So it's off to Kazakhstan, where the winters are long and cold, but the people are sturdy and hardworking - I have a feeling the San Luis Valley of Colorado will have prepared us well for this country. I love the translation of the city name "Taldykorgan" - it means Castle of Birches. I get this feeling like I'm stepping into a Russian fairy tale.
We will be working at a school taught in English, and we will each be partnered with a Kazakh teacher. We have been hired as mentor teachers, and we will work together with our Kazakh partners to help them learn effective teaching strategies. Mmm. That's a little scary - but we had nearly two years in Tonga to learn how to tell teachers to do it better, so this is a logical next step, showing teachers how to do it better. Time to put our money where our mouth is, as it were.
One of the nice parts about moving to a new part of the world in this day and age is that you can take look at it before you get there. We have spent not a few hours looking over the school, the city, and the country where we will be living next. Here's a few shots:
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| Classic architecture |
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| Feats of strength - and foolishness |
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| Traditional skills - falcon hunting |
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| Western and Kazakh musicians playing together. |
Should be fascinating. I don't know if I'll find time to post again before we get there, but I promise to be in touch.
