Halloween Costumes

Children in Kazakhstan love to dress up.  For New Year's every young child dresses up for a party at school, similar to the way children dress up for Halloween in the States.  Often, children from the orphanages do not have a costume to wear to school or for the special events that the orphanage puts on.  With the abundance of costumes available in the States, I thought I'd share this need (well more of a desire), to see each child have a costume to wear.

Some Ways to Meet This Need

• Go through your children's dress-up clothes and see which ones they no longer want
• Find great deals at the after Halloween sales
• Send costumes that your children used this year but will no longer fit next year
• Ask friends and neighbors if they have any gently used costumes

If you would like to have your costume(s) available for a child to wear this New Year, it would be best to mail the costume directly to Kazakhstan since we don't have any groups coming over before then.  It usually takes about three weeks for a package to arrive, so you would want to mail it by mid-November.  Also, I ask that you make sure the costumes that you send over are in good condition and are not scary.  Thanks for remembering the kids of Kazakhstan this Halloween! 

Packages can be mailed to:
Interlink Resources
31A Aksha Batyr
Taraz 080012
Kazakhstan

Note:  Shipping charges are more expensive than packages mailed within the USA.  If you are able to collect costumes but are unable to ship them over, please let me know and we can look into other options. 

The Fun of Guests

The last few weeks have been a lot of fun as we have had two different delegations here.  The current delegation is made up of people that sponsor children through our Kids Connection program.  It has been fun to watch them interact with their children and enjoy the beauty and culture of Kazakhstan.

Some Highlights of Having Guests Here

• Seeing delegates fall in love with the people of Kazakhstan
• The excitement of the host homes
• Getting to see many of the children and mothers that I helped with at CP camp this summer
• Watching the sponsors and children meet for the first time (see IRI blog)
• Taking kids to a small amusement park (I even got to ride the roller coaster and drive bumper cars, so I may experience whiplash for the next few days). 
• Getting to go to the Saramoldaeva Orphanage Director's house for dinner and being served the largest piece of meat I have ever been served in my life.  

A Drive in a Windstorm

As I promised yesterday, I thought I would tell you a story of my drive in a wind storm to pick up the delegation last week. At the time it wasn't all that funny, but looking back there were several things I find pretty amusing. 

Last Saturday morning the wind started picking up.  I left Taraz at about 2pm to make the 2 1/2 hour drive to Shymkent to pick up our coaches.  The wind was howling and as I drove out of town I had to detour around a downed power line (only one minute after my departure).  I left town, passing several gas stations - since the one I prefer is about 10 miles out of town.  Along the road, I saw roofs that had been blown off houses, trees in the middle of the road, and other signs of the heavy wind that I was about to drive through. 

When I got to my favorite gas station, they had no electricity.  I was down to about 1/2 a tank, so although I was not excessively worried, I was a bit concerned.  Thankfully, the next gas station had electricity.  I got out of the car (having to use some force to pry my door open) and was thankful for my windbreaker as I waited for my turn to pay.  Then I went around my car and started pumping my gas.  I took shelter behind my car, thankful that it was a really big SUV.  The entire gas pump was rattling and shaking - which made me a bit nervous as it seemed like it might just blow away and the idea of gas spurting out of the ground and being caught with the wind was not that comforting. 

As I was standing behind my car (once again - my car is a BIG SUV) it started shaking in the wind.  Although it probably wasn't the most logical thing to do, I decided to walk around my car and get in to wait until my gas finished pumping.  As I passed the edge of my car, the wind hit me like a wall and I had to strain to get to my car door.  Then, I had the fun of trying to open the door and wedge my body in before it was slammed shut by the wind.  I got enough of me in to keep the door open while the rest of me had time to squeeze in.  After the effort of getting into the car, it wasn't long before I had filled my tank and it was time to get back out and venture towards the pump.  Opening the door was a bit easier, since my entire body weight was behind it.  I made my way to the back of the car much to the amusement of the men waiting in the car behind me.  I had to laugh as I then proceeded to return from the pump and wedge myself back into the car. 

After that adventure, I figured I was up for anything.  I was driving along enjoying my music when the dust started blowing so hard that my visibility was cut down to something like 30 feet in front of me.  Thankfully, this only lasted for about 2 minutes, although fairly low visibility lasted for about 30 minutes.  It was like driving in fog.   

Later, as I was driving along I saw a glass beer bottle bouncing down the road about one foot off the ground.   I don't think I have ever seen anything that heavy fly like that. 

The funniest thing was that through all of the wind, every cow, horse, or donkey that I saw seemed completely unaffected by the storm.  I saw cows slowly chewing their cud right next to a tree that had blown into the median.  I could almost picture them saying "what's the big deal, it's lunch time." 

A Week of Coaching

Twice a year, Interlink sends two or three people from the States to spend time "coaching" us.  Although it is busy, it is usually an encouraging time.  This last week has been no exception.  As we have met together, I have felt encouraged in the things I am doing well.  I have also been challenged in areas where I can make improvements.  I look forward to these times each year because I find it helpful to gain an outside perspective on the things I am doing on a daily basis. 

One of the fun things about this specific trip is that one of our coaches (Barb) is here for the first time.  It has been such a joy to watch her experience things for the first time.  This week has included teas in the village, meetings, a drive in a windstorm (I will have to tell the funny parts of this story later), a birthday party, being a human jungle gym, computer car racing, shopping, meals with friends, and so much more.

I will be leaving Taraz for Shymkent on Tuesday afternoon in order to welcome our next (and final) delegation.  It is a small group.  Each one is a sponsor and will have a chance to spend time with their sponsored child.  It will be fun to experience Kazakhstan with them!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Lately, we have been asking kids a series of questions that we can send back to their sponsors.  The other day I was extremely encouraged, surprised, and touched by the answer that one 7 year-old girl gave to the question.  She said that when she grew up she wanted to be "Sara Mama."  For those of you that don't know, my name at Saramoldaeva orphanage is "Sara Mama."  How humbling to be told that someone wants to be like you when they grow up. 

I look at my job and I think to myself "why would anyone want a job other than the one I have?"  I get to give gifts to children, cause them to smile, receive great big running and jumping hugs when I see them after having been gone a while, show my love to them (and receive even more), spend money that's not my own to improve their lives, share teaching techniques with the staff that build into their lifes, play soccer at work, praise the children for their abilities or choices, watch them grow up into successful adults, and so many other things.  I look at my job right now and really can't imagine a job that would be more fulfilling. 

I hope that one day this young girl (and the rest of the children I have grown to love) would have a job that they love and in which they are able to give back to others. 

One Busy Week Down, Four to Go!

My busy week ended up going very smoothly for the most part.  There were things that I didn't plan that I had to do and things that I was planning to do that ended up being canceled.  I figured it might be nice for you to know how things turned out. 

Monday was full of meetings as expected, but I was able to get a lot of things accomplished and started off the week pretty well, despite my dislike of Mondays. 

Tuesday - The peach cobbler turned out great!  People have already requested that I provide another one as my "cake" for my birthday in November.  I think I will have to make one before then ... it is just too good to wait that long. 

Wednesday - My Kazakh lesson was cancelled due to a holiday!!!  This was a relief due to my busy schedule.  We had a training at PTL for the teachers there.  I felt like it went well.  They seemed really excited about the possibilities and asked for us to come each month.  They also suggested a longer training sometime at the beginning of January.  I really enjoyed the opportunity to "teach" again.  In the evening I went over to my Kazakh family's house to celebrate the holiday.

Thursday - Our time at Ulan was extremely smooth.  It feels like a different place.  We have gotten a great amount of cooperation from the staff during our recent visits.  It was fun to be with the kids again.

Friday - I had a wonderful day off.  I got to rest all day and even saw one of the students that had been in my English club several years ago.  In the evening I went over to Olya's for a birthday party for her and Jason.  It was a nice, relaxing time with friends.  Oh yeah ... the best part of the day was getting to sleep in until 10:30.

Saturday - I got to sleep in until 10:30 again.  At 4:00 pm we left for Savva orphanage.  That evening we went from group to group getting surveys filled out for every child.  It was a bit chaotic as was to be expected but primarily succesful. 

Sunday - I got to play soccer!!! I enjoyed the relaxing morning of getting to play with children.  I definitely enjoyed getting my fill of hugs in over the weekend.  I hadn't seen most of the kids since August and it was fun to catch up with them. 

This week we are working on tying up a bunch of loose ends (getting surveys ready to go back with the next delegation, printing pictures, preparing birthday gifts for the whole year, organizing supplies, preparing for the next two delegations, and several other things). 

Although I am tired from the last week and feel like I might be coming down with a cold, it was a very encouraging week.  It was a joy to be back with the children again.  I have missed seeing their smiles.