Hello! I'm so sorry to hear you were so sick, Suzie... we knew if we hadn't heard from you it would have been for good reason! We were somewhat afraid that our emails had been going to your spam or junkmail by accident but ruled it improbable since our parents haven't heard from you and since the Kazakh police haven't shown up at the school :) I hope you're feeling better! Let us know if you need any Kazakhstan remedies that you've run out of at home!
Today started a little rough at our host home but we got to school just fine and plenty early; Keri had a middle school math class to sit in on so I walked with her (face almost fell off in the cold... can't believe that I'm looking forward to Spokane's weather) and met my mentor teacher early to discuss my lesson from yesterday and hers and my joint lesson plan for tomorrow. She had a lot of good feedback and some great tips about classroom management that were really helpful and she allowed me to unload what I felt wasn't great about how the lesson went. In all it was a really fruitful conversation. Then Lindsay and Tim came asking me for help with International Day which is this Friday, so we went through the preschool building and assigned all the 16 countries represented to rooms and divided the classes attending into smaller groups headed up by teachers and aides. Not too in depth but I spent a good chunk of my after-lunch time typing it all out and making it nice enough to present to the staff. Anyway, it was another good day in the life at Kazakhstan.
Sorry, I should have kept you updated about my host stay! It's much better. It is still a little uncomfortable at times but we're learning how to create boundaries for the boys and, although we don't always agree with her parenting, we've built a good relationship with our host mom. The variety of diversity we've encountered here still amazes me though... we've been to completely Russian-speaking places, partook (partaken? Partooken?!) in Kazakh relationships and traditions, work at an international school where most of our students represent different countries, dealt with people both in poverty and in extreme wealth, and live with a Russian woman with a Louisiana accent and two severely developmentally delayed boys. Needless to say, I feel good about our well-rounded experience :) have a huge week ahead including babysitting for some teachers, a hockey game, the indoor bazaar for my souvenir shopping, a birthday party at the super fancy indoor tropical resort, a visit to a public school, dinners with QSI staff to say goodbye, and oh yeah, teaching! I feel comfortable in saying that we've taken advantage of every opportunity given to us to integrate into the culture and I have no regrets. Relationships are being built and I'm honestly sad to be saying goodbye to the staff and kiddos at QSI. They tell us daily though that we can always apply for next school year :)
I actually had a planning period today with my teacher so we spent some time preparing for our Japanese tea ceremony/cherry blossom ceremony/music experience for cultural studies tomorrow. Missed ELL and science for it, but it was a valuable time to work with my teacher. Afterward school Keri and I had an interview with our Russian mama (Anastasia) and I spoke at the staff meeting about International Day. Went home, worked with the boys on their homework, had dinner, and am now in bed nursing my bruise from a very comedic and painful fall I had earlier today :) minus the slip, it was a normal day! We're starting to get into a routine, we don't even have qualms or much difficulty communicating with Russian speakers anymore! We've found ways to use the words we know and universals signs to communicate our needs or questions. It feels really good to be learning so much :)
Anyway, so happy to hear you're okay (or at least getting better) and thanks for answering those questions! Some of them we still went ahead and did enough to cover our bases so I'm sorry, you may have a little extra reading :) get well soon, and dasvydanye!
Chels
Time goes fast when you are busy,huh? Your adventures sound exciting. We are continuing on our lives here, Fred and Christine are getting ready to spend a couple weeks in Hawaii, leaving the 7-th or 8th of Feb, David is healing from his Back injury and will be back to work in a couple weeks, Ryan is healing but bored!bored and Bored!! He is studying for another Achuary (sp) test. Fortunately he finished his classes at PLU before he went skiing!! We miss you and am anxious to see you when you return. Love, Nana
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