Two Buckets of Water

The last couple of weeks I've been thinking about water. It's been raining more than usual, which has had an impact on this year's crops; things are not growing. Joni's counterpart has a field where they planted watermelons, by now the watermelons should have been growing, but this year- no such luck. Water is very much a part of my daily life, not that it wasn't before, but I spend a lot more time thinking about water these days. My apartment, and actually my whole village, does not have running water. The village also has no ground water, so traditional wells are not an option. To get water I take two buckets and walk back behind my apartment building to a fellow teacher's house, where I can fill my buckets. The woman has an in-ground tank that gets filled with water as it empties. The walk there isn't too far, but the walk back seems endless. Water is deceivingly heavy! And the handles of those buckets- they dig into the palms of your hands, which is uncomfortable. This past week, the teacher's "well' was empty! So I haven't had water all week. To flush my toilet I had to go to the canal- which is full of lovely muddy water, and collect two buckets. Not really the best water for drinking or cleaning, so my apartment is a bit of a mess.

 

I also got a kitten! The kitten was Anthony's, but he decided he was actually allergic to it, so the kitty came my way. He's really cute, and very little. I've named him Timurlane, after Timur the "lame," who was a mongol warrior. Timurlane really lives up to his moniker, he's fiesty and fierce.

 

School was supposed to end May 25, but because of our long break in winter, school has been extended until June 13th. Not that students or teachers can be found at school. Many have already left for smaller villages and fieldwork.

 

Joni and I have been gearing up for summer camp! I'm really excited. The camp is going to be for high school girls from all over the Jalalabad Oblast. We have a lot of volunteers interested in helping out, which is great. I think it's because everyone heard how awesome our winter camp was, and now they want to help with summer camp!

 

My parents are arriving in a matter of hours! They missed their connecting flight in London, and so got redirected through Istanbul and are arriving in the morning. I'm pretty excited; it's been almost exactly a year since I've seen them. I have no idea what we are going to see and do, but as always in Kyrgyzstan- I'm going to go with the flow.

 

Happy Summer!

Happy Spring!

It's been a few weeks. So much has happened, but at the same time it feels as if I haven't really done anything. After Nooruz, I settled back into my school schedule, although my students did not. My afternoon classes are "specialized courses," and seem to be optional. I have spent many afternoons over the last few weeks staring at an empty classroom.

 

My English clubs are going really well. All the kids that come want to be there and to learn. Sometimes English club is my favorite part of the week. On Mondays I've started teaching one lesson at the Russian school in my village. Don't be misled by the term 'Russian' though, the students are mostly Krygyz or Uzbek, they just have all their classes in Russian. At the Russian school is a really young and awesome English teacher, Gulnaz. She's really motivated to improve her English and her teaching. Teaching with her is fun, and every week, I'm reminded why I became a Peace Corps volunteer.

 

In the first week of April, Jalalabad had a guest! Eric Weiner, an author from the US (he wrote The Geography of Bliss) came for a visit. He had met Fritz and Ginger (two volunteers down here) when they were back stateside in January, and he came out for a visit because he was writing an article for New York Magazine about Peace Corps.  The article should be coming out either next month or the month after. I'm not really sure. But his visit coincided with a birthday party, so we all got to meet and talk with him.

 

At the beginning of April, I started looking for a new place to live. I had several options available and then I moved into an apartment about two weeks ago. The apartment is nice, albeit very soviet, and it does not have running water. Volunteers have lived in the apartment in years past, and so it came stocked with some books in English, as well as a lot of furniture. I have to be very Kyrgyz and go down the street with buckets to collect water, but luckily I'm only on the first floor.

 

So far I really enjoy the freedom of getting to cook my own food. The diet I was on with my host family was… minimal- I have lost a lot of weight over the last few months. Now I can cook my own meals, and eat things besides soup, and just maybe my clothes will fit again by the end of the summer!

 

I spent last week in Bishkek. I went to the K17s training to help give a session with the medical unit about sexual assault. It was a long way to go for only 5 minutes of talking, but it was necessary. Myself and another female volunteer were there to talk about a couple of incidents that happened in the last few months. I can remember sitting in that session last year, not really listening, and dismissing the statistics that the doctors gave us. I think that by having the two of us share, it made the statistics seem more real. While I was standing in front of the sixty of them, it certainly looked like they were all listening. So perhaps, next year's statistics will be one less.

 

We found out a couple of days ago where all the new volunteers are going. Ariel, Joni, and I are excited about the three new volunteers headed our way. I met a couple of them when I was up in Bishkek, and they seem awesome and fun. They're coming down for a few days at the end of May. We've been planning a few fun things to introduce them to the amazingness that is the south.

 

Starting today holiday season is in full swing. There are three holidays during the next week, and it looks like school is going to be cancelled until the 10^th. My friend Cameron from Talas (an oblast in the North) is coming down for a visit this week, so at least I'll have things to fill my week with.