So basically…

See article here: “http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=142500372“

“The U.S. Peace Corps will pull out of the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, a move that follows reports from volunteers about a spate of sexual assaults and Islamist-inspired terrorist attacks on the program’s workers.”

If I have the time I’ll try posting the retro posts. It seems irrelevant now, but for some of you it still might be interesting to see what I have seen. Yup.

Therefore, the end. For now.

Update (2011-11-21): An RPCV has informed me that the NPR statement was inaccurate, but I personally can neither confirm nor deny the truth in both the RPCV’s statement and the NPR statement. As far as I have heard, there have not been any “Islamic-inspired terrorist” attack on any PCVs, but there have been several incidents of sexual assaults on female PCVs.

Kazakhstan News

So WordPress was blocked, then unblocked, and I think it may be blocked again here in Kazakhstan.

The reason for the blocked blogs and websites here is because of this past summer’s attacks on some government buildings. There was evidence that they were done by religious extremists who supposedly communicate through internet blogs. So in order to maintain the safety of Kazakhstan’s citizens, the government passed a Religious Law. Here’s a news clip about it:

And an article link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/13/us-kazakhstan-religion-idUSTRE79C38Z20111013

I added a Google News RSS feed about Kazakhstan on the right margin of this webpage for those of you that are wondering about what is happening in Kazakhstan.

As for my blog posts, I’ll continue writing as soon as I can find the time and access the internet. And if I can still access WordPress.

WordPress is Blocked in KZ

Hello internets! I have been without regular internet access the past few months so that’s why there has been a lack of posts. Also, I was working on volunteer work stuff so I didn’t have time to sort through pictures and upload new posts.

…And the bad news is, WordPress is blocked in Kazakhstan. A friend of mine asked me about blogging and she told me how she couldn’t access WordPress. I tried loading my blog on a computer and it wouldn’t load. This isn’t the first time this has happened. Blogspot was blocked in Kazakhstan in the past. If I can figure out a way to upload new posts with pictures I will. But if I can’t, I’ll try to post pictures here-ish http://picasaweb.google.com/wongmj when I get around to it.

But until then, here’s a brief update about my adventures this summer:

So far this summer, I have helped out at a couple summer camps. I’m planning on going to Almaty to help out with a teacher training seminar. I was supposed to go to China this week, but there was a problem with my visa so I wasn’t able to go just yet. If everything works out I will go soonish.

That’s all for now. Goodbye, internets!

Peace Corps Volunteers Kazakhstan Map

A long, long time ago during summer of 2010 PST (Pre-Service Training) for Kaz-22’s, Peace Corps staff asked me to create a map of Kazakhstan with the locations of the Kaz-21’s and Kaz-22’s PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) for the ambassador. Here it is (FINALLY!):

Bigger version HERE

I forgot about this after I came to site with all the new experiences and integration I was embracing in until some volunteers requested for it. Some of the information is outdated because some volunteers ET’d (Early Termination’ed) or were medically separated.

Embracing in my experience here is also the reason why I haven’t really had the chance to post any new posts lately or post retro posts. I have tons of photos and blogs to post, but it all takes time. Time that I don’t really have. People rarely post comments on here and I occasionally have lots of viewers on here… But who are you people??? I’m really curious to know. I made a guestbook page for you strangers to drop a shout out or something. Because if people rarely read this blog, then I’ll continue to rarely post posts. Or is it because I rarely post posts that people rarely read this blog?

Happy 50th Birthday Peace Corps!

On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy founded the Peace Corps in order to assist underdeveloped countries. That was on this day 50 years ago.

Get your reading on with…

50 Peace Corps Facts:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110228/bs_ac/7962650_50_peace_corps_facts

Peace Corps Timeline:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110301/us_ac/7963242_peace_corps_timeline

Who would have thought that sending Americans to live and help out in a foreign country where people speak foreign languages and have foreign cultures would have been a good idea?

Retro Blog Posts 2 Completed

It took me all day to do this in between the things I needed to do today and antisocially writing these posts. It takes a while to write these posts. I usually have too many things to do everyday to just sit down and write a post every time something interesting happens. So here’s the info:

• Retro blog posts (writing new posts and dating them in the past) completed for:

November 7, 2010 through January 1, 2011

• Retro posts are dated the day that the event took place and is dated at 23:59 (11:59pm).

• List of 25 new posts:

2011.01.01 Last Night (New Years Eve)

2010.12.29 Teacher’s New Years Party

2010.12.27 Young Professionals Gift Exchange

2010.12.26 Christmas (Again!)

2010.12.25 Christmas in Kazakhstan

2010.12.23 English Club

2010.12.18 Bastau Christmas Party

2010.12.16 KZ Independence Day Events: Flash Mob & Concert

2010.12.12 Burgers & A Birthday Party

2010.12.11 A Funeral, Ice Skating, & Café

2010.12.06 The Interview

2010.12.05 More Snow Fun Time, Café, & Banya

2010.12.04 More SNOW!

2010.12.03 Snow, Bowling, & Karaoke

2010.11.27 Thanksgiving Dinner

2010.11.26 Cafe & Cakes

2010.11.22 Last Night’s Blackout

2010.11.21 Snow Fun Play Time!

2010.11.20 Korean Restaurant

2010.11.19 ZOMG Snow! (Again!)

2010.11.18 NIS Tech

2010.11.14 Bazaar

2010.11.11 Volunteer Gathering @ Hessen Pub

2010.11.09 Lost

2010.11.07 New to Taldykorgan

Enjoy the new posts! =)

Happy Belated Valentine’s Day

How did I spend my Valentine’s Day? I performed “Love the Way You Lie” with another English teacher in front of 100 or so students and teachers at a Valentine’s Day concert at work.

Second time performing it. Only did the first minute and forty seconds of the song. Last time I performed it was on December 29, 2010 during a teacher’s New Year’s party. Some students want me to sing with them for a future concert… which is funny because being here in Kazakhstan is the only time that I have ever sang publicly in front of a large amount of people. I think it’s because I look like one of them and I’m a native English speaker, but who knowsss.

I will try to post pictures and retro posts as soon as I get a chance to. It’s always busy huRrrrr: Work, Lesson Planning, English Clubs, Peace Corps stuff, Russian, Yeptep (yeptep: Kazakh for “a little”) Kazakh, Recharging, Staying Sane, and Repeat.