Now who would want to teach in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with mountains in the landscape and fun students in the foreground, I ask you. We are in the home stretch with problem and solution essays and I am getting preliminary writings from my students about their final portfolio projects. Interesting that the person who asked about Alatau Sanatorium liked the quote that I use with every signing off on my e-mails by Arnold Bennett:
“There can be no knowledge without emotion. We may be aware of a truth, yet until we have felt its force, it is not ours. To the cognition of the brain must be added the experience of the soul.”
Paul Gifford said,
July 17, 2010 @ 4:36 pm
I love the quote from Bennett, too. Thank you. I just finished a Fulbright experience. I was teaching English literature at Semey State Pedagogical Institute. I met Isobel Fitzgibbon tonight at a cafe in our central park. She urged me to contact you. I also collected students’ stories. My students were beginning language students. My “big project” at SSPI was getting students in a drama club to read Romeo and Juliet and devise a play (write and perform) based on R&J. We did it!!! So satisfying. I’ve only skimmed some of your wonderful blog entries, and I feel that you love these students as I do. I hope we can get in touch. I am writing an essay about the experience of doing Shakespeare with Kazakh students. I wonder if you would read a draft of it when it is finished. I, too, have a blog. There are a couple of entries about the play, notably “Two Households: the Dombra in Romeo and Juliet”. My blog address is http://gifford-family.us.
I’m happy to know that you are working and enjoying your life here. Sadly, I leave Semey in four days.
Sincerely,
Mary Jo Kietzman
Батырхан said,
July 14, 2011 @ 10:24 pm
Nice pics! You should get yourself a better camera, though 🙂
kazaknomad said,
July 14, 2011 @ 10:39 pm
Perhaps these photos were taken with my current camera which is shatterproof and waterproof. One Thanksgiving celebration I was eager to download photos from our gathering and I proceeded to dunk my one digital camera in rooibus tea. So, my husband bought me a new camera that can take the rigors of life in Kazakhstan. Yeah, I know I need a better camera, will you buy me one? Thanks for your comments!
Батырхан said,
July 14, 2011 @ 11:35 pm
Sorry, can’t buy you a camera now. Maybe next time when I win a jackpot… 🙂
baig said,
November 3, 2011 @ 5:43 pm
I LOVE Kazakhstan