All week the park has been in a seminar, ranging in a variety of subjects from 1st Aid to tourism. I've been sitting in on most of it, especially the tourism parts, so that I can see what they are learning. Frankly its been exhausting to try to pay attention to Russian 10 hours a day for most of the week. But the seminar itself was ok and I got a few good ideas out of it for potential projects. These pictures aren't too exciting, but I thought I'd show you a few so you can see the staff.
The man in the middle is Oscar. Next week, him, another man named Shameel (pictured below) and myself will go to another area of the park for 3-4 days and observe the Kazakhstan Argali (big horn sheep).
NOT MY PICTURE BELOW- but wanted to show you what the Kazakhstan Argali is. They are huge animals and Oscar knows right where to find them!
Shameel is the man 2nd from the right. He is the man I work closest with.
The director of the park, Almaz, is the one on the right drinking tea.
Today (Nov 27) is day one of a 3 day Muslim holiday named Eid. It is a holiday to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God. Although ethnic Kazakhs are mostly Muslim, they are not as strict as their fellow muslims to the south. Religion aside, the holiday is 3 days of "ghosti", or visiting friends and neighbors houses and eating traditional food. On Eid, it is tradition to eat бауырсак and шелпек. The first is pronounced "ballsack", much to the enjoyment of the volunteers. In the picture below the ballsack is in the foreground, and are round bread balls in the plastic sack. The second is "shelpek". It is the flat "fried bread" in the middle of the table. Both are delicious.
All week the park has been in a seminar, ranging in a variety of subjects from 1st Aid to tourism. I've been sitting in on most of it, especially the tourism parts, so that I can see what they are learning. Frankly its been exhausting to try to pay attention to Russian 10 hours a day for most of the week. But the seminar itself was ok and I got a few good ideas out of it for potential projects. These pictures aren't too exciting, but I thought I'd show you a few so you can see the staff.
The man in the middle is Oscar. Next week, him, another man named Shameel (pictured below) and myself will go to another area of the park for 3-4 days and observe the Kazakhstan Argali (big horn sheep).
NOT MY PICTURE BELOW- but wanted to show you what the Kazakhstan Argali is. They are huge animals and Oscar knows right where to find them!
Shameel is the man 2nd from the right. He is the man I work closest with.
The director of the park, Almaz, is the one on the right drinking tea.
Today (Nov 27) is day one of a 3 day Muslim holiday named Eid. It is a holiday to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God. Although ethnic Kazakhs are mostly Muslim, they are not as strict as their fellow muslims to the south. Religion aside, the holiday is 3 days of "ghosti", or visiting friends and neighbors houses and eating traditional food. On Eid, it is tradition to eat бауырсак and шелпек. The first is pronounced "ballsack", much to the enjoyment of the volunteers. In the picture below the ballsack is in the foreground, and are round bread balls in the plastic sack. The second is "shelpek". It is the flat "fried bread" in the middle of the table. Both are delicious.
