Kalbergs to teach in Kazakhstan for another year

Kim and Dave Kalberg arrived at their two-bedroom apartment in Almaty, Kazakhstan, last year, exhausted and jet-lagged from their 20 hours worth of plane flights. In the morning, Kim would have her first day of school teaching third grade.

The couple dropped their suitcases and took a look around their new home. It was small, but it was all they needed. Dave went to the fridge. The company Kim worked for, which provided the housing, had left some food for them.

He picked up a 2-liter bottle of what he thought was lemonade and took a big swig. He immediately spat it out. The cooking oil looked like a beverage, and because he couldn’t read the language on the bottle, he had no idea what it was.

“Oh man,” they thought, “What have we gotten ourselves into?”

The couple’s road to Kazakhstan began when Kim, an elementary teacher in the Coeur d’Alene School district for 20 years, earned her master’s degree and made a pact with her classmate. They each committed to fulfilling their lifelong dreams. Kim’s was to teach abroad.

The school board approved her leave of absence and she began sending applications. She applied to Department of Defense schools where military families send their kids, and all over Europe. She dreamed of teaching in Sweden or France.

But the schools never got back to her — none were interested. She took a friend’s suggestion and applied to Quality Schools International, a program that offers American education throughout the world.

Within days she received a job offer to teach third grade in Kazakhstan.

Kim had no idea where Kazakhstan was or what the culture was like. She and Dave did a lot of research and found out it was a young country with a lot of Russian and Muslim influences. The Silk Road ran right through it, so the area is very diverse. There were no wars there and it was reportedly a pretty safe place.

Kim was still leery of the idea, though. It wasn’t Switzerland or France. It was in central Asia and they spoke mostly Russian — a language she couldn’t speak, read or write.

But she and Dave decided to give it a try. Kim would teach and Dave would volunteer for the school.

Now, more than a year later, they can’t wait to go back, despite the deceptive cooking oil.

“The most important thing we’ve learned from this entire experience from living overseas and visiting other countries and learning about different ethnicities and backgrounds is that every person is the same,” Kim said. “We all just want a happy life and children that can be successful, so it doesn’t matter what country we live in or where you’re from, our values are all the same.”

The couple came to know and love the city of Almaty. With 1.7 million inhabitants, it is the largest city in central Asia. They both agreed the size of the city was the biggest culture shock, and the language barrier was the second.

At first they were able to communicate with some English, relying heavily on hand gestures and their Russian dictionary. Slowly they were able to recognize the name of the street they lived on and tell taxis to go left, right or straight.

The grocery store proved to be a challenge because all the labels were in Russian. Once, they thought they were buying washing detergent, but instead ended up dumping salt into their dirty clothes.

They missed burgers and Mexican food. Peanut butter there was expensive — and not good.

However, within the school, both Kim and Dave fell head-over-heels for the students.

“Children from other parts of the world, especially these students I’ve been teaching whose parents are travelers, they are so accepting of cultures and diversity,” Kim said. “They could not fathom prejudice. They don’t understand racism. I can remember that was such an uplifting day in my teaching, thinking ‘Wow, they don’t understand this, how great would it be if everyone was this way.’”

The night of the Paris attacks, Kim personally called the French family of one her students. They were OK. They were from a different part of the country, but Kim still wished she could do more for them.

The next day at school, a Georgian student brought a picture he colored of the Eiffel Tower with the French boy and his family underneath it. When he gave the picture to his classmate, they hugged.

“I was just bawling,” Kim said. “It was remarkable. It was absolutely remarkable.”

One of the field trips the class took was to an ice rink. Kim and Dave, not having skated in more than 30 years, were nervous and they told the students this. Two girls jumped into action and became their teachers. They had obviously skated a lot before; they had their own skates and outfits.

The two girls took Kim and Dave by the hands and helped them stand on the ice and taught them how to push off and get moving. They also helped their other classmates who were struggling.

“This is the time they could have been showcasing their skills, and instead they were taking the time to help me,” Kim said.

“It wasn’t just us, they were helping the other kids, too,” Dave added. “They were helping all the kids who had never even seen ice.”

Later in the school year, the class took a trip to the pool. Those two same girls walked out with floaties on their arms and admitted they couldn’t swim. Instead of teasing them or laughing, the other kids in the class were excited to give back to the girls and helped them learn to swim.

“They were completely accepting of whatever skills you have and whatever skills I have and let me help you with that,” Kim said. “It was another one of those days where I sat there with tears in my eyes and just thought ‘wow, this is amazing.’”

When February came around, Kim and Dave decided they want to spend another year in the country they were just starting to feel connected with. It took them almost a year to get the hang of travel, reading signs and knowing what things were at the grocery store.

Kim said she feels she has more to offer the school, and more to learn from her experiences there.

“The Coeur d’Alene School District has trained me to be a very efficient teacher. With all of the professional development that we go through, I was able to showcase that there. I learned a lot but I was also able to teach some to the staff,” she said, noting she and Dave intend to come back to their home in Kootenai County after this next year. “I want to bring back to Coeur d’Alene all these things that I’ve learned. My experience there primarily has been teaching in English to students who spoke it as a second language. It really taught me how to deliver my lessons and focus on vocabulary and clearly giving my directions.”

Kim reapplied for her leave of absence and it was accepted.

She and Dave took their summer vacation in Coeur d’Alene to catch up with family and friends. Today, they start their journey back to Kazakhstan, suitcases full of clothes, books in English — and peanut butter.