Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Small World

Small World – July 23, 2007

Mundane guestures remind me that we are not so different. When my 3 year old host sister Eliza was given a bowl of hot soup for lunch the other day, her first reaction was to blow on it. Being the same age as Nathan, the little daily things she does like that are a constant reminder that people, no matter how differently we live, are very much alike in noticeable and not so noticeable ways.

This past weekend my host family was planning on taking me to a family party at a relative’s house about 20 minutes away – toward the mountains. I was denied permission to go, so I felt really bad when my family decided not to go on my behalf. Instead we had a small BBQ ourselves, and I met my host brother for the first time when he came home from the capital where he goes to school and works.

Saturday night 8 other volunteers and I were guested at another volunteer’s house. I couldn’t believe how much food her host mother had prepared. It was truly a feast of rice and noodle dishes, salads, bread, lots of sweets, and of course tea. Her host father presented us with a bottle of vodka and expected all the men in our group to make a toast. Culturally toasting is a major aspect of social events. It was pretty humorous watching the guys scrape together toasts with their limited language skills. I was lucky my oldest host sister came with me because by the time we left at 9 pm it was already getting dark out and we had to walk a ways without streetlights.

Sunday was great I got to sleep in – to 8 am! Sunday is usually our 1 day free every week, but our host mothers had prepared a cultural lesson Sunday night. We all met at Rob’s California style mansion (his mother is the village Doctor), and the moms had us act out a Turkish Style wedding. Picture this – 8 Turkish, Kyrgyz, and Russian mothers bossing 10 Americans around in 3 different languages (none of which English), and adorning us with veils and other costumes, then pushing us into a circle of 20 locals dancing in a circle to really load music. By 9pm a Adam and Tracy were considered married and we all went home, well prepared (or not at all) for the wedding of a host sister we all got invited to attend next month.

So to say the least, it has been interesting and funny here. No one would be able to do this without a sense of humor. The mandatory bike helmet that I’m required to wear when riding to class everyday has become the butt of a lot of jokes. I don’t think the locals have ever even heard of helmets. I get some pretty strange looks everyday.

This afternoon my group mates came over to work on a map of our village that we have to present to the other groups tomorrow. Our homework was to identify the police station, school, shops, mosques, etc. Theo, after articulately drawing out our entire village, pulled out his watercolor set, and we all almost died of laughter. Seriously, who brings an expensive water color set to the Peace Corps?! That moment made my day – and I have to admit our map came out awesome.

That’s about all I have time for tonight. If anyone really wants my address feel free to email me, just keep in mind I can only check my email once a week, so don’t worry if I don’t get back to you right away. My email is becky.johnson@mail.sit.edu or beckyj6043@hotmail.com

Once I get to my permanent site in September I will distribute my address that should be valid for the remainder of my time here.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Tuesday July 17th

So I’ve been here in Kyrgyzstan, and like I said yesterday it feels like I’ve been here for months. My stomach hasn’t given me as much trouble as I was expecting (thank god!) because my family’s outhouse is hardly bearable for a quick squat. It is a true outhouse – triangular in shape, wood, with a diamond shaped cutout hole in the floor. On occasion it’s equipped with crêpe- paper like toilet paper. Although – when I got home from the city today the walls/roof of the outhouse were gone and my host father and his friend and/or brother were busy (re)building a new one farther back into the yard. I’m excited for the new outhouse smell – or lack thereof!

Most families around here have “banyas” which are kind of like saunas but low tech. Families that have these usually take one banya a week. My family however has what they call a sun shower. Basically a big container of water above the shower is filled with water in the morning and covered with a glass sheet. By the end of the day the water is warmish, so everyone showers then. So far, I’ve been lucky enough to take a shower everyday. I try to be real quick though because it’s a bit of a haul to carry buckets of water from down the street. My family does not have running water, however, we do have electricity.

Today at hub day we found out another colleague went home. We were all shocked to learn who it was because he had seemed so adaptable and up for the challenge. Apparently though the dropout rate in this region of the world for PCV is really high.

One of the major problems here is trash. There are no landfills, so there are no trash collections, so there are no trashcans. Everyone burns their trash in their outdoor ovens, as fuel for cooking. Plus there is a lot of trash on the streets – but not as much as you would imagine. People are really into reusing things (even to refill and resell in stores is okay), plus with few shops and stuff of that nature in the villages, most people are self-sufficient and thus generate less waste then Americans do.

There are 2 small shops in my village, 2 gas stations, and 1 school. It’s been really interesting because I live on the 1 main road that runs through town toward Lake Issukul in one direction and toward Kant in the other. All of our neighbors have cows, sheep, ducks, roosters, and other livestock. My family only has a puppy. But every night around 7pm people sit in front of their houses to watch the cows get herded home. People ride horses and wagon karts pulled by donkeys. Although most people have cars. The host families that volunteers stay with are upper-middle class.

From my bedroom window I can see a snow capped mountain and strain to imagine what anything other than 100 degrees feels like. Yesterday afternoon a bunch of us gathered at one volunteer’s house to study for a bit. The view from his house is amazing – he lives along side a field that is usually filled with horses and right beyond that are the mountains. His host brother and sister speak a little English so they had a blast hanging out with us and making fun of our elementary Russian speaking skills.
Later in the evening, one of our Language and Culture Facilitators (LCF) – Elena took us on a walk to some ancient Buddhist burial grounds and temple on the outskirts of the village. It was incredible. After walking for about an hour we passed through a field of cows and bulls grazing and up to the top of one of the mounds. The panoramic view was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. There were mountains on the horizon in all directions and endless fields of corn, cows, Kyrgyz Cowboys, and horses. It was hot enough to see camels though, unfortunately, we did not.

“Guesting” is really big here. In the past 6 days I must have met most of my host family’s friends, family, and neighbors. When I wake up there are new people here, when I come home from school there are others, and even in the evenings more stop by. I’ve met aunts, uncles, cousins, and many people whose relationship I cannot figure out. Since my host family is Kyrgyz most of the time they speak to the guests in the Kyrgyz language, while I sit and try to pick out bits and pieces of conversation, until my host mother tells everyone I am learning Russian and then they all switch over. Seems like everyone is bi or trilingual.

So our homework for this past Sunday was to ask our host family to help us do laundry – or teach is how. Saturday night my host sister Aslena walked with me to the store to buy soap and on Sunday after gathering 6 buckets of water, she pulled a miniature washing machine out of a closet and plugged it in outside. After we heated water and dumped in into the machine, she loaded the soap and I my clothes. After the 5-minute spin cycle we took the clothes out, rinsed them in cold water, and hung them (still rather soapy) to dry.

Today, while in the city we looked at cell phones. The PC gave us enough money in NJ to save some for a phone, which they recommend we purchase. The phones ranged from 1,000 – 6,000 soms. I hadn’t exchanged money yet so I didn’t have enough to buy one, but I’m pretty sure I’ll buy the 1200 som one – which is about $45. With that phone I will be able to receive calls from the states – if anyone needs to call.

The Internet isn’t as cheap or as accessible as I thought it would be. All of the Internet cafes charge not by the hour, but by the size of the memory you use (I forget what its called). So today when I spent 10 mins checking my email, it cost about a dollar – which doesn’t seem like a lot, unless your budget/ allowance per day is $1.50 like mine is. I may have to revert to old-fashioned letters. Or pre-type my emails and blogs and save them on flash drives.

All in all I love this new life and the daily challenges and successes. Every little task is a test of patience and openminedness. My germaphobic tendencies have gone out the window, as well my desire for material things. Living here is all about building relationships and living simply. I was fortunate to get placed with a kind family that has made this transition easier. I can’t wait until I can communicate better!

Monday, July 16, 2007

Today was our first "HUB" Day - also the first time seeing everyone from the whole group since we moved into our host families in different villages. For the next 10 weeks we'll have 1 hub day and 1 technical training day a week at the hub site and spend the other days in 5 hour language classes. It feels like I've been here a month already. I know over 100 words and phrases from last weeks 3 classes alone.

My host family is wonderful. I have 3 sisters ages 3, 13, and 15! They are amazingly patient and nice teaching me how to get water from the well across the street and do laundry, etc. I have my own room. We watch MTV and they love American actors and pop music. The food has been heavy (greasy) but good. Lots of soup and tea. The house is really nice - kitchen, bathroom, and shower are all outside which has been interesting. My family has a little black puppy named Silvia.

Our language teacher is also staying with a host family and we go there for classes. They have 2 really cute kittens and we named them. Its about a 20 min walk but it feels great to get some excercise.

Everyone is waiting for me to head back to our village - which is only about 10 mins away. So hopefully I'll have time to write more tomorrow. Paka! (Bye)

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Istanbul not Constanstinople

So were sitting here in the Istanbul Airport 12:39pm local time, 5:39am back home. Our first flight got delayed on the tarmac for 2 hours - which means our 10 hour layover here is reduced to 8. Not bad.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Orientation is Over

Yikes! Orientation is already over!! And already I have 61 new friends. The group is pretty cool - very diverse. There are a range of ages and backgrounds. Folks are from all over the U.S. 1 guy from Winchester, MA even. Tomorrow we leave at 8am and get to Kyrgyzstan at 1:10am Monday. I'm excited for this amazing journey - but right now I have to get some food and reorganize my lugage. Peace Out!

Thursday, July 5, 2007

One Day Down

Well, my first day of orientation is over. It went well. Compared to how nervous/ anxious I was this morning I was very calm all day. My roomate arrived right before 1pm - her parents drove her from West Virginia. At registration we found out there are 62 of us. The activities and presentations today about what to expect, how to integrate, and saftey reminded me a lot of some of the SIT activities: working in small groups and coming up with something on flip chart paper then presenting it to the rest of the group. I even had to explain what it means to be a Master's International Student at one point - since I'm the only one. At the end of the day we recieved debit cards and for our expenses for these two days. I walked to dinner with my roomate and another set of roomates. So it's 10pm now...I'm going to sleep. Goodnight : )

Made it to Philly

So after a bittersweet goodbye to family and friends I made it to my orientation this morning. My flight arrived in Philadelphia around 8:45 am this morning and I took a quick taxi ride to Cherry Hill, NJ - making it here well before 10am. After I checked into my room I ventured down to the dinning area and had a delish $13 omlet!
I may have spotted another PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) but he looked about 12 and very preppy.
My roomate's name is Tiffany but she hasn't gotten here yet. The hotel is pretty fancy. We meet in the "Grand Ballroom" at 1pm.
P.S. Thanks for the ride Dad. Mom - thanks for the breakfast at 4:30 this morning!