Eight months ago I decided I wanted to join Peace Corps. Before it was a big dream but in December I decided to make it a reality. I asked, what do I want? What job and location would make me happy? After working with middle school and high school students I knew the next step would be taking on university classes. High school teaching fit me and I loved what I took away from the experience but there were some pieces that did not suite me… what if college is a better fit for my teaching style? The idea of working with highly skilled and motivated students makes me inspired and that sort of energy is contagious. As far as location: honestly, I couldn’t think of a better place for me than Tahoe. How can you beat the beautiful, clear, blue lake and the mountains reflecting in the still water? The hiking? The skiing? It’s a place that has what I love. When I drove out of California with my car packed to the brim, I realized I could possibly never live in a place like that again. Tahoe wasn’t wrong for me, I loved it there… but it wasn’t right either… perfect but not perfect for me. You know what I mean? Anyway…
Wednesday I was given my permanent assignment and I cannot think of a better placement. Peace Corps directors drew a huge map of Kyrgyzstan on the pavement and had all 60 of us stand on the edge and take a look at the country we will serve. Gazing at the big blue blob in the north-east corner I crossed my fingers and made a final wish for mountains, water, and a university. please, please, let me be with what I love. I breathed a sigh of relief when my name was announced and I skipped across the country to join my new sight mates around a new but familiar home.
I will be working in the English department at a university on Lake Issyk Kul. The school is about 4,500 students with 50 teachers in the English department. My job consists of bringing English fluency into the classroom, teaching grammar, new teaching methods, running an English club, setting up teacher seminars, and giving English support to teachers when needed. As for the great outdoors: I will be 30 minutes from the local ski resort along with plenty of hiking right out my backyard. When I asked about the skiing, a PCV that is on his way out told me he left his telemark setup for me to pick up when I get to my new home. The lake is 30 minutes away, up to 65 feet of clarity and doesn’t freeze in the winter… from a small amount of salt content, not depth. (Did I mention it’s warm?) It’s the second largest alpine lake in the world and it’s my new playground.
Sometimes I doubt myself, sometimes I wonder if what I decided on was the right choice. But not this time. Not at all.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
two months in and i begin to write
I’m finally starting to feel normal here… like before it was just too overwhelming to write down or even put into words. I want to write down everything that seems strange before it feels like everyday life. I want to make sure I can capture what everything is like in Kyrgyzstan and hope that it gives you a better understanding. Have you looked at a map to see where Kyrgyzstan is? Have you seen the pictures of mountains and rivers? All those pictures online don’t really capture it… when I get my camera to download I’m not sure if anything I take will do it justice.
Everyday I wake up and see the mountains extending up into the sky. There are the layers of rolling hills, bigger mountains behind, and then jutting snowcapped peaks. It’s especially beautiful at night when the sun sets on each layer and creates a mix of pinky, red hills. Right now, I am living with a mom and daughter in a one-bedroom house. Everything is very basic, no machines except for a stove and iron, limited electricity at night, and no running water.
I think the biggest adjustment for me is using an outhouse every day. Even more so is that everyone here uses the squatting toilet. If I had a dollar for the amount of times I have peed on my feet… ah, so that’s been a tough one. I’ve been told the outhouse and excrement is especially rough in the wintertime. Apparently, it’s youngest son’s responsibility to knock down the frozen poop pile when it gets stacked too high in the john. I was reassured they use a stick to get the job done… so that’s the one pro I can find in the situation.
Showering is another thing that is a bit difficult without running water. At this point in the summer I am taking bucket baths and loving it. Who knew you really only need half a bucket of water to get clean? In the winter the family banyas, which is similar to a sauna. It is basically a small room with a stove and slatted floorboards. The stove is stoked with buckets of water on the stove, once the room and water heat up the women or men will come in to enjoy warming up, talking, and bathing. It can be an hour or two hour process and more of a ritual. We actually had something very similar in McCarthy, AK and I’m looking forward to taking advantage of the banya in the winter months.
Kyrgyz food is lots of soup and lots of starch, somewhat reminding me of eating in Germany. I’m adjusting to eating left over dinner for breakfast every morning with 3 to 4 cups of tea pushed at me by my host mom. The Kyrgyz culture makes sure that you are well fed and happy with a full stomach. One of the first sayings I learned was “toy dum” which means, “I’m full.” This was purely for survival reasons because without it my host mom may have tried feeding me until my stomach exploded. Noodles, bread and potatoes are the staples with great local fruits and veggies that are in season… I have never tasted such juicy melon or ripe tomatoes. I’ve started to eat tomatoes like an apple and just can’t get enough. Sounds like the winter is going to be limited and I will have to start getting used to cabbage, potatoes, wintergreens and pickles. Tahoe helped me learn the ways of good soups and stews so hopefully I will be all right. Ah Allison… wish I still had my crockpot.
Winter sounds like it’s going to be intense. Before I came I kept reminding myself that the winters in New England are equally as cold. The longer I am here the more I realize that yes, the weather is similar to what I have lived in, but with limited or no electricity it will make for a cold, cold winter. Hope I brought enough long underwear.
As for other pieces of life, I still have one more month of PCT (Peace Corps. Training) before I can more to my permanent site. The days consist of language in the morning and job or culture training in the afternoons. Honestly, I am slow to extremely slow at learning the Kyrgyz language. Language is not my strong suit in anyway so I am not completely shocked that I’m having a hard time. I know it will come… living here two years it has to come eventually, but it’s just difficult and frustrating while I stutter over a word I KNOW I have learn five times already. Patience is a virtue for me and my fabulous Kyrgyz language teacher.
As for my village, there are wonderful people who live in town and ask me how I am every day on the street. They are kind and patient, knowing I am just learning their language and adjusting to their way of life. Little kids will run down the road, screech to a halt at my feet, and say hello until their face is blue. We say hello back and forth a few times, point at things to exchange Kyrgyz, Russian, and English words for a tree or shoelace and then move on with the day. They are helping me to stay motivated and stay excited about 4 hours of language class every morning.
You know, at first life here felt so different and now it’s starting to feel like the norm. It just amazes me how fast we can all adjust to a new way of living and kind of push aside what your way of living used to be. Does that make sense? I guess what I mean is, everything strange will soon be my normal… so what will my past normal be? iiiiiinteresting.
Everyday I wake up and see the mountains extending up into the sky. There are the layers of rolling hills, bigger mountains behind, and then jutting snowcapped peaks. It’s especially beautiful at night when the sun sets on each layer and creates a mix of pinky, red hills. Right now, I am living with a mom and daughter in a one-bedroom house. Everything is very basic, no machines except for a stove and iron, limited electricity at night, and no running water.
I think the biggest adjustment for me is using an outhouse every day. Even more so is that everyone here uses the squatting toilet. If I had a dollar for the amount of times I have peed on my feet… ah, so that’s been a tough one. I’ve been told the outhouse and excrement is especially rough in the wintertime. Apparently, it’s youngest son’s responsibility to knock down the frozen poop pile when it gets stacked too high in the john. I was reassured they use a stick to get the job done… so that’s the one pro I can find in the situation.
Showering is another thing that is a bit difficult without running water. At this point in the summer I am taking bucket baths and loving it. Who knew you really only need half a bucket of water to get clean? In the winter the family banyas, which is similar to a sauna. It is basically a small room with a stove and slatted floorboards. The stove is stoked with buckets of water on the stove, once the room and water heat up the women or men will come in to enjoy warming up, talking, and bathing. It can be an hour or two hour process and more of a ritual. We actually had something very similar in McCarthy, AK and I’m looking forward to taking advantage of the banya in the winter months.
Kyrgyz food is lots of soup and lots of starch, somewhat reminding me of eating in Germany. I’m adjusting to eating left over dinner for breakfast every morning with 3 to 4 cups of tea pushed at me by my host mom. The Kyrgyz culture makes sure that you are well fed and happy with a full stomach. One of the first sayings I learned was “toy dum” which means, “I’m full.” This was purely for survival reasons because without it my host mom may have tried feeding me until my stomach exploded. Noodles, bread and potatoes are the staples with great local fruits and veggies that are in season… I have never tasted such juicy melon or ripe tomatoes. I’ve started to eat tomatoes like an apple and just can’t get enough. Sounds like the winter is going to be limited and I will have to start getting used to cabbage, potatoes, wintergreens and pickles. Tahoe helped me learn the ways of good soups and stews so hopefully I will be all right. Ah Allison… wish I still had my crockpot.
Winter sounds like it’s going to be intense. Before I came I kept reminding myself that the winters in New England are equally as cold. The longer I am here the more I realize that yes, the weather is similar to what I have lived in, but with limited or no electricity it will make for a cold, cold winter. Hope I brought enough long underwear.
As for other pieces of life, I still have one more month of PCT (Peace Corps. Training) before I can more to my permanent site. The days consist of language in the morning and job or culture training in the afternoons. Honestly, I am slow to extremely slow at learning the Kyrgyz language. Language is not my strong suit in anyway so I am not completely shocked that I’m having a hard time. I know it will come… living here two years it has to come eventually, but it’s just difficult and frustrating while I stutter over a word I KNOW I have learn five times already. Patience is a virtue for me and my fabulous Kyrgyz language teacher.
As for my village, there are wonderful people who live in town and ask me how I am every day on the street. They are kind and patient, knowing I am just learning their language and adjusting to their way of life. Little kids will run down the road, screech to a halt at my feet, and say hello until their face is blue. We say hello back and forth a few times, point at things to exchange Kyrgyz, Russian, and English words for a tree or shoelace and then move on with the day. They are helping me to stay motivated and stay excited about 4 hours of language class every morning.
You know, at first life here felt so different and now it’s starting to feel like the norm. It just amazes me how fast we can all adjust to a new way of living and kind of push aside what your way of living used to be. Does that make sense? I guess what I mean is, everything strange will soon be my normal… so what will my past normal be? iiiiiinteresting.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Cell Phone Number
Each day is getting better and I'm starting to understand what's going on around here. We are planning a skit for peace corps. culture day and I'm officially the chosen one to be "bridenapped" demonstrating the local culture. I will post some pictures of the extravaganza.
I finally got a cell phone. Here's the #.... 011996550434856. I can text for pretty cheap, all you have to do is call your cell phone company and tell them you want to make internationally calls. Hope to hear from you all soon!!
ps it hit 112 last week. this weather is craaazy.
I finally got a cell phone. Here's the #.... 011996550434856. I can text for pretty cheap, all you have to do is call your cell phone company and tell them you want to make internationally calls. Hope to hear from you all soon!!
ps it hit 112 last week. this weather is craaazy.
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