http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/ Timsjournal Fri, 15 Dec 2006 06:40:06 PST http://www.blogdrive.com Copyright 2006. Arts People http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/archive/129.html Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:39:03 GMT It has indeed been a long time since I was on here to update the world wirth my whereabouts. I am still at the same place, Carlinville, loving it, working hard. I now hold an almost full-time position at Blackburn College (University to all you Kazakhs reading this). I work 30 hours a week as the Student New Construction Crew Supervisor. I tell them to work; they work, sometimes. They need a lot of help. The work they have done would make a blind man cringe to walk near it. It's bad. Really BAD. Anyway, that's about it. I work, pay bills, and work some more. I wish I had more to say.... (more) http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/comments?id=129 http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/archive/128.html Fri, 27 Oct 2006 19:01:45 GMT Ok, here it is. This is perhaps the largest email that I have ever sent out. I am sending this to everyone in my address book. Everyone who has ever given me an email address, is receiving this email. I hope to clear out all those email address that no longer work. If you get several copies of this email, forgive me. I am using the beta version of Yahoo Mail, which is a little different when one adds email addressed into the email. So, what I am asking for is very little. If you get this and you don't want me to email you, tell me and I will delete your address from my account. If you... (more) http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/comments?id=128 http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/archive/127.html Thu, 06 Jul 2006 17:54:41 GMT Well, I made it home and I am doing well. I think. I haven't reached the 5000 mile marker that I wanted to get on my motorcycle. I have reconnected with a lot of my friends from before I left and from PC. I have been busy. I don't have a whole lot to say right now. I will try to write up some more of my experiences when I get a chance and a good computer. I hope you have all enjoyed reading this. I hope you also will take a minute or two to send me an email with any suggestions you may have, entries I mentioned and never wrote, favorite stories, etc. Basically, I would like to know what... (more) http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/comments?id=127 http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/archive/126.html Thu, 01 Jun 2006 05:38:50 GMT Let me see...something I won't miss...I won't miss not showering on a regular basis. As you know, most of you, for the last two years I averaged about two (if I was lucky) showers a month. Now, granted, a lot of that time it was winter and the temperatures outside were not condusive to leading one into sweating and thereby body odor. However, the temperatures in my classroom were not so low. I will not miss smelling myself on a regular basis. I will not miss the grimy feeling of not being clean. This goes along with the being clean part...I will not miss having to wash my hands with cold... (more) http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/comments?id=126 http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/archive/125.html Sun, 28 May 2006 13:04:17 GMT Technically, it is still day 9, but I know I won't have access to internet tomorrow. So I am writing as if it were day 8. Hmm. How sexist did I sound in that last entry? Women showing underclothes, cleveage, skin...What a lead in to... ....Things I won't miss. I won't miss the prevalent sexist attitude that is found here. Men are always right. Women are to be subservient. Women do the housework. Men sit and watch them do the house work. I could go on like this for a while with examples of things that I have seen and experienced. But, I don't feel like it. Not today, at least. And so I... (more) http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/comments?id=125 http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/archive/124.html Sun, 28 May 2006 08:23:14 GMT Eventually, I am going to write a list of things I will and won't miss about Kazakhstan. For now, I am going to try and do a little of each. Something I will miss...The conservative dress of the Kazakhstani people. Of course there is some sarcasm in this statement. When I first got information from PC about KZ, it said that I should bring good dress clothes because the K-i people dress conservative. Although there are a few people who actually do this, and a few more who consider their style to be conservative, the reality is that style here is pretty much on par with most European and... (more) http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/comments?id=124 http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/archive/123.html Sat, 20 May 2006 18:14:44 GMT I have found my way into the city of Uralsk again. This time, there is an AIDS / HIV Information walk that was began by a previous volunteer (whom we all miss). I am sitting in the little internet cafe at Kazakhtelecom listening to music blasting out from the cafe next door. It sounds live which means several things, least of which being there's probably a wedding going on next door. I wanted to write about the trip that I took to visit the volunteers, but I can't seem to remember what it was that I wanted to write about. For that matter, I can't think of anything to write about with... (more) http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/comments?id=123 http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/archive/122.html Sat, 20 May 2006 18:04:32 GMT This is a copy of an email I sent out. Most of you probably got it and read it already, but if you haven't, here it is. I've edited it for sake of "safety." IE. I didn't want everybody in the world to know my travel plans. To all of you who get this and read it, As my subject alludes to, I am getting closer to my home, my home in America that I haven't seen in two years. By home, though, I must be vague. I'm not sure where my chips will fall once I get there. As per my style, I am flying (almost) by the seat of my pants. I do have a slight plan in place, slight may be an... (more) http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/comments?id=122 http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/archive/121.html Sun, 14 May 2006 05:48:50 GMT I'll start with the complaints first. I went out to another village to visit some volunteers. These volunteers live in a village 130 Km from the city. I'll write more about that in a little. But I took a taxi to the city this morning. The taxi left the village at 5:45 in the morning. 5:45!!! IN the MORNING!! All of the taxis in their village leave at about this time. In the past, this was necessary. The road was really bad. REALLY BAD. It took 3.5 - 4 hours to get to the city. Now, the road is new. it takes 1.5 hours to get to the city. See the difference here? But the taxi still leave at... (more) http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/comments?id=121 http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/archive/120.html Sun, 07 May 2006 06:17:24 GMT It's another stretch of holidays here. Today is young men's day. Tuesday is Victory Day. Thursday is something else day. I'm sure Satuday will be another holiday... I joke I joke. It really si a holiday today and Tuesday. My director gave me the day off, even though I didn't ask for it, or really want it, on Wednesday so that I could come to the city and watch the celebration on Tuesday evening. My host family is coming to the city also. I'm guessing the school will be pretty empty of students and teachers on the 10th. We lost a volunteer in our oblast this past weekend, compliments of a... (more) http://timsjournal.blogdrive.com/comments?id=120