Teaching and more parties.

The last few weeks have been interesting. I have finally settled into a bit of a routine. But in true Kyrgyz style- my schedule at school keeps changing, so I am typically caught off guard.

 

Teaching has been going pretty well. After observing for two weeks, which really ended up being only week and half, I jumped right in. I'm teaching sixth grade, eighth grade, and eleventh grade. All of my classes are gymnasium classes- which basically means I'm teaching all the smart and motivated kids.

 

My job as a PCV is four-fold here: first and most obviously- to teach the kiddies English, second- resource development, third- community development (this is where my secondary projects come in, hopefully something health related, as well as grant writing), and fourth- teacher development. Part of the teacher development aspect is team-teaching. Another English teacher, my counterpart, and I teach all our classes together. The goal is for my counterpart's English to improve from the benefit of a native speaker, as well as for her to learn communicative methodologies of teaching.

 

The soviet system of teaching is still very much in place- language learning is strictly through translation, with no emphasis on speaking. As a result, most of my students know hardly any English. A few in my 11^th grade class can speak, but everyone else is on the same beginning level, despite 10 years of English education.

 

So far there have been a few kinks to team-teaching. My counterpart often disappears on some errand and never comes back, or does not come to our lessons, leaving me to teach by myself. Hopefully we will get that worked out in the coming month.

 

My favorite class so far is my afternoon 8^th grade class. My students are smart, motivated, and excited to be there, which is awesome. Over the last two weeks we've been focusing on adjectives (comparative, superlative, etc). There are two students who are rather exceptional- I have pegged them as FLEX candidates. FLEX is a program for students from either Islamic countries or former Soviet Union countries (I cannot remember right now) to study in a US high school for a year. It is highly competitive in Kyrgyzstan. Currently there is one student from my village who is studying in Idaho as a FLEX student- her mother works at my school and is always asking about Idaho.

 

My afternoon classes tend to be my favorite because all my afternoon classes are specialized gymnasium courses. My school's regular schedule is from 8-1:05, so anything in the afternoon is in addition to the students' regular schedule. Also, I get to form my own curriculum, without having to use the national textbook.

 

I got word today that my school will not be having the traditional fall break, November 1^st- 10^th. This is because school will most likely be cancelled this winter- my school runs on electric heat, and the government is anticipating almost no electricity this winter.

 

In the past couple of weeks there has been a marked increase of no electricity. The blackouts have gone from a couple of hours each day to about half of each day. Typically the power is on from 6/ 7am- 10/ 11am, 7:30 pm -11pm, and half the time from 1pm- 4pm.  The only time I have really noticed is once it gets dark, right now around 6. Temperatures have also dropped significantly at night, so much so that I have had to start sleeping in my sleeping bag.

 

Autumn is also party season. People have money, because the harvests are in, so of course they throw parties (the concept of saving money here is completely alien). The house I live in is five months old, so now that it's party season my family had a housewarming party. The party, which was this past weekend, was more of an all weekend event rather than one night.

 

Friday was devoted to cleaning, slaughtering the cow and preparing food- but a bunch of people came over to help, and it felt very party-like. I awoke Saturday morning to the party already having started. And it's not like I slept in- it was 8 am. My family had apparently awoken around 5 and started cooking, with the first guests trickling in soon after that.

 

Every room, except mine, had been devoted to the party. Every room had been cleared of cumbersome furniture, and set up in the Kyrgyz fashion- a tablecloth on the floor, heaped with bread and salads, shot glasses and vodka, and surrounded on four sides by tushoks.

 

I headed to the kitchen and hung around for a few hours, flitting in and out of rooms- meeting new people, taking photos at my host mother's insistence. The day was overcast, and cold. Despite the chill, we all tramped outside to dance. Kyrgyz people love dancing, and they will dance for hours. This party was no exception.

 

The crowds finally thinned out, and I went to bed, only to awaken on Sunday and find out that the party was continuing. It was another day of dancing, drinking, and eating. I took a mid-party break in the afternoon to banya (aka wash myself for the first time in three weeks). When I came back, one of the guests, who had been there the previous day, asked why I looked so beautiful, my host mother retorted- because she showered!

Blankets and tushooks, the Kyrgyz don't mess around with winter.

Kyrgyz cemetary teaching my host cousin, who lives with me, some English
Dinner with my host mother's family near Arslanbob
The view from my front porch

Cactus- appropriately placed next to the computer

Party to celebrate the new car, women's room
party to celebrate new car, men's room
Host mother's family' village, near Arslanbob
Host mother's family' village, near Arslanbob
Host mother's family' village, near Arslanbob

Making borsok, fried dough, in a traditional Kyrgyz stove
My host mother preparing borsok
Dinner! Soon to become Awsh
Host mother and father with the new car
Awsh, national dish of the South... and Uzbekistan

Kyrgyz Parties

10/07/2008

As of today I've been in Kyrgyzstan for three months. I can't believe that it's been three months; it feels like it should be more, but at the same time it feels like I've been here for a long time. The last two weeks have been crazy busy, but at the same time it felt like I had a lot of time on my hands.

 

When I first got to permanent site, only my host brother and sister were here. My host mom was in Bishkek to meet my host father who was coming back from working in Russia. I had a couple of days to settle in before they both arrived. And did they arrive in style. I was in my room reading when my host sister came bursting in and said, "Come, Come!" I obeyed and we ran across the street to Grandma's and Grandpa's where a shiny black Mercedes had pulled up; my host family had bought a car. Snacks and vodka toasts ensued- not only was there a new car, but my host father had returned.

 

The next day was my first day at school. I arrived at ten, and met with my director and counterpart, in which they informed me that I would have to give a small speech later in the day. That's it, no other information, just give a small speech; I wasn't told to whom I would be giving this speech, when or where this would happen. Soon I whisked away to the front of the school where about half the student body was waiting. They presented me with flowers, the best English student gave a welcome speech, and they presented a sign that declared their love for Sarah Thorne (I wish I had gotten a picture of it…). I arrived home in the afternoon to full party preparation mode. All the females of the household, me included, peeled and chopped carrots, onions and tomatoes, while the littlest one picked rocks out of the rice.

 

Around 7pm the guests began to filter in, the men sat in one room, the females in another, while all the kids roamed around. Tea was poured, guests picked at the first dinner- salads, bread, fruit, and borsok (fried dough), and my host mom put the finishing touches on the main dish awsh. Awsh is the national dish of the South, really an Uzbek dish (and called plov in the North); it's sort of a rice pilaf with carrots and onions with big chunks of meat on top. 

 

We were having a party to celebrate the return of my host father and the purchase of the new car. It is tradition in Kyrgyzstan to throw a party for such things, and pay appropriate homage by giving toasts. First we made rounds of toasts to my host father, and then we stepped outside and made toasts to the car.

 

There are a few things common to all Kyrgyz parties:

• Vodka- the bottle must be finished and a new one is opened if another guests arrives after the party has begun
• Toasting- all guests must make a toasts, and there is a very rigid order of toast giving; there should be one person in charge who makes sure everyone drinks their shot, that everyone gives a toast, and who knows everyone's age so that the toasting order can be upheld
• Party favors- at the end of the meal, leftovers and candy from the table is distributed to the guests to take home, small plastic bags are even handed out
• Nan- the bread is always ripped apart and placed around the table, topside up, and if another guest arrives late- another round of bread is torn
• Chai- cups of tea are only filled up halfway (to invite a refill), should never chill, and is consumed in copious amounts
• A reason- it is important to have a reason to throw a party; there is a Kyrgyz joke about two guys who decided they wanted to drink vodka, but they had no reason to, so one guy counted the money they had. They had enough money to buy a bottle of vodka, with a few som leftover. One of the guys went to the store and came back with the vodka, "I have a new pen!" the guy shouted. He had bought a pen with the leftover som as an excuse to have a party.

Our party included all of these things- and we had more parties throughout the week to continue celebrating.

 

On of the days last week, my host family and I piled into the car and drove to my host mother's village near Arslanbob (home of the world's largest walnut forest). It took us about an hour, but the drive was beautiful and so was the village. I kinda wish that I was living there… but that's another story. I met a lot of my host mother's host family, and got to see how some of the lesser off in Kyrgyzstan live.

 

I also suffered my first bout of food poisoning and got accidently locked out of the house at night. I had to wait on the porch, curled up with the puppy, until someone came outside to use the toilet.

 

Last week was also the week of holidays. On Wednesday, it was the last day of Ramadan, called Orozo here. There was no school, and it's tradition to honor your dead loved ones, as well as visit seven houses and eat seven meals. I was still recovering from food poisoning, so I only went to the other volunteer in my village's house. And on Friday it was national teacher's day. School was shortened, and the teacher's had a big party in the afternoon. I went for a few hours, and successfully avoided vodka shots, but got out of there at the first sign of beshbarmak.

 

This past Sunday night there we had an earthquake. I think that you may have heard about it. I'm fine, all of the other volunteers are fine. The epicenter was in a rather remote area of Kyrgyzstan, on the border with China. I was sleeping, but it was strong enough to wake me up; overall, it was pretty mild in my village.

 

Want to learn more about Kyrgyzstan? Check out these books:

Rashid, Ahmed. Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia.

Just read this, good history and background info, plus I live in the Fergana Valley, a little out of date

Thubron, Colin.  Shadow of the Silk Road.

Currently circulating amongst the volunteers; everyone who's read it has enjoyed it. He also has another book which is supposed to be pretty good as well.

Aitmatov, Chingiz. The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years. (sometimes translated as The Day Lasts More Than a Century)

The big guy of Kyrgyzstan's literary scene; he wrote a bunch of other books as well, some of which have also been translated into English

Rosenberg, Robert. This is Not Civilization.

Another volunteer mentioned this book- about a PCV in Kyrgyzstan, I don't know if it's any good or not.

Child, Greg. Over the Edge: The True Story of Four American Mountain Climbers' Kidnap and Escape in the Mountains of Central Asia.

About four Americans kidnapped in the Kyrgyz mountains. It has been suggested that the account is a bit exaggerated, and the Americans rather naïve.

Bissel, Tom. Chasing the Sea.

About a former PCV in Uzbekistan who returns after five years to investigate the Aral Sea. Not about Kyrgyzstan- but fascinating, and there is a lot of culutural overlap.

Grousset, Rene and Walford, N (translator). The Empire of the Steppes: History of Central Asia.

History of the region from the arrival of the Scythians to the last Mongolian emperor.

 

Also check out:

No Reservations- a travel channel show with Anthony Bourdain; there's an episode about Uzbekistan (available on itunes). Significant cultural overlap- check out the food, the cradle, the wedding, the banya… ok all of it.

 

Beshkempir (The Adopted Son)- a recent Kyrgyz film, apparently it was well received at Sundance

 

www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/kyrgyzstan -information, video interviews by Petr Lom, about bride-kidnapping

 

Music of Central Asia Vol. 1: Mountain Music of Kyrgyzstan (Smithsonian Folkways, www.folkways.si.edu)