Last Sunday was our off day in the training week. 8:30- 6 is a grueling training schedule. So far the days are passing quick enough. It was also Constitution Day here. I didn’t do anything with my host family though, though many other volunteers did. My guys were busy and besides, I had been eyeing a small peak near town since arriving and I took today to summit it.
The problem was that I didn’t know how to get there, if there was a trail, etc. I headed out this morning and when I got close I would find people on the street and say, “excuse me. I want to go…” and then I’d point to the mountain. I would follow it up with “how?” They all got the point and before long I was headed up.
It wasn’t very far in terms of miles- less than a mile from bottom to top. But it made up for it in steepness. There are rumors about the elevation here that say the mountains are ranging from 5,000 to 9,000 feet. Nobody seems to know. But I was sucking wind going up, but not as bad as I was in Rocky Mtn. National Park this past summer at 8,000ft. So my bet is that my small “foothill mountain” was less than that.
Below are some pictures of the hike. By the way, I’ve now bagged a peak on 3 continents (of course, not huge ones, but still a mtn!). The larger mountains beyond the one I climbed were socked in with clouds, so its hard to get a comparison. They are much bigger than my little mountain.
I’ve also put a few of the apartment I’m in. Still no pictures of Victor and Valla, but I will take some soon. Those of you who were in RO, will appreciate the picture of my room. Notice the bunica bag that PC issued me to carry my HUGE water filter/mosquito net (surprised me)/etc!!!!
Oh, another interesting event happened to me last Saturday. I had my first banya. There are a couple types, I’ve heard, but a broad definition would be a steam bath. It is a very popular way of cleaning here in Kazakhstan. Many families don’t have showers at home, and opt to banya once or twice a week to clean. My family does have a shower but they only use it once a week and then banya on Saturday’s (water is expensive).
I went to a public banya here in town. They signed me up for an hour for 300 Tenge ($2). The banya is split into three rooms: changing room, wash room, steam room. You disrobe in the changing room and go into the wash room. It is pretty warm in there. You put water into a basin and use a pot to pour water on yourself, soap up, and rinse. I’m not sure actually when most people wash- I did it first, not knowing.
After you wash, you go into the steam room. This is where banya’s differ a little. Some are actually steam rooms where you pour cold water on hot rocks to create steam. The one I went to was heated by a stove and just really, really hot (no steam). The idea is that you sit and sweat, go back to the wash room and pour cooler water on you to cool off and wash sweat off, then go back in. Repeat process as needed or desired.
Sometimes you banya with people. For example all the men in a family would banya together, all the women, etc. This wasn’t the case this time for me. It was really hot- so hot that I had trouble breathing in the steam room. I did my best, but I’m sure that if others were with me, they’d have made fun of how little I could take of the extreme heat.
After 1 hour of going in and out, sweating and rinsing, I left. I didn’t feel very clean after I left, but I must admit that as I laid down last night, I did. It is also very relaxing- like soaking in a hot spring. I’ve been told that sometimes people take switches in (branches with leaves) and beat their bodies with them. This helps get toxins and stuff out I guess.
Anyway, there is a good shot the banya will become a big part of my life. I’m not crazy about dropping 300 Tenge every week, but we’ll see. ($2 doesn’t sound like a lot, but our walking around money wasn’t that much and 300 Tenge over 10 weeks adds up quick). Anyway, it was a good experience.
This coming Saturday we’ll go to Almaty to see the PC office and stuff. Will be my first time seeing the city. The most famous banya in Kazakhstan is in Almaty—Arasan Baths—you may be able to google to see some pictures. I don’t know what it looks like, but I hear its nice and worth a visit, even if it costs an absurd $10!!
No word on anything else, as far as where my permanent site will be. That comes on week 7, but I’ve been told that they have a couple of NGO’s in mind for me that have an environmental theme to them. But I’m open, so we’ll see. They do things a bit different here, than in RO. In RO we went on a site visit in week 8, saw our permanent site for 4 days, returned to finish training. Here, you don’t see your site until you leave for it at the end of training. So it should be interesting. The country is too big to ship people all around and bring them back. FYI, we swear in as volunteers and leave for site on the same day- Halloween.
We started our practicum this week. We were assigned to two organizations in the area and its just a way to get a brief glimpse of what the work life in KZ could be. I went to a Woman’s Crisis Center this week. Next week I’ll go to the Almaty State Nature Preserve. It is within the Ile Alatau National Park and has stricter regulations. My guide book says it is 70,000ha and covers some of the most dramatic scenery of the Zailysky Mountain Range. More than 30% of the Reserve is covered by glaciers, including one that is 11km long. That should be cool. I doubt we’ll get to see anything of the park- as its just 3 visits and only for 3 hours each time, but the idea is cool and maybe I can return later to see the park.
That’s all she wrote. Will post again when I can.
PS- for those of you with RO connections, I had my first shoarma the other day. They made a nice effort but I’m afraid it didn’t match up to what I’m used to (no French fries and lots of dill). Hopefully this is an isolated incident!
До свидания!
(the walk to school)
