Site Annoucement!

We had site placement yesterday, and I could not be happier with my site! I’ll admit, the most appealing thing about the site is the counterpart (teacher) that I’ll be working with. She’s a Russian teacher for the Peace Corps, so I’ve already met her and talked to her bit. She’s a really cute, nice, fun lady and I know that she’ll take care of me up there. The PCV that worked with her before me had nothing but great things to say about her, the other teachers in the school, and the community. I really lucked out with this one.

As for the village, it’s about 15 minutes outside of Kokshatau, which is a fairly big city, and it’s up north in the Alkmola Oblast (Oblast=territory or state). The country’s capital, Astana, is in this Oblast too so I’ll definitely be able to visit a few times and I’m excited about that. I also have a few close friends that I’ve made during training within an hour or so, as well as lots of other PCV’s near the city, so it doesn’t sound like I’ll ever get too lonely up there. As for the village itself… well I don’t know too much about it just yet, but the PCV before me said that it’s not much more than a cluster of houses, and a holding area for people going into the city. So, let’s just call it… humble. Also, I was told that only one of my 3 host family choices has running water. Hmm... but hey, the house I’m in now has running water, but I still bathe out of a bucket and use a squat toilet. Te running water is only good for washing hands and my face at night, so what’s the difference if I do that out of a bucket too? :)

Ah, and as for my job – I’ll be teaching secondary students, which will range from 5th – 11th grade. I’ve been teaching 3rd and 4th students here in training, but they’re really advanced and get a lot more English class time at the Gymnasia (private school) here, so it’ll be interesting how the language levels differ. Other than that the only other information I got was that suggested secondary projects include doing an English club for primary grades (1st-4th) and establishing a community resource center in the village.

So, my morale is pretty high now. I feel bad for my friends that were a little disappointed with their sites. I knew that it would be great if I could get into this site, and had my fingers crossed for weeks, but I didn’t think it was really likely and told myself that I could be happy no matter where I was. It’ll just be a little easier here. :)