Thanksgiving

To celebrate Thanksgiving, all of the volunteers (24 total) from Northern Kazakhstan and Akmola Oblasts got together for the weekend to cook a Thanksgiving feast and hang out. It was great to meet the Kaz 20s (the folks who've already been here for a year) and also to speak English very quickly, using many idioms and obscure cultural references, and still be understood.


We got together at the "Sportivnaya Sanitoriya" in the village of Zerenda. Molly might not have liked the sagging beds crammed 8 to a room, but she can't argue with the beautiful nature.


Hannah, Holly and Patrick on a stroll through the woods. I have a small forest behind my house, but other volunteers are out on the steppe, so they were quite happy to see something green.


Ultimate frisbee is great fun, anytime, anywhere!


We're already part Kazakh - we drank tea at least 3 times a day.


Myles mashes potatoes, while Patrick attempts to light the stove for more tea.


Tobin marinates the turkey before we BBQ it. None of the ovens here are big enough (or actually work at all), so we had to improvise.


Our yummy turkey "shashlyk," only a little burnt, plus marinated mushrooms and pumpkin bread. This really is a Kazakhstani Thanksgiving.


The mashed potatoes, carved into a goat head. You can't have a festive occasion in Kazakhstan without a goat head.


Thanksgiving dinner, complete with decorations thanks to someone's mom in the states.