SaigonNezumi.com

I was going through my image folders from a backup I made nearly 4 years ago when I found some pictures I thought were lost.  They sure brought back some memories.

Back in the Summer of 2001, I was interviewed by a television crew from STV, one of the leading television companies in Turkey.  The television crew interviewed roughly 30 Americans for broadcasting with Yeni Hayatlar (New Lives) during the 2001 Ramadan month in Turkey and the Turkish speaking world.  My story was quite interesting for them for my experiences with Islam and the Muslim communities in Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic (See my website Salaam Central Asia to learn about my experiences in Turkey and Central Asia).

The interview went very well but I was not able to see a finished clip until December, 2001.  I forgot about it until I met with Fetullah Gulen and his community in Pennsylvania on my way to Istanbul.  I remembered that he told me that I looked different in person (he had already seen my program on STV via satellite).  I had no idea what he meant until I arrived into Istanbul a couple days later.

During an advertisement for Yeni Hayatlar, I saw a ‘fat’ looking, umm, me on TV.  Oh my God, nobody realized that interviewing me outside in very humid conditions, sweating profusing to boot, would, umm, make me look fat.  The footage inside my apartment, I looked normal, but outside, oh my God!!!

Anyway, the series was a success and books are still being sold in Turkey.  I still get occassional emails from Kazakhstan from Central Asians who saw me on STV.  Finding me at SaigonNezumi.com kind of boggles them, I am not like the guy STV portrayed me as being very religious and spiritual.  For me that is funny since I do not consider myself religious at all, though I am very spiritual

So have at it, here are my ‘fat’ pictures:

Below is a picture of my former student, Daniyar, from Kazakhstan where I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer from 1997-1999.  Looking at the picture of the mountain in the background makes me miss Kazakhstan.  Kazakhstan is a very beautiful country.  I plan to make a business trip there in the next year, if possible, to meet my other student, Alpamys.

At the end of the month, a former Peace Corps Volunteer from Karatau, Kazakhstan, my Peace Corps site, will visit Vietnam.

I fell in love with Uzbek music when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kazakhstan.  My Peace Corps site, Karatau, was only a couple hours from the border with Uzbekistan.  There was a strong Uzbek influence in southern Kazakhstan.

Thanks to YouTube, I have been able to watch Uzbek music videos again.  I really missed them.  Below is a nice Uzbek song sung by Shahzoda, a famous Uzbek pop singer.  Oddly enough, I find myself listening to more Uzbek and Kazakh songs here in Vietnam than Vietnamese songs.  Explains why I cannot learn Vietnamese

I mentioned about this book, Where There Is No Doctor, in my blog post yesterday. This is probably one of the most useful books I ever used in my life so far. I had to give my copy back to the Peace Corps after I COS (Close of Service) back n July, 1999. During my two year service in Kazakhstan, I think I read this book in it’s entirely every month that I volunteered there.

The book came in handy during my last months in Karatau, Kazakhstan, my Peace Corps site. I was outside my room trying to fix a broken window. All of a sudden, part of the broken glass pane fell on my left hand. It was bleeding quite heavily. I remember my host sister, Gulzhan, freaking out which is something Kazakhs never do. Luckily for me, since I read the book over and over again, I remained calm, opened the book on serious cuts, and proceeded to care for my injury. Actually, I should have read more carefully, at the part where it mentioned about disinfecting and cleaning the wound, I then stopped and disinfected my cut with rubbing alcohol. I went back to the book and the next line mentioned NOT to use rubbing alcohol since it will create a scar. If you all look at my left hand today, You will see a one inch white scar. Whoops

Overall, even in Vietnam, I think this is an excellent book to have. You can purchase it at the Hesperian Foundation website or download it for free from their website as well: http://www.hesperian.org/publications_download_wtnd.php. If you can afford it, I recommend buying a copy to support the efforts of this nonprofit organization.

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in translating this book into Vietnamese?

Edited: Sorry, I guess the book has already been translated into Vietnamese:

http://www.hesperian.org/publications_translation_detail.php?$selectedLanguage=Vietnamese

It does not seem available in Vietnam yet.

Wow, I still cannot believe that 10 years ago, I experienced my first Siberian winter as a volunteer with the US Peace Corps in Karatau, Kazakhstan. Boy what a difference 10 years make. Back in November, 1997, I was freezing to death in my room wondering when the city would turn on the hot water which would heat the furnace in my room. Right now in Saigon, Vietnam, I am sweating to death in my room with my air conditioner on. Oh, what memories.

November, 1, 1997, was the Karatau Lyceum’s (the school where I taught as a Peace Corps Volunteer) 30th 45th Birthday. Many of the Lyceum’s Alumnus had returned to celebrate with my my school. It was quite an interesting event. My school was just freshly repainted inside and out. The students worked hard preparing for the performances celebrating my school’s birthday. The morning was bright and warm in the mid to upper 70s. It felt like spring and I never thought Winter would come (something which I dreaded at the time).

(My Kazakh students dressed out in traditional Kazakh dress for the Lyceum’s birthday celebrations)

Oddly enough, I had a tendency to watch the weather reports every morning on Khabar, the national television station for Kazakhstan but for some odd reason, I do not remember any of the weather reports from that day. I just knew it was hot outside. After going through the normal ceremonies outside the Lyceum during the morning, we all then headed to the Palace of Culture for the meal and other performances. It all started around 1 PM. It was fun, the food was excellent (sorry no pictures, this was before the days of affordable digital cameras).

At about 8 PM, I headed home with my Kazakh host family which included the School Director, Asan. When we walked outside, we were all shocked. It was freezing, already below freezing. I had never experienced a temperature change like this before in my life. I had been cold training as a US Marine during boot camp, but this was the coldest I ever been. I had no jacket, no gloves, nothing to keep me warm. None of us did. We pretty much sprinted back to our house which was roughly a 15 minute walk away.

The next day it snowed. It would be 5 months until the temperatures rose above freezing. Welcome to Kazakhstan but it got worse. Unfortunately for Karatau and the rest of southern Kazakhstan, winter actually arrived early.

(The Karatau Lyceum newly repainted)

(The Karatau Lyceum a couple days later with the arrival of Winter)

My town had not stocked up on it’s winter coal supplies yet. In short, I lived inside my room, next to a small heater inside my bed completely layered in clothes freezing. This time 10 years ago, I thought about quiting the US Peace Corps and head home back to the US. Luckily, another Peace Corps Volunteer from Taraz (a city about 100 kilometers from Karatau), Ruth Moss, arrived to check on my condition. She actually cheered me up enough that I ended up deciding to stay in Karatau. Within the week, we got our hot water. Within the month, I had acclimated to the harsh Kazakh winters.

(The main road from Karatau to the highway)

(This is how I kept warm during my first Kazakh Winter)

I miss those long winter months in Kazakhstan. Yeah it is nice and hot in Saigon but a beautiful cold winter mornings in Kazakhstan is what I dream of now