Alright, what have I done since Wednesday night?

Thursday
Nothing too exciting on Thursday. Had Russian lessons. You might remember that there are only two people in this class. Thursday, only one showed up for the lesson – me. I guess Kenneth had a meeting. I can understand that. He is the Director of the Language Center at KIMEP. I am sure he is busy. But if he doesn’t show up, it really puts the pressure on me in the lesson. And I guess this is good. Where else would I be able to get free Russian language lessons, which are sometimes one on one? And let’s be honest, two on one aren’t bad either. J I am relatively timid in these lessons because the pronunciation is SO hard for me. I really don’t have an ear for languages. I can tell you if a note is sharp or flat, but God help if I can tell you how to say Kumanzganuzy Avenue in Russian. That is a real avenue name by the way. That spelling is transliterated from the Cyrillic alphabet, which is what the Russian language uses. I don’t know how you spell that in Cyrillic, since it is about impossible to find street signs around here.

So that was the biggest thing for Thursday I guess. No lessons on Thursday.

Friday
I had a lesson cancel on me. I am getting tired with lessons being cancelled on me. Because of this, I inquired about a TOEFL teaching position. I get paid the same rate as my other tutoring gigs, but I have to prepare for these lessons. I’m not sure if I am getting a better deal with this agreement. But I will give it a shot. These lessons might be more “regular.” I now have to figure out what to do with my students on Monday for a TOEFL prep class. I guess I will do that Sunday.

On Friday, I also prepared for my class and graded their quizzes. But I found out after I did all of this that classes were cancelled for the day due to the unexpected death of a KIMEP faculty member. The school wasn’t sure of the cause of death, but they think it was a heart attack. So, I met my students at the classroom and explained the situation. It really is too bad that I had to cancel class. My class is already behind and now we are going to be even more behind. I’m not sure how I am going to cover all the information I need to review with my class before the end of the semester.

After my class preparations, and before I found out about classes being cancelled, I rushed over to an English Club (EC) prep meeting. The EC meeting was to figure out what we wanted to do with the group in the mountains for a day. I think we have some good games and activities planned. Little does Joey realize, but he will be put to work immediately when he gets here. I have volunteered him to help instruct people on these games. J Nothing like jumping right in. I also plan on convincing a mutual friend of ours to attend the EC meeting in the mountains. That way they can meet immediately. Sunday, I have tentatively been invited to dinner at a Kazak family’s house. This is the first time this semester! So, I don’t want to miss it and I plan on mentioning Joey. Hopefully, this will elicit an invitation for him as well. So he gets to look forward to as well when he gets here.

He starts school on Monday, so I don’t have anything planned for him during the week. Although, I have lots of people who want English lessons, so he can contact those people when he gets a chance.

What else on Friday? Graded some papers and went home. Made dinner and prepared for my trip the following day to Charyn Canyon.

Saturday - Charyn Canyon
Charyn Canyon is the KZ equivalent to our Grand Canyon. Since I just recently visited the Grand Canyon in AZ, I enjoyed seeing the KZ version. It is definitely a smaller version. Instead of the day it takes to hike down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, you can reach the bottom of the KZ canyon in an hour. Despite this difference, the KZ canyon was beautiful. See the pictures in the following blog entries. The water was a mix of steely grey, blue, and green – good luck in picturing that! The canyon walls directly abut the river in some places, but we ate lunch at a place where flat land touches the river. I am unsure of the river’s name.

The trip was organized by KIMEP. I went on one other trip with KIMEP and started a friendship with one girl there. That same girl, Sholpan, was there this time. So I sat next to her and we hung out for the rest of the day. She is the one that invited me to dinner. So, I hope that invitation will materialize, but who knows. But we had a long time to talk. The bus ride to the canyon was 3.5 to 4 hours each way.
During the trip there, Sholpan was kind enough to translate what the guide was saying to a group of exchange students from Europe. I tagged along.

Sholpan continued to translate a bit for me. She then went to sleep for a while. I listened to music, graded some papers, and relaxed.

Finally, we arrived. I walked down through the canyon to the river with Sholpan and her father. He is the Director of KIMEP’s Sports Department and is in charge of these trips. He doesn’t speak English, so she helps him with this. The rock formations were gorgeous and very impressive.

We had a nice lunch by the river. It is Kazak tradition to share your lunch with everyone around you. You automatically offer the people around you a piece of your apple, a cracker, some cheese, some chocolate, etc. In return, they offer you what they have – a sandwich, tea, vodka, etc. I have tried several different Kazak foods because of this tradition. I tried a Turkish desert today. I also bought this horrible Kazak food today; it is the shape of a flatten tennis ball and it is hard and white. You have to really bite into it and when you do, you want to immediately spit it out. It is salty and makes your mouth dry. I spit my bite out and then broke it up into pieces and offered other people some. J I’m such a nice person. The Kazak people loved it.

After lunch, I walked around a bit. Sholpan came along for some of my hikes. At 2 pm, part of the group met up and we went on a guided hike of the area. We climbed up to the top of the canyon, about 30 minutes really, and had a spectacular view of the river. We climbed down, back to the bottom of the canyon, by a narrow slot canyon type formation. It was entertaining to see the group make the descent.

After this side hike, we started our way back to the bus. But we went up to the top of the canyon again. This was another great view. While the canyon in KZ isn’t as wide or as deep as the Grand Canyon, the colors and geologic formations are wonderful. They are great escape from the city. It is a National Park and very popular judging from the number of people there. The sedimentary rocks are in layers of bright oranges, reds, whites, and browns. There are also different types of rocks that don’t have those layers. They are grey, unstratified rock; I think those rocks must be igneous in origin, like granite or something like that. Those igneous rocks did not erode as easily as the colorful sedimentary rocks.

The top of the canyon is the KZ steppe. The steppe is desert-like, with a low-lying sage colored brush and crumbly red-orange-brown rock. This greenish color is a nice contrast to the reds and oranges of the canyon side. There was one view, I have a pic of it, where the steel-grey river bends and in the bend there are green trees. On the opposite side of the river the canyon abuts the river in colors of red, orange and brown. The color contrast was wonderful.

Gram, can you paint that picture when you get a chance? I know you are taking classes again, so I am providing you material. J I will send the picture to you in an email.

I like the steppe and the colors of the KZ countryside. The villages are pleasant and the people seem nice. I do wonder what the people do to make a living though when we go through the villages.

After the side hikes, we got on the bus back home. It was uneventful. I talked with Sholpan more and got invited to dinner. So again, I hope that works out. We also stopped by some ladies selling veggies. I got out and bought red and green peppers, eggplants (they are small ones!), and tomatoes. I bought about two kilos worth of veggies for about a dollar. Fruit and veggies prices are cheap outside the city if you buy what is in season. Thanks to this trip, I have less to do tomorrow.

Tomorrow
Tomorrow promises to be busy. In the morning, I want to clean up a bit, go grocery shopping for the week, buy an umbrella, and cook a red sauce and belinis. We will see if I get all that done. In the afternoon, I have two private lessons; I meet with a KIMEP student; and I meet with a guy Joey met online who lives in Almaty. The guy, David, sounds like a nice guy, so I hope it goes well. He was supposed to come to the canyon with me, but cancelled at the last minute. No big deal.

In the evening, I want to finish my grading, study Russian, and get myself ready for the rest of the week. I am sure I will wrap up loose ends from the day.

General Comments
Evenings are cool and the days are not hot anymore. Fall is coming, or even here. The rain has started, which is one signal of fall. The days are numbered for nice outdoor trips. Sholpan has offered to be my guide to the museums, so I think I will take her up on that offer when the days begin to get cold. I guess I should get on the inquiry about a gym. I am sure I will want to exercise inside during the winter. I have noticed pick up basketball games at KIMEP in the afternoons. Unfortunately, I can’t participate in them due to classes. I’m sure the KZ guys would get a kick out of female player that has a decent shot and can out run them on the court (or used to be to do that).