When I arrived in Balkhash early in the morning, my first impression was that the city smelled like smoke—a wonderful start to my two weeks here. That and the fact that the entire city looks like it has recently undergone civil war.
But it’s not all bad. What the city lacks in aesthetics it makes up for in other places, or at least so I feel obligated to say. One thing you learn while traveling is to make the most of wherever you are. And in Balkhash that requires you to make the most out of very little. The pervasive emptiness accompanying this place has brought me a lot reflection, and I often find myself wondering what I am currently doing on the other side of the world. I mean, on one hand this is something I have always wanted to do. But on the other hand I am frequently struck by the apparent pointlessness of it all. In some sense I am just… not doing anything. Sure, I am volunteering and therefore actually contributing to making the world a better place. But the pervasive emptiness of this place keeps asking me if this is really anything at all.
But this not my personal journal and so I will spare you the details of my reflection. I apologize if any of my musings spill out unconsciously. And Balkhash has had a weird way of warping my sense of time, so I will not be bothering to recount things in chronological order. But without further ado let me show you one of the least remarkable places I have ever been.
A Walk Through Downtown
The entire Downtown of Balkhash consists of one street which stretches for a couple blocks and consists mainly of a few restaurants, markets, and a myriad assortment of other businesses. At the end of this strip, but before the lake, is a large palace known as the House of Culture. One of my hosts, Mansur, told me that pretty much all former Soviet cities have one of these. They host concerts, plays, and other cultural events, and in addition there is a movie theater behind it. I think it’s pretty cool that the Soviet Union had such a state-level focus on culture. They did not let me inside the House of Culture, presumably because it was lunch time they thought I was a state spy.
Outside the palace was a statue of a miner, depicted above. The miner—as we saw in Karaganda—is an incredibly important symbol within the societies of the former Soviet Union. Both the existence of Karaganda and Balkhash were primarily motivated by mines; coal in Karaganda and copper in Balkhash were the primary industries. And even many of those who aren’t miners are still connected to the industry in some way. For instance, a large number of people I have talked to work at some factory or another in Balkhash, and they have roles like engineering, business, or something else entirely.
After the House of Culture, Mansur took me down to the lake, which is just a block or two south. On the way to the lake is a large pavilion which is dead this time of year but apparently bustling in the summer. Believe it or not, Balkhash is actually a prime tourist destination in the summer for many people. Generally it is people from Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, etc., but I am sure others manage to find their way here. The main attraction is of course the lake. If I had to guess, I would say the lake is the fifteenth largest in the world. It is also remarkable insofar as it is half freshwater and half saltwater. The part on the city of Balkhash is freshwater.
The beach is not as big as I expected, but apparently there are other beaches that only the locals really know about.
Walking around the city some more you can see some interesting sights. I saw some statues a little north of the English center which depict Kazakh heroes, although I do not know the stories so well. The man mounted on the horse is apparently Zhidebai Batyr, who the blogger Dimitrios Pischinas says was, “a prominent Kazakh commander during the early 18th century, particularly noted for his role in the Kazakh-Dzungar Wars. These conflicts culminated in the Battle of Anyrakai (120 kilometers south of Lake Balkhash), which took place between December 1729 and January 1730. His leadership during this period was instrumental in defending Kazakh territories against Dzungar invasions.”
Another interesting thing I saw was this image below.
These quotes demonstrate the sort of work ethic instilled in the former Soviet states. From left to right they read (via Google Translate):
You need to study to be educated / You need a profession to be rich / To be strong you need unity / We need to work on these needs
Ahmet Baitursyuli
Don’t trust your strength / Trust your honest work!
Muhtar Auezov
Honest work is the business of a dignified person
Abai Kunanbaev
All of these people were famous Kazakh intellectuals from the 19th and 20th centuries. Ahmet was executed by firing squad during the Soviet Great Purge of 1937. Guess he shouldn’t have worked so hard on those needs.
My wonderful host Mansur also treated me to a Soviet-style cafeteria, which was an interesting experience. We don’t really have an analogous concept in the States. These cafeterias are like one line where you pick what you want and pay at the end. Sort of similar to K-12 lunches if anything. The food was… tolerable.
And I don’t mean to suggest that all the food here is bad, or that Kazakh food in general is bad. In fact I have generally enjoyed the traditional food here, although the ‘grandmother milk tea’ with millet was a little odd for me. But the nicer restaurants have been good. Lagman, a Central Asian dish of hand-pulled noodles with meat and vegetables, has been one of my favorites thus far. And although some of the varieties of tea have been a miss—one with vanilla comes to mind—I have generally been enjoying the tea culture here.
Teaching in Balkhash
Teaching in Balkhash has been significantly more interesting than it was in Karaganda, and I understand why the director in Karaganda referred to the English center here as, “the most interesting thing in town.” In Karaganda there were only three or four teachers, two classrooms, and not that many students. The Balkhash center is highly developed in comparison. In a week here I have not even met or worked with all the teachers; I have probably only worked with about half of the classes. And the work itself is much more interesting for me. The teachers seem much better equipped to make use of me, because they have had many more guests than the Karaganda location has had. In fact I have actually been leading the adult group all by myself, which has been fun. At first I had no idea what I was doing (I have never lead an English class before), but I realized it’s not that complicated. You just have to be confident and understand how to guide the class and keep discussions moving. The adult class functions more like a speaking club than the younger students classes which are primarily based around workbooks and the like.
Although many of the students are shy, they have been generally curious and I have enjoyed teaching them about the United States. Recently for a lesson on describing locations I took some students on a virtual tour of the most beautiful places in our country. I got a kick out of showing them a desert (Death Valley), a snowcapped mountain (Mammoth Mountain), a beautiful field of flowers on a rocky coast (Big Sur), a wet forest (Redwoods), and a beautiful sun-drenched beach (Black’s Beach) before telling them all five of those photos were in California alone.
The teachers here are really nice too. I didn’t feel like the teachers in Karaganda were particularly interested in me, but here I have felt much more appreciated. Also they love my accent and voice, which I find hilarious. They remark on how clear and intelligible my accent is and how resonant and deep my voice is. No, seriously, I am not making that up. This is only the second or third time I have ever been complimented on my voice, depending on if you count the random girl in the supermarket who once said, “move over resonant voice boy.” I don’t even think my voice is that deep, but they do.
One of the teachers, Anna, has been very friendly and took me to dinner at a local restaurant, which was a lot of fun. She also showed me around some local shops, and her boyfriend was kind enough to drive me home from work one day. I’ll be doing something with her tomorrow night as well, which I am looking forward to.
It’s More Mundane Than You Might Expect
If there is one thing I wish I could tell people about these travels it’s how mundane it really is in practice. Even if I was in an exciting city, a lot of this is just normal life. Making myself breakfast, going to the gym, eating out from time to time. Playing music and journaling. In many ways my life here is not so different structurally from life at home, although I work significantly less than I would at a full-time job.
And sure, some things are different, like these weird chip flavors and the fact most people cannot understand me. But more often than not everything I am doing just feels… normal. And that’s not meant to be a problem or anything. It’s just different than you might expect.
So goodbye for now. I’ll probably check in next weekend about my last week here in Balkhash before heading to Almaty on the 26th and flying from there to Nepal on the 29th. I’m looking forward to it.