Well hello there!

Benefits of getting internet in my apartment:
1) greatly reduces the risk that I will get talked to/stalked by English fanatics
2) MY BLOG SOMEHOW WORKS!!

So hello everyone! I have been in Kazakhstan 3 weeks to the day, and ...well. Nothing too ridiculous to report. Which is probably a good thing.

I have work Monday through Friday at varying times, depending on things such as random last second cancellations, random last second student swapping by our coordinators, random new students showing up and wanting a class in an hour. So basically my week is very unpredictable. My schedule has already changed 2 times this week, so what it now APPEARS to be is something like this:

-a 14 year old girl preparing for the SSAT (from what I understand, a UK verion of the SAT) two times a week for two academic hours (aka 90 mins)
-an 11 year old girl who I just help with her English hw one time a week for two ac hours
-a 14 year old boy who I help (as of yesterday) with general English two times a week for ac 2 hours
-an 18 year old boy who I help once a week for 2 ac hours with essay writing (i guess Kaz schools don't do essays at all, so they get screwed over in English speaking universities)
-and a class of six 17 year olds who I, as of this week, now have four times a week instead of three for 2 ac hours, preparing for a different test for university, the IELTS and also just doing essay writing and listening stuff.

And apparently I will have two other students, a girl today at 8pm who I think I'll be having twice a week for 2 ac hours with just general English, I believe she will also be 14, and a different boy starting Monday I know nothing about. Earlier this week I had other students, but they did a swap between the other American teacher and myself and now we get brand new schedules :D ...

I don't really have time to do much during the week, but I did try to go to the various cafes and coffee places around my apartment and found a few I like (also that had wi-fi!), or go exploring to learn my neighborhood and streets better, although I must say the small map I bought pretty much saves my life :D. On the weekends I have just been meeting up with Danielle (the other American teacher) and Liz, another teacher at my institute that is from here. Liz is my forced friend by Tamara, my boss hah- she made her show me around. SO ya Liz just takes me around and we just walk for hours. It is really fun though, and she is very friendly...I think she may be moving into real friend boundaries. She also took Danielle and I to get cell phones this past weekend, and we decided we are going to try to see some of the nice places here this weekend since the past two weekends it poured. Oh and my friend who is from here but went to school at U of A also, and was a teaching assistant for my Russian class showed me around too, such a funny coincidence.

And so aside from those people, the teachers at my school seem very nice and helpful, but we are all pretty busy there so I don't get too much time to talk with them. My boss can be a little, well. Bossy hah but she is really nice and has me call her when I get home and tell her about my classes and if I am feeling homesick and stuff.

Kaz in general...first of all wild traffic, just like Russia you really never have the right of way as a pedestrian. No metro, so buses/trolleybuses/trams are everywhere but UNLIKE Russia the bus doesn't slam the doors in your face when you are running to catch it. Taxis are also everywhere (well the gypsy kind) and I actually took one today! Fortunately pretty much everything I could need is within 15-30 min walking distance, including my work. The weather was hot (like 90's hot, not AZ hot) when I got here, and then a random week and a half of cold/ rain, and now it is back to hot and is supposed to stay that way through next week too. What else...everyone speaks Russian, but all the store signs and street signs are in Russian and Kazakh, which most people don't really know. The prez is trying to get Kazakh to be spoken here again as the main language, but I think he has a ways to go. Oh and people here get super excited about English-speaking foreigners, as my being stalked comment at the beginning may suggest. Danielle says to just say I am married and am going home to my husband now, and these crazy guys will leave you alone. Somewhat. She has some strange stories from last year...but whatever ha she came back for more so it must not get so bad!

Well I think that's enough for now, no one likes reading essays!
Пока!