Here come Santa Clause

With less than a week before Christmas, I can finally say that it is starting to feel a lot like Christmas! Jalal Abad had its first snow last night, it was really only a dusting but its always fun to get out of bed in the morning and see the ground covered in snow. In addition to the snow, the whole city is covered in holiday decoration, there are Christmas trees on sale at the bazaar, the grocery store has a giant Santa in the entrance and all the students are wrapping up their classes and getting ready for the exams- just like I was this time last year! Despite the Christmas feel, the Kyrgyz are actually getting ready for New Years.

It’s quite strange, their New Years looks a lot like an American Christmas.
I can’t figure out exactly where this Christmas spirit comes from, but an interesting fact, which I believe contributed to this Christmas spirit, was when some Swedish researchers located the most strategic place where Santa’s North Pole should be; they pinpointed Kyrgyzstan! As would I if I were Kyrgyz, they are quite proud of the fact that if Santa really existed, he would live in the Tien Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan. But even with their enthusiasm, this is a predominantly Muslim country so they couldn’t quite fit Christmas onto their calendar and therefore decided to improvise. In Kyrgyzstan, Santa Clause delivers presents on New Year’s Day for all the good little boys and girls of Kyrgyzstan.

But in Osh and Jalal Abad, Santa will be joining us on Christmas day. This Thursday the Osh and Jalal Abad volunteers are all getting together on Christmas day and doing secret Santa. About a month ago we all drew names and decided on a cap of 200 coms (about $5) to spend on our secret santa. In addition to a gift exchange we will be putting together a Christmas dinner. And even though I was not present last weekend, when the volunteers were organizing the menu, I was nominated to make my synthetic sweet potatoes again! This time it will be a lot easier to make the dish because I have finally moved into my apartment!

The move took place this morning, the actual moving was easy but it was hard to leave the family. Because my Russian is not up to par, prior to packing I had a woman write a letter to my host family on my behalf thanking them for their hospitality and kindness. When I gave them this letter my host mother, host sister and the new wife all came to my room sat down and started asking why I was leaving. The one thing that I didn’t want them to do was to take my moving personal but to a certain extent I think it was inevitable since people don’t move away from family in this culture. For example a young woman only leaves her parents home when she gets married, the youngest son must live with his parents and take care of them as they get older. So when I said I wanted to move to an apartment by myself, they were a bit taken aback. Only after lots of reassurance that I loved their family and I would visit often would they accept the fact that I was leaving. In spite of the difficult goodbye, I am really excited to have my own place and the timing is perfect! This apartment is like my Christmas present to myself!

So as I move into my new apartment and slip and slide through the icy streets of Jalal Abad, keep me in your thoughts because this is the first Christmas I will spend away from my family!!! Happy Holidays to everyone!

Wish List

As Christmas time is approaching I have received a couple of emails asking me what they could send me for Christmas.

Here is a wish list that I have compiled;

Coffee- ground for French press
Puzzles- (1000 piece- I got some cold winter months to kill!)
Flaming hot Cheetos
Teeth whitening strips
Chocolate
Herbal teas
Ranch dress seasoning packets
Seasoning packets for things like tacos, chili, soups, ect.
Travel money- I’m planning a trip to Uzbekistan- please send this one to my parents!

This is my mailing address so you can just print this out and tape it onto the package. Also if you can find the muslim symbol (its just a cresent moon and star) on the internet and stick/draw that onto the package as well that is suppose to deter tampering.

KYRGYZSTAN
715612 Jalalabat city
Toktagul Road
House 7, Apt. 11
Martha Haddock

КЫРГЫСТАН
715612 г. Жалалабат
Переулок Токтогула
Дом 7 КВ 11
Хэддок Марта


I really appreciate the warm thoughts that people have been sending me!

All my love,

Martha

My first Thanksgiving in Kyrgyzstan

One of the things that I have been dreading since I have been in country is spending the holidays without my family. To avoid feeling homesick over thanksgiving weekend I made tons of plans with other volunteers to celebrate the holidays. Starting with Thanksgiving Day I had planned on going down to Osh to have dinner with the Osh volunteers but as the day unfolded I felt obligated to stay at work and get some things done. By the time I had wrapped up all my work I didn’t have time to travel all the way down to Osh and make it for dinner. But luckily for me, two village volunteers, Lesley and Ariel, had decided to come into Jalal Abat and have Thanksgiving dinner in the city. So together we went to the bazaar and bought all the ingredients for a nice dinner. My purchase was a kilo of pork. Now this may seem insignificant to some but this purchase was actually one of the pinnacle moments of my service thus far. To put it in perspective, let me remind you that this is a Muslim country and eating pork is taboo, thus pork is not the easiest thing to find at your local bazaar but compliments to the small Russian population that still resides in this country it is here, you just gotta know who to go to.

I had been introduced to the pork lady by Fritz, who had been directed to the pork stall by an anonymous lead who claimed he could only buy pork in the dark of the night, when no one would recognize him! To get to the pork stand I had to go deep into the heart of the bazaar and slip behind some fruit and vegetable stalls. As the pork lady and I made the deal I had to remind myself that there was no need to look suspiciously over my shoulder every five seconds or sneak around corners, this was not that exciting and that I was just buying dinner.

With my pork mission completed, we returned to my friend’s apartment where Fritz, Ginger, Lesley, Ariel and I prepared our first Thanksgiving dinner in Kyrgyzstan. To go with the pig we had a salad and mashed potatoes, and for dessert we had an apple pie that Ariel made. It was amazing! By 10 pm the power had gone out and so we lit candles and continued to sit at the table and chat through the night!

The following Saturday was when we had all of the volunteers in town and hosted the bigger Thanksgiving dinner. Initially we had planned on buying a turkey and roasting it, but buying a turkey in Kyrgyzstan is a bit more of an ordeal than it is at grocery stores in the states. When you buy the turkey here, you walk away with a live and feathery creature dangling from your arm. Then you gotta kill it, gut it, and defeather it. We opted to go for fried chicken as our main dish since you can buy chicken pre-killed.

Cooking the meal was interesting. As if preparing food without the luxury of canned goods and food processing machines wasn’t hard enough, for some reason, the whole city was without electricity and water, it was inconvenient to say the least! But since power and water outages are not exactly a rarity, we had stored up gallons of water and were able to pull together a beautiful thanksgiving dinner. Fritz and Ginger fried buckets and buckets of chicken, Ted’s mother had mailed him pecans and so Lesley made a pecan pie and an apple pie, there were mashed potatoes, salad, beans, and finally sweet potatoes.

I was in charge of sweet potatoes. When I volunteered for the dish, everyone looked at me as if I had gone mad, rightfully so since there are no sweet potatoes in this country. But my mom has an amazing sweet potato casserole recipe that I was determined to make, so based on my highly developed scientific skills I created synthetic sweet potatoes. Now this is a very complicated and scientific process but here is a basic outline of the procedure; first I analyzed the characteristics of sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are orange roots that are sweet and starchy. Following that logic carrots are orange roots and pumpkins are sweet and starchy, therefore by boiling and mashing these two compounds and combining them together I created synthetic sweet potatoes! I’ll have you know it work and was a total hit. Just call me Dr. Martha!

The following day my parents called to wish me happy Thanksgiving. Hearing them talk about their Thanksgiving dinner made me a bit homesick but as I told them about the adventures I had, all in the name of celebrating thanksgiving, I had to laugh how exhilarating (and exhausting) my first Thanksgiving had been in Kyrgyzstan.

New Apartment

One of Peace Corps Kyrgyzstan’s requirements is that you must live with a host family during the three months of training plus an additional three months at permanent site. Living with a host family has numerous benefits including familiarizing volunteers with local culture and norms, language improvements and having family members show you the ropes around town. But living with a host family has been one of my biggest challenges during my service. Don’t get me wrong, I have been blessed with very comfortable homes, great host siblings, I have been included in weddings, I was present for the birth of a new family member and I learned infinites about Kyrgyz culture through these families. I can honestly say that I have really benefited from living with my two host families. Unfortunately America has instilled a sense of independence within me and I can only deal with so much of living in another family’s home! I am yearning for my own kitchen, for my own schedule and for the freedom of knowing that I am not inconveniencing someone while I go about my morning and evening routines. So come ten days, after I have served my time with host families, I will have my own place!

It all happened so quickly, less than two weeks ago my NGO director took me to look at a little apartment about 20 minutes away from the office and by the end of the week I had paid my first month’s rent! My future pad is a furnished apartment on the ground floor of an apartment building with one bedroom, living room, kitchen and get this; an indoor toilet! For the last six months my bathroom has consisted of an outhouse with a hole in the ground, but from here on out there will be no more going out in the cold winter nights to pee, just that sweet sound of a toilet flushing! Life will be good!!!

The kitchen is small and the oven can only be closed by propping a heavy board against the door of the oven, but it works!!! Last weekend I spend a couple of nights there and successfully made a loaf of corn bread with that oven. Had I seen this place 6 months ago I would have considered that kitchen impossible to cook in but I have learned a lot since then and last weekend I successfully make tacos, chili, corn bread and omelets!

In addition to the apartment I also have a huge veranda! Come summer it’s going to be great! I showed a couple of volunteers the apartment and the second they saw my veranda I could see each of them planning and arranging summer barbeques and at my house! Right across from my veranda are four little stalls, kinda like a mini bazaar, where I can buy any basic item including eggs, fruits, flour, sugar, soap, candles, bread and of course vodka!

As hard as it will be to say goodbye to my thirteen year old host sister, I think this apartment will have a huge impact on my peace of mind and comfort levels. Plus I’ll be able to distract myself from the cold by decorating my new home during the winter!

Research Project

Over the last three months I have spent a lot of time working on my language, settling in, getting to know people and working with the English clubs. But now that I am more comfortable at work, I am looking for some more sustainable and long term projects. For the last month I have been playing with the idea of doing a research project where I would conduct a survey, analyze the data and then based on what I concluded I will create workshops addressing the chosen theme. Until recently I wasn’t sure what area I wanted to focus on but when I was approached by a young woman who asked me to help her translate a letter which she had received from a British family, I was finally inspired.

The letter that this young woman wanted help with was a response from a man in the United Kingdom. Apparently she had been applying for nanny jobs in America and Europe over the internet and this man had found her resume and responded by offering her a job. According to this letter she would be flown to London where she would be in charge of watching over his two children in his “big house with a lovely garden.” The letter painted a charming picture and stated that this was a well off British family who needed a little help around the house. The only problem was that the person who wrote that letter was not a native English speaker. Each sentence had numerous grammatical and spelling errors, the wording didn’t make sense and in my opinion the whole thing seemed really shady. Prior to joining the Peace Corps I had helped plan a conference about human trafficking and so I have been exposed to what human trafficking is and some of the basic methods that traffickers use in order to recruit men and women for a life of slavery. The perfect nanny job found over the internet with no legal documentation seems like a text book example of how a person gets sucked into human trafficking.

When I shared my concerns with the young woman, she brushed it off and said she didn’t think that was the case. She thought that this man seemed very nice and it would all be fine. I started asking her questions like ‘what would you do if he had lied to you and actually wanted you to work somewhere else? What would you do if he didn’t pay you? What would happen do if you became sick? What if your mother became sick, would he pay for a ticket back to Kyrgyzstan? Who would you call if there was a problem? Where would you go?’ For every question I asked, I received nothing but a blank stare. She didn’t know anyone in the UK, she didn’t know how the legal system worked or even how to fill out a visa form. There had been no planning or forethought when she started applying for these jobs around the world.

Even after over an hour of explaining what human trafficking is, why I thought her letter was a scam, and how dangerous it could be, this young woman was still blinded with the hope of finding a job in the UK. I walked away really discouraged and frustrated. All that evening the only thing I could think about was this young woman’s vulnerability. Her vulnerability didn’t come from her lack of physical strength, or her inability to understand English. Her vulnerability stemmed from her desperation and lack of planning.

This interaction is what lead me to my research and workshop idea. Over the next 2 years I want to conduct a survey where I will evaluate the long term planning skills of local university women. Based on the results of the survey I want to conduct monthly workshops for women about topics such as goal setting, long term planning, having a plan b, how to use available resources and subjects along those lines. It’s going to be a lot of work but I think that it would be really interesting and rewarding. Currently I am researching how to research. It would only make sense if my research project on effective long term planning was planned out well!

But honestly, I can only hope that through this project I will plant the seed of long term planning in the minds of young women. So that people, like the young lady that I spoke with, will start looking at these opportunities with open eyes.

Weekend in Arslenbob *more pics*

Even before I moved to Jalal Abad I had heard about a mountain village called Arslenbob where there were spectacular views, great hiking and, like a cherry on top, the world’s largest walnut forest! Unfortunately I had not made it up to Arslenbob since I had been to permanent site so when Fritz and Ginger, my neighboring volunteers, invited me to join them for a weekend I gladly accepted.

That Saturday morning, before I left, I told my visiting host sister, who was on the verge of popping out a child, that if the baby came to call me and I would get back as soon as possible. Then Ian, who was visiting for the weekend, and I went to the center of town where we met Fritz and Ginger. Luckily for me, just as we started haggling with the taxi drivers my parents called from the U.S. so I got out of bargaining for taxi prices- thanks guys! Between the three of them they managed to bargain a taxi driver into giving us a three hour ride to Arslenbob for just under 500 com which converts to about $13. While we drove up into the mountains the sun was hidden behind the clouds so we weren’t able to enjoy the view that we had heard so much about. What we did see as we drove higher up was more and more snow on the ground! That was the first time I had seen snow in the country and it was a frosty reminder of how cold it will be over the next three months.

By the time we got to Arslenbob there was probably about 4 inches of snow on the ground. We all piled out of the tiny car that we had squeezed ourselves into and immediately we were greeted by an employee of the CBT Organization. CBT stands for Community Based Tourism and is a group that helps the local community organizes home stays and activities for tourism. This functions to direct money coming into Arslenbob to the community rather than to big hotels and tourism companies. We decided to stay with a local family for a couple of reasons; number one because it is cheaper and secondly it allows tourists to connect with the area that they are visiting. And that it did! As soon as our host picked us up, he informed us that as once we dropped off our bags and had a cup of tea we would be off to a celebration which was being hosted by his brother. When we arrived at the house we did just that, we each had our own cozy little room where we threw down our bags and then stepped into the main house where there was tea and snacks waiting for us.

I still can’t tell you with certainty what the celebration was about but I do know that it was not a wedding and there was a Muslim tradition behind it. At the brother’s house there were probably about a hundred people there with music and food. Arslenbob is 99% Uzbek so there were the same Uzbek horns that I had seen at the Uzbek wedding and tons of osh, their national dish. We sat there for an hour or two, made some toast, were introduced to our host’s family and friends. Eventually we snuck out so we could do some quick sightseeing before dinner. Our host drove us to a small waterfall which had a beautiful view and was a sight where many couples came to pray for fertility. The cliff that the waterfall was flowing off of was covered with icicles and apparently the waterfall itself would freeze within the next month. Afterwards we went back to the house, had a quick nap and then sat down for dinner, because we had eaten so much at the celebration earlier we all just had a bowl of soup and some more tea. Once dinner was over we went back to our room where there was a log stove that was heating the room up nicely and all four of us sat over a bottle of Moldavian red wine and chatted until the power finally went out.

That next morning we woke up to blue skies, a true blessing as we had not had a blue sky since the wedding a week and a half ago. After breakfast we went for a long hike that took us to a cliff where we could see the whole village of Arslenbob. The entire walk was through snow, but with the sun shining it started to warm up and eventually we all took off our coats and enjoyed the beautiful weather. From the mountain cliff the view was absolutely stunning! Gazing down on Arslenbob from that mountain reminded me very much of the small town in Switzerland that my mother grew up in. That thought was interrupted quite quickly when some traditional Uzbek music began blasting from somewhere below us!

We took an alternative route home which led us through a section of the famous walnut forest, an apple orchard and a currant farm. Eventually we swung back around to the small waterfall that we had seen the day before and made our way home. Once we got back, we sat down again for tea and snacks, packed up our things and headed back to Jalal Abad. I guess between the hike and keeping warm I had really worn myself out because we had hardly left Arslenbob before I was asleep in the back of the car.

The entire time that we were up there I did not have phone service, so when I arrived at my house that evening I found out that my host sister had given birth the night before to a little girl. The birth took four hour, but the baby was as healthy as could be and weight a whole 3 kg (6.6 lbs). The new born and her mother were still at the hospital recuperating from the birth and after a few shots of vodka to celebrate we were off to go see the new mother and child. My host family, grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins all went to the hospital, which was actually not a hospital but rather a birthing building where women went to have their babies. We were all standing outside waving to my host sister who was standing at her window when I turned to my host brother and asked if we would be able to see her. He shrugged and said maybe, he then took me to the front entrance, called over one of the midwives, handed her a 50 com note (despite my protests) and we were hurried in. Gulmeria, my host sister, looked tired but happy. It was so good to see her well but I couldn’t help but notice how small she looked without her swollen belly! I didn’t get a chance to see the baby but apparently they will be coming home this evening and there will be more celebration!

A Fine Tuesday *New pics added*

Well it’s still raining on a daily basis here with only a one-day break of sunlight over the last two and a half weeks. Sure enough that day of clear skies happened to be the wedding day of Ian’s host sister. I was lucky enough to be invited to the wedding, which I was really excited about because I have gotten to know the bride and her family, plus this would be the first Uzbek wedding that I had seen. In addition to the wedding that fine Tuesday, America’s presidential election was taking place and a local university was hosting a watch party and a discussion session about American politics. Now I will be the first to admit that I know nothing about politics but I saw a trip down to Osh as an opportunity to help out other volunteers and have an exciting cultural experience.

The morning of the wedding I arrived at the bride’s house to find the whole compound transformed. They had remodeled the interior of the house, painted the outside and had set up hundreds of chairs and tables for the guests. The house was flooded with family and friends who were all feasting and celebrating the new marriage and in the foreground was a group of musicians playing traditional Uzbek music just about as loud as they could. I am quite sure that everyone in the center of Osh that morning knew that Nilafar was getting married. Eventually the groom and his party arrived and the toasts began. It was quite a process giving a toast, after each guest gave their congratulations to the groom they would have to dance in front of everyone while other guests and the groom would give them money which would eventually go into the hands of the wedding musicians. About half an hour into the toasting Ian and I were sitting admiring the festivities when I heard our names called out and immediately everyone turn to look at us. It doesn’t matter how many times it happens, every time I get called up to give a toast my heart freezes with fear. At that point there is only one thing to do, so we got up and gave our toast and did our best to mimic Uzbek dancing…it was not pretty! But to our surprise we survived and the next person was called up to give their toast. After about an hour of toasts the groom went down stairs with his party to retrieve the bride and much like in Kyrgyz weddings everyone piled into cars and went to a local monument to take pictures with the bride and groom. The chosen monument of Osh was a memorial site right next to the largest statue of Lenin in all of Central Asia- yeah, it’s a big deal! Followed by the photo fest the whole party moved on the a restaurant where the celebration would continue.

Once there we were greeted with music and food yet again. The band picked up immediately and the toasts continued. Ian and I were called up once again but this time we had a five minute warning and had a moment to prepare ourselves. At the last minute Ian had the brilliant idea of doing some very basic swing dance steps rather than butchering the traditional Uzbek dances. So we both gave toasts wishing happiness and love for the new couple and then twirled and swung around the dance floor for a while. When we got back to our seats we were both shaking with the adrenalin from dancing in front of hundreds of people but despite my horrible coordination will still received complements for the rest of the evening on our dancing! Around eleven o’clock the party started to wind down and we all jumped onto a rented marshuka and made our way back home. As I had been told, Uzbek weddings and Kyrgyz weddings are very similar with one major difference; at Uzbek weddings there not a drop of alcohol to be found! As a result there were no drunks trying to pull us out onto the dance floor or forcing vodka down our throats, so to be honest I didn’t mind at all!!!

The next day was the election party. The American Corner, where the election party was taking place, received CNN so we watched the polls come in live. It was around 11 am when the west coast was finally called, congratulations Obama! The whole afternoon went really well; there were three embassy employees that came down from Bishkek with pamphlets which explained the election process and who the candidates were. The volunteers gave great presentations on the Electoral College, the importance of voting and any other questions that the students had about America’s election process.

Since then it has rained and then rained some more. Yesterday I received a package from my parents which was full of books, cooking supplies and other things that I could not find here! I never thought I would get so excited about measuring spoons and a yoga magazine--but I did! Thanks you guys- you made my month!

Omar, The Kyrgyz Star!!!

For the last week it has been overcast with light rains and dropping temperatures, for me it has been a nasty foreshadow of the long, cold winter to come. The winter has all of Kyrgyzstan in knots; at work we talk about how cold the office will be without electricity, many Kyrgyz schools are planning on extending winter holiday for a month because the classrooms get so cold, and at the American Corner, where I lead four of my English clubs, they talk about the promises that President Bakiv has made on public television which “guarantees” the elimination of power cuts during the winter. As a volunteer I have been praying for electricity and bundling up really well! I haven’t pulled out my thermal underwear yet, but I would say give it less than a month before those little butt-warmers become a crucial accessory to my outfit every day and every night.

Despite the approach of winter, life has gone on. I have started some outreach programs with American schools in attempts to exchange culture between students. The first one is World Wise Schools, where I have been matched up with a middle school teacher in Houston, TX and we have classroom exchanges. I have also started investigating a program called One World where I could collect 30 pieces of art that has been made by Kyrgyz school kids with national themes in it, mail it off to the states, and in return I would receive 30 different pieces of art that American students made with an American theme to it. I think that is a really fun and expressive way to exchange cultures.

Even with the establishment of routines and habits here, I still have to just sit back and laugh at some of the situations I find myself in. The most recent shenanigan I muddled into was last Thursday. After a long, cold walk home through the rain I received a phone call from one of the students from my English club. Confused, I picked up the phone and was informed by them that they had bought me a ticket to Omar’s (a Kyrgyz pop star) concert that was taking place in less than an hour. The water for my tea had just started to boil and as flattered as I was there was a significant part of me that just wanted to stay home and enjoy my tea rather than trek back through the gloomy day to go meet my students again. But I turned the gas off and left to go see Omar perform at the local theatre.
It turned out to be quite the event! Compliments to the lights swirling around and the disco balling reflecting little squares of color through out the theater I started having flash backs to my 8th grade dances as I walked in. But that stopped real fast when the performance opened with two Russian dancers jumping around on stage to 50 cent in Lakers’ jerseys. They were followed by a lip-synching Kyrgyz singer and an MC who was up on stage apparently telling joke after joke which I couldn’t understand for the life of me! Eventually Omar, the main guy, came on stage with a big pair of sunglasses on and sang three or four songs. He sang about half in Kyrgyz and then a couple in Russian and even one in English! I’m not going to lie; he even had me swooning with his English song! As he finished his last song the MC jumped back up on stage and continued with his antics, he had the whole crowd in stitches! Over the course of the next couple of hours several more Kyrgyz singers got up on stage and Omar returned to the stage for a couple more songs. While he was on stage, young women would walk up to him and hand him a bouquet of flowers or a little note on which they had confessed their undying love for him. He graciously took each bouquet of flowers and each note and gave each young woman a hug and peck on the cheek and then went right back to singing. It was quite a show and I was glad I attended. My students had been great and had walked me through the concert explaining what was going on and which song they loved the most!

I can only imagine what this week has in store for me! Tomorrow I am attending an Uzbek wedding, I’m really looking forward to the food, Uzbeks are said to be the best cooks in the country! Also this is election week so a bunch of the volunteers are going to the American Center in Osh and spending the night so we can watch the elections live! We’ll see if there is power to do that!

Party Party Party * I added pics to help illustrate*

It has only been two weeks since the English clubs have begun but I already feel like so much has happened. In every club the students are so curious as to what America is like, so I’m going with the flow and using the reoccurring theme of comparing Kyrgyz traditions with American lifestyle. For example one day we compared Kyrgyz wedding traditions to American wedding traditions and I gave them new vocabulary like “bride”, “groom” and “engagement”. These clubs have also been a great resource into the community for me; for example last Monday while we were describing our weekends I found out that the airport was a great place to go running- who would have thought! Also through these English clubs I have met some really awesome students including two young women who extended invitations to birthday parties and weddings to me. I gladly accepted both, so this last Tuesday I attended the 17th birthday of one young lady and the following day I attended the wedding of different young woman’s sister!

The day of the birthday party I jumped onto the marshuka after work with the birthday girl’s sister and went to their apartment. The prior week she had mentioned that she had never tried pizza and she asked if I could make it for her someday (I get the impression that the Kyrgyz view hamburgers and pizza as America’s national dishes) so I decided a homemade pizza would be an awesome birthday present! When we arrived, the sister and I went straight to work. I began making the pizza dough and she started preparing the rest of the dinner. I always get nervous when I prepare food for people because I know -a little too well- how quickly a meal can go downhill, but when I pulled the pizza out of the oven I was happy to find the cheese had melted beautifully and the crust didn’t have a single burnt spot on it. Also in my favor, since these girls had never had pizza before there was no benchmark to meet. It went over pretty well too; the birthday girl went back for seconds and thirds. With the pizza they also served their national dish; plov (which is fried rice with vegetables), fresh salads, fruit and cake. As dinner continued a few more of her friends came by, and her older brother also joined in with his young family. It was so flattering to be invited into someone house to share a celebration with them.
The following day was the wedding, so I left work a little early and took a taxi to a little village about 40 minutes out of the city where the wedding was. When I arrived my friend was still running around the house catering to guests so I was ushered into the house by her family and told to sit at a the foot of the feast and to eat. For special occasions, like a wedding, the Kyrgyz will set up a meal on a beautifully embroidered sheet on the floor, all the guests will sit on long cushions and enjoy the meal cross-legged without chairs or tables. They are also very hospitable in the sense that they won't let their guest leave hungry so through out your stay in a Kyrgyz household they will insist that you should eat. Its pretty funny, I could have a mouth full of food or bringing a fork to my mouth and the Kyrgyz will still be telling me to eat as if I hadn’t taken a bite of food all day!

For most of the morning guests were just eating and chatting waiting for the groom’s arrival and eventually, a little past noon, the groom and his party made their grand entrance. You could hear them before they had even turned onto the street because they were honking their horns announcing their arrival. When they pulled up to the gates the first person to jump out of the car was the wedding singer with his accordion who was singing Kyrgyz songs at the top of his lungs. The rest of the party was right behind him and jumped out of the car already dancing and singing along. They were greeted with trays of bread, candy and vodka and then ushered into a yurt that had been build especially for this wedding where there was a feast awaiting them. After they had eaten, it was time to retrieve the bride from the house but in order to do this the whole groom party had to enter the home singing and dancing. The bride this whole time had been waiting patiently in the house dressed in her beautiful white gown, comparable to a western wedding dress, with her brides maid at her side the whole day. After quite the serenade, the groom finally made it into the house and was able to kiss his new wife. Afterwards the family said prayers and gave the new couple their blessings and began feasting again. While enjoying probably their third or fourth meal of the day (it was only 2 pm) the groom and his party were presented with baskets of food, drink and a freshly slaughtered sheep that he was required to buy, the two parties squabbled and bargained over prices but eventually the groom paid for the food.

But the party was still not over, before going to the café where the wedding would continue the whole party jumped into their cars and drove to a local monument where they all had their pictures taken with the newly married couple. Finally we all arrived at the restaurant where we were presented with more food, music and dancing. I swear I have never seen so much hip swinging, pelvis thrusting or arm flailing in my life; the dancing was phenomenal!!! By the time it was all said and done I had been at the wedding for almost 14 hours, I was exhausted!!!

For the rest of the week I kept a low profile and continued with the English clubs and working around Jalal Abad until Friday when I went down to Osh for a Halloween party that a local club was putting together. Almost twenty other volunteers attended as well, all in costume, and for the last time that week I danced the night away!

Wedding Season

Oodles of drinking, eating and dancing; that is really the best way to describe the wedding. All Thursday, Friday and Saturday there was a constant flow of people through the doors of our house where they would be greeted by the bride, sit, eat and toast to the expanding family. As far as I can tell there was no actual ceremony per say, it was more of a three day celebration…I think, even after three days of witnessing this event I am still confused because my language skills are not far along enough to decipher the elaborate traditions of a Kyrgyz wedding. But fortunately for me this is wedding season and I have been invited to another Kyrgyz wedding next week by a young woman who has beautiful English. This time around I’m attending just one day of the ceremony rather than the celebration marathon that I just finished! Hopefully after my third wedding in country I will finally start to understand what the hell is going on.

But outside of weddings, life has begun to feel normal here! It’s hard to believe that I have already completed my first whole month of service. I started Russian lessons and English clubs this week so it seems overnight my schedule has began to fill up. My NGO found a Russian tutor who sits with me one-on-one and works through grammar and vocabulary for an hour and a half every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday morning. My instructor is this tall, bleach blonde Russian woman in her mid-fifties. The first thing I noticed about her was her attention to diction, when she speaks every syllable and letter is pronounced perfectly at quite a loud volume to make sure that I don’t miss a single sound that comes out of her mouth. In addition to her perfect pronunciation she is also very animated and will get up and start acting out a verb if I don’t know what she is say (she doesn’t speak English) or she will hold my hand as she talks to me. Its kinda funny picturing myself in a small classroom with this large Russian woman holding my hands as she shouts Russian grammar rules at me!

So I start my day with these intensive Russian lessons and end it with an English club. The first couple of club were dedicated to getting to know each other. We also made lists of topics that we could use as a theme to each meeting. By the end of the week we started choosing some of the topics the students had expressed interest in and ended up having some fairly intense clubs. The university group wanted to talk about youth and deviance so we spent about 45 minutes defining deviance and giving examples of youth deviance, we then ended the club with a 15 minute debate on types of punishment for youth who break the law. The high school students that I am working with spent time coming up with ideas to promote an anti-violence awareness campaign that my NGO is hosting events for.

In addition to my work picking up, things at home are getting easier too since I’m starting to feel like I have a handle on cooking in a Kyrgyz kitchen. The other day I bought a giant pumpkin at the bazaar and made copious amounts pumpkin bread and pumpkin soup! To my surprise it actually turned out really well! I will say this, cooking with canned pumpkin was much much much faster!

Its only Wednesday?

Beginning with the earthquake that struck Sunday night, these last couples of days have been a bit chaotic! Over 70 people died in the earthquake on the southeast Kyrgyz and Chinese border. Although I am living in the southwest region, that evening even I felt the earthquake. To be honest I had been running around the house and didn’t actually feel the ground shaking, rather I saw a light hanging from my ceiling swaying violently. According to reports the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.6 which is the largest earthquake in the region since 2003. For me this earthquake was a big reminder that those beautiful hills and mountains are still growing. It’s intimidating feeling the earth reshape itself under your feet.

After the initial shock and discussions of where people were and what they were doing when the quake struck, life seemed to continue on in Jalal Abad. My house has a constant buzz of excitement as the wedding approaches. During the day the whole family is busy repainting the house, repairing cracks in the walls, weeding the garden and cooking. My God, there is so much cooking going on right now! I can hardly step into the kitchen to make breakfast without feeling like I am disrupting this intricate system of preparation! At night is when friends and family start arriving to celebrate the upcoming wedding. They stream in through the gates with bags of deserts, fruit and vodka. Last night I was pulled in to celebrate with shots of vodka after I had eaten dinner. Toast after toast, the guest gave speeches to celebrate the new couple, wish them many children and to rejoice in the growing family. Interestingly enough, for all this celebration the new wife was nowhere to be seen because she busy working in the kitchen and cleaning up after all the feast preparation. There is still two days before the wedding begins, which will be a three day celebration, and I cannot even fathom what I am in for!

On the other side of town I have experienced a quicken of pace at my NGO. Yesterday eight highschool students came by and took a language evaluation that I created so I could place them in an English Club (with an underlying theme of human rights, volunteering, and community service) which I will be hosting on behalf of the NGO. The evaluation consisted of four questions; tell me about yourself, who do you admire and consider your hero, what do you want to do in the next ten years, why do you want to join this English club? There was a wide variety of answers, in the self description section they all described how much they liked music and hanging out with their friends (not so different than American teenagers) and one young woman stated her horoscope sign and proceeded to describe the characteristics of an Aries (horoscopes are followed very dutifully here!) As for what they want to do in ten years only half claimed they wanted to travel to Europe and America but they all described how they wanted to find the love of their life and live happily ever after! All the young women of the group but one young woman described their mothers or sisters as their hero. The exception in the group described her respect for the courage, strength and loyalty of Harry Potter!

In addition to the earthquake, wedding and English evaluation, this week I stopped by the American Corner at the University of Jalal Abad which is a resource center sponsored by the American Embassy where students can borrow English books, movies and practice their English. With the intentions of introducing myself and seeing if they wanted any help from me, I was suprised with their immediate assumption that I was there to serve! The moment I walked in I was welcomed and informed that they had been waiting for me despite the fact that I had made no appointments to come by! Within the hour I had agreed to help with three English clubs (a beginner, intermediate and a conversational club.) I also initiated a movie club where every Thursday we would watch a movie in English, discuss it and answer any questions about it. It was decided that I would start next week! As I was leaving the American corner the director asked me to come by the following day so he could introduce me to the Vice Director of the University. The next day after work, I returned to the University and met with the Vice Director of the school. He was a middle aged Kyrgyz man who didn’t speak English so the director of the American Corner translated for us. We discussed how I liked Kyrgyzstan, what I had been doing before the Peace Corps, what I wanted to do with my life after Kyrgyzstan, my family and basically everything else under the sun! Towards the end of the meeting he purposed that I start an English-Business Club for the business school where students could talk about western business practices, I nearly fell out of my chair when he said that! I have been itching for an opportunity to put my finance degree to use and this looks like the perfect opportunity!

A lot of community development volunteers have been hesitant to host English clubs because they feel teaching English is not their role in the Peace Corps but I’m totally pumped up about my five clubs!!! For me, these clubs have the potential to be my entry into the community, a great way to explore the Kyrgyz culture and finally there is obviously a huge demand for English practice here. I can only hope that projects that are requested by the community and are sustainable will turn out to be successful projects!

Busy busy me!

So since I've been in Jalal Abad I have hardly had a chance to work!!! The previous weekend was spent in Osh at a women's leadership conference that was organized by a volunteer. The whole conference was in Russian so I didn't attend the sessions but there were 40 young Kyrgyz women that did. From what I could tell, the conference went really well. There were some really interesting topics covered including; women in government positions, business women, human trafficking, bride kidnapping and HIV. That is really just the tip of the iceberg too, it was a four day conference so these young women walked away with a lot of information.

Initially being in Osh was so shocking because almost everyone I was in contact with spoke English and in Jalal Abad I have yet to find a large population of English speakers. Most of these English speakers were young women who were attending the conference. They were all so energized, motivated and excited about learning English that I was asked multiple times if I was available to meet with them regularly so they could work on their conversational skills. I was amazed at their eagerness and readiness to learn!

Eventually Sunday came around and the conference ended. After I helped put together the last coffee break and watched the closing ceromony I packed up my rice bag and by four o'clock I was at the marshuka stand. There was already a bus waiting to fill up so I paid the fare (just under $3) and waited for the bus to pull out. That took significantly longer than I expected and I was actually sitting on the bus for over an hour before we finally embarked for Jalal Abad. While I was waiting I watched life at the bus station slowly go by; there were numerous stands selling juice and snacks to travelers, drivers sitting around gossiping as they wathced their rides fill up, people jumping on and off buses with their plastic bags filled to the brim with god knows what!

Slowly seats began to fill , and as I continued to wait I was entertained by the sellers and hagglers that would jump on the bus to get money out of the travelers. The first peddler that came a long was a woman who just poked her head into the bus trying to sell apples, then came the Imam (a muslim priest). As soon as he stepped onto the bus people started rummaging through their bags for change and after he collected money from everyone on the bus he said a prayer for safe traveling. Before he jumped off the bus he looked down and gave me a toothless smile, I felt blessed.

Then came the middle aged woman selling newspapers, she patiently stood at the front of the bus with a newspaper and read out a couple of the headlines in attempts to spark the attention of her audience, no buyers. As she got off a young man poked his head in the bus and wave some dill around, when he saw he had no buyers he continued to the next bus. Then right before we left an older lady got on the bus and walked through the middle isle of the marshuka begging for extra change, eventually she wondered off and almost immediatly we pulled out of the bus station on our way to Jalal Abad.

The drive that evening was beautiful, the sun was setting behind us and the hills and mountails were golden with the light hitting the dry grassy hills. More than once we had to slow down and maneuver through heards of cows and sheep who were followed by shepards on their hourses. It was a beautiful way to end an awesome weekend!

The following Monday I was hoping to pick up work again and really start getting things accomplished, but I had not got two days of work in before the end of Ramadan rolled around, so I was granted another day off! I never thought I would say it but I just want to get to work! Oh well!

My Service begins

Well I made it through swearing in, at one point the group was asked to sing a Kyrgyz national song and I was quite convinced that not only would we be rejected from the Peace Corps but that we would be deported immediatly! It was pretty bad, we butchered the beautiful Kergyz Jeri song! Despite that though, after the swearing in ceremony all the new volunteers were invited to the ambassadors house to celebrate! It was pretty exciting, we were served microwave pizza, chips, salsa and diet pepsi. After only two months in this country I have an appreciation for junk food that I never knew I had.

Eventually we headed back to the hotel and had long night of goodbyes with other volunteers, it was really hard saying goodbye since I had become so close with so many volunteers over these last 11 weeks. I wish them nothing but exciting adventures and a successfull two years of service. The next morning I left the hotel very early to get to the airport. Checking baggage was a mess, I just had so much stuff! The Peace Corps had giving everyone a water distiller, a giant electric heater and a medical kit that I needed to carry to Jalal abad along with literally over 100 lbs of my own crap!!! I'm still not at the point where I can look back and laugh at the situation, maybe in two years I'll see the humour in it. By the time it was all said and done I was 43 kg over the weight limit. Thank God the Peace Corps takes care of overweight baggage!

But here I am at my permantent site! The weather has started to cool down quite a bit already, I comforted by the fact that the Kyrgyz seem to be even more terrified of the cold than I am, I figure if they can survive the winter,so can I!!! One of the first things that I did when I arrived was go to the bazaar, I was hoping to buy a jacket for the winter but I didn't get around to it. The bazaars can just be so over whelming! Every time I go into one I have to tune out 95% of my senses. A typical walk throught the market consists of sellers shouting prices, people asking what you want to buy, shoppers bumping past you, carts flying between and through stands where there are piles and piles of fruits, vegetables, soap, electronics, clothes, doo dads and trinkets! Really if you want something, you can find it at the bazaar- it'll take a long time but you can find it! At one point during the three hours I was there, I was looking for lemons so I could make baba ganaush. For the life of me I couldn't find it but I kept asking merchants and each one continued to maze me through the intricit bazaar untill I found them in the very heart it!!! I was exhausted by the end of it all and just went back to my host family's house and fell asleep! When I woke up my host family was in the midsts of repainting their whole house. Their only son is getting married in less than a month so the whole house must be looking its best for the wedding, I'm really excited to see a Kyrgyz wedding. The wedding is constantly a topic of conversation, more than once my host mother has run her finger across her throat as she explains that a sheep, cow and horse will be sacrificed at the wedding. Its going to be a big party!

As for work, yesterday was my first day at the office. I first went to my host mother's office, she is a director for an NGO that works with local orphans and has a small office not far from my NGO. While I was there she introduced me to a dozen people, many who seemed to be government officials which I am glad to know for future references during my two years here. I was so flattered, as she introduced me and explained what I was doing in Kyrgyzstan she would call me her new daughter!

After we had lunch I went to my NGO's office and talked about what I will be doing for the next couple of weeks. My first project is to creat an English club where young adults can practice their english by exploring issues that the organization is involved in such as human and women rights, anti human trafficking along with less heavy topics like movies, life in America and so on. I'm actually really excited, I think it will be a great way for me to get to know the community!

As for today, it has already been an eventfull one! Apparently it is some type of national holiday- which one, I don't know- but right outside of the park was a stage set up where people were performing traditional kyrgyz dances, childeren were singing and many people were wearing traditional Kyrgyz hats and dresses. After my host mother and I had been watching for a few minutes she took me around and started introducing me to people. Its amazing, the woman knows everyone! Anyway the last person that she introduced me to was a news man who was filming the event...so yes I was asked to speak into the camera and say "Hello Kyrgyzstan, I love you Kyrgyzstan!" in Kyrgyz...I speak Russian...well at least all of Jalalabad will have a good laugh tonight! Damn!

I can only hope that tomorrow will be just as exciting! I will be going down to Osh City where there is a Women's Leadership Conference being put on by one of the volunteers who has already been serving for one year. It will be all in Russian but I think that it is an excellent opportunity to see what other volunteers are doing during their service here and hopefully I will be inspired and find some opportunities for my own secondary projects. I wish me luck as I muddle through another day!!!

NGO

In eight days Pre-Service Training will be over and I will be sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I will pack my suitcases, say goodbye to my training host family and the next day I will be on a plane heading towards my permanent site and only then will my two years of service will begin. Training has been hard and very trying, but I have learned a lot and am better prepared to work with my NGO and within the community thanks to it. Although I will miss having all the volunteers within a twenty minute marshuka ride and I will hate saying goodbye to my first host family, I have a beautiful city that I will be moving to and a NGO which I am really excited to be working with.

Just last week I had the opportunity to spend a day working with them, it was an interesting, inspiring and motivating day all at once. It began when my director picked me up that morning, she pulled up in her sedan with her youngest son in the back who needed to be dropped off at school, the radio was blaring Russian pop music and as soon as I sat down we sped off to the office. The office is actually an apartment where the NGO is based, there are three computers, a television and internet (when there is electricity.) From what I have heard, this is a pretty badass set up for a local NGO! The first thing that I did when I arrived was flip through a photo album that was filled with pictures of previous events and seminars, as I flipped through the book I had another woman sitting next to me explaining all the pictures to me in Russian, she spoke really quickly and every now and then I would catch what she was trying to get across to me, regardless I smiled and nodded as we looked through the pictures. After lunch a translator was brought in, it was a young woman in her twenties who spoke beautiful English. Her husband was at the dentist and she had not been able to find a babysitter in time so she brought her new baby with her. As she translated what the organization was about and what my role would be, she juggled her baby who was bored and starting to get testy. At one point she pulled her shirt up and started nursing the baby but did not miss a beat and continued translating! As the initial shock wore off I had to smile, this scenario would never happen in America!

Regardless of the unintential flashing, thanks to her I learned that the organization had three main categories of work; shaping and guiding women leaders, domestic violence and human trafficking. They have initiated many seminars and events in the community and throughout Kyrgyzstan. One of the projects they would like me to start with is working with a group of school girls in a after school English club, she talked about how her long term goal with this project is to inspire these young women to volunteer and work with the community so one day they will be able to fill their roles.

Another very difficult subject that the organization does some work with is bride kidnapping. This is a Kyrgyz tradition where a man who wants to get married will kidnap a young woman who he believes will make a good wife. Sometimes he will know her and sometimes he won’t. These kidnappings have been divided into two categories; consensual and non consensual. Consensual kidnapping is when the man and women discuss and agree that he will kidnap her. Couples will do this to avoid dowry expenses or if one of the families doesn’t approve of the marriage, by kidnapping her they are avoiding some barriers that they would face otherwise. But the non consensual kidnapping is exactly what it sounds like. After he kidnaps this girl he brings her back to his parents house and the family must try to convince the girl to stay by telling her what a great guy the kidnapper is and how if she were to go back to her family now it would be shameful for both her and her family because everyone would assume that she is no longer a virgin. If she stays, which she usually will because she doesn’t want to embarrass her family, then she lives there for forty days till the wedding. Of course not all marriages happen like this, but it does happen and is very present in Kyrgyz culture

Right now it is illegal and it is very negatively viewed. I am hoping that through this NGO I will learn more about it and have opportunities to work on educating men and women about alternative options to bride kidnapping. Here's hoping for a great experience in Jalal Abad!

(Soon to be) Home Sweet Home

Over the last two months my communacative abilities have gone from mute/dumb to the level of a 3 year old. Its been challenging to say the least but I have muddled my way onto marshukas, the public transportation of choice, to bazaars and through meals. I even gave a toast on my host sisters birthday, no verbs were congegated, its was choppy as hell but at the end I got hugs and kisses from the family and an A for effort!

But due to this lack of communication I have been completely out of touch with national and international news. I had received clips of information here and there but no full stories on the world outside of my small town in Kyrgyzstan. Despite this lack of news I wanted to touch on two events that many friends and family have been concerned about; a plane crash in Kyrgyzstan and the war in Georgia. First of all I want everyone to know that I am safe and have not been directly affected by the war. All of Kyrgyzstan is watching this war intently with hopes of a smooth resolution. My heart goes out to everyone who has been affected by this war.

Second, there was a Kyrgyz plane that crashed at the main international airport in Bishkek. Unfortunatly several lives were lost, but the damage has been cleared and business is as usual at Manas Airport. This last Friday I flew out of the airport to explore my permanent site. The airport was just as I remembered it two months ago as we all scurried off the plane upon our middle-of-the-night arrival in Kyrgyzstan.

I am currently here in Jala abad where I am exploring the city, getting to know my next host family and introducing myself at my future NGO. So far I have found this town to be a beautiful little city. I am in the south of the country and so I will be warmer than majority of the volunteers through out the country, also Jala abad is located right on the edge of the Fargana Valley so the fruits and vegetables will be bountiful. Within the city itself there are two large universities and a major bazaar where I will be able to find whatever I need during my time in Kyrgyzstan. In addition to all this there are three internet cafes which is really exciting because I will have more access to the news and my email!!! As for the local population, there is a large Uzbek and Kyrgyz population, but significantly less Russians than there are in the northern part of the country. The people have been very hospitable and as I walk in and out of shops and through the bazaars I am finding people who are more than happy to help me in English.

As for my living quarters, I am living in a very nice compound where my host family grows grapes, apples, tomatos and walnuts. I have a bedroom where I have two beds, a wardrobe and a small table to work off of. The family that I am living with has been very hospitable and although the language barrier is difficult I am begining to see it as an opportunity to improve my russian and pick up some Kyrgyz.

Today is the first day of Ramadan and the first day of school, as a result the country has taken today as a bit of a holiday. This has been really nice for me as I have taken the day to stroll around the city with a couple who are begining their retirement by serving in the Peace Corps. As we walked around the city we saw all the boys and girls dressed in their best suits and dresses with flowers for their teachers. Ginger, the wife of the couple, is assigned to work at one of the local universities so when she met up with Fritz (her husband) and I she was carrying a bouquet of roses that one of her freshman students had given her!

Tomorrow I will be meeting with my NGO whose primary goal is to work with and promote Women's leadership within the Jala abad region. They have had volunteers previously and have done a lot of work with other volunteers in the region so I am pretty excited about working with this group!!!

Before I sign off I wanted to end with a quick note back to America; from what I have read and heard from my parents, there is a nasty hurricane headed right towards New Orleans. For all those people in that area, please know that you are in my thoughts. I hope you come back to dry homes, strong levees and the same sense of pride I know you all have down their in Louisianna.

Jalal Abad, here I come!

As the K-16 group only has one opportunity to see each other per week there tends to be unofficial topics of discussion for each week. Last week people talked about culture day. Culture Day is an event sponsored by Peace Corps where each group of trainees reenacts an element of Kyrgyzstani culture. The community that I live in has a large Turkish population so we were asked to demonstrate a Turkish wedding.

Despite the trainee involvement and participation in the event, we actually have very little say in the organization or implementation of this event. This day is dominated by the host mothers. These women orchestrate the performance, prepare the food, find costumes, in fact I did not even dress myself that day, two host mothers did. In addition to all of that they took on the role of cast director, and after much discussion I was nominated to be the bride of our Turkish wedding. I was not consulted prior to this decision but I figured when in Kyrgyzstan….

The day turned out very well, there was music, dancing, singing, and costumes. One of my favorite parts of the day was walking around and seeing my peers dressed in national outfits. I had been decorated in a soft pink dress (with sparkles) and hidden under a veil all day long. I am proud to say that despite the fact that we witnessed a Kyrgyz wedding, a Russian wedding and a Turkish wedding; no goats, sheep, cows or horses were harmed in the making of culture day -- Very unrealistic. I have only attended one Kyrgyz wedding thus far and although I did not see the killing of any animals, I did see some huffs missing a cow to the side of the wedding tent.

With culture day out of the way, there was only one thing on people’s minds this week. Wednesday had been a highly anticipated day; trainees were loosing sleep over it, it was the root of all gossip and it was constantly on my mind. This Wednesday was the day we found out where we were going to spend the next two years of our life, what we would be doing there and who we would be placed with.

Seeing as this is so important to trainees, over the years peace corps has developed a site placement ceremony where each volunteer is called out on to a giant chalk-outlined map of Kyrgyzstan, one at a time, where they are handed a packet with their placement overview and told to stand in the region where they are to live for the next two years. As the trainers slowly called out all 59 volunteers excitement started to buzz and visions of 2009 and 2010 began to form in everyone’s minds. Another piece of the puzzle had been solved.

Just as important as where we are placed, is who we were placed with. Over the past 7 weeks, several friendships have solidified and romances have begun to blossom, so when the Tien Shan mountain range was placed between people, emotions began to rise. As for me, I was not disappointed. I will be working for an NGO in Jalal Abad called Women Leaders of Jalal Abad. On paper it looks great, but I'm hesitant to boast about my placement until I actually see where I'm living and what my NGO is like. Next week all the trainees will be going to their future site, I have a feeling that topic will dominate conversations for the remainder of our time in training.

First month in KR

So I realize I have been here over a month and have only posted one blog, so first of all I would like to apologize and let everyone know that I am doing well and loving my life in Kyrgyzstan! I don’t have regular access to internet at the moment so please be patient as I post these blogs!
Just a snap shot of life here; I am staying with an lovely family about an hour outside Bishkek, who have 3 daughters (ages 5,13, 15), a brother (age 20), a kitten, a puppy and a guard dog. The daughters know a few words in English, but for the most part there is a lot of broken Russian and gestures used to get points across. I am proud to say that I have managed to get some of the town gossip despite my inability to form complex sentences! What can I say, we all have our strengths and I like to call mine inter-personal skills!
As for the living situation things are fine- I hesitate to say great because it has hit 45 degrees C (over 100 degree F) more than once and there is no AC. Plus there are regular blackouts through out Kyrgyzstan so I’m never quite sure when the lights are going to work…but to counteract all that the house I’m staying in is comfortable! I have my own room with a twin bed, desk and a wardrobe so I can have some privacy. Just outside my room is the living room where they have a couple of couches and a tv. The shows are all in Russian and I have spent several evenings watching a Russian soap opera about some blind redhead with my host sisters, its pretty intense! Anyway next to the living room is the dining area and bedroom for the kids. The parents sleep on the floor in the living room, I can’t tell if they usually sleep in there or if they have given me their room.
But that is basically it for the house, it is fairly modest, the kitchen is outside and in the back of the garden) is the outhouse—it’s a squatter. Despite the fact that I have been here for over a month I still don’t like going to the bathroom out there!
The food has been fine, I have eaten a lot of soup, rice and noodles. A tomato and cucumber salad is served with most meals along with homemade bread and jam. There has been a lot of simple carbs and oils in every meal and despite the fact that I walk about 4 miles a day I still don’t think I have lost weight which says something about how rich the food is! Right now is melon season, and the streets are just lined with watermelon stands! It’s been so nice eating watermelon everyday!
A typical week day for me begins at about 7 am when I wake up, have breakfast, get dressed and leave for about a 25 minute walk to class. I usually meet a friend about half way there and we walk the rest of the way together. From 8:30 to 12 is language lessons, which is hosted at a Turkish woman’s home, during the lesson there is a lot of interactive learning where we interview people around the house and play little language games to help us practice our vocabulary and grammar. There are 5 trainees in this language group which is big enough for a diversity of ideas but small enough to receive personal attention. My Russian feels like it is coming very slowly but my instructor has given me very positive feedback and is constantly reminding us that Russian is the 2nd hardest language to learn- right behind Chinese. I don’t know if I believe it, but it makes me feel better so I’ll take it!
After language lessons I go home for about an hour so I can eat lunch and grab some materials for the next lesson which is either technical training, cultural training, or medical/safety training. One of the technical training assignments is that we work with a non-profit organization. The NPO that my partner and I have been assigned to work with is an organization who supports the Tajik refugees in the local community. So far we have grammatically cleaned up a brochure, have started translating another pamphlet and we are planning on giving a training session on how to use Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint. We only meet with them once a week but so far it has been very educational working with them.
We are usually done with lessons around 4 pm, from there I either go play with the other volunteers or go home where I decompress, have dinner, take a shower and call it a day. Usually by 10:30 pm I am exhausted and falling asleep!
So that’s life here in Kyrgyzstan! I love hearing about what’s going on in your lives so feel free to email me and let me know how you are doing!
Some highlights so far-
- I bought a cell phone so I have spoken to my parents a couple of times!
- I cooked dinner with a friend for his host mother- from scratch and without a recipe!!!
- I carried a bucket of water from the stream outside our house so I could help with chores
- I went to a hot-spring about an hour away from where I’m staying- the view was beautiful
- I almost got squashed by a herd of cows when walking home one day
- Sharing Russian beers with friends
- Exploring a bazaar in downtown Bishkek- it was 20 sq. km!
- Riding in marshukas (the public transportation) with two people for every seat on the bus!
- Watching the sun set on the Tien Shan mountains

Finally here

So I am in Kyrgyzstan and I have finally found an internet cafe! To sum things up I am having the most amazing time here! The traveling was fine- the prices were horrible in the istanbul airport but I slept a lot on the plane so I have had almost no jet lag! I arrived at 3 in the morning Monday and after a quick night sleep we began training and have been sitting in training for the last two and a half days. We have been staying in this big hotel that looks like it was built in the 70s by the Russians and NOTHING has changed!!!

In training we are covering things like security, safety, food, and our assignments. I found out that I will be a business advisor which I am so pumped up about and that I am learning russian rather than Kyrgyz- only 16 out of 63 volunteers are learning russian and several people that are learning Kyrgyz are upset because they feel like Russian is a more applicable language which is totally true but the bad part is that Russian is so much harder. Medical is also a big element of training and I have had two shots already Rabies and some other one. It was so crazy, the two doctors that administrated the shots just had me roll up my sleeves, stood on either side of me and *bam*bam* I was vaccinated!

The thing that has just kept me smiling the entire time are the other peace corps trainees I have fallen in love with everyone I have met!!!

Tonight I am going to move in with my host family, only speak Russina... anyway this is where I will be staying for the next three months- it will be some intense language, cultural and technical training. I'm not to nervous- I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have a good time.

There is a good handful of volunteers that are pretty homesick right now- I feel bad for them but there is nothing I can do other than point out the good. I hope they start to fall in love with Kyrgyzstan like me!