Oh May

On May 9th nine volunteers piled into taxis and took a 25-minute ride outside of the city center. It was a hot a sticky day. I was surprised, as I always am, how quickly the city morphs into the rural countryside. In less than minutes, apartment buildings changed to mud-brick compounds with outhouses; paved roads into dirt.

In no time we arrived at the Hippodrome – a giant stadium surrounded by 10-foot high concrete walls. We paid the driver and followed the stream of people up a path towards the bleachers. Men, women, and children dressed in traditional Kyrgyz garb, on horses made their way through the crowds. At one point we walked by a long row of families eating on topchans and they all stopped to stare at us (this feeling was heightened because I was walking along side my African-American friend who attracts a lot of attention).

We found a row of empty benches in the already packed bleachers and claimed them. Since we arrived an hour before the scheduled starting time, we compared opinions on what this game of “Oolack” would be like since none of us had actually seen it before. In the end we all agreed it was like polo, played by men on teams with horses, using a sheep carcass as the ball.

4 hours later, oolack had not started, but in the meantime there were speeches and songs, men and women playing traditional instruments, some horse parades, and some horse races. I have never seen so many horses in one place before. Plus, set against the backdrop of the mountains, it was pretty spectacular. As we rounded our 5th hour on the hard wooded benches, exposed to the harsh sun, a few of us called it a day and left before the official game started. But all in all it was a good cultural experience anyway.

The next day one of the volunteer’s host mother said she saw us on TV!

May 10th was Megan’s 25th Birthday and we celebrated by playing basketball during the day. It was fun to get out and play but we couldn’t have picked a hotter time of day. That evening we congregated at Colin’s and Megan cooked us all tuna hot dish, spaghetti bake, and 3-layer dip. Others brought salads and desserts. I made chocolate chip brownies. We drank strawberry lemonade* and sat outside in the backyard. The best part about the party was we all wore muumuus. Very comfortable and very chick.

I bought my plane ticket to Turkey and will be meeting my brother in Istanbul in a few weeks. I’ve never been so excited about a vacation before. After having been in country for almost a year now, it will be nice to get away for a bit and recharge. Plus, I haven’t seen family in a year and it will fun to spend some time with Ben.

A few major accomplishments from the past week: I made vegetarian chicken pot pie from scratch – crust and all! And it actually came out pretty good. And I made huevos rancheros from scratch (Corn tortillas topped with homemade refried beans, fried eggs, cheese, homemade salsa, and hot sauce). I don’t think we have the right kind of corn meal here though because the corn tortillas didn’t turn out that great. Each meal took a few hours to prepare, but I enjoyed doing it.

I hung up some screens yesterday so now I can enjoy bug-free fresh air in my apartment. Roo has been bored because she doesn’t have any flies to torture and eat anymore.

Strawberries and cherries are out in the bazaar now, which is fantastic – and prices are dropping everyday. I bought a half a kilo of cherries last week for about a dollar. This week a whole kilo is one dollar. I love it.

Megan and I have found ourselves addicted to “Maxi Chai,” partly because of its name and partly because of its refreshing, thirst quenching qualities. “Maxi Chai” comes in a plethora of flavors: peach, strawberry, kiwi, lemon, and even pineapple! Who says the little things in life can’t make you happy?!