28 February 2009

New culinary experiences.

21:00 26 February 2009

I tried sheep brain today. I think that concludes my culinary exploration of boiled mutton. I seriously believe that I have tried on some occasion every single edible part of the fat-tailed sheep. Stomach, intestines, and pure fat cut in slices were some of the first experiences for me that were new. The prized delicacy of sheep face skin, cheek meat, tongue and ear were quick to follow. The true prizes of sheep eyes, hooves and gum meat then secured my place in the adventurous realm. But today was the real treat for me- I had never eaten the brain of another animal that I know of, and the concept of it still bothers me somewhat. The taste wasn’t bad at all really, much like the rest of mutton, but the texture wasn’t terribly pleasant- boiled grey matter has the consistency of very fine but slightly gritty soft jell-o. Sorry if that grossed any of you out…

Tables turned

17:45 25 February 2009

Much like most Americans, I have taken part in or at least witnessed my fair share of International Aid fundraising, clothing drives, used material collections, or other internationally focused aid efforts. Books for Africa, Helping Honduras, and the likes of these organizations aim to get much needed materials to aid in the development of areas of the world that otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford them for themselves. I’ve helped box books, donated used clothing, and bought a music CD in support of these various efforts, but one thing always remained for me in the past was that I had always been on the giving end of these projects and never had witnessed the benefit of them. Today I had the opportunity to see a truckload of used clothing donated from the Swedish Red Crescent and delivered to my school to be distributed to the community.

I don’t know if I can convey in words the strangeness of seeing this for me. The people that were receiving this clothing are people that I lead a somewhat similar life to now. They are by no means wealthy, but the quality of life here could be much, much worse, and I live at that level now. It made me truly realize things that I had forgotten because I had become so used to living here. People don’t go hungry or naked here, but clothing is frequently old and worn, and most of the items sold at the bazaar are of low quality to make it more affordable. This high quality but slightly out of style Swedish clothing (probably just coming into style in America) was being given away to families and individuals that lead a similar life to what I live. True, most here don’t have a computer, go skiing, or receive semi-regular shipments of impossible to find food here (though shockingly everyone here has a nicer cell phone than me- unfortunately what they spend on the cell phone that save by never buying units and instead my-aking me, an annoying practice of ringing someone and hanging up so they call you back- cellphones here are primarily unit based vs. contract) but my living allowance, living situation, work, and location all put me in a similar socio-economic sphere as the same people that are receiving this free European donated clothing. I’ve always had the fortune to live in a comfortable setting and have never truly wanted for anything. While I still don’t consider myself poor (my $60 a month living allowance here goes a pretty long way), my living conditions, spending habits, and pattern of life all resemble that of poverty in America. Interestingly enough, out of the innumerable stresses and things that I find frustrating here, my economic situation and inability to purchase certain things I might otherwise want ranks very low. I’ve always believed that money couldn’t buy happiness – now I believe it further – lack of wealth doesn’t necessarily mean lack of satisfaction with life.

Yay...

10:30 21 February 2009

Wow! No kidding, that week passed quickly. As I said earlier, the camp was extremely physically exhausting, the crew of six volunteers and our local counterpart acting as session leaders, team leaders, organizers, children herders and disciplinarians all week. As they say about having fun, time certainly flew, but I am glad it is over now so I can relax a bit and recuperate from having to do so much.

In addition for the camp being fun for us trainers, I think the children really enjoyed it too. They were super enthusiastic and partcipitative which was really encouraging to see. Even in the more information dense serious sessions like HIV/AIDS, Volunteerism, and leadership skills, they were still very attentive and active. I was also very to happy to hear that some of the students liked Frisbee so much that they want me to start a team in my village! This is something I will be happy to oblige them with.

Campin'

20:30 16 February 2009

With the first day of the camp over, things seem like they are going well. We had a couple of last minute issues with people showing up after they had told us they wouldn’t be able to make it and their spots had been replaced in the roster but it all worked out in the end. All in all, we have forty students from five villages and between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. I was also really impressed with the enthusiasm with which the kids participated. I know if I had been at a camp and they had asked me to do some of the things we asked them to do I would not have been half as willing to embarrass myself and participate.

While I am certainly exhausted from having to deal with forty kids as the highest authority – no passing the buck here, it was a really nice break from a week of teaching. The day of camp was much more physically tiring than teaching, but the monotony of teaching the same lesson plans and dealing with the same frustrations every day in the classroom can be more mentally tiring. Anyhow, I think this week will most likely pass by in a flash, the first eight hour day certainly did, and I hope it will be a benefit for these children as well.

<3

11:25 14 February 2009

Well, I suppose in the spirit of this most Hallmark of holidays, I should announce something that many of you may already know or suppose. For the past two months and change I have been dating Saori, one of the two JICA volunteers that live in my village. Sorry I didn’t announce it earlier, but I felt a variety of discretionary steps should be taken before I made the news of my relationship public with the readership of this blog. She is a simply wonderful girl and I couldn’t be happier to be in a relationship with her. While it came unexpectedly to me, as I said, I am really happy and spending time with her (which due to her fortuitous proximity) is one of the things I most look forward to in my life here. I’ll spare you all the details, I hardly would find this an appropriate forum for the discussion of my love life any way, but rest assured that I am in good spirits most of the time here, and Saori is a large part of that.

Interestingly enough, while Valentine’s Day isn’t widespread in celebration here (it is gaining in popularity though) it falls on the same day upon which the Kyrgyz (and I would assume most of the former Soviet Union) remembers the veterans specifically of the (Soviet) War in Afghanistan. It was interesting to see students marching with wooden mock Kalashnikovs made in shop class in honor of the veterans of the war. It was certainly a type of demonstration that I think would be odd to see in the United States or the West in general, such demonstrations of military among children, some not older than fourteen, seems very out of sync. Regardless it was an interesting dichotomy to see some try and celebrate a day ostensibly about love while many others honored those who had participated in a war.

Camp a comin'

19:45 13 February 2009

With only three days until the Winter Camp I am helping run starts, surprisingly enough I am feeling well and prepared. Today I went with Lorenzo, the main monetary force behind the camp and its ostensible director, to the Karakol bazaar in order to buy all the supplies necessary to outfit a week-long health, arts and sports camp. The sessions we have planned out include a great variety of different classes, from Mexican folk dancing, First Aid, Dodgeball, Rhythm and “Stomp” to Yoga, Leadership skills, AIDS education, and Proper Stretching. The sessions are being led by an assortment of Peace Corps and JICA volunteers, employees of the Red Crescent Association, and the leadership club I help out with even designed a session especially about health issues which I am excited to watch as I have been too preoccupied with administrative and logistical problems to focus on content issues (ironic, no?).

The biggest problem for me, as the camp is being held in my village, is coordinating the homestay situations for the out of village participants. It is difficult enough to coordinate a camp for forty people, but when thirty of them don’t even live in your village and will need to eat, sleep, and live somewhere during the camp, it becomes a logistical challenge. Luckily, so far it seems as if everything is going quite smoothly and I am looking forward to the camp. The past month has been good but has become routine in teaching, I am hoping the camp in the middle of the longest school session will help prevent my work here from becoming monotonous.

08 February 2009

Wheee!



10:30 8 February 2009

I woke up today and my entire body hurts. I feel as if I was in a car accident yesterday. While I wasn’t in a car accident yesterday, I am sure that I was subjected to similar G-forces that people in car accidents go through. Namely, skiing yesterday has caused my body to revolt today- I used muscles I didn’t know I had and the rest hurt from the numerous high velocity falls I took. Even given this, it was awesome and I fully enjoyed myself and look forward to the next time I can try it. While I had cross country skied before, this was a completely different muscular experience and the feel is nothing alike. Nevertheless I picked it up fairly quickly, despite the lack of any truly easy slopes there and by the end of the day I was slaloming down the less steep parts of the hill with ease- there was one section that was the upper have of the mountain that I had mastered and consistently did with some grace and without falling. I was quite proud of myself and really enjoyed the feeling of speed combined with control that I had gained. To get down all the way was a bit different story. The rest of mountain was quite steep, probably about a 45 degree slant, and while I could use the same turning skills down the mountain, I ended up deciding that it would be quicker and more fun to just remove my skis and take the buttocks-express to the end of the slope.

Before I had really gotten the feel of how to stop- while I never really was able to get a good “pizza” or “wedge” my turning abilities eventually allowed me to stop much more precisely- I had a number of spectacular falls. They mainly resulted from me, in an attempt to turn, angling myself fully downhill and then chickening and not being able to work up the courage to change my course. This, of course, resulted in a tremendous amount of speed building up and me not knowing a good way to slow myself down. The most impressive of my falls (usually once I built up speed I would just sit down and stop myself) resulted when at the beginning of the hill I angled myself downhill and then couldn’t stop, I got all the way to the midway point where the serious slope started and knew I had to stop lest I actually die. I tried turning in a desperate attempt at an ice-skating hockey stop but the tips of my skis stopped and I kept going forward. I think I may have done a flip or two, it was so fast I don’t quite remember what happened until I stopped, and then I was tangled up and on my back. After that I took a break but was up again soon enough and then found, through the help of my much more experienced friends, how to gain better control.

At the end of the day, while we were waiting for our taxi, we had a cool experience. They use old ex-Soviet helicopters for heli-skiing here and as I was looking at one with friends, another came and landed right near us. It was so cool feeling the immense power of the winds of a big helicopter landing, the snow stinging and holding your hat in the blizzard like environment. Definitely a neat experience that capped off a great day.

Vet school next?

10:45 6 February 2009

My further education in animal husbandry continued today as I was asked early in the morning if I could help outside for a few minutes. I didn’t know what I was in for, and later regretted wearing my work clothes. Turns out that our sheep apparently have some disease right now and so we hired a vet to come over and give them all antibiotics. Being the man of the house, it was my responsibility to catch the sheep individually (all twenty five of them) and then hold them down while the vet gave the injections. It was actually pretty fun to chase around sheep and then restrain them and made me feel like a real farm boy- I was a bit nervous as the vet ran around as well with his syringe and helped me, I really didn't want to be the victim of Sheep born illnesses. Fortunately,the only negative result was my pants and shoes getting dirty, but who knows when I will get laundry next…

Today I am heading into Karakol again after classes to go skiing with some friends. It should be a really fun activity even though it is my first time trying downhill skiing and I am terrified of it- too many celebrities have died doing it I suppose. Anyhow, I am going to do my best to be cautious and stay safe during it and at the very least I hope we get some cool pictures up on the mountains.

Silly, silly sheep

22:30 5 February 2009

Even once again, I am amazed at the incredible stupidity of most domesticated animals. I should have gotten used to them by now, but they keep inventing new ways to prove how stupid they are. Today I helped my host mother out for several hours as we got a sizable snowfall and we needed to shovel the entire yard, inside court, and driveway in front of our house. In addition to this, we had the daily tasks of feeding and watering the animals- at this point we have about twenty five sheep including probably ten lambs, two cows, three geese, maybe twenty chickens, our dog (unfortunately all of her puppies died ), and our gorgeous cat that I named Sasha- more on this later. Regardless, in our house work I was watering the cows and sheep- they drink a lot and we have to get all the water from a calonka-, a public free flowing faucet, on our street with buckets. The process was two bucketed as I left one to fill while I brought the other to dump in the large watering pan in the sheep’s enclosure. The stupidity started well before this however, somehow our dog got loose (no danger with this one, she is a real sweetheart) and was running around terrorizing the sheep, geese, and chickens and enjoying her temporary freedom. Regardless, while the geese handled the pressure reasonably well and skirted out of her way relatively gracefully, and the chickens did surprisingly effective flight maneuvers to avoid her jaws, the sheep, as usual, took the crown for most hilarious/stupid behavior. In addition to once again running full tilt into a chain link fence and then crumbling, which I could at least understand somewhat, they also ran full tilt into the wooden fences and then got their heads wedged between slats- something only the dumbest of the dumb could do (though I can’t really talk about that one- ask my mom about me in Disneyland for a laugh sometimes). I digress, the final stunt I viewed was when I was bringing the water into the enclosure. Acting as though they were literally dying of thirst, the normally skittish animals tried to mount me to get the water so I had to carry it high. As soon as I started pouring, the animals rushed to get their heads in the trough and usually completely obscured the path of the water into the pan in the process. This resulted in the sheep getting a heedful of water, reacting to that shock, and then wondering why there was no water in the pan (usually only about 50% of the water found its goal, the rest was diverted to the ground or onto my pants by sheep heads). Regardless the expression of dual confusion/upset on the sheep’s behalf was priceless as they looked up after sticking their head into a flowing stream of water and wondered why they were now wet. Priceless.

Ice-standing

18:30 2 February 2009

As typical of weekends in the city, I had a lot of fun and actually got a lot of work done. My Winter Camp is fast approaching and I had a very important meeting with my co-director finalizing aspects of the schedule and discussing our upcoming plans. We are holding an Arts- focused camp which incorporates of course Health themes as well as Sports, and Life Skills topics. It should be both a lot of fun for us and the children and also will hopefully have a positive impact on their lives.

In addition to our hours long meeting, we also went ice-skating, but the unseasonably warm weather meant the ice was in terrible and our skates would unexpectedly fall through the ice and onto the grassy field below- yuck. Anyhow, it was still a fun time and was enjoyable to horse around on the ice.

Gratefully Guesting?

18:45 31 January 2009

Yesterday, as I came into Karakol to use internet and have an important meeting about my upcoming Winter Camp, I had the most bizarre taxi ride of my life. It is not an unusual or unsafe practice here to hitch rides- many Kyrgyz are happy to have the extra passenger and a little extra income on their commutes to an forth. Also, at certain times, marshrutkas and taxis become unavailable so it leaves one with little choice in transportation. On this particular transit, I got a ride in a very nice Honda minivan and the family there was very interesting- the son spoke excellent English and I was really enjoying my ride (it’s usually about a 30-45 minute ride into the city from my village). About halfway there, the mother of the family in the car asks if I minded if they stopped for five to drop something off at a relatives’ house. As I was not in a hurry and enjoyed their company, I assented and said it would not be a problem.

Of course, in a spit of remarkable naivety, I forgot the Kyrgyz guesting traditions. Therefore, as a 15 minute acquaintance, I was ordered to come in, drink tea, eat salads, and was offered vodka that I had to decline. Then tea turned into dinner and so I had to wait for them to prepare a dish with meat and potatoes. All the while the son who spoke English kept apologizing for the delay but I assured him that I didn’t mind- hey at least I got a free dinner. Finally, we got back on our way again, and I realized that the five minute stop had turned into a completely unexpected two and a half hour guesting. I got into the city later than I hoped, but with no real harm and a good story to my credit.

A Solemn Occasion





22:15 28 January 2009

I forgot to mention the reason for the previously reported slaughter that I took part in. The man who would have been my host father died two years ago today. On account of this, I got to experience first-hand the Muslim side of Kyrgyzstan. My entire immediate host family returned back to the village for the memorial, and a large number of friends, extended family, and other people who knew him came for an elaborate guesting. This meant that I assisted my family for several hours the night before and today I got up early to help them prepare the table and prepare.

The ceremony began with an imam who came and recited the longest Koran passage I have ever heard. My host sister's middle daughter, two year old Al-Suu, plopped into my lap and sat like an angle for the twenty minutes he took. The clear nasal tenor of the imam pierced the still silence of the room and created an incredibly beautiful and haunting ambience for the most contemplative moments of the day. As the imam continued on, the entire room slowed with quiet reverence and I saw some of the most poignant displays of emotion in Kyrgyz people that I have experienced in country. My host sisters' and mothers’ eyes were red and pregnant with tears as they sat listening to the passage; and many of the other ejes (older women) were openly crying. The men sat stoically, but it was obvious that the emotion of the day overtook even some of them. Despite the sadness of the day, the feeling and honesty of it left me feeling that it was a beautiful experience.

Following the recitation, the typical Kyrgyz practices of eating, drinking, and beshbarmaking (the ritual surrounding the consumption of the national mutton and noodle dish by hand) began. While I was unable to attend the latter portion of it due to work and a new English Club I started for adults, I was really glad that I was able to attend the religious side of the day and witness the chilling but beautiful ceremony.

Silence of the lamb

11:35 28 January 2009

Warning: This entry contains graphic descriptions of slaughter in the first paragraph, read at your own risk- the rest of the entry should be fine for all.

For the first time in country, and indeed in my life, I witnessed the slaughter of a sheep. While it was certainly a somewhat traumatic experience, especially since earlier in the day I had chopped the head off my third chicken (I thought it might get easier the second time around but I was wrong- the immense feelings of guilt, queasiness, and horror at my own action remain and I was left trembling for a good ten minutes afterwards- the habits of a decade long vegetarian die hard I suppose) it was also in some ways an oddly beautiful sight. There are relatively few reminders that I live in a Muslim country on a daily basis, I can’t hear the mosque from my house, alcohol consumption is common and widespread (a legacy of the Russians), and Kyrgyzstan is a quite secular country; however, when it comes to slaughter, it is seeped in the Islamic tradition which is actually somewhat similar to the way kosher slaughter takes place. It began with my family and the neighbors who would slaughter standing around praying, the Muslim way asks God for the meat, the role of the slaughter is merely to cut the sheep (linguistically interesting you don’t kill an animal, you cut or chop it- God is the one who allows the blood to spill and the animal to die). After some Koran recitation, it ends in the Omin- Muslim Amen which includes an elongated sweeping gesture over the face, and the sheep’s feet were bound together. The throat of the sheep was then slit and immediately copious amounts of blood spilled like red velvet from the neck and the two men continued to cut until the head was nearly completely severed. While the sheep continued to bleed, it struggled despite the head’s near unattached status in a way that reminded me of the death throes of the chickens I have killed. Because there were two grown men restraining it and the sheep’s legs were bound, it wasn’t as active as the chicken had been, but it still was pretty jarring. Perhaps the most scarring moments were the sheep’s last three or four breaths which consisted of horribly ragged sounds and a bloody spray coming from the newly detached windpipe. After about two minutes, but what felt like four hours, the sheep stopped struggling and resigned itself to death as its neck wound was cleaned with warm water and our neighbors backed off to finish the spiritual side of the slaughter.

What followed this was the most beautiful part of the process. Our neighbor backed off and began to recite lengthily from the Koran, his hands warm and moist from the previous actions held cupped reverently in front of him and steaming from the heat of his and the sheep’s body. Seeing my family and neighbors circled around the fresh slaughter, thanking Allah for providing them for sustenance in the midst of cows lowing, chickens clucking, lambs bleating, and geese… honking? was a haunting but beautiful sight. Nevertheless, as I said before it was pretty jarring and the sounds, smells, and sights are ones that I will never forget.

Star Light, Stars are Bright!

22:00 23 January 2009

Never before have I been able to see with such clarity the reason our forefathers looked up at the night sky and saw grand apparitions of battles, animals, and the gods. Nights in this country, ostensibly due to the altitude, the crisp winter air, and the near total lack of light pollution, offer me unprecedented views of the stars. The familiar constellations like Orion took on new dimensions (did you know he had a bow?) and formations I knew about only from the Horoscopes were recognizable even without a guide. Indeed, if it was difficult for me to find constellations, it was because of so many stars that it was easy to make my own. The past several nights in particular have been incredibly clear and I have gone outside to stargaze, despite the chilly temperature. Really, it is amazing to see the incredibly clarity of the thousands of stars visible to the naked eye

In more humorous news, the inherent stupidity of barnyard animals continues to amaze me. In addition to ever-foolish sheep, I watched with amazement several geese repeatedly try to eat a shadow. The shadow of a chain link fence was cast onto one of the walls of our compound and the gaggle (I don’t think I’ve ever actually used that word before) that we own approach the wall and then futilely try and eat it. Unfortunately, given that our walls are made of mud, this was a destructive in addition to humorous practice. There are now several divots on the wall where our intelligent geese tried to eat the absence of light. Great.

Terrific TEFL Times

22:30 20 January 2009

After the last day of the IST conference, which ended in a somewhat disappointingly low-key get together- I think we were all exhausted from an entire week of late nights followed by way to early mornings (breakfast at 7:15), I find it a good opportunity to reflect on some of the changes in my work environment already. If these aren’t just temporary changes, which I desperately am hoping they are not, then I think my service over the next 20 months will be more successful than my original expectations over the first four months of service.

In the first few days following this conference, I have found my relationship with my counterpart incredibly improved. The goal of the TEFL Program in Kyrgyzstan is to introduce a sustainable component by having its volunteers team teach in the classroom, work with the other English educators in the classroom, and introduce skills transfer. We are taught to teach in the communicative method, a method that stresses the learning of the ability to express oneself and understand others in the language above grammatical accuracy, writing, and reading. In general, communicative method can be said to emphasize fluency over perfection and is vastly different from the Soviet-era translation focused method in use in most schools here. While many of the English teachers in Kyrgyzstan have a better understanding of English grammar rules than I do, I often can speak better in Russian than they can English. Hopefully, with my presence in the school and the skills-transfer this brings in working with my counterpart and the other teachers in the school, this will begin to change. In the wake of the conference I am incredibly hopeful of this potentiality. As I began earlier, my relationship with my counterpart has improved to such a degree that we are now lesson planning together several times a week, our lessons are truly being team-taught, and I think the students are learning more successfully. Hooray!

Conferencin'

21:00 16 January 2009

It is the last day of our In-Service Training Conference today. It has gone by in a huge blur and has, in my mind, really been a success overall. While, as large conferences tend to have them, it did contain dull moments, the vast majority of the information I was provided with I found useful I think that overall it will make me a better volunteer. At the beginning of the conference was a three day session where we worked in conjunction with our counterparts. In addition to merely giving us an opportunity to better our relationships with our counterparts, it also allowed us to really focus in on the goals of team-teaching (namely making the TEFL English teaching program more sustainable). Since it is a new program, it is difficult for some counterparts to work with their Volunteers in the classroom. I hope and have faith that the workshops of this conference will better my and most volunteers’ work in the classroom.

In addition to being a good experience from a professional standpoint, it was also an incredible opportunity for the K-16 Volunteers who live all over the country, some days from others, to get back together again and socialize as a group with other Americans. Through this experience, I got reunited with many of my close friends, had a great time, and realized to what extent I could become uncomfortable when surrounded exclusively by Americans. I have always considered myself as somewhat of an introvert, but my service has actually revealed to a large extent how deeply I value human contact. However, despite this value, my introvert tendencies towards the end of the week seemed to exert greater influence on me as the some of the stereotypes of Americans began to become too strong.

Nevertheless I consider the past week a big success, both on a volunteer, psychological, and work level. It was a great opportunity to learn more language, more culture, more about ourselves, how to work with counterparts, and the experiences of other volunteers.