At Home on the Kazakh Steppe: A Peace Corps Memoir
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.23 (712 Votes) |
| Asin | : | B00UC543MO |
| Format Type | : | |
| Number of Pages | : | 236 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-10-16 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
"If social anthropology classes used textbooks like this, students would flock to register!" Sharon Lippincott, author of Adventures of a Chilihead: A Mini-Memoir With Recipes
Assigned to Kazakhstan, a Central Asian country finding its own way after generations under Soviet rule, she too must find a way to be in a world different from what she knew and expected. Just when her life felt right: new home, new career, new grandchildren, Janet Givens leaves it all behind and, with her new husband, joins the Peace Corps. Will it be worth it?
Ian Mathie said A most rewarding read.. Many returning Peace Corps volunteers write about their experiences, but few share as much of themselves and their reactions to their experiences as Janet Givens has done in this remarkable memoir. From culture shock to disappointment, she lets us inside to share her experiences in a most intimate way. As she and her husband, who was also a PC volunteer, find their feet and become accustomed to the vastly different culture of their Kazakh colleagues, we learn about these remarkably resilient people, their extraordinary way of life and their very pragmatic attitudes. The story is not without excitements, with brides being . Reading Is the Next Best Thing to Being There Sharon Lippincott, Chilehead Adventurer When I was a senior in high school, I heard one of the pioneer Peace Corps volunteers speak about her experience. I immediately resolved to sign up in four years after finishing college. Cupid had other ideas, and that dream is one of the dozens that remained on the sideline, but I've never lost my fascination with the Peace Corps and those who serve in it. So when I learned of Janet Givens' Peace Corps memoir, At Home on the Kazakh Steppe, I was immediately intrigued. Here was story about the Peace Corps, a part of the world I knew nothing about, and the volunteer was half of a couple in their sixties at the time they se. Moving, insightful and informative travel memoir At Home on the Kazakh Steppe is memoir writing at its best—moving, informative and deeply insightful. The book paints a wonderful picture of life in Kazakhstan. Indeed, I was so charmed by Janet’s portrayal of her colleagues and students that I’m now longing to visit this lesser-known country and experience its delightful people for myself.More important, however, is the book’s gentle but insistent message that the differences between cultures are so much less important than the similarities among people everywhere. Janet is particularly deft at creating a narrative arc across the two years’