'm glad to continue working with these kids, and hopefully they will become more attentive to the lessons over time.
Beyond Almaty
This past weekend, I went to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on my own trip (With Zhanat joining so that I wouldn't accidentally find myself in Tajikistan). Now, this trip is far too long for me to include in this blog post unless it would be postponed by a week and a half, so I'll save series of stories for a later time.
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| Zhanat and I planning for Bishkek, Kyrygzstan |
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| Soon |
Dorm Life
Dorm life is also considerably different from the past week. In terms of the network of interns, almost half of our group was sent to a separate camp where they would live and teach separately from the rest of us. Bravely accepting a fate without Wi-Fi, this group, comprised of Marko, MJ, Tom, Saber, Grace, and Jin, returns for weekends and major events, but otherwise has been largely disconnected from those of us that were still in the dormitory.
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| Marko, Bretislav, Martinka, and Bagim (AIESECer) spending time before the summer camp |
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| At the above cafe, trying a horse sandwich for the first time (pretty good, actually) |
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| Lunch with Marko & MJ earlier in the same day |
In addition, a separate summer camp needed a boy and a girl from our group to teach English as well. There being only two males left in the dorm, Bretislav and I, and with me going to Bishkek over the weekend, Bretislav ended up going, joined by a new intern, Paulina, who left for the summer camp about as soon as she arrived in Kazakhstan. I unfortunately haven't had the pleasure of meeting her, but look forward to when I do.
As for the rest of us, we still had many fun and interesting activities, despite our missing comrades. My personal favorite in the past week was the day when we had a picnic in Gandi Park (We originally wanted to do this in the First President's Park, however we were informed that given park policies and strictness, it would be best we did it elsewhere). Still, we had a wonderful time and enjoyed a large variety of dishes, including cheese from France as provided by Iris (She's Swiss though, not French, don't get confused) and an AMAZING pork dish from Taiwan as provided by K.
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| Buse after expertly peeling an orange for us (Her hometown, Adana, is known for its citrus) |
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| The delicious dried pork product K brought from Taiwan |
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| Our picnic group: Eva, Buse, Myself, Iris, Lucija, K, and Bretislav |
On Tuesday, the agreement with the dormitory ended and we needed to move out. The girls will live in a separate orphanage where they will also teach, while I live with Eduardo, a long term intern who has lived in Almaty for over 8 months now and has his own apartment.
While it's sad for me to no longer be living with the people I know so well, that being the most important part of the living situation for me, I'm glad to say Eduardo is a gracious host and a great guy in general, so this transition has been made far more comfortable. (Another positive side, the internet here is WONDERFULLY fast, something sorely missed in the dormitory).
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| Distance between my old dorm and the new place. Taking luggage through here: Not too great |
I'm glad to say that, after some discussion, the girls will still continue teaching at the original orphanage we all work in. This is also particularly relieving, as at first I was informed that I would no longer even be working with them.
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| Lunch with the interns at the orphanage I teach at (This was taken on my first day, when Tom still taught there) |
In all, the situation we're in has changed significantly, but I'm glad to say that one month later this has still been one of the most interesting and impacting experiences of my life. It's hard to believe now that in less than 2 weeks I will be back home in the United States. While I'm excited to return back to the familiar, I'm certainly going to miss this region.
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