This is a letter written by my dad to his family in 1998 while he was living in Kazakhstan. In this letter, he writes about the movies his family sent, how he got a piano, and using it as a source of entertainment while the power was out in his apartment.
In this letter, he tells his family he will be stationed in Ushtobe, a city about 4 hours away from the capital, Almaty. He says the utilities in the town are bad: there is no hot water, and electricity and water are only on for a few hours every day. He talks about what he has heard about the school where he will be teaching. He says the school is trying to break out of the soviet ways of educating, and they recently received a grant for a fax machine and some computers. He says the school’s developing technology is why he got stationed there and that he hopes to figure out how to use the computers and get email. He writes about the ethnic diversity of the town: a mix of Russians, Kazakhs, and Koreans. He writes about how the schools are separated by language, and he will be teaching at a Russian school.
Where he is staying, as he writes this letter, Kapchagay, has water and electricity all day, but never hot water. He says that people fill their tubs and barrels with water in case the water shuts off. He says some people warm water for showers with an electric heater, but his host family uses a black barrel that the sun is supposed to warm up. His host family uses both a washing machine and hand-washes the same clothes.
He includes three pictures with the letter: 1) a horse, 2) a Ferris wheel, and 3) him with a crumbling statue of Lenin
This is a letter he wrote on his computer while the power was out. He printed it on an old sheet of paper. The paper is a baggage advisory for Peace Corps trainees, volunteers, and staff from March 22, 1994. At the end of the letter, he wrote, “Ignore what’s on the other side of this letter. I am reusing useless Peace Corps paper and stuff.”
In the letter, he tells his family he is now a Peace Corps volunteer, no longer a trainee. He is in Ushtobe. He says the electricity and water has been going off, but says it's on most of the time and that he’s living well. He writes about meeting the director of his school, people in the town, and some police. He writes, “Some of the police here still think this is the Soviet Union and that they must keep a close tap on me.” He says he is trying to get a phone and then he might be able to get an email.
Two pictures are included in this letter: 1) him jumping into the river Ili, and 2) him at the train station
In the letter, he tells his family he is now a peace corps volunteer, no longer a trainee. He is in Ushtobe. He says the electricity and water has been going off but says it's on most of the time and that he’s living well. He writes about meeting the director of his school, people in the town, and some police: “Some of the police here still think this is the Soviet Union and that they must keep a close tap on me”. He says he is trying to get a phone and then he might be able to get an email.
Two pictures are included in this letter: 1) him jumping into the river Ili 2) him at the train station
He starts this letter by talking about living in a cold apartment but how people are looking for a warmer place for him.
He writes about how his Russian is getting better. He can read Russian and English product labels, but he has a hard time reading the other languages that are on Turkish, Iranian, Chinese, and European products. He tells his family which countries his favorite products come from.
He talks about his work; the school now has textbooks so he can teach and plan lessons better, his students are getting better at English, and he is attempting to teach the secretary how to use the computer.
He writes about how he is trying to access the computer room, but the computer teacher doesn’t like sharing the key to the room. This leads into him talking about Soviet culture and the Russian word for sneaky.
Two pictures are included in this letter: 1) his friend Jeremy and him with their town’s statue of Lenin, and 2) the Green Bazaar in Almaty
He starts this letter by saying he was without electricity for 18 days, but he spent a week of that time away visiting a friend. He says he is going to move to a warmer apartment and make a serious effort to get a phone. He’s thinking about how to get email; he will either buy it himself or try to get his school to buy it. He says the school probably should not get email because they do not have the money; they need chalk-boards more than email, and he would most likely be the only person using it. He also has the goal to get a piano once he moves into a new apartment.
He’s training people at his school on how to use the computer. He says it’s easy to give computer lessons, but difficult to give computer lessons in Russian. He’s being tutored in Russian twice a week. He talks about his town’s English Olympiad, which is a leftover academic competition from the Soviet era. He is teaching the English Teachers’ Association how to write to international organizations for books. Then, he plans on teaching how to write a grant for an English-Russian typewriter and copier machine that can be used to write worksheets and tests rather than writing them by hand.
He includes pictures of the day he was signed in as a volunteer from the summer in Kapchagay. One is with his host family, and the other is with his friends and their host mothers.
He starts this letter by saying he called them on the phone yesterday. They decided the day and time they would call each other every week. He writes about the cost of the phone call which leads him to talk about the prices of other products in Kazakhstan. He writes about the town he’s in, Kapchagay, the Soviet buildings, and the effect of the Soviets leaving the town seven years prior. He writes about the food he’s eaten, living with his host family, and learning Russian and Kazakh.
In this letter, he writes about the school he is teaching at. He describes the activities he has his students do, their diversity, his director, and the possibility of getting email set up for the school. He talks about how the water and electricity situation is going and describes how he does his laundry using a Soviet washing machine. He ends the letter by writing about problems his sitemate is having and the Peace Corps’ lack of involvement after stationing volunteers. The other side of this letter is a Peace Corps factsheet from May 1997 that he reused to print the letter on.
This is a printed email sent from the email address theoverlord@bc.almaty.kz. He says the address is probably temporary and he has to travel to a town 45 minutes away to use it. He discusses the prices of email and other ways he might be able to access it. His phone isn’t working because someone took his building’s telephone line. He tells them he received their package and asks for money. He writes about teaching, his schedule, students, and his director.
He sent this postcard to let his family know his friend will be in Minnesota and she might call his family and they should invite her over for dinner to hear about how he is doing. He ends the message with “I hope you enjoy this Soviet post card.”
