Final Days

22:00 15 September 2008

The final days of PST continue to wind down and I am enjoying the last days of regularly seeing some of my close friends here. As I have often said in the past few entries, it is a bittersweet time full of nervousness for the responsibility, excitement for new adventures, relief at the end of PST, apprehension about our abilities to get around, and sadness at leaving new but close friends.

I went into Bishkek this past weekend and spent time with some of my closest PST-friends that will be in another oblast for service (though luckily only about six hours away so I should be able to see them occasionally). We got gamburgers (gosh they are good) and walked for hours around the city, sitting around, and running to apparently every ex-pat in the country. It’s very odd to be an ex-pat here, and to see the other non-Kyrgyz nationals in the capitol. Kyrgyzstan has a very very small Western ex-pat community and it is extraordinarily concentrated around the capitol city. Given that the vast majority of the time I have spent in-country has been in a village with zero ex-pats other than Peace Corps people, it is odd to see other people that just don’t “fit in”. While I would have a hard time passing for Kyrgyz or any semblance of native, I find myself staring nearly as much as a native Kyrgyz does at other Americans. (or in the case of Bishkek natives- more- they are used to seeing Westerners). Similarly, overhearing and understanding conversations in English is a bizarre feeling when you are used to being surrounded alternatively with a language you barely understand- Russian- and one you have absolutely no knowledge of- Kyrgyz. Regardless, its interesting to meet some of the other ex-pats in the country and hear why they are there- they stick out much as I do, like sore thumbs and often hang out at the same establishments that PCVs tend to. 

Overall, it was a nice relaxing last trip into the city for a while. Today I had warden training- I was arbitrarily selected to be an alternate warden. Wardens are responsible for implementing the Emergency Action Plan in the event that we are being put on alert or evacuated from the country. We also are also wardens of an advanced medical kit and responsible for managing that in the event of an urgent care situation (hospitals and clinics here are not to a Western-standard in terms of equipment and their use so we have all sorts of supplies for local doctors’ usage in emergencies). It was interesting, and I got to meet several of the current volunteers. The main draw from the position is the biannual trainings I get to attend in Bishkek and seeing people I otherwise wouldn’t. Anyhow, tomorrow is our last hub day for PST and we swear in on the 18th and I am tired now, I don’t know how those are related, but I am an old man here and get cranky if I am up past 10:30.