Kyrgyzification

19:30 14 December 2008

I got back from visiting an incredibly rural village volunteer yesterday. It was a really neat experience to see a completely Kyrgyz village, it was up more in the mountains and it had a lot of snow on the ground. In contrast to the people and appearance of the surroundings there, my Russian was next to useless because of the Kyrgyzification of the village, the house in which the volunteer lives was incredibly posh. Rather than feeling like a typical Kyrgyz village abode, the house was two storied and resembled an alpine cottage with the wooden construction. In addition to the appearance the fact that the house had running water, both hot and cold, a washing machine, a toilet, and a shower made it extremely luxurious to me. It was incredible, when I stepped out I realized that I had somewhat forgotten I was in Kyrgyzstan, the contrast was so stark.

My preparations with the Leadership club I have are going well, but unfortunately our Disco idea went belly-up after some poor planning and insurmountable obstacles like lack of a venue. Our new fund raising efforts will hopefully be more successful and we are going to try our best to have a good New Years/Christmas program for the children there. I have been cast to be “Ded Maroz”, the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus, and I am sure that I will give a memorable performance.

On an unrelated note, I was talking to my host mother about my execution of the chicken’s for Kourman Eid and she made a very funny comment comparing me to Raskolnikov of Crime and Punishment, a cruel but apt comparison. I am realy lucky I have such an intelligent, well read, and progressive host family. Some other volunteers are much more restricted and I am happy I am not.