♪ We're Halfway There ♪

This marks my third week in Almaty, which would be half way through the internship if I hadn't extended my stay by a few days. I now expect to be leaving the 31st of July, so that I can go to Astana for a "Global Village" event.

English Camp

This week was the last one in which Marko, Bretislav, MJ, and I would teach at the English summer camp (afterwards, we will be joining the other Shinebright interns teaching at orphanages). It was marked with some wonderful experiences, including a great picnic reminiscent of my second day in Almaty three Saturdays ago, financial games, and plenty of dancing.

Zhanat (One of Marko's Buddies), MJ, and Bretislav playing Durak at the picnic

My favorite shop in the financial games: Excellent homemade treats by some Minecrafters

Though we "paid" the same, I think MJ had a better massage than I did, to be honest

One of the best days for us was Thursday, on which after class we went to the "Hawaii" aquapark near the mountains. After a long bus ride of singing and even dancing to hits we all knew ranging from Gangnam Style, to Starships, to Can't Hold Us, we arrived at the park with the kids and split up. The park was wonderful and included multiple slides and pools, hot tubs, a wave pool, and even a sauna (which apparently is a normal thing to have in a water park in Kazakhstan). Unfortunately, as we didn't take our bags with us into the park itself, there are no pictures from inside.

Eduardo (Mexico) , MJ, Myself, and Martina (Zhanat and Marko in the back).
This isn't the water park the kids went to, but rather the one we visited on Sunday.

Our students at the entrance to the mall (which included the aquapark)

Playing Дурак ("Fool") with students after cleaning up from the water park

Finally, on Saturday we bid farewell to the students with performances and dancing (The dancing must be emphasized. We were ready to collapse several times when kids continued to urge us to keep going). With the teachers, gifts and toasts were exchanged before Marko, MJ, and Bretislav had to head out for Bishkek. (Marko, having a visa limited to 30 day stays, needs to leave and reenter Kazakhstan. Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan seemed like an accessible and fun solution. Unfortunately, I will not be joining them this time, though I will be joining some of the other Shinebright interns on their own trip there later.)

Kyrgyzstan. You can see Kazakhstan and the proximity of where I am now, Almaty, on this map

Шашлык (Shash-lyk)

Yes, I am devoting an entire section to this meal. Three weeks in, it has become clear that this meal, shashlyk, is my favorite type of food in all of Almaty. A form of what us Americans would recognize as "shish sebabs," it is a skewer of meat marinated and roasted on metal splits. The meat is served on the metal it was roasted on, with onions on the side.

A dish comprised solely of roasted meat and onions? Yes please
(Tom and Bretislav having heart, lamb, and duck shashlyk)

Taking a break at the water park: wonderful time for shashlyk. Hard day at work: perfect time for shashlyk. The last place we went for Shashlyk, most skewers were 400 Tenge. That's $2.19, a dollar cheaper than a USA Big Mac.

I must bring this knowledge back to my country

Jokes and exaggeration aside, Shashlyk is a great dish that is popular here and that I've enjoyed at every opportunity so far. The places that serve it are usually great and it's been a wonderful activity to share with other interns.

Myself, Marko, MJ, and Zhanat after ordering Shashlyk at the water park

"America Day"

This Friday was 4th of July, making this the first time I've ever been abroad on the USA's Independence Day. They say that patriotism intensifies significantly when in a foreign country.

Eh, I doubt it

For the day, in addition to the verb exercises planned for the kids I also included a few presentations going over American history and culture. As I've already learned multiple times, the kids here already know most American culture and many parts of our history simply from our movies. However, they still loved the pictures and presentations, and I found plenty to introduce.

Going over US  holidays. Groundhog's Day was certainly fun to try to explain to them

Team "Minions" doing verb exercises between USA presentations. There was a small dread inside me that a parent would walk in and accuse me of attempting to indoctrinate the students.

I've often found that people in Kazakhstan love US culture and symbols. On multiple occasions I see kids and adults with US flag clothing, both in and outside of school. When I took the flag out to show the class, every student wanted me to hold it up so that they could take a selfie in front of it.

This was actually on July 5th. After Independence Day, she just REALLY wanted to show me how much she likes the USA.

I was originally hoping to prepare a meal for the interns myself, however being still slightly sick and extremely tired, that idea fell through. Instead, we ended up going to the Aмериканский грилл that I wrote about last week. It was absolutely great. Having people ask me "What do people typically eat on 4th of July?" and wishing me a "Happy Independence Day" was a wonderful experience, and I had a blast explaining traditions and typical meals. 

Subjecting everyone to holding up my flag and eating overpriced, over-portioned meals in a true American fashion

Jin (Malaysia) and Grace trying fajitas for the first time (Tex-Mex food) with step by step instructions from yours truly

K (Taiwan), Iris (Switzerland), and Martina enjoying some of those American-portioned burgers

Unfortunately, my meal seemed to be the only inaccurate and miss-portioned one, as my BBQ Ribs came out cold and hardly larger than my fist. Perhaps a lack of experience preparing it could explain it, as pork would be a less than popular meal choice in a predominantly Islamic country. Still, with great company it was a wonderful night and one of the best Independence Days I've ever had.

Looking at the tables in these past events, I've realized just how much our group has grown. Shinebright alone has 14 interns now, with origins from Taiwan to Slovenia. In addition, the older AIESEC project in Almaty, the International School of Leadership, has already gathered a large number of interns who also participate in various events with us.  Some time in the week, I'll publish a post recognizing all of the interns we now have, but for now I'm exhausted and ready to rest. 

Thank you to all those who contact me while I'm here. It's helps having these active connections from the States while I'm here, and is largely the reason why culture shock and homesickness haven't taken their toll.