videos: new house, hello message from me, and train ride

Video: My bro says “Hi” I started teaching finally after so much waiting and schedule prep. The kids are pretty cool. All English teachers here start classes with “Good morning class. I am very glad to see you.” And the kids shout back, “GOOD MORNING TEACHER! WE ARE GLAD TO SEE YOU, TOO!”. It's kinda happy.

My family lives the clean life. I must wash my hands every time I enter the house, and before and after eating (turns out being 6 times/day; and that's not counting the times I'll wash them if someone knows I'm using the toilet). After coming home I must change into my house clothes (pajamas). I scrub and polish my shoes everyday and I also can't touch my skin during meals. Yep. .....I miss the feral life.

I now know my work schedule: I work Tuesdays thru Saturdays, grades 5,8,9,10,11. I will be tag-teaming these classes with a teacher for each class.

I finally found a wifi cafe, so I'm hoping to video chat with people next weekend. The time that'd be best for me is my Sunday morning, which is your Saturday night (between 11pm-2am). So only the hardcore andrew lovers will do it.

Pics: My new brother, my new home in Kargala (and view from bedroom window). the train, and my first family in Panfilova.

I took a 41 hour train to Aktobe. The ride was so fun because I met a ton of cool strangers (I finally met a kazakh person who I think “got” me), people shared lots of their food with me, and I got rest. After arriving at the station, 3 co-workers and my school director met up with me and took me immediately to my new school (which is a huge 3-story school). I introduced myself to 15 classrooms and then met my new family. My peers seem really easy to work with. There are like 6 other English teachers who I'll be working with and they're all women in their young 20' s, excited, inquisitive, and pretty cool. I live in a beautiful 2-story brick house. It has an indoor toilet, bath, and washing machine, is only 2 minutes from my school, only 2 minutes to the bus station, and just a 30-minute bus ride to downtown. I live with a married couple (Berik owns three markets at the downtown bazaar and the Gulnar works at home) and their amazing 10 year old son, Adiljan (he wrestles. too). Me and Adiljan have become fast friends. I'm 10 minutes from a library with internet, also. I'm ecstatic to have space from american crowds. I've been thrown to the opposite side of the country and I'm okay with that right now.
The first few days at my school have been fun, though a bit weird because swarms of children will crowd around me (as if I'm Elmo) and shout kazakh and english salutations. I've had to escape the kids that follow me by taking refuge in the teacher's lounge. There's a sensation in the school about having a foreigner, but that sensation will soon fade I'm sure when they realize my Kazakh skills aren't developing and I actually am here to teach and not just play.
I also met the city mayor in his office (he gave me a dictionary with his signature). Kargala has pretty hills, paved streets, though it certainly has its fair share of poverty. Sledding might need to happen in the winter. It's basically Wayne because it's a cute little city where you can walk to all the important places, but take a 25 minute ride if you need some big city action.
Hitchhiking is pretty common in KZ - old grannies and teenagers do it. It's been really fun getting into the cars of strangers when me and friends have missed the last bus of the night, are lazy or lost. It's also funny to shop at the bazaar because bargaining is common and the clerks usually go down like 10-15%, especially if you make them laugh with your rocky Kazakh. (I never thought I'd be a bargaining supporter after selling apartments in Ann Arbor).
I've also appreciated the communality and different views on body image . People bathe in groups and help scrub each other. Strangers change in fitting rooms together and people eat off the same plate, double dip non-stop, and share food insistently. I like how things are a bit more loose.

My last piece of praise is the fact that I finally sat down to watch TV and discovered that our TV has Nickelodeon and CNN in English; this means I'm able to watch iCarly!. To anyone who's worried about my well-being, be comforted, because iCarly is back in my life once again. And all is and will be well.