Playing Santa Clause

I have had the opportunity to play Santa Clause several times over the last week! Santa comes at New Years here in Kazakhstan, which helps to explain how he makes it around the world in one night. :) This month has been one filled with lots of preparations. I thought I'd give you a general idea of some of the things we have done to share Christmas and New Years with kids/youth/adults here in Taraz (it's a bit long, but I didn't want to leave anything out). I will try to put some pictures of our adventures up over the next few days. I think I have done more shopping in the last two weeks than I have done in my life.

Ulan Orphanage - Today the entire staff at our office delivered gifts to 160 children at Ulan orphanage. We gave each child an individual gift (with candy as well as gloves that were sent by a family that adopted from Ulan) and we gave each group several toys (Barbies, Legos, puzzles, soccer balls, etc) to share.

Savva Orphanage - Due to way below freezing temps (below zero degrees at night and maybe a high of 10 degrees during the day) and the snow pack on the roads, we were unable to make a trip out to Savva for their New Year's party yesterday. We sent individual gifts for 188 children with their driver and will take group gifts to them when we go for birthdays next Sunday.

Boarding School - We purchased two speakers and two wireless mics for the boarding school for children with physical, emotional, and mental disabilities.

Saramoldaeva Orphanage - Yesterday we had the opportunity to deliver gifts to about 50 children (those that have been in the three groups that we sponsor). We got one group a digital camera and got toys, games, and candy for the other groups.

Rakhym - We purchased some games for the four children that live at Rakhym and will deliver those gifts on the 1st when we take them bowling to celebrate the New Year!

Vanofka - Thanks to a collection made by some children in Indiana, we were able to purchase a lot of really fun toys for the children there. We delivered the gifts about a week before Christmas.

English Club - We invited Ken's English club over to his house to decorate the tree, eat pizza, watch a Christmas movie, and learn about some of the Christmas traditions that we have in the States.

Youth Impact - We had two Christmas parties (about 10 youth each) to celebrate Christmas and New Years with those involved in the Youth Impact program. We made pizza, cut out and decorated cookies, gave gifts, and told them about some traditions that my family had for Christmas when I was growing up.

Office - We put on a Christmas party for the staff at our office, including a white elephant gift exchange. We had a great time enjoying each other's company.

Team - We had a nice relaxing day together (all three of us) on Christmas (one of the few days all month that we didn't have some type of work to do). Ken cooked us brunch and Beth cooked us donuts. I just ate. YUM!! We watched a movie and played games and just had a restful day.

Ainalien Donation - We got some toys and candy together to donate to a youth center in a local village called Ainalien. They put together a party for children that are invalids.

Card Delivery - We delivered Christmas cards (in person) to those that we work with on a regular basis.

Well, I think that's pretty much what I've been up to for the last couple weeks. I am looking forward to a few days off this week (we have Mon-Wed off for New Years)!!!

Mom's Books Have Been Published

My mother is now an author! She recently had six books published related to the topic of organizing. Each one is three simple steps to organizing a certain part of your life (home, work, meals, etc). I am so proud of her and thought I'd let you all know, just in case it sounds interesting to you. Her website link is to the right if you would like to check it out. For those of you that live in the MD area, my mom will actually be doing some book signings at Borders in Gaithersburg and Silver spring. I have put the info for each signing below, just in case any of you want to go. YEAH MOM!!!

Borders in Gaithersburg, 1-3 pm, Saturday December 29
534 N. Frederick Ave.
Gaithersburg, MD 20877
Phone: 301.921.0990

and

Borders in Silver Spring, 5-7, Saturday December 29
8518 Fenton Street
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Phone: 301.585.0550

Trip to Shymkent

Beth, Ken, and I spent the weekend in Shymkent. It was a good chance to get away for the weekend. The roads were a bit slick, but we returned safely despite the buses and 16 wheelers racing past us. We had fun playing games, watching movies, and just hanging out with friends. We also had the opportunity to go to an expat Christmas party. There were about 30 adults and 15 children at the party, which is just a bit more than the 3 people we usually gather with.



On our return trip we stopped at a small orphanage that we work with in Vanofka. Some children in the States earned money and sent it to us to do something special for the children. We were able to purchase some wonderful New Year's gifts (including remote control cars, games, dolls, a doll castle, etc). We allowed them to open some of the gifts during our visit on Monday. It was fun to see their reaction when they knew that these gifts were given to them from a group of children their age! We had fun playing with them.

At the office, we are having fun being Santa Claus (he comes at New Year's here). It is fun going to the store and picking out toys that we know the children will enjoy.

30 years old

I had a very nice birthday yesterday. I gave myself the gift of sleeping in and not going to the office until 12pm. It was the best gift I could have given myself. I did upset the norm here by turning off my phone. I later found out that my Kazakh little brother had tried to call me at 7:00 wanting to be the first to wish me a Happy Birthday. Later, I was out of the office when he brought me his gift. I felt so bad. I later called him to say thank you and he forgave me for turning off my phone.



The caregivers from Saramoldaeva orphanage brought me a gift. The flowers were beautiful and I don't think I have ever owned such a unique clock.




I was also able to attend a concert given by children at a school for children with special needs and a birthday party (with over 100 people) for a one year old. It was definitely a busy, but fun birthday.

Today we had a lunch at the office to celebrate. It was a nice time. We enjoyed a lot of laughter together (most at my expense, as they informed me that the children at the orphanage should start calling me grandma Sara instead of mama Sara).

Thanksgiving Traditions Away From Home

Yesterday our team (Beth, Ken, and I) celebrated Thanksgiving together. Although we were a small group, we enjoyed many of the traditions that I associate with Thanksgiving (food, games, and being thankful). I have so many things to be thankful for (a place to live, loving family, a great team, good friends, two countries that I love, a great job, around 800 children to play with, and so much more)

We spent the entire day preparing and eating lots of yummy food. We had a egg and sausage casserole and sausage balls for brunch at 12pm. Here we actually have to make our own sausage using ground pork and some spices, so it is more of a treat to have sausage. After brunch we started preparing pies (see Ken's blog for more details). Then we worked on the main meal, which we ate at 6pm. We had Turkey (see Beth's blog for more details), corn pudding (my grandma used to always make this), broccoli casserole (also a must-have for my family Thanksgivings), and mashed potatoes (my favorite Thanksgiving food). Throughout the day we played some games when we had time in between cooking and eating.

Last year our team started a tradition that my family has for Thanksgiving. We have a special Thanksgiving tablecloth. Every year we add things that we are thankful for in fabric pens or permanent markers. Yesterday, it was fun to look back at the things that each person on the team was thankful for last year and also see what each of us is thankful for this year. Reading the tablecloth brought back fun memories of last year's Thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving was a wonderful reminder of all I have to be thankful for!

What a Day!

Today was an extemely productive day. I am feeling a lot better, although I still have a cough. Today we (Ken and I) spent most of the day at Ulan orphanage. Our main purpose was to get information and pictures updated for our Kids Connection program. When we first arrived, some of the boys were playing basketball. Ken and I took them on and I think we beat the five of them even though I couldn't make a shot. I haven't played basketball in such a long time. Next time I will have to take my sneakers and comfortable clothes so I can play a bit harder.

Afterwards we delivered a new sound system to the orphanage. We were able to purchase 2 wireless mics, 4 wired mics, 2 large speakers, and a nice sound board. The man in charge of music was very grateful.

We spent the rest of the time dropping off letters from sponsors and making sure we had information for all 150 children at the orphanage. After several days of doing this, I think we finally have each child's correct information. Children here either study in the morning or in the afternoon, so it is very hard to find a time when all the children are at the orphanage. As a result, we have to go several times in the morning and several times in the afternoon in order to see all the children.

Update: We have received about 25 applications for the Kids Connection Coordinator position. We have narrowed the candidates down to the best four and will begin interviews next week. We are looking for someone that is both good with details and good with children.

Breathing through a Snorkel

My cold, which I thought was going away, has gotten worse over the last couple days. Last night I decided that the best way to describe how I feel is that it is like breathing through a snorkel while swimming in the ocean. Most of the time I get full breaths, but every once-in-a-while it feels like I just swallowed a mouthful of sea water and have a coughing fit. :) I hope you enjoy the mental picture of me snorkeling through the steppes of Kazakhstan. The closest American doctor thinks it might be walking pneumonia, so she had me start a round of antibiotics today. I am praying that with two days of rest, I will back at close to full strength for work on Monday. I have thoroughly enjoyed having a day of complete rest even though I am not feeling well.

Update (11/18/07): I am feeling much better. Antibiotics and rest are wonderful things. I no longer sound like a foghorn. I should be back in the office tomorrow. Thanks to those of you that prayed for me.

Email Issues

Note: My email spam filtering system has been working overtime and I just realized that a lot of your emails have not reached me. If you have sent me an email in the last few weeks and I have not responded, please re-send it to me. Sorry about that. Thanks.

Life Goal - Washing Floors at a School

This week in Youth Impact (the program for youth that have left the orphanages) we have been discussing our goals and making plans on how to attain those goals. It was heartbreaking to hear some of the goals that the girls had. Several of the girls in my group have lower academic levels. They are intelligent, but somewhere along the way they were taken out of the normal classes and were taught to be manual laborers. I asked one of my girls what she wanted to be and she said a floor washer. I continued by asking her what her dream was and she looked at me kind of strange and said emphatically food. I asked her what with food and she said she wanted to prepare food. Another girl who also answered floor washer did not change her dream. When I asked her if she liked washing floors she smiled and said yes. I asked her where she wanted to wash floors and she looked at me as if no one had ever told her she could choose a location to wash floors. Finally, she answered that she would like to wash floors at a school. Others had dreams of being artists, dance instructors, and math teachers. We then took their dreams and tried to create attainable goals from them. I am having a bit of a challenge doing the entire thing in Kazakh, but they seem to be taking something from it anyway. One of the girls in the first group has become my helper. She even lectures kids when they come late or don't do their homework. She does it in a way that is patient with them and not rude. It has been a blessing to have her in my group. Thanks to so many of you that make my work over here possible. Next week we will talk about emotions.

Birthday Party

On Sunday we celebrated November birthdays for children at Saramoldaeva Orphanage. I took lots of pictures, but something went wrong with my memory card, so I'll have to get some more pictures of the next event and post them for you to see. We took the children (and a friend each) to Ken's house. We watched a movie using a projector while enjoying pizza. After watching "Pay it Forward" we talked some about how we can change our world. I think they accidentally learned something while enjoying the movie.

Then we had cake and ice cream and gave them their gifts. We finished our time with about an hour of party games (musical chairs, hot potato, etc). The kids had a great time. We practically had to drag them out the door at the end to take them home. It was nice to spend some quality time with them. I think they had a really fun birthday!

Kid's Connection Coordinator

Sholpan, our Kid's Connection Coordinator, resigned on Wednesday. We are sad to see her go, but we understand her need to spend more time with her family. We will need to find someone else to fill this position. The Kid's Connection Coordinator makes sure that we have up-to-date information on the children and helps coordinate the birthday parties and other events that we do with the children. We are hoping to find a Kazakh, Russian, and English speaker that is good with details and with children in the next couple weeks.

Side Note: Kid's Connection is the child sponsorship program that Interlink has developed in order to help orphanages with large projects that improve the way of life for the children. All of our orphanage work is funded through this program in which families all over the world can sponsor a child for $200 a year.

Youth Impact

This week we started our life skills portion of the Youth Impact program (click on the link to see a promo video). It will last 12 weeks. We are working with youth that have graduated from the orphanages (16-25 years old). The Youth Impact Program will cover three areas: life skills, employment skills, and business skills. In the future we would like to provide subsidized housing for the youth as well.

I have the joy of getting to lead two groups in Kazakh. I was pretty concerned whether my Kazakh would be sufficient. The first day was a little challenging, but from that I learned some ways to make things go a little easier. Today I had a copy of both the Kazakh and English in my notebook. That way, when I forgot a word, or wanted to quickly glance at where I was and see where I was going, I could look at the English and then refer back to the Kazakh. I had forgotten how easy it is to glance at something in my own language and understand without having to read each word.

Both my groups went smoothly, although only 2 girls were present at each. This week we talked about our self-talk and how it affects our lives. Next week we will talk about setting goals and how to get past obstacles. Both of my groups are primarily made up of youth that are developmentally slow. I am looking forward to seeing how their concept of who they are changes during this program. So often they are told that they are worthless. I hope that through this program they will see that the opposite is true.

Remont (aka: remodeling)

We (Beth, Ken, and I) have worked on replacing the linoleum in my kitchen and entryway over the last couple weeks. It was definitely an adventure. First we had to remove all my cabinets and appliances from the kitchen (including my gas stove). Then we removed the baseboards in chunks because most of them were cemented in. When we took up the first layer of linoelum, we found a second layer underneath covered with mold (Nasty!!! - this became my favorite word for this project). Then we had to screw particle board into the uneven cement in order to create a floor that was mostly level. While we were laying the linoleum, we used my balcony to paint my cabinets (their original color was goldenrod - my favourite). I still can't get over the difference new linoleum and freshly painted cabinets make. It feels like I have a whole new apartment. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

I have HEAT!!!

Yeah for HEAT!!! Yesterday, as I was doing some remodeling in my apartment, I felt a warmth coming from my radiator. I was shocked and thrilled at the same time! I touched the radiator just to make sure I wasn't imagining it. In Taraz heating for apartments is city-wide. At a certain point in October, they turn on heating for the entire ctiy. Water is heated in a couple central locations and then pumped, through large above ground pipes, throughout the entire city. The water is pumped through each radiator of each apartment before returning back to the central heating facility. The only way to individually regulate heat in an apartment is by opening and closing windows. What an adventure!

Circumcision Party

What! Yes, you read that right, a circumcision party! On Friday I got to attend a circumcision party for children at a local orphange. It is a pretty big deal (almost like a mini-wedding party). In Kazakh tradition, children that are between 5 and 7 years old are circumcised. To celebrate this step into manhood, they throw a big party. In the villages the boys often get paraded through the streets on horseback. At this party, they walked on a white cloth leading to their table at the head of the room. Everyone who attended the party had a chance to share his/her wishes with the children. Most people made some comment about these boys no longer being boys, but young men.

This Blog

I hope that this blog will make it possible for me to share stories and pictures of my life and work in Kazakhstan more easily. I have also included some links that I think you might find interesting. Enjoy!