Craig and Debbie Rayner

This month has been a bit quieter, but full of odds and ends! First, Debbie finishing the 6 month blood thinner treatment. Then the follow up with doctor's appointments, which have started me on managing the swelling in my leg with stockings, and the discovery that the very exciting knee high open toe stockings are available here! Secondly, the official confirmation of the course in Colorado has come through so we have been excited to know that is all happening. Third, we found out Craig's Australian Licence was not valid in Quebec, so we have been without the car over a few weekends, the international license arrived today so next month will be full of travels! We took the opportunity to visit two of the Sunday clubs in walking distance from Mom's house. One has been very excited to meet us and we were hugely encouraged. We have had time to hang out with friends who kindly came to Montreal instead of us visiting them, as well as family and friends in Montreal. As well as attending to various items in mom's basement, and starting in earnest language studies! Last weekend we did take the greyhound bus to visit my sister in New Hampshire.

One of the consequences of travelling the world is that you get to rub shoulders with other cultures. The manner in which culture impacts on us is often termed as culture shock. Culture shock is often given credit for failure of people to integrate into a culture. Culture is a divide that hinders and even halts communication, limiting understanding. Language is a huge part of culture. In Quebec, I have found this very evident, questioning why an English speaking country does not have English sign-age and advertising. Canada is a bilingual culture, speaking French and English. Quebec is a predominantly French speaking province, and the laws and culture of the province are designed to remove English as a choice. My feeling, (my culture shock) is that language is used here in Quebec as a weapon that drives a divide that seeks to exclude people who do not speak French.

It has been a interesting lesson that reinforces why Debbie and I need to learn the language in which we are going to be immersed. It is not the intention to be exclusive, on our part with English, nor on the part of the people where we seek to live. Language and culture do this because the MD designed them that way. (See Chapter 11 of the start of things.) We need to learn the Kazakh language so that we can be included, and also to include others in the joy we have with the MD. We need to be able to build relationships that will be robust, lasting not only in this world, but into a never ending future. Lots of lessons and lots of knee work required.

UNWTO GENERAL ASSEMBLY :: Oct 1-9 :: Astana [KAZAKHSTAN]

The UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organization ) will hold its General Assembly this year in the Kazakh capital of Astana. Elections are set to be held for the specialized agency of the United Nations, replacing four-term secretary general Francesco Frangialli, who has headed the organization for the past decade.

Learning a language is always daunting, but I have had some fun remembering the vocab. If the way language is put together tells us something about the culture of the place, I maybe in a bit of trouble.

Just to give you a couple of examples, with animals, you have the frog – Baka, turtle is TacBaka. So I was thinking ok a frog and turtle have lots in common, they could be cousins. I can buy that. However, how about a bee – Apa ( sounds like ara) and the Lion who is Arblctan ( sounds like arastand.) (Literally bee, Station) A bee station is a lion, hummm ok so a large group of bees might be as scary as a lion??? Or maybe none had seen a lion and all they knew was it was yellow like a bee but much bigger! I figure anything that helps me remember is good, so even if the stories I make up are truly fictional I am still happy. It is great to know we are equipping ourselves with language. Besides vocab we are also learning phrases!

The Byki system is great as it acts like flip cards with a voice, and once you learn how to recognise the cards in Kazakh you then need to see the English word/phrase and produce the Kazakh. Thank goodness Aidos ( our language teacher last year) started to teach us the alphabet or this would be so much more difficult. The coolest thing is that once you have learnt it and can write it, you can practice your pronunciation, talking into a microphone and it matches your intonation, vowels and stresses to a native speaker. Fun tool, we give thanks for everyday!

Contact Details

Phone:
Australian Phone: +61 (0)2 6100 3637 This phone number connects with my Skype account and has a messaging service.

Our E-Mail Addresses: and

Current (Kazakhstan) Postal Address:
10a Basenova St
Almaty 050060
Republic of Kazakhstan

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Contact details were last updated on the 18^th December, 2009.