Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The beleaguered start to spring

PEPFAR HIV/AIDS Conference Attendees in Karaganda, KZ

A grandmother takes a rest




About six months to go, I sing.

This part of the year always seems to bring about a great mental mixture of review and renewal—grass, bees and an inflamed appreciation for the female ankle come to mind on the latter—and the recent weather did a good job at confusing me on both accounts.

The long winter is finished, now available to be cited for the rest of my living days as one of those back in my day, you The North Face-loving sumagun, I walked to work in -43° C weather! moments. By most books, it is April. April usually includes bouts of rain and fluctuating temperatures leaning towards the warm. Usually. Things were thrown for a loop last week, when at about 2 AM, I arose from my slumber to the eerie silence of snow falling (most people that grew up in the Northeast or anywhere else where they waited for snow before winter school days knows this non-sound well), and went a little crazy. Maybe it was the mid-night awakening and the bleariness that comes with it, but I went to my balcony, stared at the white blanket silencing the road below, saw a man walking in the street and became incensed with vehemence for weather. I decided that this climatic parody deserved some kind of statement.

Me: “It’s snowing!” yelled in Russian to the man.

Man on street: Stop, turn, glance, blink frighteningly, continue.

Me: “Seriously! It’s snowing!” I chime again.

Man on street: Stop, turn, glance, blink frighteningly, stare at the sky, run away.

Yes, I felt that my shouting made the absurdity of snow fall in April more realistic; that crazy should always accompany crazy.

Anyway, now it’s warm again, the snow is gone, making it the last snow I will see in Kazakhstan for a long time. Then again, I thought that thought eight days ago.

Basically, I was reminded that assumption is the cheese on the mouse trap, that the unexpected should be expected and that the absurd is helpful to us all, especially when you get on a railway track of thinking earlier than you should. There’s still time for further effort. And snow.

Otherwise, man, it’s been good. Let us draw up the short list of Kazakhstan recent greatness:

a) Nauryz (Kazakh New Year)
b) Presidential Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) Conference
-This was a conference of host country nationals and Peace Corps volunteers gathered to discuss HIV/AIDS in a myriad of social sectors. Alongside some high quality and dedicated volunteers, I added my part by co-facilitating the conference with presentations on drug trafficking in Central Asia, HIV blood analysis processes in Kazakhstan, project planning, etc. (although I know my half was much less than 50 percent of the work compared to the diligence of other volunteers).
c) This photo of former roommate and Top 5 Coolest Dude Ever, Baurzahn Ablyavich
d) Cultural lessons with local students getting ready to travel to the US and A for the summer
e) English lessons at local language center
f) Avoiding a big international conference scam (F you, Emmanuel Foundation)
g) New apartment!
h) Writing up new grants for Public Foundation Challenge
i) Film club attendance increase
j) Basketball club branching out to volleyball and soccer, and one extra hour (Sunday 12-3 PM Pavlodar School #4)
k) Mid-day birthday celebration and banya with my director’s husband, Папик.
l) Slow day at the office following said celebration
m) Giving my rat a shower.
n) Mastery of the potato and all the ways to cook it due to unique budget situation
o) Nice apartment warming party for fellow volunteer, Jeff

It’s not all smiley faces and LOL’s. I missed birthdays! Happy birthdays to Antonia Elizabeth, Rebecca, Cassandra Leigh, Joshua Alan, John Cabell, Mr. Lanser, Chris, Deborah Jean and other people that aren’t on facebook.com.

Free Political Commentary, Come One, Come All

Recently read a great example of a writer seemingly writing only to fill a word quota with nothing but racing innuendo and poll watching: The Kaus Files on slate.com. I should write a book about watching this primary election season play out with no more than one-hour of actually hearing the candidates speak and absolutely no television pundit discussion, but equipped with the reading of at least one hundred articles on each candidate and the transcripts of four debates (Well, Edwards, Clinton and Obama on one side; Romney, Giuliani, Paul, Huckabee and McCain on the other).

Too much fun to take notice to the words chosen rather than how the words were spoken and further dissected.