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…
28 February 2009
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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