November 10, 2010
My Peace Corps site assignment is to work with the Regional Education Department to conduct teacher trainings and improve English skills among educators. Sounds important, right? Well, this was my first day of work and I felt like I was in first grade again.
I woke up, ate my Wheaties (hot milk with bread and butter), and grabbed my bag before heading down the street to flag down a ride. On my way out the door, my (new) host mom handed me a sack with hard-boiled eggs, half a loaf of buttered bread, an apple, and candy. To top it off, she gave me a one-liter thermos of hot tea so I'd have something warm to put in my stomach at lunchtime. Yes! The perfect Kazakh lunchbox!
I trekked to work, sat at my desk and worked diligently until one o'clock. Everyone else started to pull out food. They set up a little eating space in the middle of the room and invited me to join them. Awesome! I'm a cool first grader and I get to sit with the big kids! I gladly trotted across the room with my thermos and lunch sack. I cleared a little corner of the table and started to chow down. They giggled… I guess "cool" was the wrong adjective.
"Anne, whacha' doin'?"
I had no idea what the problem was. This was a Kazakh original meal. I even had HOT TEA for goodness sake!
Eventually, it came out that one person brings food for everyone. You don't eat your own food. Oops. How was I supposed to know that? My sack and thermos were swept away to a distant table and I was handed a fork and plate. In the future, I must bring food for everyone or not bring food at all.
Tomorrow, I will leave the beloved thermos at home with my pull-ups. On second thought, I may need those pull-ups. I have much to learn and it turns out I'm not really at "Big Girl" status, yet.
