First of September

11:35 4 September 2008

I have to admit, I didn’t realize how much I had missed my host family in my training village. I got back from Issyk-Kul last night to a great reception from my host family, we sat around and talked for quite awhile. I think the big thing was language yet again. While I am no where near fluent in Russian, I am now pretty conversational and understand most everything that is said to me. Compared to the difference on the lake, where I sat for seven hours understanding next to nothing in Kyrgyz, it was almost like coming back into a familiar area. I suppose that I am so accustomed in-country to not being able to understand that it didn’t bother me in Kyzyl-Suu, but it really pleased me when I was with HCNs that I could understand. I definitely want to continue learning Russian, but I realize if I am to have the same kind of acceptance at site as I do here, I will need to learn Kyrgyz as well.

Overall though, I had a very successful site visit. I didn’t mention it yet, but I attended the 1st Day of September ceremonies at my school- here it is called the Day of Knowledge and is a big celebration for the beginning of the school year. The first-graders made their procession into the courtyard, all dressed up, and then one was designated to ring the first bell to signify the start. After the proceedings, everyone filed into the school to watch a televised broadcast of the Minister of Education giving a lesson on Kyrgyzstan. Finally, I attended a faculty meeting where they discussed schedules- mine hasn’t been quite finalized yet, and I gave a short speech introducing myself and my background. It was wonderful to meet the different people in my school, and then later in my village. Along with me, there is one of the JICA volunteers working at my school. While she only speaks minimal English, the other JICA volunteer in our village speaks it fluently after spending three years in the U.K. We went out together to a café with Emil, an HCN that has been friends with every volunteer in the area since the 1990s. He speaks English nearly-fluently and was rejected for a translator job because his English was “too-American”. Anyhow, it was great to meet the fellow volunteers in our village, the other Americans in the oblast, and get to know what I am certain will be a rewarding two years.