Nauruz, Inspiration, Uzbek

At the spring Equinox, volunteers came to Shimkent to celebrate the Persian New Year (Nauruz), and then all the Kaz-21s went to Almaty for our In-Service Training. Most of us hadn’t seen one another since we left for site on Halloween. It was a pretty great reunion. Ain’t nothing like delayed gratification.

We’d been warned that the training was another useless bureaucratic slog, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Most of the sessions were fora in which volunteers shared problems and solutions, and in the aftermath I feel inspiration running through my veins. I’m thoroughly impressed by the other volunteers’ poise and initiative, and I’m buzzing from how our ideas electrified one anothers’. Suddenly that tired administrative rhetoric about our contribution to the world rings true.

One of the best parts of this conference was my Uzbek test. When I first got to site in November, I agonized over which language to study, and I finally decided that studying Kazakh just because I have to take a test in it is not a good enough reason. I’m not a Peace Corps Kazakhstan volunteer; I’m an Aksukent volunteer. So I begged and squeaky-wheeled and the language coordinator set up an Uzbek test for me. The tester was the classic best-of Uzbek man: polite, well-spoken, and obscenely attractive in that not-quite-Hispanic not-quite-Indian way. He paused the tape recorder three times during my exam because he was “so nervous!” And then, of course, he invited me to eat polow and samsas at his house. Best exam of my life. I’m still basking in the brilliance of it all.

I talked to the PC honchos while I was in Almaty and made a plug for Uzbek language learning and the Uzbek schools in my area. Because PCVs are only trained in Kazakh and Russian, the Peace Corps won’t even consider sending a volunteer to an officially Uzbek organization. It’s a shame, though, since Uzbek kids are the most respectful and eager of any I’ve seen in this country, and Uzbeks in general are lovely. I presented the case for placing more volunteers in Uzbek orgs.

Apparently, not only do they agree with this, but they’re tossing around the idea of traning a group of new volunteers in Uzbek! I would never have imagined they’d be so receptive. I feel as though asking for this language test was a foot in the door that could open onto some great possibilities for Peace Corps Kazakhstan. This is a culturally rich and varied country, and it’s only right for any organization here to reflect, embrace, and capitalize on this.

I booked a ticket for the overnight train tonight. Waiting for me are my baby sisters, a new Uzbek textbook (I finally found some company in Germany that sells a comprehensive one in English), my students whom I miss, a little garden plot with baby leafy greens in it, and home.