I love watermelon.

My Luxemburg host family

Chai! The tea is in the small pot, and hot water in the bigger. In your tea cup they pour a tiny bit of the tea and fill the rest with hot water.

my new room

New puppy- Simba

My new host sister and host mother

Sultan and I

Luxemburg host parents

Tushoks- traditional Kyrgyz cushions; used to sleep on the floor and sit around the table

Elena

Tons of tomatoes that we later canned

Cacti- the Kyrgyz cure for radiation, they are always kept near computers

preparing for winter

Sweet spread our host families made for our goodbye party.

at swearing in

swearing in

President in my village

president

Swearing-In

09/20/08

 

The last week was crazy! When I woke up this morning in my new room, I couldn't believe PST was actually over. On Thursday was swearing-in. I awoke early and jammed the rest of my stuff into my backpack before carrying it over the railroad tracks wearing my finest outfit. Nic and I took a taxi to Kant with all of our stuff, which was a lot. We both had one bag full of stuff that Peace Corps gave us- books, a water distiller, mosquito net, and a lot of other small things. The morning was taken up with our counterpart conference, then lunch, and suddenly it was time for swearing-in.

 

We had the swearing-in ceremony in the same place that we had our host family matching ceremony back in July. When we arrived there were a bunch of Kyrgyz students performing various dances on stage. Then the new US Ambassador came; she swore in only two weeks ago. There were various speeches and then we all swore in- very exciting, I almost cried. The Kyrgyz press was running around, we even made national news.

 

After swear-in, we had a mini-reception with our training host families, counterparts, and Peace Corps staff. When the K-16 volunteers got on the bus to go to Bishkek, I was waving goodbye to my host family, and my language cluster's families were crying. I am really going to miss them, but I'll get to see them in January, when I go back to Bishkek for In-Service Training.

 

Once in Bishkek, we checked into our hotel then went to the ambassador's house for a party. I have never seen such savagery. They told us before we got there the proper way to address the ambassador, and not to touch the alcohol. What they should have told us was to behave ourselves and show some decorum. The ambassador served chips and salsa, sandwiches with kraft cheese, and microwave pizzas. The second a plate came out of the kitchen the volunteers would attack. It took less than 10 seconds for the plate to be empty. This happened repeatedly; once, a plate never even made it to the table.

 

Continuing on the savagery, we had a celebratory party in one the hotel rooms. I think almost all 57 volunteers showed up, plus a bunch of the K-15s. The electricity went out at 10 pm, but we rigged flashlights to the chandeliers, and someone brought portable speakers. I have no idea what time the party ended, but when I woke up, all the lights were on, broken glasses littered the ground, there were copious amounts of beer bottles, and the door was open.

 

Despite the revelry, I made it safely to my permanent site, and slept most of yesterday. Today President Bakiev came to town, so I went into the center with the other volunteer in my village, and we saw him and heard him give a speech. My host sister was right up in the front, and managed to take a bunch of pictures with my camera. Ariel and I were hanging back, and the crowd found us almost as interesting as the President. We talked to a couple of people, and I'm sure that by tomorrow, everyone will know that we live here.

 

I start work on Monday, but I'm only observing for the next couple of weeks. I think October 6^th will be my first day teaching.

 

I can't believe I'm now a Peace Corps Volunteer! AWESOME!

 

PS- I might have to lock my blog, so you will have to register, sorry guys.

No water, no electricity

There are three phrases that I hear almost everyday: sue joke, svet joke, and gas joke, the latter happening far less often. The first is by far the most irritating- no water, followed by no electricity and then no gas. All summer there has been water on and off. For the last couple of months, the water goes off for a few hours in the afternoon. Beginning last week the water has gone off almost completely, except for an hour or so in the early morning. Also, beginning August 31^st, the electricity goes out for at least eight hours each day- a few at night, and a few in the afternoon. Even Bishkek is feeling the cutbacks. It's only annoying when there's no gas and no electricity because that means no dinner. It may be annoying, but sue joke, svet joke, gas joke is apparently serving a purpose.

Everyone has been talking about how cold it is going to be this winter. Last year was one of the coldest winters on record here; some people have equated winter here to winter in Colorado. It's not so much that it's going to be really cold, it's that there will be no respite. Inside or outside, most days, will be the same temperature. Kyrgyzstan relies heavily on electricity to heat its homes; and the government has stated that electricity will be in short supply this winter. Most electricity generated in Kyrgyzstan is hydroelectric, and with the Toktogul reservoir dangerously low- little electricity is expected this winter.

In an effort to preserve the water levels, water and electricity have been turning off all summer. About a month ago, Bakiev announced that the Kyrgyz people weren't really trying and so the turn-offs increased. There are a few skeptics about whether there is enough water or not. Some have hypothesized that the government is selling water and electricity to neighboring Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. It would certainly be easy enough.

When Kyrgyzstan was a part of the USSR all of the Central Asian republics were united. A car might be constructed in different parts, with part of it constructed in what is now Kazakhstan, and part of it constructed in Uzbekistan, before being fully assembled in Turkmenistan; national borders did not exist. When the Soviet Union collapsed, a number of industries were spread out without regard to borders. This is still true of the electrical lines. For electricity generated in Kyrgyzstan to get to Bishkek it must first pass through Uzbekistan to Tashkent, then up to Kazakhstan before coming back down to Bishkek. So no matter what, electricity is going to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

A number of proclamations have been made, Kyrgyz citizens have been warned and asked to prepare. Currently people are trying to procure alternate sources of heat, such as coal and wood. Most schools have only electric heat, so it's just going to be cold. Although the government has stated that school will be closed from December 25^th to February 1^st, if the school only has an electrical heating system, which is almost all of them. In some of the colder parts of the country, such as Naryn, school may be closed for the entire third quarter, which lasts until March. But right now, no one seems to know what's going on. Who knows, maybe I'll flee to Thailand in January, or maybe winter will end up not being that cold.

 

All of the host families in my language cluster are throwing our group a huge going away party on Wednesday night. It's going to be awesome, but sad. They've all been talking about it for a while now- one last hurrah before we swear-in on Thursday. Hopefully there will be some delicious food, which would be anything as long as it is not beshbarmak.

our sweet picnic set up

preparing for the cradle party

language class

sultan being me.

Uno- the best game ever

Elena and a friend all dressed up for culture day.

Bakit, my language teacher

My host mom and I

Building a yurt

Issyk-Ata

Elena and a cousin

English club

Luxemburg English club

Chelsea and I in national dress

Patrick and Nic in national dress

Jalalabad

08/07/08

So I've returned from the deep south, which by all accounts is a different country. The landscape is different, the food is different, the people are different, and even the language is different. My five days in Jalalabad, for permanent site visit, was like visiting a foreign country.

Last Friday the 59 K-16s gathered in Bishkek, at the same hotel we stayed at when we arrived, which is clearly used for all Peace Corps events. We arrived around four, checked in, received some money, and met our host families at 4:45. Those of us from the South only had one member of our family there. My new host mom, Nurilya, greeted me with a hug, and we seemed to hit it off. After various meetings and dinner with our host families, all the trainees had a party at a café down the block. It was fun. And we really have not had time to have fun during the last couple of months, so it was awesome. The only downside was that the group going to Jalalabad had an early flight, so I had to get up at 6 am; I was so tired I lost my cell phone.

The Jalalabad group actually flew to Osh city, before driving the couple of hours north to Jalalabad. Our flight was about an hour, better than the ten it takes to drive, and was stunning. Our pilot must have been rather distracted by the scenery as he took a nosedive for the runway in Osh.

Osh is the capital of the South, and the oldest city in Kyrgyzstan, older than Rome even, it's founding around 3000 years ago. Mount Suleiman is a focal point of the city's history. The mountain, or hill, is named after King Solomon who is said to have visited the city and slept on the top of the hill. Mount Suleiman has since become a major Muslim pilgrimage point. The hill is sort of at the center of the city with the city fanning out west. I am really looking forward to getting to spend some time in Osh in the coming two years, as I only got a few hours there, and did not really see anything.

After our harrowing landing my host mother and I took a series of taxis to Bazarkorgon, the rayon center just east of Jalalabad city, where my permanent site is. The landscape is sort of desert like and looks a lot like the fertile parts of North Africa. Tall cypress-like trees, with browning fields abutting mud brick houses. It is also significantly warmer in the South, enough that when I got back to Luxemburg I was cold.

My permanent site is a bigger city, about 30,000 people, with a huge bazaar; Bazarkorgon translates to something like defend the bazaar. The town is significantly Uzbek, only 20 kilometers from the border, and has sort of a frontier like feel; very leafy, but also dusty and hot.

There are four Uzbek schools, two Kyrgyz schools, and one Russian school. I am at the larger of the Kyrgyz schools. We have 900 students and around 50 teachers. The English department is fairly big, with five other teachers. All forms from 1^st to 11^th form, Kyrgyzstan only has eleven, take English. I think I will be teaching mainly 11^th and 7^th forms. I am really excited about my school. The students are awesome, the teachers are great, and everyone is excited that I am there.

The first day of school is a big day in Kyrgyzstan. It is always on the first of September, and the students all arrive and there is a ceremony. Our ceremony was in the school's courtyard around a mini-yurt. All of the students wear white shirts and black bottoms, skirts for girls and pants for boys. The girls also wear these huge white bows in their hair and it seems to be a sort of competition over who has the biggest bow. There was dancing and singing from various forms and the first form did a sort of presentation. After were speeches: the director, a couple of teachers and me. I had to give a five-minute speech, in Kyrgyz, to the entire student body and staff; I think it went well as I got very large round of applause.

I was also in J-bad (we K-16s are relentless in our shortening of names) for independence day on August 31^st. My village set up a bunch of yurts in front of the administration building, where there is also a giant statue of Lenin-Ata. The older generations were dressed in Kyrgyz national dress, and a lot of the younger kids were performing various things, but no fireworks. I found it interesting that my last day in America was our Independence Day, and my first day at my permanent site was the Kyrgyz independence day.

By the time all of us southerners got to the Osh airport on the 3^rd, none of us wanted to go back. PST is almost over, just another two weeks! Then we have swear-in on the 18^th, before traveling to our sites on the 19^th.

 

And I have a new address, coming soon, and pictures too!

Hello!

I know it's been a few weeks, but the electricity is usually out in the afternoon. I hope all is well! Send me life updates!

08.18.08

The last couple of weeks have been rather busy. The PST (pre-service training) staff keeps our schedule jam-packed. It seems that I never have a free moment. When I get home in the evening I am usually so tired that I find it difficult to do anything but eat and sleep.  I do try and talk with my host mom for at least a half hour every night- it is really good practice. 

 

 Not last weekend, but the weekend before, I attended several parties. On Thursday, August 7^th, I attended a sort of thanks party. The host and his wife were driving back from Bishkek and narrowly missed a devastating accident. To show their gratitude for still being alive they invited their close friends and relatives to a meal. It was my first introduction to Beshbarmak. On the Saturday after, I attended a birthday party for a three year old. The party was very well attended; especially by the neighborhood kids. Again we were served beshbarmak, which I have decided is not something I enjoy.  The day after was a type of women's party. A group of women get together, typically once a month, and cook a meal together and give 500 som to the host. Each month the party is at someone else's house. Luckily at this women's party there was no beshbarmak.

 

Beshbarmak is a traditional Kyrgyz dish of mutton and noodles, it literally means five fingers since you eat the dish with your hands. To make it a sheep is first slaughtered in the morning, then cleaned, quartered, and gutted. Then the sheep parts are boiled in a giant Kyrgyz stove (a kazan). After some hours the meat is removed and the leftover broth (shorpo) is boiled down. Once the shorpo a thicker consistency noodles are prepared in the broth, typically ramen. At the party later the meat is served over the noodles with a cup of broth to drink. Each cut of meat has a special name and is given to a particular guest at the party, in a hierarchical order, typically decided by age; with the head given to the most elder man, or the guest of honor.

 

This past weekend was also full. On Saturday the Peace Corps held a culture day, and on Sunday my language cluster went to Issyk-Ata.  Saturday's culture day was really fun. Each language group, or village, presented a traditional aspect of Kyrgyz or Russian culture. One group staged a consensual bride-kidnapping, another a Russian wedding, and my group presented a cradle party.

 

All of us dressed in national dress, which made us look completely ridiculous.  For the cradle party, I was the "mother," which meant that I held a baby. Orginally it was going to be this hideous doll of Elena's, but at the last minute Patrick's host mom borrowed a baby from the audience. I had to walk around the cradle to the grandmother, bow three times, while holding the baby, and then hand it off to grandma. The grandmother then said a prayer and strapped the baby in cradle. One of the cool things about Kyrgyz cradles is that they are constructed to be secured to a horse. After each group presented, we ate lunch- plov (delicious), salad, watermelon, and Kyrgyz cantaloupe. Soon after eating, the DJ started up his music and a dance party broke out. It was awesome. Pat's host sister-in-law kept dragging us into the center and would not let us sit out. It was quite the cross-cultural event- Kyrgyz dancing to Ace of Base.

 

Sunday, my language cluster went to Issyk-Ata (lit. father heat). It is a resort of sorts about 45 kilometers from here, although the road is so bad that is took an hour and half to get there. Many of us had planned on swimming, but once we got there one of our "chaperones" told us that we were not allowed to. Rather than start a big fight we went for a hike to a small waterfall. Since Issyk-Ata is in the mountains, it was significantly colder than in Luxemburg, which made the hike much more enjoyable.

 

08.22.08

This week went by in such a blur, even though some big things happened. On Tuesday, I arrived at my language class to learn that our lesson would be shorter because we were going to witness a sheep slaughtering. Bakyt, my language teacher, also lives with a host family. His host family bought a new car, and another family member has a new house, so to celebrate they were throwing a big party. So we watched not one, but three sheep meet their end.

 

There is very much a ritual involved in the slaughtering. First everyone who is at the house comes out back, where the first sheep is tied up, waiting. Then, everyone gives an omin, which is a sort of prayer/ blessing; an omin is also done when a meal is over, sometimes before as well. Next the men kill the sheep and skin, while the women go about cleaning the insides. Every part of the sheep is saved to be eaten. To kill, clean, and quarter all three sheep took about three hours.

 

Wednesday was a big day, most of us felt like it was Christmas. None of us could sleep the night before in anticipation of the news we were receiving Wednesday morning. All of the K-16s reported to the hub site in Kant for our site placement announcement. Peace Corps staff, and several current volunteers were there and very very excited. They had drawn a giant map of Kyrgyzstan outside, with all seven oblasts demarcated. Then all of the PCTs stood around the map while they announced our names and told us which oblast we are headed to. Luckily it was not announced alphabetically- I'm going to Jalalabad!

 

Jalalabad is an oblast in the South, right on the Uzbeki border. My village is right outside Jalalabad City, maybe twenty minutes by marshrutka. I have a site mate, Ariel, who is a health volunteer, and my counterpart is a former Peace Corps language instructor, so her English should be pretty good. My village is also only 45 minutes from Arslanbob, home of the world's largest walnut forest. Osh, Kyrgyzstan's second largest city, and the capital of the South, is only two hours away. Since Jalalabad is in the South, the winter is less harsh, with a greater variety of food. And as Uzbekistan is so close, there is a significant Uzbek population. I'm going next weekend to my permanent site for a week- to meet my new host family, meet my counterpart, meet my students, and see how awesome my village is.

 

That's is it for now, I hope everyone is doing great. Thanks for the email updates. And Justine- you are amazing! Thank you so much for the postcards, they always make Wednesdays better. And Kari- it was soooo good to talk to you on the phone, thanks for calling.