12:48 24 December 2009
I am currently sitting in Tashkent International Airport of Uzbekistan waiting for my connecting flight to Tokyo Japan in the International Transit Lounge. Yeah, I’m pretty excited about that. So far my trip has gone pretty well other than an unusually long and obnoxious marshrutka ride into Bishkek yesterday. But I stayed at a friends place in the city last night and we ate shashlik (grilled marinated meat on a stick like a shish kabob) and I got duck, which was delicious. I’ve just been so excited about my trip, and getting a badly needed respite from Kyrgyzstan, and of course most excitedly, getting to see Saori!!! I barely slept last night, we went to bed super early because I was tired from the marshrutka ride and I woke up thinking, “Alright! I slept a lot now I am ready to get up and go to Japan!” only to find out that it was actually 2345 and I had a good 6 hours of on again off again sleep to get through before I departed. The departure from Bishkek was good and smooth- it is only an hour long flight from Bishkek to Tashkent but I have a twelve hour layover here which is just passing by with the most cruel slowness… Oh well, as soon as I get on the plane to Japan, I am going to hopefully be able to sleep (Peace Corps Medical gave me Melofonin specifically for that purpose) and then I will be reunited with Saori when I wake up!!! Yay!!! I can’t wait. Seriously. I can’t wait.
27 December 2009
oh nos!
19:30 21 December 2009
Uh-oh… I just got sick! And so soon to me leaving!!! I woke up with a sore throat today and it has degenerated into a full hacking productive cough- ewww, I will spare you the rest of the details but I am upset because I am leaving so soon and I don’t want to be sick in transit or at Saori’s place in Tokyo… Yikes. Luckily Peace Corps Medical got me started on some azithromycin, which, if it is bacterial, should ensure that I’m on the mend by the time I get there and, perhaps even more importantly, make it so I definitely won’t be contagious. But I say to my illness- Hey, buddy, bad timing!
In other news today I worked at the rayon-level English Olympiads for which I designed the tests for and I will just say that it was an… interesting experience more on that later I suppose. It was fun working with Holo though, a fellow volunteer that works not too far from me in Jet-Oguz and who I don’t get to see often, and it is always rewarding to see the tests that you designed and wrote used for relatively high-level purposes…
Uh-oh… I just got sick! And so soon to me leaving!!! I woke up with a sore throat today and it has degenerated into a full hacking productive cough- ewww, I will spare you the rest of the details but I am upset because I am leaving so soon and I don’t want to be sick in transit or at Saori’s place in Tokyo… Yikes. Luckily Peace Corps Medical got me started on some azithromycin, which, if it is bacterial, should ensure that I’m on the mend by the time I get there and, perhaps even more importantly, make it so I definitely won’t be contagious. But I say to my illness- Hey, buddy, bad timing!
In other news today I worked at the rayon-level English Olympiads for which I designed the tests for and I will just say that it was an… interesting experience more on that later I suppose. It was fun working with Holo though, a fellow volunteer that works not too far from me in Jet-Oguz and who I don’t get to see often, and it is always rewarding to see the tests that you designed and wrote used for relatively high-level purposes…
Heat-tenticilious
11:20 16 December 2009
I’m home on my lunch break and I have been mulling over in my head an idea for my blog for some time about the cold here and the snow and the ice. My mom recently asked me if there was any black-ice here. But let’s start with some basics- while I don’t live in a terribly northern area, I live at a high altitude (over 6,000 feet) and it is pretty darn cold here- winter lows can be in the low single digits to teens below zero sometimes where I live and even colder (-40 and worse) in places like Naryn. Overall though, it’s a pretty cold country. And with November being unusually cool (as you remember we got a decent amount of snow and the temperature didn’t peak it’s head about freezing for over a week) a lot of people are afraid of the winter this year.
Now some of you that read this blog are in pretty cold places your self- Ithaca comes to mind, and no doubt are there much colder places during winter in the US than even the coldest locale of Kyrgyzstan. However, there are two main differences that I think bear consideration when assessing the impact of winter. The first is snow removal and the second is heat.
I saw the first snow plow in Kyrgyzstan I had ever seen a few days ago. I was stunned. I didn’t know they existed here. Why? Because the roads are pretty much covered with snow from November to March with only the main road (do to it’s traffic) ever really seeing periods of true clarity during the winter. This is because Kyrgyzstan is a very poor country- it can hardly afford to feed and clothe itself so I understand why snow-removal is not a top priority of the country’s government. So what happens when the collected snow isn’t removed and instead is just trampled by cars, horses, sheep, people, etc. Well, it turns to ice. And this is where the problems start. Kids love this, Kyrgyz children have a remarkable sense of balance and it is truly common sight to see kids take a daring running start and slide a good 20 feet. Impressive. Unfortunately, being the klutz I am, I can not nearly as successfully cope with such slippery areas. More often than not, I just fall (which is when I get to experience one of that aspects of Kyrgyz reaction that does actually upset me a little bit- instead of helping me up or asking if I am okay or even ignoring me, if someone falls, the almost universal immediate response is “Should have been more careful” Thanks… That would have been more useful BEFORE I fell…) Regardless, I fall a fair amount here and have learned a few tricks (walking on the toes of your feet, walking super slow, titling your head forward) to reduce the likelihood of my falling while increasing the ridiculousness of how I look.
But I have strayed from my original topic- snow removal is treacherous for pedestrians and also causes a huge amount of automotive accidents each year… I personally have seen vehicles slip off the road, hit each other, and winter taxis and marshrutkas are always at least a bit of a gamble. But in my opinion, winter this year here isn’t made so hard by ice on the roads- it is made by a much more pertinent problem of not having heat.
I live in an apartment that was built during the Soviet Union to house workers at a factory that made construction supplies. During the Soviet Union- this was a really great place- it had a toilet, refrigerator, running hot and cold water, really the works for a village in which the vast majority of people have outdoor toilets and have to fetch their water from a public well or spigot. But nowadays, while they are still good (I still have a working fridge and toilet and the water is on for at least a few hours each day when it isn’t off for three weeks at a time) the central heating system that was providing heat and hot water 20 years ago no longer works. This means that my apartment, other than the Peace Corps issued electric heater, has no heat. This is bad- most mornings I wake up and my kitchen is about 40 degrees (Fahrenheit). Brr… But I have been coping with this problem by using a combination of my Peace Corps heater and what I have dubbed my “Heat Tent 2.0” (to distinguish it from the useful but less successful Heat Tent 1.0). This is a really fabulous invention. It combines the heat of a heater with the heat-trapping ability of a tent to make a livable area in my apartment. I sleep in it and do most of my work in it, I just cook and eat outside of it. Essentially all I did was place some old sheets and drapes over a line I strung over my bed, but boy does it work! It gets right nice and toasty in there! So if you’ve called or chatted with me recently, you probably know how much I like my heat tent, but it really has improved my quality of life in this country and in my apartment.
Anyhow, I am tired of talking about heat and cold and ice and snow for know, but it is usually one of my favorite topics to talk about so feel free to ask questions and I will do my best to reply…
Heat Tent 2.0 4eva!
I’m home on my lunch break and I have been mulling over in my head an idea for my blog for some time about the cold here and the snow and the ice. My mom recently asked me if there was any black-ice here. But let’s start with some basics- while I don’t live in a terribly northern area, I live at a high altitude (over 6,000 feet) and it is pretty darn cold here- winter lows can be in the low single digits to teens below zero sometimes where I live and even colder (-40 and worse) in places like Naryn. Overall though, it’s a pretty cold country. And with November being unusually cool (as you remember we got a decent amount of snow and the temperature didn’t peak it’s head about freezing for over a week) a lot of people are afraid of the winter this year.
Now some of you that read this blog are in pretty cold places your self- Ithaca comes to mind, and no doubt are there much colder places during winter in the US than even the coldest locale of Kyrgyzstan. However, there are two main differences that I think bear consideration when assessing the impact of winter. The first is snow removal and the second is heat.
I saw the first snow plow in Kyrgyzstan I had ever seen a few days ago. I was stunned. I didn’t know they existed here. Why? Because the roads are pretty much covered with snow from November to March with only the main road (do to it’s traffic) ever really seeing periods of true clarity during the winter. This is because Kyrgyzstan is a very poor country- it can hardly afford to feed and clothe itself so I understand why snow-removal is not a top priority of the country’s government. So what happens when the collected snow isn’t removed and instead is just trampled by cars, horses, sheep, people, etc. Well, it turns to ice. And this is where the problems start. Kids love this, Kyrgyz children have a remarkable sense of balance and it is truly common sight to see kids take a daring running start and slide a good 20 feet. Impressive. Unfortunately, being the klutz I am, I can not nearly as successfully cope with such slippery areas. More often than not, I just fall (which is when I get to experience one of that aspects of Kyrgyz reaction that does actually upset me a little bit- instead of helping me up or asking if I am okay or even ignoring me, if someone falls, the almost universal immediate response is “Should have been more careful” Thanks… That would have been more useful BEFORE I fell…) Regardless, I fall a fair amount here and have learned a few tricks (walking on the toes of your feet, walking super slow, titling your head forward) to reduce the likelihood of my falling while increasing the ridiculousness of how I look.
But I have strayed from my original topic- snow removal is treacherous for pedestrians and also causes a huge amount of automotive accidents each year… I personally have seen vehicles slip off the road, hit each other, and winter taxis and marshrutkas are always at least a bit of a gamble. But in my opinion, winter this year here isn’t made so hard by ice on the roads- it is made by a much more pertinent problem of not having heat.
I live in an apartment that was built during the Soviet Union to house workers at a factory that made construction supplies. During the Soviet Union- this was a really great place- it had a toilet, refrigerator, running hot and cold water, really the works for a village in which the vast majority of people have outdoor toilets and have to fetch their water from a public well or spigot. But nowadays, while they are still good (I still have a working fridge and toilet and the water is on for at least a few hours each day when it isn’t off for three weeks at a time) the central heating system that was providing heat and hot water 20 years ago no longer works. This means that my apartment, other than the Peace Corps issued electric heater, has no heat. This is bad- most mornings I wake up and my kitchen is about 40 degrees (Fahrenheit). Brr… But I have been coping with this problem by using a combination of my Peace Corps heater and what I have dubbed my “Heat Tent 2.0” (to distinguish it from the useful but less successful Heat Tent 1.0). This is a really fabulous invention. It combines the heat of a heater with the heat-trapping ability of a tent to make a livable area in my apartment. I sleep in it and do most of my work in it, I just cook and eat outside of it. Essentially all I did was place some old sheets and drapes over a line I strung over my bed, but boy does it work! It gets right nice and toasty in there! So if you’ve called or chatted with me recently, you probably know how much I like my heat tent, but it really has improved my quality of life in this country and in my apartment.
Anyhow, I am tired of talking about heat and cold and ice and snow for know, but it is usually one of my favorite topics to talk about so feel free to ask questions and I will do my best to reply…
Heat Tent 2.0 4eva!
Dien Blogadariena - Thanks Giving!
21:40 30 November 2009
Mmm… Thanksgiving dinner was DELICIOUS!!! We all gathered at fellow volunteer Lynnie’s house and had a pot-luck style dinner complete with stuffing, cranberries, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, veggies, and in place of turkey, four delicious rotisserie chickens. We all went the first round and then chilled out for a while and then had a much more disgusting and more awesome second round that primarily consisted of seven volunteers standing around in mostly silence munching on chicken and scooping up the rest of the fixings… Yum… I have no manners.
After the dinner itself we were planning on going home but in our path was a new club- CCCP (USSR) and with its thumping beats, Soviet decorum, enticing location, and spotlight, it drew us in where we decided to work off that Thanksgiving meal by dancing it all away. I have been to a few clubs in Kyrgyzstan (and honestly, I don’t really know if it is really part of being a volunteer) but this was far and away the best I have been too. Most clubs in Kyrgyzstan are dimly lit renovated sports halls with bad music from somebody’s mp3 player and maybe a disco-ball. But at CCCP, the music was great (still crapping Russian pop for the most part- but I have to admit that it is growing on me) and it was actually spun really well, in comparison to the awkward pauses and silences that plague some of the nightclubs here. The lighting was good, there was a fog machine, and the whole place was made to play off of the old Soviet Union- all the workers wore the Pinoneer’s uniform (the Soviet’s mandatory participation version of the Boy/Girl Scouts). So pretty much, it was a great time dancing and getting rid of the lethargy that was followed by the gluttony of earlier and made what was a good night a great one.
Mmm… Thanksgiving dinner was DELICIOUS!!! We all gathered at fellow volunteer Lynnie’s house and had a pot-luck style dinner complete with stuffing, cranberries, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, veggies, and in place of turkey, four delicious rotisserie chickens. We all went the first round and then chilled out for a while and then had a much more disgusting and more awesome second round that primarily consisted of seven volunteers standing around in mostly silence munching on chicken and scooping up the rest of the fixings… Yum… I have no manners.
After the dinner itself we were planning on going home but in our path was a new club- CCCP (USSR) and with its thumping beats, Soviet decorum, enticing location, and spotlight, it drew us in where we decided to work off that Thanksgiving meal by dancing it all away. I have been to a few clubs in Kyrgyzstan (and honestly, I don’t really know if it is really part of being a volunteer) but this was far and away the best I have been too. Most clubs in Kyrgyzstan are dimly lit renovated sports halls with bad music from somebody’s mp3 player and maybe a disco-ball. But at CCCP, the music was great (still crapping Russian pop for the most part- but I have to admit that it is growing on me) and it was actually spun really well, in comparison to the awkward pauses and silences that plague some of the nightclubs here. The lighting was good, there was a fog machine, and the whole place was made to play off of the old Soviet Union- all the workers wore the Pinoneer’s uniform (the Soviet’s mandatory participation version of the Boy/Girl Scouts). So pretty much, it was a great time dancing and getting rid of the lethargy that was followed by the gluttony of earlier and made what was a good night a great one.
Russian Wedding Pictures
Wow, free and fast internet is awesome. That's why I'm putting up so many pictures...
Russian Wedding!
21:35 16 November 2009
Yesterday I returned again from Chuy oblast for the second time in the month- that’s about 13 hours of sitting on a marshrutka, usually crammed next to a huge older woman that is taking up half your seat, which was really not designed for anyone over the height of 4’10” anyhow- yeah, not so comfortable, but pretty darn cheap (it’s about seven dollars to get a similar distance as Washington to New York, even on a Chinatown bus you can’t do that good)
I digress, the reason that I went to Bishkek for the second time this month is because I was invited to my training host-sister’s wedding. I mentioned in an earlier entry how I had come to visit my PST host family and found out the dual news of my host-grandmother/mother dying but then the happier news of Alyona, my host sister’s upcoming marriage. So despite not having enough funds, I wanted to be there for the family during this happy time and I made the long and expensive trek to Chuy Oblast once again.
While I had been to many Kyrgyz weddings, as you may have remember- I wrote about them, I had never attended an ethnically Russian couple’s wedding. They are different in a whole lot of ways. First of all, the wedding is not just a ceremony and a party- it is an entire process that takes pretty much all day. After staying up late the night before getting ready, we woke up early to go prepare the house that the initial reception of the groom was going to come to. At this house they prepared decorations, food, and a type of event that they call “concourses”. Concourses are very common here and are used for everything from parties to celebrations to English-language demonstrations. They are part games, part presentations, part music… basically they are a variety show on a particular theme- in the case of the wedding they were all love themes. I suppose to describe the actual events of the concourse on this day. As the groom and his party drove up to the house, he exited the car and the bride’s party (including me) stopped him at the entrance way- his first task was to demonstrate his strength by chopping some wood. So, tuxedo-clad, and in mid-teens cold, he did as instructed and proceeded to the gate of the house. The gate was locked and the groom was presented with a three liter jar of tomato juice and his party asked to down it to find the key. Well after the groom and a couple other fellows from his party took turns sipping at the cold liquid, a babushka (grandmother) said something to the tune of “Oh screw this!” and rolled up her sleeve and retrieved the key. As you can see, the concourse was primarily to be a test of Igor’s (the husband) love and dedication to Alyona despite each obstacle placed in his way.
In addition to the test of love, there was another component to the whole action- money, money, money!!! After these first two steps each further one had a financial component. As Igor and his party entered through the gate he was confronted with a poster paper which all the girls (including Alyona) had kissed after applying lipstick- he was required to find her lips and each time he guessed wrong had to pay a fine. Further, he was required to spell her name out in money (something he tried to do initially by taking 5 one som coins and saying “Ah” “Leh” “Yu” “Heh” “Ah”- this was judged unsatisfactory by the bride’s party and they did a more satisfactory job with 10 and 20 som bills…). At this point, there were about 100 people in the courtyard of the house all shouting and yelling and trying to get inside with the bride’s party demanding more money and the grooms complaining about the cold (something we had little sympathy for as we had been outside waiting for them for a good 90 minutes before they came) and trying (with large degrees of success) to get everyone to take shots of vodka. But eventually (after having to spontaneously compose poetry about Alyona and show off his dance skills and shouting his love for her) Igor got inside and this is where the real bidding arose. There sat Alyona (looking absolutely beautiful in her white wedding dress) next to her brother Maksim and it was the groom’s party’s responsibility to “buy” that seat from Maksim so that they could proceed with the wedding. A fierce round of negotiating began with them offering Maksim increasingly large sums of money and asking him to name a price, to which he replied quite wittily, “you keep throwing down money and I’ll tell you when…” after numerous pauses in the negotiation, he continued with “Well, if you don’t want to shell out for her, it doesn’t matter to me, I am sure someone else would be willing to pay for such a beautiful bride.” But eventually a price was settled on- 2,000 soms (about $50) and Igor was able to sit next to his bride as everyone breathed a sigh of relief and took celebratory shots.
Naturally, after shots comes driving- (Haha, joke- the drivers were pretty sober) and we went to the Gost-Register, which unfortunately is not where the ghosts much register, but where civil contracts are made. Because of the USSR, religious weddings are relatively uncommon (though growing) and most couples have the actually ceremony of marriage in a government building. So it was done, in a pretty typical ceremony they exchanged rings, said vows, and popped some champagne. Then it was time to really party!
Well, not yet actually, first we had to do a Bishkek tradition of “walking” despite the flimsy-thinness of the dress, tradition dictates that new couples walk around the scenic areas of Bishkek to take pictures and show of their new love. So we did and as I was the official unofficial photographer, I was on hand to document everything that went on. We figured it was enough when both Igor and Alyona were literally shivering from the cold and unable to hold still for pictures any longer, but we really did get some nice pictures that will make a good keepsake for the couple.
So now, finally, it’s time to party (and eat perhaps more importantly- I was starving!). We arrived to the café where the reception was held at about 1600 and immediately start pouring Papa Kolya’s home-made wine, vodka shots, and home made pear juice, and stuffing our faces with a delicious variety of snacks, salads, breads, and sweets. This is the part of the weddings that I had been to that were Kyrgyz so I expected it to be very similar- and in some respects it was- there was dancing and toasts and all those nice things, but there were a lot of differences. First of all- Russian people are crazy. And I mean this in a totally positive and happy way- they are totally unselfconscious about themselves when it comes to dancing and having fun, and that translates into everything from a fat guy in a cape and no shirt playing a inflatable guitar with an Uncle Sam hat on to me and my host brother and the groom and a bunch of others doing a can-can to American 50’s music. The music was also surprisingly good- while there was a lot of the typical Russian crap pop, there was also a lot of funky old songs and even some, as I mentioned, American oldies, that really pleased me. It was fun, a lot of fun, and there was a lot of dancing (and less toasting, which suited me just fine).
After about eight hours of eating, dancing, drinking, and repeating that cycle, it was time to pack up and go home. I helped my family gather all the left-overs and then traveled home with them in a marshrutka to return and lay down for blessed, blessed sleep. The next morning I left early back to site but left with them the nearly 800 pictures I took- that will be a nice keepsake for them. And for me- well, it was a truly great experience and one that I will certainly never forget in my life.
Yesterday I returned again from Chuy oblast for the second time in the month- that’s about 13 hours of sitting on a marshrutka, usually crammed next to a huge older woman that is taking up half your seat, which was really not designed for anyone over the height of 4’10” anyhow- yeah, not so comfortable, but pretty darn cheap (it’s about seven dollars to get a similar distance as Washington to New York, even on a Chinatown bus you can’t do that good)
I digress, the reason that I went to Bishkek for the second time this month is because I was invited to my training host-sister’s wedding. I mentioned in an earlier entry how I had come to visit my PST host family and found out the dual news of my host-grandmother/mother dying but then the happier news of Alyona, my host sister’s upcoming marriage. So despite not having enough funds, I wanted to be there for the family during this happy time and I made the long and expensive trek to Chuy Oblast once again.
While I had been to many Kyrgyz weddings, as you may have remember- I wrote about them, I had never attended an ethnically Russian couple’s wedding. They are different in a whole lot of ways. First of all, the wedding is not just a ceremony and a party- it is an entire process that takes pretty much all day. After staying up late the night before getting ready, we woke up early to go prepare the house that the initial reception of the groom was going to come to. At this house they prepared decorations, food, and a type of event that they call “concourses”. Concourses are very common here and are used for everything from parties to celebrations to English-language demonstrations. They are part games, part presentations, part music… basically they are a variety show on a particular theme- in the case of the wedding they were all love themes. I suppose to describe the actual events of the concourse on this day. As the groom and his party drove up to the house, he exited the car and the bride’s party (including me) stopped him at the entrance way- his first task was to demonstrate his strength by chopping some wood. So, tuxedo-clad, and in mid-teens cold, he did as instructed and proceeded to the gate of the house. The gate was locked and the groom was presented with a three liter jar of tomato juice and his party asked to down it to find the key. Well after the groom and a couple other fellows from his party took turns sipping at the cold liquid, a babushka (grandmother) said something to the tune of “Oh screw this!” and rolled up her sleeve and retrieved the key. As you can see, the concourse was primarily to be a test of Igor’s (the husband) love and dedication to Alyona despite each obstacle placed in his way.
In addition to the test of love, there was another component to the whole action- money, money, money!!! After these first two steps each further one had a financial component. As Igor and his party entered through the gate he was confronted with a poster paper which all the girls (including Alyona) had kissed after applying lipstick- he was required to find her lips and each time he guessed wrong had to pay a fine. Further, he was required to spell her name out in money (something he tried to do initially by taking 5 one som coins and saying “Ah” “Leh” “Yu” “Heh” “Ah”- this was judged unsatisfactory by the bride’s party and they did a more satisfactory job with 10 and 20 som bills…). At this point, there were about 100 people in the courtyard of the house all shouting and yelling and trying to get inside with the bride’s party demanding more money and the grooms complaining about the cold (something we had little sympathy for as we had been outside waiting for them for a good 90 minutes before they came) and trying (with large degrees of success) to get everyone to take shots of vodka. But eventually (after having to spontaneously compose poetry about Alyona and show off his dance skills and shouting his love for her) Igor got inside and this is where the real bidding arose. There sat Alyona (looking absolutely beautiful in her white wedding dress) next to her brother Maksim and it was the groom’s party’s responsibility to “buy” that seat from Maksim so that they could proceed with the wedding. A fierce round of negotiating began with them offering Maksim increasingly large sums of money and asking him to name a price, to which he replied quite wittily, “you keep throwing down money and I’ll tell you when…” after numerous pauses in the negotiation, he continued with “Well, if you don’t want to shell out for her, it doesn’t matter to me, I am sure someone else would be willing to pay for such a beautiful bride.” But eventually a price was settled on- 2,000 soms (about $50) and Igor was able to sit next to his bride as everyone breathed a sigh of relief and took celebratory shots.
Naturally, after shots comes driving- (Haha, joke- the drivers were pretty sober) and we went to the Gost-Register, which unfortunately is not where the ghosts much register, but where civil contracts are made. Because of the USSR, religious weddings are relatively uncommon (though growing) and most couples have the actually ceremony of marriage in a government building. So it was done, in a pretty typical ceremony they exchanged rings, said vows, and popped some champagne. Then it was time to really party!
Well, not yet actually, first we had to do a Bishkek tradition of “walking” despite the flimsy-thinness of the dress, tradition dictates that new couples walk around the scenic areas of Bishkek to take pictures and show of their new love. So we did and as I was the official unofficial photographer, I was on hand to document everything that went on. We figured it was enough when both Igor and Alyona were literally shivering from the cold and unable to hold still for pictures any longer, but we really did get some nice pictures that will make a good keepsake for the couple.
So now, finally, it’s time to party (and eat perhaps more importantly- I was starving!). We arrived to the café where the reception was held at about 1600 and immediately start pouring Papa Kolya’s home-made wine, vodka shots, and home made pear juice, and stuffing our faces with a delicious variety of snacks, salads, breads, and sweets. This is the part of the weddings that I had been to that were Kyrgyz so I expected it to be very similar- and in some respects it was- there was dancing and toasts and all those nice things, but there were a lot of differences. First of all- Russian people are crazy. And I mean this in a totally positive and happy way- they are totally unselfconscious about themselves when it comes to dancing and having fun, and that translates into everything from a fat guy in a cape and no shirt playing a inflatable guitar with an Uncle Sam hat on to me and my host brother and the groom and a bunch of others doing a can-can to American 50’s music. The music was also surprisingly good- while there was a lot of the typical Russian crap pop, there was also a lot of funky old songs and even some, as I mentioned, American oldies, that really pleased me. It was fun, a lot of fun, and there was a lot of dancing (and less toasting, which suited me just fine).
After about eight hours of eating, dancing, drinking, and repeating that cycle, it was time to pack up and go home. I helped my family gather all the left-overs and then traveled home with them in a marshrutka to return and lay down for blessed, blessed sleep. The next morning I left early back to site but left with them the nearly 800 pictures I took- that will be a nice keepsake for them. And for me- well, it was a truly great experience and one that I will certainly never forget in my life.
11 November 2009
Snowy village pictures
Images of a Jehova's Witness that lives in my village and always tries to convert me (in a very friendly manner though), the statue of Lenin in front of my school that looks like he is wearing a life-preserver, a shepherd with sheep grazing them through the snow, and the hazards of doing laundry during winter-time...
Snow, snow, go away, even though you're here to stay...
22:00 10 November 2009
I feel like one can judge the spirit of someone by their reaction to snow. If it is one of giddiness and excitement, they are young and full of hope; if it is gloomy and disappointed, they are old and cynical. Well, I think I have finally crossed that line. Even last year (a year which by everyone’s account was incredibly mild and had little snow) I still got excited whenever it snowed, which even though it was mild, was still a lot more than at home. This winter, by everyone’s account, will not be so forgiving, and so far it has proven to be so.
The first snow of the season (on the lower lands around the lake, it has been in the hills and mountains for a while) was yesterday but was just a dusting that quickly melted. However, as I arose this morning, I found myself mortified looking out the window at about ten inches of snow already on the ground and not far from white-out conditions as the snow fell horizontally. Yikes. It was cold, but not too bad, by the time I got up it was already almost 30 degrees outside, but the wind and stinging snow made my walk to school absolutely miserable. The direction of my walk brought the wind into my into my face exactly; it was so strong and the snow so stinging that I couldn’t even raise my face up and had to continuously look down at the five feet in front of me. Luckily the same wind had intensity (lesser) but not direction for my walk home and so in addition to keeping the snow off my face and myself pretty warm as I walked back, the wind also helped propel me along the slippery way.
Unsurprisingly, outside the yard of a house, snow removal is non-existent and pedestrians are left to wander the roads single file searching for car tracks to trudge along. Often, in the semi-frozen conditions of today’s snow, you are left to step into what is certainly a icy muddy puddle or a fresh snow bank with a mystery at the bottom. The potholes, open manholes, ragged pavement, and uncovered gutters become even more dangerous with the introduction of a concealing layer of fresh powder.
By the time the snow had finally finished this afternoon it lay thick on the ground, up to about a foot and a half in places… That’s a lot of snow for me, more than I have seen in a long time, and I think not much less than the entire quantity we got last year. And while my twenty minute trek to school left me hating life and cursing the cold, once the wind died down and I walked home, I appreciated a little bit that indeed, it was really beautiful outside. So while I can’t say that I am looking forward to this winter, I just have to keep a good attitude and look at the positive sides of this cold and snow- beautiful landscapes and good skiing. Saori, a true hater of the cold though, probably is glad that she’s not here for this one… :o)
(Interesting Post Script: I just looked back through all my entries and apparently last year, the first real snow was on November 11th, just about the same time as this year, and according to that journal entry I was not as excited as I remembered… I guess perhaps even a year ago I was already too jaded to enjoy it.)
I feel like one can judge the spirit of someone by their reaction to snow. If it is one of giddiness and excitement, they are young and full of hope; if it is gloomy and disappointed, they are old and cynical. Well, I think I have finally crossed that line. Even last year (a year which by everyone’s account was incredibly mild and had little snow) I still got excited whenever it snowed, which even though it was mild, was still a lot more than at home. This winter, by everyone’s account, will not be so forgiving, and so far it has proven to be so.
The first snow of the season (on the lower lands around the lake, it has been in the hills and mountains for a while) was yesterday but was just a dusting that quickly melted. However, as I arose this morning, I found myself mortified looking out the window at about ten inches of snow already on the ground and not far from white-out conditions as the snow fell horizontally. Yikes. It was cold, but not too bad, by the time I got up it was already almost 30 degrees outside, but the wind and stinging snow made my walk to school absolutely miserable. The direction of my walk brought the wind into my into my face exactly; it was so strong and the snow so stinging that I couldn’t even raise my face up and had to continuously look down at the five feet in front of me. Luckily the same wind had intensity (lesser) but not direction for my walk home and so in addition to keeping the snow off my face and myself pretty warm as I walked back, the wind also helped propel me along the slippery way.
Unsurprisingly, outside the yard of a house, snow removal is non-existent and pedestrians are left to wander the roads single file searching for car tracks to trudge along. Often, in the semi-frozen conditions of today’s snow, you are left to step into what is certainly a icy muddy puddle or a fresh snow bank with a mystery at the bottom. The potholes, open manholes, ragged pavement, and uncovered gutters become even more dangerous with the introduction of a concealing layer of fresh powder.
By the time the snow had finally finished this afternoon it lay thick on the ground, up to about a foot and a half in places… That’s a lot of snow for me, more than I have seen in a long time, and I think not much less than the entire quantity we got last year. And while my twenty minute trek to school left me hating life and cursing the cold, once the wind died down and I walked home, I appreciated a little bit that indeed, it was really beautiful outside. So while I can’t say that I am looking forward to this winter, I just have to keep a good attitude and look at the positive sides of this cold and snow- beautiful landscapes and good skiing. Saori, a true hater of the cold though, probably is glad that she’s not here for this one… :o)
(Interesting Post Script: I just looked back through all my entries and apparently last year, the first real snow was on November 11th, just about the same time as this year, and according to that journal entry I was not as excited as I remembered… I guess perhaps even a year ago I was already too jaded to enjoy it.)
Why, that is just capital!
21:35 08 November 2009
I just got back from three days in Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan, and have a lot to report from the trip. First of all, I went during the time of our quarter-end break which was a week long but passed much more quickly. I went for two main reasons, to visit a lot of people I hadn’t seen in a while and to hopefully buy tickets for a vacation this winter. Luckily, I was successful on both accounts. You’ve already read the sad story that was the dark cloud over my trip, but other than that I had a wonderful time.
Thursday night I spent with my youngest host sister Aijan who is studying in Bishkek. I hung out with her, her cousin, and one of her roommates in great Kyrgyz-style, eventually sleeping the four roommates and me all on the floor of a one bedroom apartment. I felt very integrated and treated like family. It was great, and I met for the first time my cousin’s older brother (I have met my cousin many times, she and Aijan both speak competent English but we usually speak a weird mix of Russian, English, and random Kyrgyz that they have taught me when we are together). But the brother used to be a member of an elite Kyrgyz military group and meeting him and seeing the pictures from his service (there was a lot of joint training with US military personnel) was really interesting for me.
Coming to my original host family, other than the sad news I already reported, I found out that my twenty one year old host sister Alyuna is getting married! She has been dating a guy since I have been in training and so amid their sadness there is the joy of Alyuna’s upcoming marriage. I am hoping to go once again this Friday to go to the wedding. Should be exciting and fun and a good event for the family to come together for a joyous occasion. I have been to and chronicled Kyrgyz weddings so I will be excited to see a Russian one, I am sure there will be many differences!
Ah, but perhaps the biggest news from my trip to Bishkek was that I bought tickets for a winter trip to Japan! As you can imagine, I have been missing Saori quite a bit since she left, and I will be overjoyed to be reunited with her in December for a few weeks. I have to admit, that I think that the culture shock will overwhelm me- Tokyo is even more developed than US cities and hearing her stories of the technology there make my head spin (their toilet is button operated and has all sorts of special features like a heated seat and music or something- my toilet flushes with a bucket of water…)
While I went primarily to visit Host Country Nationals that I have been close with, I also was excited my last night there to visit with some volunteers that are from Chuy oblast. I stayed with one of them (the one with whom I played Frisbee when I first got to my training village, if you remember that far back) and it was great to catch up with all of my friends from the capitol region. Also, I one a bunch at poker! Well, actually only about $3.50, but that’s a lot here! All in all though, it was a great trip to Chuy oblast and I am very happy that I was able to go.
I just got back from three days in Bishkek, the capital city of Kyrgyzstan, and have a lot to report from the trip. First of all, I went during the time of our quarter-end break which was a week long but passed much more quickly. I went for two main reasons, to visit a lot of people I hadn’t seen in a while and to hopefully buy tickets for a vacation this winter. Luckily, I was successful on both accounts. You’ve already read the sad story that was the dark cloud over my trip, but other than that I had a wonderful time.
Thursday night I spent with my youngest host sister Aijan who is studying in Bishkek. I hung out with her, her cousin, and one of her roommates in great Kyrgyz-style, eventually sleeping the four roommates and me all on the floor of a one bedroom apartment. I felt very integrated and treated like family. It was great, and I met for the first time my cousin’s older brother (I have met my cousin many times, she and Aijan both speak competent English but we usually speak a weird mix of Russian, English, and random Kyrgyz that they have taught me when we are together). But the brother used to be a member of an elite Kyrgyz military group and meeting him and seeing the pictures from his service (there was a lot of joint training with US military personnel) was really interesting for me.
Coming to my original host family, other than the sad news I already reported, I found out that my twenty one year old host sister Alyuna is getting married! She has been dating a guy since I have been in training and so amid their sadness there is the joy of Alyuna’s upcoming marriage. I am hoping to go once again this Friday to go to the wedding. Should be exciting and fun and a good event for the family to come together for a joyous occasion. I have been to and chronicled Kyrgyz weddings so I will be excited to see a Russian one, I am sure there will be many differences!
Ah, but perhaps the biggest news from my trip to Bishkek was that I bought tickets for a winter trip to Japan! As you can imagine, I have been missing Saori quite a bit since she left, and I will be overjoyed to be reunited with her in December for a few weeks. I have to admit, that I think that the culture shock will overwhelm me- Tokyo is even more developed than US cities and hearing her stories of the technology there make my head spin (their toilet is button operated and has all sorts of special features like a heated seat and music or something- my toilet flushes with a bucket of water…)
While I went primarily to visit Host Country Nationals that I have been close with, I also was excited my last night there to visit with some volunteers that are from Chuy oblast. I stayed with one of them (the one with whom I played Frisbee when I first got to my training village, if you remember that far back) and it was great to catch up with all of my friends from the capitol region. Also, I one a bunch at poker! Well, actually only about $3.50, but that’s a lot here! All in all though, it was a great trip to Chuy oblast and I am very happy that I was able to go.
R.I.P.
20:00 08 November 2009
I was originally going to include this post as part of the one that follows it, but felt that it really should stand alone.
It had been too long since I last visited my original host family. You probably don’t remember, but I lived with my host mom Mama Luba (actually grandmother, but functioned as my host mom as she was the one that cooked for me, got me up, yelled at me when I didn’t do something right, and basically was the biggest person that aided me with my integration into Kyrgyzstan), her husband Papa Kolya, their daughter Irina, and their grandchildren Alyuna and Maksim (20 and 17 years old). The expense and travel restrictions of Bishkek mean that I rarely go to the capital city of the country (from which my old host family lives about 25 minutes away) and the last time I had seen them was before I went to Russia. It had been too long and I figured my upcoming Fall break was a good opportunity to see friends and family in capital.
As soon as I got to the house I knew something was wrong. Irina greeted me at the gate with a friendly but subdued greeting and when I entered I could tell immediately that something was off about the atmosphere. Mama Luba was absent. Papa Kolya was happy to see me, but was visibly disturbed. The atmosphere at the table was quiet, something that in three months of living there I don’t think I ever observed- dinner was usually a cacophony of argument which at first seemed to be hostile and unfriendly but later turned out to be nothing more than silly arguments about the exact location of a café in town, how much eggs were selling for at the bazaar, or whether they should eat raspberry or strawberry jam. It wasn’t until we after finished eating though that my fears were realized. After I saw Papa Kolya petting the dog and asking “Do you miss Luba? I bet you do… It’s boring without her, isn’t it?” I decided to ask “I am scared to ask, but where is she?” to which, he replied, saying what I hoped not to hear, that she died. Apparently she had been in a hospital for a bit, come home, and then died at home a few days before I got there.
The pain visible in the family wasn’t the dull remembrance of a loved one that I remembered from the Koran recitation at my new village host family, but the acute pain that comes with recent loss. Still people in the village were just finding out and a few came to give their condolences and talk about Mama Luba while I was there. She is someone that probably will not be remembered by many people outside of my training village, but I know that she made a big difference in my life and the life of the other volunteers that were hosted by them. She was a strong woman, forceful in her opinion and rarely convinced that she was wrong. She was also an incredibly… I can’t find the English word for it, but she was shustraya- funny, clever, joking, and a little mischievous. She loved to play pranks on the other Pre-Service Training families and would call them up to tell jokes. She taught me how to do laundry by hand and she criticized me for making the bed wrong and yelled at me for helping shovel another families coal. She mended my pants and told me I needed to iron my clothes more than I did. She praised me for my willingness to help out around the house and my language. She was funny, and strong, and perhaps one of the “realest” people I have ever met.
Mama Luba
1946-2009
Goodbye, I will miss you.
I was originally going to include this post as part of the one that follows it, but felt that it really should stand alone.
It had been too long since I last visited my original host family. You probably don’t remember, but I lived with my host mom Mama Luba (actually grandmother, but functioned as my host mom as she was the one that cooked for me, got me up, yelled at me when I didn’t do something right, and basically was the biggest person that aided me with my integration into Kyrgyzstan), her husband Papa Kolya, their daughter Irina, and their grandchildren Alyuna and Maksim (20 and 17 years old). The expense and travel restrictions of Bishkek mean that I rarely go to the capital city of the country (from which my old host family lives about 25 minutes away) and the last time I had seen them was before I went to Russia. It had been too long and I figured my upcoming Fall break was a good opportunity to see friends and family in capital.
As soon as I got to the house I knew something was wrong. Irina greeted me at the gate with a friendly but subdued greeting and when I entered I could tell immediately that something was off about the atmosphere. Mama Luba was absent. Papa Kolya was happy to see me, but was visibly disturbed. The atmosphere at the table was quiet, something that in three months of living there I don’t think I ever observed- dinner was usually a cacophony of argument which at first seemed to be hostile and unfriendly but later turned out to be nothing more than silly arguments about the exact location of a café in town, how much eggs were selling for at the bazaar, or whether they should eat raspberry or strawberry jam. It wasn’t until we after finished eating though that my fears were realized. After I saw Papa Kolya petting the dog and asking “Do you miss Luba? I bet you do… It’s boring without her, isn’t it?” I decided to ask “I am scared to ask, but where is she?” to which, he replied, saying what I hoped not to hear, that she died. Apparently she had been in a hospital for a bit, come home, and then died at home a few days before I got there.
The pain visible in the family wasn’t the dull remembrance of a loved one that I remembered from the Koran recitation at my new village host family, but the acute pain that comes with recent loss. Still people in the village were just finding out and a few came to give their condolences and talk about Mama Luba while I was there. She is someone that probably will not be remembered by many people outside of my training village, but I know that she made a big difference in my life and the life of the other volunteers that were hosted by them. She was a strong woman, forceful in her opinion and rarely convinced that she was wrong. She was also an incredibly… I can’t find the English word for it, but she was shustraya- funny, clever, joking, and a little mischievous. She loved to play pranks on the other Pre-Service Training families and would call them up to tell jokes. She taught me how to do laundry by hand and she criticized me for making the bed wrong and yelled at me for helping shovel another families coal. She mended my pants and told me I needed to iron my clothes more than I did. She praised me for my willingness to help out around the house and my language. She was funny, and strong, and perhaps one of the “realest” people I have ever met.
Mama Luba
1946-2009
Goodbye, I will miss you.
Halloween Fun
16:45 02 November 2009
This last weekend I celebrated Halloween with fellow volunteers in nearby Karakol city. While there were less than ten of us, we managed to have a good time together and were dressed in an assortment of odd costumes that certainly gave the Kyrgyz who saw us on our walk home reason to pause and stare… Haha. As I discussed earlier, I dressed up as Goose from Top Gun and wore the shortest pair of shorts I hope ever to wear in my life. All in all it was a good time though, and a great way to blow of some steam that builds up in the village.
This last weekend I celebrated Halloween with fellow volunteers in nearby Karakol city. While there were less than ten of us, we managed to have a good time together and were dressed in an assortment of odd costumes that certainly gave the Kyrgyz who saw us on our walk home reason to pause and stare… Haha. As I discussed earlier, I dressed up as Goose from Top Gun and wore the shortest pair of shorts I hope ever to wear in my life. All in all it was a good time though, and a great way to blow of some steam that builds up in the village.
"Success Challenged Activity"
19:35 28 October 2009
Well, Monday I had what I suppose could be called a “mixed success” program with my leadership club. We had what on paper seemed like it could be a good idea, but the implementation for it fell through a lot and it didn’t end up at all how I and Kelechek (the name of the group) hoped it would. However, having a debrief about it at the meeting today was a good opportunity to analyze our mistakes, see what went wrong, and figure out how to correct them in the future. So while it was a bit disappointing for me Monday, I have faith that the mistakes and correcting them will prove to be a positive experience for the future.
Before Saori left, she proposed the idea of holding some type of career festival for the kids of our villages. Career festivals and even the stereotypical parents telling about their jobs day in elementary school are an integral part of many countries’ job and work cultures. Thinking about future professions and seeing the pluses and minuses of each profession is an important process to us but that here seems to get little to no attention. Before attending university or selecting a trade, students have scant opportunities to decide which profession they want to pursue and even less information on how they could go about it. Saori’s idea was to hold a type of training/informational seminar for village kids in the upper classes at schools and have people of different professions come to speak to them about their professions, how they became them, and the benefits and drawbacks about them.
After she left, Kelechek and I began to try and organize the event, first surveying schools to find which kind of professions they would be interested in hearing from, and then organizing the date and logistics of the event. While the first part went well, so well in fact that I probably relinquished too much control to the kids, the latter part was plagued with difficulties and resulted in a somewhat lackluster seminar. I spoke with Saori about how proud I was of the kids and found that my role in the group was diminishing from that of leader to that of facilitator, something excellent for the long-term sustainability of the group and would make the transition easier when I leave next year. I fear that I may have made that move too quickly though, and a discussion post-event with the Director of the Dotz (the organization and place where we meet) where she expressed her disappointment went something like “Yes, they are doing well and are motivated and organized, but they are still kids and sometimes you need to step in and make sure they are taking the proper steps.”
The event Monday was significantly smaller than we hoped. We invited 45 students and about 20 showed up (and more than half of those late). But more importantly, out of the ten people that we invited to speak about their professions, only three showed up and we found two last minute to talk in lieu of the others. Other problems abounded with time limits and the speakers needing to leave early, the questions our kids prepared with sloppy and off-topic, and their was no clear flow of the program as a whole. We had designed this day as an experiment, with the hope of doing school-wide assemblies on the same topic in the future throughout the village. And while it did not go as planned, speaking with the participants after the seminar, it did seem like they still gained some interesting information and knowledge.
I won’t bore you with the details of how we plan to improve it in the future here, but I believe that future events based around the same principles could yield a lot of success and a very under-examined portion of Kyrgyz children’s lives.
Well, Monday I had what I suppose could be called a “mixed success” program with my leadership club. We had what on paper seemed like it could be a good idea, but the implementation for it fell through a lot and it didn’t end up at all how I and Kelechek (the name of the group) hoped it would. However, having a debrief about it at the meeting today was a good opportunity to analyze our mistakes, see what went wrong, and figure out how to correct them in the future. So while it was a bit disappointing for me Monday, I have faith that the mistakes and correcting them will prove to be a positive experience for the future.
Before Saori left, she proposed the idea of holding some type of career festival for the kids of our villages. Career festivals and even the stereotypical parents telling about their jobs day in elementary school are an integral part of many countries’ job and work cultures. Thinking about future professions and seeing the pluses and minuses of each profession is an important process to us but that here seems to get little to no attention. Before attending university or selecting a trade, students have scant opportunities to decide which profession they want to pursue and even less information on how they could go about it. Saori’s idea was to hold a type of training/informational seminar for village kids in the upper classes at schools and have people of different professions come to speak to them about their professions, how they became them, and the benefits and drawbacks about them.
After she left, Kelechek and I began to try and organize the event, first surveying schools to find which kind of professions they would be interested in hearing from, and then organizing the date and logistics of the event. While the first part went well, so well in fact that I probably relinquished too much control to the kids, the latter part was plagued with difficulties and resulted in a somewhat lackluster seminar. I spoke with Saori about how proud I was of the kids and found that my role in the group was diminishing from that of leader to that of facilitator, something excellent for the long-term sustainability of the group and would make the transition easier when I leave next year. I fear that I may have made that move too quickly though, and a discussion post-event with the Director of the Dotz (the organization and place where we meet) where she expressed her disappointment went something like “Yes, they are doing well and are motivated and organized, but they are still kids and sometimes you need to step in and make sure they are taking the proper steps.”
The event Monday was significantly smaller than we hoped. We invited 45 students and about 20 showed up (and more than half of those late). But more importantly, out of the ten people that we invited to speak about their professions, only three showed up and we found two last minute to talk in lieu of the others. Other problems abounded with time limits and the speakers needing to leave early, the questions our kids prepared with sloppy and off-topic, and their was no clear flow of the program as a whole. We had designed this day as an experiment, with the hope of doing school-wide assemblies on the same topic in the future throughout the village. And while it did not go as planned, speaking with the participants after the seminar, it did seem like they still gained some interesting information and knowledge.
I won’t bore you with the details of how we plan to improve it in the future here, but I believe that future events based around the same principles could yield a lot of success and a very under-examined portion of Kyrgyz children’s lives.
23 October 2009
Kyrgyzstache
11:15 23 October 2009
I’m looking to get some feedback on a new look I’ve been rocking recently. I had a goatee for quite some time ad was decided that it was time for a new look a few weeks ago. So I was just going to shave it all off, and started to, but decided just for fun to leave a mustache for the day, with no intent of showing anyone. I forgot about it however and went to the bazaar later that day with my gloriously sheathed upper lip. I got a few strange looks, and was wondering why that was. Of course… it was because I was wearing a mustache. I decided at the very least that I would keep it until Halloween (I make a mean Goose from Top Gun with a pair of aviators and volleyball shorts) and I planned on shocking and disgusting my fellow Peace Corps volunteers. Admittedly, somewhat to my disappointment, I didn’t receive this disgust… While a volunteer or two gave me the reaction I was hoping for, the majority didn’t notice it and some even said that it suits me! So I am now appealing to you, my readership audience to give me the truth, is it ridiculous? Does it actually look good? Should I shave it the morning of Nov. 1? I heard a rumor that mustaches are coming back in style in the States but I’m skeptical of this at best. Anyhow, I would very much appreciate your input! Thanks in advance.
20 October 2009
End of Summer Fun
Pictures of how I celebrated my birthday, on the beach of Issyk Kul with the last remnants of summer still lingering in the air- something I wish we still had now. It's getting cold!
Pictures from my Horse trek
Pictures from my August horse trek that I took with Saori. We went to the high pastures (jailos) and even to a glacier! Loads of fun.
19 October 2009
Svadbar time! (again)
14:30 18 October 2009
This weekend was a lot of fun! I found out that my extended host family (two sisters, brother in law, nieces, and a few cousins) would be in town for a wedding and I was more than pleased to meet with them, I definitely miss having that family element in my life sometimes and it was wonderful to see some of the people I am closest too for a while. Also, the way that I am treated within the family is very much as a sibling… I mentioned last week at the wedding how I felt very much part of the community, well the last two days I have felt very much part of the family. In particular, my host sister Aijan and her cousin Aidai, both of which speak English pretty well are a real riot and fun to hang out with, they are both two years younger than me, but they are really funny girls and I love to hang out with them.
While I just came to visit the family the day of the wedding, being family it was insisted that I also attend the wedding so after I went home and put on a suit, I headed over to the wedding (at the same café that I was at a week ago). The funniest part of the wedding was that the program was EXACTLY the same as a week ago. The menu, the salads, the music, the decorations, and even the games were the same ones that I had seen last week. This was funny because the MC played a joke on the couple where he gave them each a half of a cabbage and told them something was hidden in the folds of it. Fifteen minutes later and without luck, the groom and bride were informed that they just ripped up a cabbage for nothing, as the whole game was a practical joke. Being able to call this despite my host sister’s objections “No! He says that there is a prize inside the cabbage!” was funny. Overall it was just eerie having the same wedding with different people.
All things considered though, this wedding was even more fun than the one last week because of the company I kept. Rather than a few students around whom I felt an obligation to keep my professional demeanor, I was able to kick back and relax knowing I was in the careful and considerate hands of my extended family. While I didn’t drink to excess, it seems like most of the rest of my family did and a good time was had by all.
It was a great time and this morning I went back to play with my nieces and say goodbye to everyone before they headed back to Bishkek. Not terribly surprisingly all of the family woke up with horrible headaches (apparently after I went home they went back and continued drinking). It was funny to sit around and recount the night before, a scene that didn’t seem out of place to me, just it was funnier to be doing it with 40-60 year old Kyrgyz adults rather than my college buddies.
Oh, in other news, I got my internet working! I’m updating from home! Woo! Also, I have google talk, an instant message program based on gmail, and I will be on a fair amount since it is cheap for me (I pay by the megabyte and it used very few MBs). So chat with me sometime!
This weekend was a lot of fun! I found out that my extended host family (two sisters, brother in law, nieces, and a few cousins) would be in town for a wedding and I was more than pleased to meet with them, I definitely miss having that family element in my life sometimes and it was wonderful to see some of the people I am closest too for a while. Also, the way that I am treated within the family is very much as a sibling… I mentioned last week at the wedding how I felt very much part of the community, well the last two days I have felt very much part of the family. In particular, my host sister Aijan and her cousin Aidai, both of which speak English pretty well are a real riot and fun to hang out with, they are both two years younger than me, but they are really funny girls and I love to hang out with them.
While I just came to visit the family the day of the wedding, being family it was insisted that I also attend the wedding so after I went home and put on a suit, I headed over to the wedding (at the same café that I was at a week ago). The funniest part of the wedding was that the program was EXACTLY the same as a week ago. The menu, the salads, the music, the decorations, and even the games were the same ones that I had seen last week. This was funny because the MC played a joke on the couple where he gave them each a half of a cabbage and told them something was hidden in the folds of it. Fifteen minutes later and without luck, the groom and bride were informed that they just ripped up a cabbage for nothing, as the whole game was a practical joke. Being able to call this despite my host sister’s objections “No! He says that there is a prize inside the cabbage!” was funny. Overall it was just eerie having the same wedding with different people.
All things considered though, this wedding was even more fun than the one last week because of the company I kept. Rather than a few students around whom I felt an obligation to keep my professional demeanor, I was able to kick back and relax knowing I was in the careful and considerate hands of my extended family. While I didn’t drink to excess, it seems like most of the rest of my family did and a good time was had by all.
It was a great time and this morning I went back to play with my nieces and say goodbye to everyone before they headed back to Bishkek. Not terribly surprisingly all of the family woke up with horrible headaches (apparently after I went home they went back and continued drinking). It was funny to sit around and recount the night before, a scene that didn’t seem out of place to me, just it was funnier to be doing it with 40-60 year old Kyrgyz adults rather than my college buddies.
Oh, in other news, I got my internet working! I’m updating from home! Woo! Also, I have google talk, an instant message program based on gmail, and I will be on a fair amount since it is cheap for me (I pay by the megabyte and it used very few MBs). So chat with me sometime!
Cell Phones and English Clubs
23:30 15 October 2009
Well, I have some good news and some bad news. I bought a new cell phone this last weekend that should theoretically allow me to access the internet from home. This has had a negative impact on my budget for the rest of the month though… Looks like my diet will consist mainly of potatoes, bread, and tomatoes for the rest of the month but it will all be worth it if I can start accessing internet from my house!
So the good news is that probably by the time you are reading this I have obtained internet at home but the bad news is it isn’t today. I bought the phone last weekend but they did not have any USB cables left to sell so I have been waiting anxiously to be able to go back to Karakol to get one. Today was the day as I was in Karakol to cover an English club for a friend that is in the States at the moment and was able to pick up the cable! Hoorah! But it’s not working :o(. Anyhow, something is messed up with my computer so I think I will have to wipe my hard drive and see if I can get it working then.
About the English club though… I have taught a whole lot of English clubs since my service started here, probably somewhere of an average of three a week (so well over a hundred I believe) but this one today I believe was the most successful and most fun one I have ever given. Overall the schools in Karakol are better (urban flight is not the problem here that it is in the States) and the club was given only to very interested students. This meant they were already pretty advanced and SUPER motivated. I used a lesson plan I had written before but it was so much more fun when the kids where as into learning it as I was! It really gave me hope and showed me how much fun teaching English can be at its best. I’m currently applying to the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship program which would, if I am successful, provide me with an opportunity to teach in Russia for a year. Having classes like the one today make me excited at that prospect!
Well, I have some good news and some bad news. I bought a new cell phone this last weekend that should theoretically allow me to access the internet from home. This has had a negative impact on my budget for the rest of the month though… Looks like my diet will consist mainly of potatoes, bread, and tomatoes for the rest of the month but it will all be worth it if I can start accessing internet from my house!
So the good news is that probably by the time you are reading this I have obtained internet at home but the bad news is it isn’t today. I bought the phone last weekend but they did not have any USB cables left to sell so I have been waiting anxiously to be able to go back to Karakol to get one. Today was the day as I was in Karakol to cover an English club for a friend that is in the States at the moment and was able to pick up the cable! Hoorah! But it’s not working :o(. Anyhow, something is messed up with my computer so I think I will have to wipe my hard drive and see if I can get it working then.
About the English club though… I have taught a whole lot of English clubs since my service started here, probably somewhere of an average of three a week (so well over a hundred I believe) but this one today I believe was the most successful and most fun one I have ever given. Overall the schools in Karakol are better (urban flight is not the problem here that it is in the States) and the club was given only to very interested students. This meant they were already pretty advanced and SUPER motivated. I used a lesson plan I had written before but it was so much more fun when the kids where as into learning it as I was! It really gave me hope and showed me how much fun teaching English can be at its best. I’m currently applying to the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship program which would, if I am successful, provide me with an opportunity to teach in Russia for a year. Having classes like the one today make me excited at that prospect!
Svadbar time!
11:30 10 October 2009
Yesterday I had a really great experience. I was invited to and attended a wedding of the brother of one of my students. While I didn’t know him personally, it was still a lot of fun to attend a wedding, and I was the only non-Kyrgyz person out of nearly 200 (there weren’t any Russians even!). The food was great, we danced the night away, and I felt more integrated than I ever had in this country, I was really treated not as an outsider but as a member of the family. What a great experience!
As with pretty much everything in Kyrgyzstan, it started well after it was supposed to; my invitation said to come at 17:00 to the café and I stood outside for a good 90 minutes before the wedding celebration actually started. While Kyrgyzstan is nominally Muslim and certainly there is a minority of religious Muslims here, wedding traditions seem to stem more from Western/Russian influences as the bride and groom come dressed in the western traditional tux and white bridal gown. There are definitely some marked differences between Western weddings and Kyrgyz ones however.
I think the world throughout weddings are known to be times of excellent and plentiful food- certainly Kyrgyzstan is no exception to this rule and the spread started with about six or seven salads, bread, borsok (Kyrgyz national fried dough), and the obligatory alcohol. This was followed eventually by a “first” dish of a Kazahk soup with beef and noodles and then the main dish of a beef stew with a beet salad, mashed potatoes, and rice. But no Kyrgyz gathering is complete without besh barmak, the national dish which consists of pretty much just meat and noodles and is eaten with hands. While everyone eats a little of this, everyone is already stuffed at this point so people take it more lightly and the more important aspect is that everyone takes home a huge chunk of boiled meat to eat over the next couple days (this is such an established tradition that the waiters and waitresses actually supply each of the guests with plastic bags to stuff full of meat, salad, bread, etc.)
One thing I found interesting about the wedding was the way the cake was served. I don’t know what the tradition comes from, but instead of everyone getting cake, the different tables try and outbid each other to get one of two hunks of cake. Once the auction is over, the money (which at the wedding reached 2,000 som- about $50 and more than a teacher’s salary for a month) is given to the new couple in exchange for the cake- every one else goes hungry… (Not that that is possible given the rest of the food)
Given that I was with several of my students, I was careful to limit my alcohol consumption (I’ve become pretty good at resisting the huge amount of societal pressure when I want to) but that didn’t prevent me from having a lot of fun doing things other than eating. Given the mostly secular nature of most Kyrgyz, the biggest official moment was when the couple both signed the state marriage contract, something very different and much more official and divorced from the love aspect of the marriage, no kiss, no “I do’s”. But regardless, following this there was a lot of dancing, and different silly games played by everyone in attendance. One thing I have noticed about Kyrgyz gatherings and parties is that they usually have to have a program which usually includes unusual activities and games and prizes. While I haven’t been to so many weddings in the States, parts of this one seemed more like a Bar Mitzvah than a wedding but maybe I’m just ignorant.
Throughout the entire night, each of the tables should make a toast to the new bride and groom, with a few representatives from each table getting up and speaking. Despite knowing the bride or groom, but being the only foreigner there, I was asked to give a toast, something which was nerve-racking but also rewarding after I gave it and felt that I did a good job. But, as I said, it was one of the most positive experiences in this country and really made me realize that I was integrated into this communicating more than I realized I was. That’s always a good feeling.
Yesterday I had a really great experience. I was invited to and attended a wedding of the brother of one of my students. While I didn’t know him personally, it was still a lot of fun to attend a wedding, and I was the only non-Kyrgyz person out of nearly 200 (there weren’t any Russians even!). The food was great, we danced the night away, and I felt more integrated than I ever had in this country, I was really treated not as an outsider but as a member of the family. What a great experience!
As with pretty much everything in Kyrgyzstan, it started well after it was supposed to; my invitation said to come at 17:00 to the café and I stood outside for a good 90 minutes before the wedding celebration actually started. While Kyrgyzstan is nominally Muslim and certainly there is a minority of religious Muslims here, wedding traditions seem to stem more from Western/Russian influences as the bride and groom come dressed in the western traditional tux and white bridal gown. There are definitely some marked differences between Western weddings and Kyrgyz ones however.
I think the world throughout weddings are known to be times of excellent and plentiful food- certainly Kyrgyzstan is no exception to this rule and the spread started with about six or seven salads, bread, borsok (Kyrgyz national fried dough), and the obligatory alcohol. This was followed eventually by a “first” dish of a Kazahk soup with beef and noodles and then the main dish of a beef stew with a beet salad, mashed potatoes, and rice. But no Kyrgyz gathering is complete without besh barmak, the national dish which consists of pretty much just meat and noodles and is eaten with hands. While everyone eats a little of this, everyone is already stuffed at this point so people take it more lightly and the more important aspect is that everyone takes home a huge chunk of boiled meat to eat over the next couple days (this is such an established tradition that the waiters and waitresses actually supply each of the guests with plastic bags to stuff full of meat, salad, bread, etc.)
One thing I found interesting about the wedding was the way the cake was served. I don’t know what the tradition comes from, but instead of everyone getting cake, the different tables try and outbid each other to get one of two hunks of cake. Once the auction is over, the money (which at the wedding reached 2,000 som- about $50 and more than a teacher’s salary for a month) is given to the new couple in exchange for the cake- every one else goes hungry… (Not that that is possible given the rest of the food)
Given that I was with several of my students, I was careful to limit my alcohol consumption (I’ve become pretty good at resisting the huge amount of societal pressure when I want to) but that didn’t prevent me from having a lot of fun doing things other than eating. Given the mostly secular nature of most Kyrgyz, the biggest official moment was when the couple both signed the state marriage contract, something very different and much more official and divorced from the love aspect of the marriage, no kiss, no “I do’s”. But regardless, following this there was a lot of dancing, and different silly games played by everyone in attendance. One thing I have noticed about Kyrgyz gatherings and parties is that they usually have to have a program which usually includes unusual activities and games and prizes. While I haven’t been to so many weddings in the States, parts of this one seemed more like a Bar Mitzvah than a wedding but maybe I’m just ignorant.
Throughout the entire night, each of the tables should make a toast to the new bride and groom, with a few representatives from each table getting up and speaking. Despite knowing the bride or groom, but being the only foreigner there, I was asked to give a toast, something which was nerve-racking but also rewarding after I gave it and felt that I did a good job. But, as I said, it was one of the most positive experiences in this country and really made me realize that I was integrated into this communicating more than I realized I was. That’s always a good feeling.
The (not so) triumphant return!
20:35 08 October 2009
The (not so) triumphant return!
So, my friends, I apologize for the long absence from this electronic forum. Actually, that isn’t true. I’ve spent the several months I haven’t been writing here spending time with Saori. Sorry guys, but I was a bit too busy falling in love to keep up with my blog. Unfortunately, Saori is gone. Certainly not from my heart, but from this glorious and increasingly cold country. Her two years finished up a few weeks ago and she is currently back in Japan. Of course, on the net, this is a negative thing for me, I miss her terribly and can’t wait until we are together again. But it does have some positive side effects, one of which being that the time I am not spending with her can be used for other pursuits- like updating my blog for the first time in three months.
I promise you now that I will do a better job of keeping up with this open electronic diary in the future, but I figured a bit of a recap of summer was in order to start things off.
Summer was fun. A lot of fun. And not only fun, it was actually a pretty productive time for me too. While I didn’t have classes, the leadership club that Saori started and that I currently run was still meeting and we had some things going on even then. The most impressive, I believe was a 300 kilometer walkathon between the cities of Balykchy and Karakol. The walkathon was staged over ten days and was staged to raise awareness of the plight of the handicapped in this country (no ADA laws exist here and ramps, good pavement, and wheelchair friendly areas are hard to find even in the capital city). The kids didn’t participate in the marathon, but we partnered with the Kyzyl Suu orphanage to have the kids prepare the welcoming event for the participants. We prepared a huge mural for the welcoming party to write their dreams about the future on (The theme of the marathon was Куда мы идём? “Where are we going?”) and so the wishes for the future were written on slips of paper resembling animal tracks and then pasted on our mural of the world. In addition to this, the kids helped organize the crowd at the finish and half walked the final 5 kilometers (we brought some disabled children along with us that were excited to participate and see how many people lead rich and fulfilling lives despite their disabilities). So that was a really positive experience for me and I believe the children got a lot of benefits from participating in it.
On the fun side of my summer, apart from my trip to Russia, I spent a lot of time at the South Shore beaches, hosted some friends from Switzerland for a week, and went on a horse trek with Saori. The horse trek was a really great time, we went up very high into the mountains behind our village and even got to a glacier and got to hike around on it for a while. It was cool to think that while we were in a completely different landscape (despite the nearly 6,000 ft. altitude, my village is relatively flat) even though we were only about 25 kilometers from where I sleep! I’ll try and put up some pictures of that in the future.
Well, I think that is enough for now, I will have to get used to writing these things again… But know that this is just the first of more frequent updates.
The (not so) triumphant return!
So, my friends, I apologize for the long absence from this electronic forum. Actually, that isn’t true. I’ve spent the several months I haven’t been writing here spending time with Saori. Sorry guys, but I was a bit too busy falling in love to keep up with my blog. Unfortunately, Saori is gone. Certainly not from my heart, but from this glorious and increasingly cold country. Her two years finished up a few weeks ago and she is currently back in Japan. Of course, on the net, this is a negative thing for me, I miss her terribly and can’t wait until we are together again. But it does have some positive side effects, one of which being that the time I am not spending with her can be used for other pursuits- like updating my blog for the first time in three months.
I promise you now that I will do a better job of keeping up with this open electronic diary in the future, but I figured a bit of a recap of summer was in order to start things off.
Summer was fun. A lot of fun. And not only fun, it was actually a pretty productive time for me too. While I didn’t have classes, the leadership club that Saori started and that I currently run was still meeting and we had some things going on even then. The most impressive, I believe was a 300 kilometer walkathon between the cities of Balykchy and Karakol. The walkathon was staged over ten days and was staged to raise awareness of the plight of the handicapped in this country (no ADA laws exist here and ramps, good pavement, and wheelchair friendly areas are hard to find even in the capital city). The kids didn’t participate in the marathon, but we partnered with the Kyzyl Suu orphanage to have the kids prepare the welcoming event for the participants. We prepared a huge mural for the welcoming party to write their dreams about the future on (The theme of the marathon was Куда мы идём? “Where are we going?”) and so the wishes for the future were written on slips of paper resembling animal tracks and then pasted on our mural of the world. In addition to this, the kids helped organize the crowd at the finish and half walked the final 5 kilometers (we brought some disabled children along with us that were excited to participate and see how many people lead rich and fulfilling lives despite their disabilities). So that was a really positive experience for me and I believe the children got a lot of benefits from participating in it.
On the fun side of my summer, apart from my trip to Russia, I spent a lot of time at the South Shore beaches, hosted some friends from Switzerland for a week, and went on a horse trek with Saori. The horse trek was a really great time, we went up very high into the mountains behind our village and even got to a glacier and got to hike around on it for a while. It was cool to think that while we were in a completely different landscape (despite the nearly 6,000 ft. altitude, my village is relatively flat) even though we were only about 25 kilometers from where I sleep! I’ll try and put up some pictures of that in the future.
Well, I think that is enough for now, I will have to get used to writing these things again… But know that this is just the first of more frequent updates.
19 July 2009
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