One More from Thailand

Here's a pocketbook designed for people who want to curb their spending. The clasp is the claw from a crocodile, complete with talons. It looks cool, but maybe not too practical.

Yet Another Trip to Bangkok

As I mentioned somewhere earlier, our mission in Thailand is a training hub, so I've been there three times in the last year, and I just finished my last required training course. Still, every time I go, I see something new. Here are some photos.

Some notes: the top photo shows ceramic chickens in some kind of cock fight (no, I did not see actual cockfighting while I was there); and no, I didn't see any crocodiles floating in the flood waters of Bangkok; Mom -- I thought you'd like seeing that can of Prickly Heat, something they apparently still use for foot massages in Thailand; this photo of the river is as close as I got to flood waters while I was in Bangkok.

Congratulations to Dave and Jennifer!

About a week after my trip to India, I was back in the US for Dave and Jennifer's wedding. I was there just long enough to get over the jet lag before returning to Kazakhstan, but I was glad to be there. All the best, guys!

More from India (finally!)

As promised, here are some more photos from Delhi, but so much time has passed since I was there, I don't have much to say now.  The second picture here, I took because those girls were diligently typing away at old electric typewriters (the kind I learned how to type on -- so long ago). I thought it was interesting to see old school technology still hard at work in India, but I didn't notice the computers on the sides of the room until I looked at the picture after I got home. Most likely, these girls are learning to type. I think Ms. Arnold from Bis-Henn would be proud.

The bottom two pictures are from a mausoleum in Delhi that is similar to, but predates, the Taj Mahal. There wasn't enough time for me to see the Taj, but this was still an interesting piece of architecture.

Because Everyone Should Experience a Tuk Tuk Ride

I attended a conference in Delhi, India, for people new to foreign service. There wasn't much time to see the city, but I did get out one day. I'll post more pictures soon.

2011 Kazakhstan Open

One of my friends here sent me an email, looking for people to volunteer at the Kazakhstan Open, and I took the chance to see one of the golf courses here.

The event was one stop on the European PGA Challenge Tour. No big names at this event, but mostly younger players looking to qualify for the regular European Tour.

I could only volunteer on Saturday and Sunday, and I had no idea what I was going to do until I got there. Mostly, I was hoping to be the guy that holds up the "Quiet" sign when the players are taking a shot.

At first, I was asked to do some traffic control on the entry road into the golf course, which ran alongside hole 9. If cars or carts came by, I was supposed to let them know to stop and wait until the golfers had finished putting. Thankfully, there was only one idiot who didn't want to stop.

After about 30 minutes of that, one of the volunteer coordinators asked me to do radio scoring, basically following a group of players and calling their scores into the scoreboard control, because I "looked like I could count".  I thought it sounded pretty interesting, so with one other volunteer, I headed to the first tee to meet the guys I would follow. The group had three of the top 10 players in the tournament, so I got to see some quality golf that day. None of them did exceptional, but they played level par on a relatively tough course. Along the way, I talked to two of the three guys, and they wanted to know what an American who wasn't involved in the oil industry doing in Kazakhstan. When I explained that I worked in development, they told me that this Challenge Tour has stops in some places you wouldn't expect, like India and Colombia. At least, Almaty has a European feel to it.

I enjoyed walking the course and talking to the players, so I offered to do the radio scoring on Sunday as well. That day, I followed the group that was just one back from the leaders, so I hoped for some intense gameplay, and that's pretty much what happened. The first hole was an indicator of how things would go. The first two guys put their tee shots well off the fairway, and we spent at least 30 minutes looking for them. No one played particularly well the entire round, and a lot of short putts were missed that would have been birdies or saved par. At the end of the round, one of the guys gave me his ball. I think it was because he just wanted to get rid of it.

Bird Show

On our way back from the lake and observatory, we stopped to see a bird show with some of the predator birds of Kazakhstan. It was a lot of fun, and no kids got carried away to any nests.

Trip to Big Almaty Lake

Big Almaty Lake is located high up in the surrounding mountains and provides the city's drinking water.

Below are pictures of an observatory constructed during Soviet times, but still operating with funds from the German government. The astronomer let into the viewing room to check out the telescope. It was pretty cool.

I created a panoramic photo of the area that you can see here.

More Photos from Amsterdam

For having no idea where I was going, I think I was lucky to find this statue of Rembrandt and the flower market. My photo of that flower market does not do justice to how big it really was. It stretched for several blocks.

The last three pictures are the cafe where I had the English breakfast (and drinking beer at 11 am is appropriate in Amsterdam -- I asked) and a piece of Dutch apple pie. Everything was excellent.

Photos from Amsterdam

On my way back to Almaty from some training in Washington, DC, I had a layover in Amsterdam that gave me enough time to see some of the city. I had no map and no idea where to go, so I just wandered around, taking pictures, until I got hungry.

Blog Posts

I've been having trouble posting on the blog, so it's a good thing I've been in the US the past couple of weeks. No problem putting stuff up here. That's why there are so many new posts all of a sudden. Hopefully, I'll be able to post more regularly when I return to Kazakhstan.

The Chaihana

In Central Asian culture, the chaihana (tea house, basically) holds a high position. People sit in the chaihana, sip tea, philosophize, etc. In Isfara, the city is renovating a chaihana, and this is a photo of the ceiling in one of the rooms. The color and intricacy of the designs were amazing.

Gym Renovation

When we work on local development projects, like these in Isfara, we call community meetings to learn what the people value and where we can do some good for the money we have.

Here, the school needed quite a bit of work, but the people decided that the small amount of budget available would best be spent on fixing up the gym. The young people of the community really didn't have anywhere to go to have fun or much of anything to do. After the speechifying, we went to the gym where some of the kids were playing volleyball. The deputy mayor jumped in to play with the kids, and he really got into it -- spiking the ball and everything. He waved me over, but I was more interested in shooting baskets. Another local official was shooting, and he passed me the ball for a shot. I missed everything but the floor. He tossed the ball back, and I nailed the jumper that time. The crowd cheered. It was great.

A Full Day

This picture shows about one-third of the table full of baked goods. This was the only thing I was able to sample (two lunches, remember), but it was delicious. The women were very proud of their work, and I wish I could have tried more.

The Little Things

It's a commonly held belief that the United States spends a large portion of its budget on foreign assistance. The truth is that less than 1% of the federal budget goes to foreign aid, but that small amount can do some very big things.

While on the site visits in Isfara, we stopped at a bakery where AID helped local women learn a trade by providing an oven. For the price of this oven, more than 20 women learned how to bake a variety of products, enabling them to earn extra income. In truth, this oven will allow many women in this village to learn the trade for years to come. The woman in the picture is the instructor, and she is describing the capabilities of the oven to the deputy mayor. We ended up having two lunches that day, so I couldn't sample as many of the baked goods as I would have liked, but what I had was great.

Village in Isfara

The woman on the right invited me for plov (rice with meat) and probably would have introduced me to a granddaughter if I had been able to accept.

Site Visits

The best part of the job is getting to meet the people who benefit from the projects we do. While I was in Tajikistan, I spent a day in the north of the country, a region called Isfara, where we had worked with three villages. Two of the villages did not have access to clean drinking water, so we helped them put in pipes to bring clean water in.

This picture is from the first site visit, where I was presented with a traditional Tajik outfit -- hat, long robe, sash, and knife. We were traveling with the mayor and other local officials, and we all made speeches to commemorate the completion of the project. Afterwards, we took some time to meet the people who came to the ceremony.

It was unbelievably satisfying to hear from the local people who live in the village and truly appreciate the assistance we provide. I got a few invitations to lunch, and it's humbling to meet these people who have so little but are so willing to share with guests.

Taking the Yak to Khujand

Tajikistan is a very mountainous country, and getting from one city to another involves hours of driving or short flights. Some people choose the drive.

When I was asked to fly up to Khujand in the north of Tajikistan in order to visit a few project sites, I was happy for the opportunity to see the projects and meet the people who actually benefit from them. I'm not sure if my colleagues were trying to warn me or scare me about the flights, but I didn't really know what to expect.

Going up to Khujand, I flew on a tiny Russian-made commuter jet called a Yak. On the ground, there was no air conditioning, and it got quite hot and sweaty in there. Fortunately, a man in a police uniform waved me into the seat next to him, and I asked if he flew this route very often. He said that he made the trip every week, so I felt more confident in our plane. One thing my colleagues mentioned was that the Yak, being so small, would react much more to turbulence. That day, the skies were clear, and there wasn't any turbulence that I felt. Once it cooled off inside, the flight was pleasant.

Coming back was a bit of a different story. That flight was on a larger medium-range Russian Tupolev that had clearly seen its best days many years ago. Just about anything inside that could fall into disrepair had, but the wings stayed on and the engines worked for the entire trip. My colleagues said they preferred that larger Tupolev to the smaller Yak. I'll take the Yak any day.

Reclining Buddha in Dushanbe

When I went to Bangkok, a lot of people said that seeing the Reclining Buddha was a must, and they were right. In the travel guide to Central Asia, I read that Dushanbe also has a Reclining Buddha in its national museum, so I had to see it.

The Reclining Buddha in Dushanbe is a relic of the extent of Hindu culture into Central Asia prior to Islam. It's possible to see the influence of south Asia in Tajikistan in the food and dress, but not in religion. While this Buddha is nowhere near as big as the one in Bangkok, I thought it was even more impressive because it was carved from stone. The room it was displayed in was just a bit larger than the statue itself, and it made the statue seem even larger.

Yummy, Yummy Laghman

Many times, people ask what kind of food people eat in Central Asia. The answer is kind of boring because there isn't too much that would be considered exotic. One thing that is popular (but not really exotic) is a kind of noodle soup called laghman.

In Almaty, I've had laghman that had a lot of red and yellow peppers, but the laghman at an out-of-the-way restaurant in Dushanbe had potatoes and a bit more spices. It was so good, and I went back for dinner three times.

Georgian Restaurants

When I was in Dushanbe last year, we decided to have dinner one night at a Georgian restaurant listed in the Lonely Planet travel guide. I think I was the only one who enjoyed the meal, and part of it was a great Georgian beer I had. Back in Dushanbe, I had to find the restaurant so I could have more of that beer. As it turns out, Dushanbe has two Georgian restaurants, and I went to both.

One is more upscale than the other, but it doesn't have any Georgian beers on the menu. After learning that, I made sure to try the other one night for dinner. As I walked up to it, I saw that all the lights were off inside, but the "open" sign was lit. I opened the door and saw the women working at the restaurant were all engrossed in a Russian soap opera. I almost felt bad for interrupting their program, but I sat and ordered anyway.

I didn't quite understand the storylines, but it was easy to tell who was good and who was evil. Unfortunately, as I finished, an important story element developed. Would the jealous grandmother injure the new baby? I still wasn't quite interested enough to go back to the restaurant the next day though.

Not Quite a Lemonade Stand

Remember the kids in the neighborhood that would sell lemonade from a stand on the sidewalk? Well, it's not quite the same thing in Central Asia. (OK, I'm stretching the joke. This photo really isn't typical.)

It's hard to see on the side of the tank, but this is a квас (kvass) stand. Kvass is some kind of alcoholic drink that sounds pretty interesting, but I haven't tried yet. I saw these two kids operating this thing and had to take a photo. I've joked with cashiers in the US about whether they were old enough to sell me the beer I was buying. I don't know what the law says in Tajikistan, but I guess these kids are old enough.

Hotel Minibar

Normally, I let things like this slide. We've all seen funny examples of poor translations in English, but this one really made me laugh.

Hopefully, you can see in this photo that item #3 is a "bear". I looked inside. There was no bear.

Quick Russian Lesson

While I was on temporary duty in Tajikistan, I saw these billboards all over Dushanbe, and I thought they were pretty amusing. I'll explain why.

People in the US have been talking about "energy independence" for years, and they talk about it even in developing countries like Tajikistan. But it's not quite the same.

At the top left of this sign is the name of a big Russian oil and gas company, Gazprom (and I guess this is a bit of a lesson on the Cyrillic alphabet as well). Below the company name, it basically says "foreign oil and gas" (zarubezhni neft i gaz). The next two lines below that are in Tajik. Then the last two lines are in Russian. They say "Together towards the energy independence of Tajikistan!"

In the US, we're trying to reduce foreign energy sources, but Gazprom wants to think that energy independence will come from relying on a foreign provider. Maybe Gazprom thinks that no one in Tajikistan remembers Russia cutting off Ukraine's gas supply a few winters ago.

So What Does Someone in International Development Do?

I now have an action shot of me at work.

One of the biggest parts of international development work is encouraging people to do the things that they really ought to be doing. In this example, the majority of Tajikistan's population does not have access to safe drinking water. USAID has a project to assist communities with instituting the necessary legal regulations and building the necessary infrastructure.

I represented USAID at the first meeting of a working group dedicated to resolving these issues. My role was to be the American and give a short speech on the importance of the work the group was embarking on. There was a pretty active discussion that followed the speeches and presentation by the head of the state agency responsible for water and sanitation services. The key thing is making sure that discussion turns into actions on the part of the ministries and agencies that need to work together to get the job done.

Tajikistan Update

Even though I forgot to bring the cable to move photos from my camera to my computer, I wanted to post a quick update on how things have been going during my six-week assignment at our country office in Tajikistan.

Work at the country offices tends to be more fast-paced because things can come up much more quickly than we see at the regional office in Almaty. Within the first couple of days here, I was asked to go to a meeting of a group dedicated to improving access to water and sanitation. It was a choice of me going or no one going, so it was nice to have someone there to represent USAID.

This is also the time of year where we start getting our budget allocations for this year. The US Government fiscal year runs from October to September, and we usually don't have our budget approved until Summer. This year was a bit tougher with the near-shutdown of the government, so we go things even later than usual. I helped prepare some documents for projects we plan to do next year, and it was good experience to see how that part of the job goes.

So far, the best part has been representing USAID at the handover ceremonies for a couple of projects that were recently completed. Access to clean water is a problem in the rural areas of Tajikistan, and we helped provide new water piping into two villages in the north of the country. In another village nearby, we helped to renovate a school gym and provided some equipment to a bakery where women learn to bake and sell their goods.

As the guy from AID, I got all the thanks and just had to make speeches at each location. The people in these villages could not have been nicer, and I got a few invitations to have plov (a local rice dish). At the ceremony for the gym, some of the older kids played volleyball, and one of the guys from the local government jumped in and started playing with them. He took a lot of pleasure in spiking the ball and invited me to join. Instead, I took the opportunity to shoot baskets with another guy from the local government. My first shot missed everything but the floor, but my second one swished through. The crowd cheered. That's probably the only time I'll ever get a loud cheer from a crowd for making a basket.

Pictures to come in about three weeks.

Quick Update

I was looking at some older posts, and in the Cinnabon post, I mentioned the possibility of Hardee's opening here in Almaty. I'm very glad to announce that Hardee's opened on Thursday, and I went there for lunch with the folks from the Commerce office.

So good. I actually thought that my trips to Bangkok may not have to be organized around visits to Burger King.

A representative from Hardee's was there at the opening, and I took the chance to talk to him about branding. Several years ago, Hardee's was purchased by Carl's Jr., which I was familiar with from living in California. The Hardee's here in Almaty is called Hardee's but features burgers with names from Carl's Jr -- the Famous Star and the Super Star. (If I'm wrong about this, and Hardee's does offer burgers with these names, I'd be curious to know.) However, they had curly fries but not the fried zucchini that I love from Carl's Jr.

The Hardee's guy told me that fried zucchini is actually an unprofitable product for the chain, but they continue to offer it in the US because so many people know that Carl's Jr. has it. I was sad to learn that Hardee's does not offer fried zucchini at all internationally. I told him that I'd stock up when I visit the US.

Visit to Astana

For the past two months, I've taken a temporary assignment with the US Foreign Commercial Service office in Almaty. Their job is to promote US exports to countries overseas, and I thought that was the natural extension of my AID job of promoting economic growth.

One of my tasks as part of the assignment was to organize a roundtable discussion for local business people, Commerce staff, and representatives from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The EBRD was formed to assist economic growth in developing countries by providing loans with low interest rates or equity investment in promising businesses. The organization was having its annual meeting in Astana, so it was an opportune time to put local businesses together with bankers from the EBRD. For me, it was also a good excuse to get a trip to Astana and see some friends from language class who are working there.

In this picture, you can see the Kazakh "White House" in the middle, with two government buildings on each side. The white house was a good distance away, so it's hard to understand how big that building really is. I talked to my friends about whether the White House in DC was the same size if you took into consideration all the below-ground stuff.

Opposite from the view in this photo is the Bayterek monument shown in a picture below, and further in the same direction is the yurt mall with the indoor beach. As I was walking through this area, I was struck by the similar layout to the Mall in Washington DC. On the Mall, at one end, you have the Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial at the other. I'm pretty sure that the yurt mall doesn't have the same significance in Kazakhstan as the Lincoln Memorial does in the US.

Much further behind the white house are a couple of other distinctive buildings, one is shaped like a pyramid, and the other can only be described by the local nickname for it -- the dog bowl. I went to a meeting that was held at the very top of the pyramid, and until that time, I had never been in an elevator that moved sideways as well as up. It was a very cool site for the meeting.

Indoor Beach

Not long after I arrived in Kazakhstan, I heard about the giant yurt in Astana that would open soon with a bunch of stores, amusement park, and -- the best part -- an indoor beach.

When we would talk about this, the comparison to the over-the-top opulence of Dubai and its indoor skiing was a natural. Of course, any visit to Astana could not be complete without a visit to this wonder of human achievement, so I went with a friend of mine to see what an indoor beach looked like.

As the picture shows, I was not disappointed, and I appreciated the fact that what we found was much more reasonable than I expected. The beach is part of a spa complex in the mall where you can buy a day pass (for a reasonable price, I thought) and just hang out in the pool, get some drinks and food at the bar, and escape the bitter cold in winter. If I had been assigned to Astana, I'm sure I would be at this place every weekend during the winter.

Bayterek Monument

My Lonely Planet guide to Central Asia says that this tower represents a legend about a bird that lays a golden egg, containing all the secrets of human desire and happiness.

It's a rather impressive structure, and the golden sphere at the top offers a panoramic view of Astana.

Near Total Recall

This picture is from the ball at the top of the Bayterek monument. The views of Astana are quite spectacular from there. It's about 300 feet up, and you can see virtually all of the new construction that's taken place since the capital was moved to Astana several years ago.

What I was told was that visitors can place their hand into the form at the center of the viewing deck, and music comes on and a light shines down, giving the visitor an amazing experience.

Of course the first thing I thought of was the scene at the end of Total Recall where Arnie puts his hand into the handprint, and the Martian machines that create breathable air start up. If someone had told me that placing your hand into the print would have turned up the heat in Astana, I would have gladly done it.

Tea and Milk

For as much as I've been talking about this at work, I probably should have made a note earlier on the blog. While I was in Aktobe, I had an interesting experience regarding drinking tea with milk.

When I was in Macedonia, community and friendships revolved around coffee -- Turkish coffee in the villages and espressos in the cities. I thought that was a near-universal aspect of life outside the US, so I tried to build up my tolerance for caffeine before leaving Washington DC for Kazakhstan. I was a bit surprised to learn that it's tea culture in Central Asia, black tea or green tea are commonly offered at meetings and as part of lunch deals at restaurants.

I'm not a fan of the flavor of tea, especially green tea which seems more bitter. Black tea is fine with a few cubes of sugar. It would probably be a bit embarrassing to put as many sugar cubes into green tea as I would need to make it drinkable. However, I've learned that adding milk to tea can create a nice taste, so I occasionally ask for that when I'm offered tea.

During one of our meetings in Aktobe, we were offered tea and graciously accepted. One of the ladies in the office prepared two cups for my colleague, Elvira, and me. Elvira took the first cup, and I took the second. Both had milk, so I didn't think anything of it. Just as I was about to take my first sip of the tea, the woman who had prepared the tea reacted like she realized that she had accidentally poisoned me. I was about to drink green tea with milk.

The woman was clearly embarrassed and troubled by the fact that she had mistakenly offered me such a foul concoction, but I certainly didn't know any different. I told her it was no problem, and I drank it anyway. I thought it was pretty good, actually. Almost a reason to drink green tea.

Afterwards, I was curious to know what the big deal was. People put milk in tea all the time. Elvira said that green tea is only for people who are dieting. I hadn't heard that before, but it also didn't seem to account for the woman's reaction when she realized that I was about to drink it.

Back at the office, I asked some of my local friends. When I asked if they had ever tried green tea with milk, they all gave a face like it was something that wouldn't taste good at all and said that they just don't go together. Of course, they hadn't tried it, so they didn't really know what it tastes like.

One of my friends gave me a more thorough and reasonable explanation (though she had never tried green tea with milk either). She said that black tea leaves and green tea leaves are prepared differently. Black tea is roasted, and green tea is dried. Because of these different preparation methods, milk sours when added to green tea.

Of course, since no one had actually tried green tea with milk in it, one could think that these explanations are just rationalizations for a cultural belief that no one really understands. One of my goals now is to get one of my local friends to try green tea with milk and see what they say.

Opening of Cinnabon in Almaty

Being new to working in the foreign service, we are encouraged to do short-term assignments with other departments and other foreign service agencies. In Almaty, we're fortunate to have an office of the Foreign Commercial Service (FCS), and I thought it would be interesting to do a "TDY" (temporary duty) with them.

Their office has a small staff, one American Commercial Officer and several local hires, and they work with American companies that might be interested to work in Kazakhstan.

I had heard that we might be getting a Hardee's (not sure if that's happening or not anymore), and as it got closer to when my assignment with FCS would begin, I found out that Cinnabon would be opening in one of the big malls here. I helped the Commercial Officer with a speech for the opening, and she invited me to come along (which was my plan all along).

I was a little surprised by the reaction from my American co-workers and some of my DLI colleagues around the world. I know Cinnabon is good, but I had no idea of the love people had for it. One of my colleagues in Indonesia said she would trade the hundreds of Dunkin Donuts locations there for one Cinnabon. As it turns out, Cinnabon gets its cinnamon from Indonesia, so I'm sure they must have at least one.

We met with managers of the company that bought the franchise, and I heard about other chains they have brought to Kazakhstan and others they are planning to open. The worlds of development and business are quite different, and it was nice to get back into the business side and hear about the practical issues of operating chains in developing countries. It's this kind of interaction that will help later when I'm working on AID projects to improve the business environment for just these kinds of businesses.

Presidential Election in Kazakhstan

Last weekend, Kazakhstan held an election for president, and I was able to participate as an international observer. Having worked as a poll clerk back in 2004, I was interested to see how elections were run here. In addition, the reports we would make would inform media statements by the chargé (the head of the mission while the ambassador position is being filled) about the fairness of the election.

The job on election day was simply to observe the process of voting and counting to make sure that the steps were followed correctly and there was no funny business. I'm happy (and a bit sad) to say that everything I saw that day was entirely legitimate. No jamming of bunches of votes into the ballot boxes. Nobody voting for other people. The count reported to the district was the number we all counted with the poll committee.

One of the things I enjoyed about observing was the opening ceremony. At the opening of the polls, the national anthem was played, and four people were brought in to cast the first votes of the day. One was an elderly woman who was recognized as a "veteran of labor". There is still a bit of reverence for old folks and the service they did during Soviet times. Another was an 18-year-old first-time voter. Everyone clapped when they dropped their ballots into the box.

In all, my counterpart (a woman from the office who was translator and explainer) and I observed voting at 8 different locations. At one, a woman gave a mild complaint that there was no music playing -- it should have been more lively, like a celebration, she said. At a couple of polling places, they did have music, and it did seem a bit more fun.

At the end of the day, we returned to the polling place where we watched the opening in order to observe the count. As this picture shows, it was done by hand. There were around 600 or so votes, so it took a little while to separate and count them all. There was a discussion over how to count votes where people crossed out three names and marked the fourth differently. It was clear that people were making a selection, but my understanding was that people were only to mark for one candidate. The committee staff and local observers talked about how they should resolve it and came to the conclusion that it would be OK to keep those votes and count them for the appropriate candidate. There was a more substantial discussion about the fact that one ballot was apparently missing.

At the beginning of the day, we watched the committee pull the ballot papers out of a locked safe and count them, so we all knew how many ballots were available at that precinct. The number I wrote down was 1277. At the end of the day, an observer from the Election Control Commission said she had written 1278 and grilled the precinct committee about where this other ballot was. The discussion kind of burned itself out, and I mentioned to one of the local observers that I had 1277 as the number. That was pretty much the end of it.

The day started at 5 am to get up in time to check in at the office and head out to a polling place for the opening of the safe at 6:30. The polling place where we observed the count closed on time, at a little after 8, but the count and preparing the official vote report took more than 3 hours. I got home at midnight. I think we need to work on a project to upgrade the system to electronic voting.

Week in Aktobe

In a couple of weeks, there will be an election for president of Kazakhstan, and there was a general call for help in pre-election monitoring. Elections in developing countries are usually pretty interesting, and I took the opportunity to participate in the monitoring and visit another city in Kazakhstan.

Aktobe is located in the northwest of Kazakhstan about 100 kilometers or so from the border with Russia. It's a pretty big city with 300,000 people and a lot of new construction going on. Oil and mining are big industries in Kazakhstan, and Aktobe is near where a lot of that activity takes place. China is also a big investor in the area, and my flight from Almaty had a number of Chinese passengers.

The picture here is of the akimat (the municipal authority) building. The flower decorations shown were put up in advance of a visit from the president of Kazakhstan. There was also a lot of cleaning up and re-painting of curbs to spruce up the city for the president.

Pre-election monitoring consists of meeting with local representatives of political parties, media, and civil society. I was glad to have the help of a colleague from our office in Astana to help because these meetings helped me realize how little Russian I know or how much I forgot since taking classes last year. I was able to understand some, but comprehension got harder the longer people talked and people talked for a long time.

Almaty looks and feels like any big city, but Aktobe felt more like a suburb. All the buildings seemed more spread out and not as tall as here in Almaty. I also thought it was interesting that Kazakh language seemed more common that Russian there. Given the proximity to Russia, I was surprised to see a lot of shops and buildings with signs only in Kazakh.

One thing that I liked a lot was the fact that there was almost no smog in Aktobe. All winter, around 10 am or so, a brown cloud engulfs Almaty -- a combination of smoke from coal-burning stoves for heat and all the traffic. The sky in Aktobe was very clear. I was also glad that the temperatures weren't bitter cold like would be common that far north at this time of year. It's been getting slightly warmer in Almaty -- almost Spring -- and Aktobe wasn't much colder.

Presentation at American Corner

This past week, I was in Aktobe, a city in the northwest of Kazakhstan to help with our pre-election monitoring, and I was asked to give a presentation at the American Corner there.

The American Corner is a small library (usually part of a larger library in the host city) that contains a lot books, movies, and other materials in English for anyone who is interested to learn or improve their English. When I was in Peace Corps, other volunteers often gave presentations on a variety of topics at the American Corners in Macedonia.

I was encouraged (strongly) to give some kind of presentation while I was in Aktobe, and had just a short time to prepare. The request came on Friday, and I was to give the presentation on Tuesday. In addition to the pre-election monitoring, I was also in Aktobe to speak with local entrepreneurs, business consultants, and government officials about an entrepreneurship program USAID conducted last year. Given that, I decided to talk about preparing a business plan, and I thought I had a pretty good presentation. However, the 8 high school kids that showed up weren't so interested. Fortunately, there was also a college student who will be attending a graduate program in the US soon who had some questions, so I could feel like I did something useful.