Techno past times with a purpose.

Have you ever been sitting in your apartment and been completely frustrated because the phone company won't sell you hi-speed Internet, dial-up isn't fast enough to sustain VOIP Internet phone calls, the Internet has stopped working for the last two weeks downstairs where you are bumming half the bandwidth from the local computer store for half the price, and your signal strength just isn't quite good enough to the local open access points? Well I have.

In anticipation of this fateful day I had already seen on YouTube a tutorial for a high gain antenna. Its amazing what you can find in the trash, down at the construction bazaar, and talking to the actually people who repair computers, verses the sales reps who just want to sell you something new.

A little solder and an hour of assembly in between classes and vola. Supposedly a +18dbi antenna. If that doesn't do the trick I don't know what will.



As fate would have it, the Internet started working again from my paid source a few days later. I let the couple from South Africa borrow the whole contraption over Christmas while I was gone so they could call family. We found one open access point from their apartment.

It just so happens that a Netgear WG111T USB wireless-G dongle conveniently has a mini-antenna connector right there for your antenna upgrading needs. The signal was improved but I found it necessary to shade the built-in antenna by placing the whole unit directly behind the reflector. As expected, the antenna was very directional.

Teambuilding at Ak Bulak

One bright sunny mid-December Sunday all of the teachers and some of the staff at the two language centers piled into a car and a van. The destination was Ak Bulak. A ski resort about an hour East of Almaty. All we knew was that it was an outing and we would be team building.

We arrived at the resort to find fairly modern looking ski lifts, including an express gondola. Up to this point the season had been rather dry. Even though it was mid-December only one of the local ski resorts was actually operational. We rode on both of the lifts the ski resort had to get to the top. The second half of the journey was on a typical open air 2-person ski lift. It was good to be in the high crisp mountain air. The journey up the mountain was fairly painless too.

Gina and I posed at the top for a quick picture.

One group picture with all of the foreign language teachers and our director.


Going down the mountain provided a good shot of the valley. It was a beautiful day.
I had fun getting people's attention and then snapping a shot or two.
We all had a lot of fun.
If anyone wants a promo poster I can provide this in much higher resolution!

It turns out that most of our team building that day comprised of short epic snow battles and group photos. It was a little different than I expected but I would say at the end of the day we did feel a little bit more like a team. We finished the day with an enjoyable lunch celebrating the many different cultures represented among our group.

Mountains, The Sunday After Thanksgiving

Just encase you haven't figured it out by now the mountains just out of Almaty is the favorite place Gina and I like to hang out with our students. This day we were headed out just after the first good snow of the season. The hiking wasn't too bad but we were ready for the bitter cold that we were sure to find on top those rugged mountain peaks. After all, it was chilly in the valley.
Gina posed nicely for me on the railing of what looked like a coral of some sort from times past. This stop was a little over half way to our final destination.
Some of our local church members like to hike and regularly join us on our mountain adventures.
Talking and generally enjoying the company on the way up is a must. It also provides breaks so that none of us have to actually admit that we are tired.
What better to do with fresh snow than have a snowball fight? Charl never even saw it coming!

The hike took us up some fairly steep hills. We just kept telling the students, "It will be worth it."
Once we got near the top we had to start thinking about where we would eat our picnic. Local customs don't really allow people to sit directly on the ground. There are some deeply held beliefs about why a person should do that, especially women. When I figure it all out I may give it a posting all its own. What does all this mean? Well, you get the picture. Charl and Ruslan helped carry some logs we found to our final eating place on top of the hill.
Picnics with friends and great food in the crisp clean air have to be some of the best things on Earth!
Getting some special pictures along the way is special. You should get some reward or at least a picture for putting in so much work.
Two of my favorite guys.
That day the view across the foothills was amazing. The cool fog in the valley only helped to accent the warm sunny day we enjoyed in the mountains.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving. What kind of thoughts does that bring to your mind? More food than you could ever eat, family get-togethers, travel, thankfulness, long car rides stuck between your siblings? Well for me it is all of those things and so much more.

Thanksgiving 2008 Gina and I prepared for our second Thanksgiving away from our families. This time it would be different. This time we had family. Not quite the same as our parents and siblings but we had close friends.

Gina, Charl, and I had been bonding with some of our students for over 8 months when Thanksgiving came. We had been building up to the major United States holiday for weeks. The last 3 Friday Clubs had been dedicated to the teaching our students about one American holiday that we are very proud of.

If my memory serves me correctly, the first week we showed some videos about the Mayflower and gave a brief history lesson surrounding the holiday. The second week we showed "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving." It was crammed packed with USA traditions and expectations surrounding the holiday, including the all American Apple Pie.

We had been served apple pie several times since our arrival in Almaty. There was something different about the local version from the pie from home. I would call the Almaty version "Apple cake". I can't tell for sure but it might have even had yeast in the cake and just a few pieces of apple.

For our third Friday Club before the big Thanksgiving feast we showed a video about how to make American Apple Pie and handed out recipes for many dishes including Pie and vegetarian stuffing. They were all invited to the big feast and encouraged to bring others. This was part of the reason they were also encouraged to bring home cooked food for the festival, especially an American Apple pie for the pie contest.

The students were trained, prepared, and warned that their stomachs would burst by the end of the evening. Now it was time for the big event.

Our director was a little shocked when she arrived and found out I had stolen almost all the tables in the whole school and transformed our main meeting room into a dining hall. We had seating for 40+ and needed every last one of the seats.
We were overjoyed to see some of our closes friends had come. A few even brought friends.

The youth group from the church joined us for this special event. Most of our youth can hold down a simple conversation in English and a few are fairly good at English. They performed a skit emphasizing cooperation among the group and what can be accomplished when we all work together. I didn't understand all if it since it was performed in Russian.

Following the play, we ushered people through line. All of the food the students brought was traditional in nature. They brought the types of food guests are supposed to bring. Cakes, juice, fruit, and other desserts, all of which were good and many were customized for the event. So, it was a good thing that Gina, Charl, and I had been cooking the main course all day. Charl and I are proud to say we accomplished some stellar mashed potatoes. Gina on the other hand touted the worlds largest single casserole dish of vegetarian stuffing, gravy for the potatoes, one apple pie, and three pumpkin pies.

All of the food was delicious. The students especially like Gina's gravy.

After our students were well under way with the meal, we announced the pie contest. We called for volunteer that would be the official judges for the event. Two of our most outgoing students rose to the challenge. I added my comments as we went along but never to contradict the official judges or to sway their opinion before they gave their verdict. Mostly I couldn't wait any longer before having a chance to try all of the different apple pies. They were scrumptious! The rest of the evening we talked and took group pictures. We all had such a great time.

And of course a picture of Charl and a group of students that wanted a picture "Just with him."