Logan Went Down to Georgia : Almighty Almaty

This past week has been a blur of excitement and exhaustion! After leaving the village on Sunday I met up with my fellow PCVs in Tbilisi where we spent the night before heading out early Monday morning and catching the flight to Kazakhstan. The plane was pretty empty and it was basically just us and some official Kazakh basketball team (surprisingly US jock stereotypes applied just as well to these guys). The flight was direct luckily, and we were in Almaty by early afternoon.

Big Almaty Lake near the border with Kyrgyzstan

Flying into Almaty, the first thing I noticed were the mountains. It was really cloudy (ready hazy from pollution) so we couldn't see the city but there were some giant peaks poking up through the clouds which looked amazing. Once we dipped below the clouds you could see the whole city spread out. It looked quite large but officially it's only 1.5 million people or so with possibly just as many uncounted undocumented immigrants. Altogether it is the largest city in Kazakhstan which has a population of only 17 million but is the 9th largest country in the world (just smaller than Argentina which has a pop. of about 44 mil).

You know it's bad when you get really excited for real grass as well as the smell of fresh cut grass

After settling in we met up with Alex a friend of one of our Georgian travel-mates who was a former PCV in Ukraine and was now teaching in Almaty at an international school. He offered to take us to what was labeled as a Brazilian restaurant, I didn't need convincing. While the restaurant wasn't very Brazilian it was delicious and I ate things I only dream about such as key lime pie, black beans, a fried banana, and flavored lemonade (Georgian lemonades are actually sodas). Despite the small population Almaty has a large expat (oil business) community and a thriving international food scene unlike Tbilisi- that information was music to my ears (aka stomach). We talked all throughout dinner and were excited for the next two days before our conference started.

My "Brazilian" food

Our biggest problem in Kazakhstan was that Russian was the main language for both locals and tourists so there was very little English signage and even fewer people who spoke English. Unfortunately, we don't learn Russian in Georgia so we were really up a creek as far as language was concerned. Luckily we knew a smattering of Russian since it is spoken widely in Georgia and we were able to use that and our expert charade skills to communicate essential information to people like cab drivers.

The hotel with all its prized animals

On Tuesday we 3 PCVs headed out to explore and had a taxi take us to the beautiful Big Almaty lake near the boarder with Kyrgyzstan. We had a run in with some very serious boarder guards but other than that things were great. The lake was still frozen over which was disappointment since we hear it is usually a stunning turquoise color. After our morning in the mountains we got dropped off in town and made our way around the city. We rode the new and impressive metro and stumbled upon some delicious Korean food for lunch (which happened to be next to a Burger King, our next stop). That first day in the city really was all about food and satisfying any craving we could.

Get rich quick with a $1=335 tenge exchange rate

We also spent a lot of time in the Green bazaar where we tasted lots of interesting local foods and flavors but also found other delicious things like cashews and dried cranberries (some of my favorite snacks which are too expensive in Georgia). After hours of browsing and shopping we met up with Alex again for a more traditional dinner at a local restaurant. Per his recommendation we had a dish of horse meat served with potatoes and onions (a Kazakh staple) and another with noodles and hot spices (a staple of the Uyghurs, a Chinese Muslim minority from the border region) both dishes were very delicious. Who knew horse meat could be so flavorful!?

Us PCVs with Alex our amazing Almaty guide (also I am super jealous of Alan's awesome Kazakhstan jacket)

The next day was more cultural and we visited a war memorial park, massive orthodox cathedral, and the state museum. We also visited a massive mall (to feel like we were in America) where we found a delicious wok restaurant and then once again met up with Alex to get some authentic New York cheesecake. Alex was great to keep meeting up with us and teaching up all about Almaty and the local culture and customs. I won't even get started on how the bribing system works.

One of the only building in Almaty to survive their massive earthquake 100 years ago

Wednesday afternoon was the end of the tourist part of the trip and that evening we met up with the rest of the guests at the hotel to begin our training. We were in Almaty for a teacher training conducted by American Councils. We had people from Georgia, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Kosovo with a few Americans (PCVs, Fulbrights, and American Councils staff) all in attendance. It was a great and very diverse group of people. We were brought together to be trained on how to conduct and teach the pre-departure orientation classes for the FLEX and YES exchange programs sponsored by the State Dept. In Georgia there are 80 finalists from 15-18 years old and they are some of the best and brightest in the country. I am really excited to get to work with them.

The war memorial to fallen soldiers

The training was 3 intense 12 hour days of information overload and teaching practice. They kept us going from 9am to 9pm everyday to help simulate the training we'll be giving to students in July. We will each be paired with a Georgian FLEX exchange program alum and teach 8 session ranging from 1-1.5 hours each. It will be a lot of information for these students but it should give them a good idea of what their exchange year in the US should be like and preparing them for all the cultural differences they might experience.

Did you know that scientists have traced the origins of the apple back to the Almaty region?

One night we had a discussion panel where the program alumni with us talked about their experiences in the US. It was a great reminder of how important and powerful these types of programs can be. Many exchange students come on private company programs and pay a lot to study in a US high school, these kids are on a State Dept scholarship which has a 2% acceptance rate- they are amazing. One of my favorite stories came from a Kyrgyzstani boy who has cerebral palsy and was a student in the FLEX program a few years back. The program really changed his life. People with disabilities aren't really treated as members of society in this part of the world so to go to the US and be told that you can do anything even if you have a disability was really empowering for him. His attitude has completely changed. His host mother helped him develop his writing skills (he hopes to be an author) and since coming back to his country he has organized events for other students with disabilities, received offers to publish his writing, and is going to be featured on Forbes Kyrgyzstan's list of young people to watch, This all started from his chance to study in the US and be empowered as an individual. His story had us all on the verge of tears.

The main entrance of the state museum

I should note that despite having all the program finalists chosen (over 800 from all over the former USSR) they are still looking for host families. It can be hard to place so many students, but these are the cream of the crop. If anyone is interested in looking into hosting an exchange student from the FLEX program you can check out the information here. I can't wait to be able to host a student some day.

The inside of a yurt

I'm excited to work with the Georgian FLEX students come July. It's exciting to be able to work with some of the best and most deserving students in Georgia. Reflecting back on my own experiences abroad I can see the effect that they had on me. These students are going to go to the US and be exposed to a completely different way of life. The will assimilate into American high schools and learn to adapt to the many new values and norms. After their year abroad they come back to Georgia as different people. They don't lose their own perspective or culture but they still learn to incorporate the positive values they were exposed to. These students go on to become leaders in their communities and country, they bring a spirit of volunteerism and service back to a place that often lacks such ideas. The work they do after their exchange year is often greater than what they do while away.

Lenin keeping watch outside of the hotel

After 3.5 days of training we were exhausted and ready to return to Georgia. We had some spare time and decided to visit the Almaty mall and bask in the American feeling of being in a mall and having so many choices. To celebrate we ate food from Hardees, Burger King, and KFC. I even found a froyo station. Then we stocked up on a few niceties from the grocery store (chipotle BBQ sauce for the win!) and headed back to the hotel to catch our ride to the airport. We said goodbye to our new friends and we were on our way back to Tbilisi.