International Women's Day

I will begin with the proximate event, and then transition roughly into mundane ramblings.

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!

Although we don't celebrate it in the US, they do in Kazakhstan. It is a major school holiday since, of course, most of the teachers are women. It is a fairly major holiday. It falls on a Sunday this year, but classes were abbreviated on Friday, canceled (I think) on Saturday, and there it is a national holiday on Monday, so school is canceled.

The students performed a concert (read: talent/variety show) for the teachers on Friday, and then reprised themselves on Saturday. Saturday also some students prepared amusing mock lessons for at least some of the teachers.

On Saturday after the concert the male teachers had laid out a tea for the women. This was one of my very few encounters with a group of men here in Kazakhstan, and they sat in almost complete silence at one end of the table while the women chatted and suchlike. They nibbled at the fare and some drank tea. After the women finished the other men and I cleaned up, and the PE teachers came back with real food for their own little meal: a loaf of bread, a two-foot link of sausage, a jar of Ikra (a vegetable past, tastes good, also on pasta) and vodka.

They were still pretty taciturn, even after the younger subset of the faculty; specifically the secretaries, came back in a joined us (they drinking wine as befitted their lack of...cognac). The guys mostly gave toasts, and the girls chatted. I left after the fourth shot and halfway through the second bottle, but they were still going strong and showed no slackening of their interest.

When the guys do speak they are pretty difficult to understand. They tend to mutter or mumble their words, as if enunciation is too much trouble.

Maybe I should write a story. I am surprisingly busy, all things considered. I have my violin, which should take up more time than I really give it. I have my Russian, which is taking up an appropriate, but massive amount of time, and I have my classes, which take up a variable, but currently small amount of time. I have a few other skills I want to specifically work on developing, including learning to effectively use OpenOffice and learning to type swiftly in Cyrillic. The latter of these is currently dependent on acquiring from a previous volunteer software to help practice, although I'm sure I could find a lesson plan somewhere online if I started looking for it. I haven't spent any meaningful amount of time recently reading, though I have enjoyed the first 30 pages of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, and I expect to continue through it. My internet connection recently has not been functioning correctly, presumably due to a recent switch of the phone lines. My host mother was kind enough to call them and ask what was happening, and they suggested that we should wait to the end of the week to see what would happen. These last few days I spent a lot of time creating flashcards to get a few weeks ahead so that I have cards to go through during training in Almaty without having to drag my dictionary down. I am looking forward to Shymkent, though I am still a little fuzzy on the details of the trip. Others tell me that it is scheduled properly and will all be fine, so I'll live with that for the time being.

I participated Friday in the initial celebration of Women's Day at school. My part was limited; I congratulated the women on their holiday and wished them health and happiness. The first part was in Russian, but I got through it comprehensively with only two or three tries. Students also performed and the male teachers sang a martial looking song; they were dressed in armor and had swords. They also had an image on the projection screen that came up a few times of a naked man covered only by an apron scrubbing the floor. I hesitate to contemplate where they might have found such an image.

I think I have fixed my 403b, so that should settle in a week or two, and now I need to turn my attention to my taxes, and see what this cool new stimulus will do for me. I need to take a look at the numbers on my W-9's. I remain optimistic.

Year 2008 PC August to December 4 months

Can deduct moving and storage expenses for 2008.

Year 2009 PC January to December 12 months total 16 months

Can deduct storage expenses for 2009, but have no income to deduct it from. Likewise insurance. Is there a way I can move this to 2008 where it would actually help me?

Year 2010 PC January to August or November 8-11 months total 24-27 months

Can deduct cost of getting back to the united states that I pay out of pocket, excluding sightseeing trips, and the cost of moving my stuff from DC to wherever. Problem is that I won't have any significant income for this period either. Can I shift it to 2011?

The answer to these last few important questions seems to be no. My best bet is to take what I can this year, and then make sure I don't move my stuff out of storage until January 2011 so that I can deduct the expense. This is an example of the value of tax planning. If I had examined this carefully I would have rented the full 27 months in advance. On the other hand, my readjustment allowance might be taxable. I should look into that in a year or so. Yay taxes! ::wiggles hands::

I also really like blini. You should all learn to make them.