Bazarkorgon celebrates Thanksgiving!
the cooked turkey, which didn't really fit in the oven...
Third step in turkey cleaning process.
De-feathering the turkey.
Nothing like a freshly slaughtered turkey for thanksgiving.
My 6th form class playing twister.
My awesome spinner board. yes, i am aware that twister only has four colors.
The finished board! I even laminated it with tape.
Cooking club with my 7th form.
7th form
Nargiza and Seil, from 7th formNovember went by quickly and really don't have much to say, I didn't do much. The first week was fall break, the following week and half was a teaching seminar for my counterparts, and then through a series of ridiculous circumstances I didn't have any lessons. So far in the month of November, I have only taught one lesson. I spent a lot of time reading, and thinking about Thanksgiving, and eating lunch with other volunteers.
There are three cafes that we regularly eat at in my village. One, Arman's, is named after a former volunteer; another has a really great outdoor eating area; and the third has delicious sashlyk. Sashlyk is sort of like a kebab, but only with meat; it's very big in southern Kyrgyzstan. The sashlyk that we get there reminds Joni and I of tri-tip and is so tasty. Rather than the overcooked boiled and bland meat we usually get, this is medium-rare and flavorful. It's definitely one of my favorite parts of the week.
During fall break I had cooking club with my favorite 7th form students. We made pizza, but I'm not so sure that they liked it. After they left I worked on a twister board and spinner to use in my English club. It took a lot of time and I even laminated it. Joni had also made one and tried to use it during one of her lessons. Her students did not like it. I was a bit afraid that my students also wouldn't like it, but they did! It was really fun.
This next month is full of excitement. This coming weekend we are having another teacher training, after which we are going to Kara-suu. Kara-suu is a town on the Uzbek border that has turned into a really cheap bazaar. Joni and I finished writing our grant for next summers' camps, and I'm working on my grant for my school's new toilet. And then two more weeks of school and then America! I'm really excited for my two weeks of hot water, flushing toilets, heat, and food.
The kids who live at my house, the third time they came.
Joni and Ryan with the jack-oh-lanterns. Mine's nose fell off- I never did find it.
The kids from my house the first time they came trick-or-treating.
Handing out candy.
Students that came trick-or-treating.
Me with my students.
My very first trick-or-treater.
We made brownies in my 9th, 10th and 11th form English club.
The boys 'helping' to make brownies.
brownies. That's my new host sister in the center.
My jack-o-lantern before its nose fell off.
The BK girls at Ginger's birthday party.There are days when I've had it up to here with Kyrgyz culture, and there are other days when I find myself amazed by the culture. Just the other day I was speaking Kyrgyz with my new landlord/ host mother. I've known her since December and worked on winter camp and both summer camps with her. Every sentence that came out of my mouth was using the formal you.
In many languages there is a formal you and informal you. In Kyrgyz there are both, but it differs from other languages, or at least the languages I've been exposed to. In Kyrgyz you can never really switch from formal or informal when you become friends with someone or are familiar with someone. If someone is older than you- you use the formal, regardless. They could be one week older than you and you still use the formal, even siblings. If you happen to be the younger twin- you use the formal. I just found it crazy that I was speaking so formally with this woman that I know pretty well. Kyrgyz culture, it's so polite.
I recently purchased a new bazaar bag. It's lime green and quite stylish. It's made from that weird recycled paper fabric that's becoming so fashionable in the now green conscious USA. Kyrgyz people are becoming green without even realizing it! I've seen this particular bazaar bag everywhere; all the locals are using them. Although to them they just see a more durable bag. Typically a local buys a thick plastic bag and uses it and reuses it, until it falls apart, so this new style bag is seen as so much more long lasting. All year I've found it funny how the plastic bags are seen as fashion accessories (last year's fashionable model was the large green Barnes and Noble bags). They use them for everything! For things they bought in the bazaar, for their banya stuff, for packing for vacation. I remember showing up for winter camp and seeing all the kids with their stuff packed in plastic bags- hilarious.
The past couple of weeks have been exciting. Halloween was very busy for me. The week before Halloween, I explained the holiday to all my new classes, and reviewed with my classes from last year. Then I invited all of my kids to come trick-or-treating on Friday evening. The BK volunteers came over to witness this and help pass out candy. It was so much fun. A bunch of students came and brought their younger siblings with them. I loved seeing all their costumes- it's always been my favorite part of Halloween. The kids that live at my house got dressed up too! There are four of them, all under five, and their moms dressed them up and they came over. It was so adorable. They enjoyed the holiday so much they went inside, and came back with different costumes on.
We had to cancel our harvest festival that was planned for later this month. A couple of weeks ago there was a big fight in the stadium between boys from four of the schools in my village. A few were seriously injured and the police have been stationed at all the schools in the area to keep school violence down. Tension has been high between the schools in the area, and so we decided to cancel the festival. We didn't want any fights breaking out, as we would have been seen as responsible. I'm bummed that we cancelled it; I was so looking forward to it. Perhaps if inter-school violence declines, we'll have a spring festival.
The TEFL program (teaching English as a foreign language) here is changing this year. In our last semester of teaching we, the volunteers, are supposed to simply observe our counterparts, rather than teach with them. This is so we can give them feedback and so they learn how to teach without us with us still here. It's all about sustainability. I completely understand the reason for this change. It just means that I only have six weeks of teaching left. Six weeks. I can't believe it. Instead of counting how months I've been here (15 in case you were wondering), I'm counting how months I have left. It doesn't feel like I should be six weeks away from being done with my primary assignment. Twenty-seven months no longer seems like a long time, like enough time.
