I'm in an internet cafe. USING WIRELESS! (and updating all my virus protection YAY)

26 June 2009

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!
23 years now? Holy cow. You guys rock. Love you.

Remember all of those *knock on woods* I did earlier about not getting sick? They didn’t work. Yesterday, I was quite possibly the most ill that I can ever remember being. The “gastrointestinal rollercoaster?” I rode it. It is not fun.

I guess the roadside pieroski did me in. It was either that, or just a 24 hour bug. I’m not sure, but it was awful. This is gonna qualify under the WAY TMI category, but that’s kinda what we do here. Haha.

Excuse my French, but there’s a saying that goes, “you’re not a real peace corps volunteer until you shit your pants.” Lets just suffice it to say that Jessika is in fact, a real peace corps volunteer. You remember the pepto song? I had every symptom except heartburn, and pepto doesn’t really help if you throw it up. (at least I don’t have white carpet here mom ;-) haha I couldn’t resist)

Being sick here is so much more complicated than back home. Washing puke out of your hair is so much harder when you’re using a bucket. Ha.ha.ha. Granted, the PCMO (peace corps medical office) is great about giving us meds and stuff, but when you need an antibiotic, it is a little more difficult than just going to your friendly neighborhood walgreens. Also, this country doesn’t have saltine crackers. Not that I’ve been able to find anyway. Sad news because saltines are great.

Anyways, I’m doing better today, I’ve eaten 5 peanuts and half a slice of bread, which is 5 peanuts and half a slice of bread more than I ate yesterday. I’ve also been trying to drink the oral rehydration salts because I’m so dehydrated. ORS is the nastiest thing. Ever. It is pretty much just salt, baking soda, and sugar mixed in water. Ew. I mixed mine with some of the juice packets that mom sent. They helped, but it is still gross.

I guess I’m lucky because I made it three months before I got sick, and it was only really really bad for a day. It could’ve been worse.

I felt well enough to do my English clubs again today. I had the first two, and do the third this afternoon. They went well enough. I’m still figuring out what my students already know. I don’t want the clubs to be ridiculously easy, but I want them to understand. I feel like every time I teach here, I get a new respect for teachers back home.

I am going to be gone all next week doing a summer camp, then I’m back in my site for two weeks, then going away for another week to do another summer. I want to do a camp myself next summer and I’d like to get practice and see how they work. We get to leave our site for “program travel” if we are doing something training or work related. It’ll be harder for me to leave once school starts, but I’m kinda free in the summer because my clubs are optional, but teaching is my job.

Oh! Random. I taught “appearance” in one of my clubs today. I used the People Magazine that the family sent to me, I figured the Cosmo was a little too trashy for 9th graders haha. But anyways, the 100 beautiful people pics were great for describing appearance. Listening to the students say: “she has a big nose” and “she has long, curly, brown hair” was awesome, though it was kinda hard to explain dreadlocks.

Well, I’m gonna head all the way over to school (it’s like 15 steps haha) for my last club then I’m gonna attempt doing laundry for the first time at my new site. We have a washing machine, but I don’t know if I can use it or not.
******later
Laundry update: I got to use a washing machine for the first time in three months!!! Woo hoo! A three hour job turned into an hour job. I love washing machines. I have to haul water further here than in my PST village, according to my host dad, the well is about about 20 meters away. I swear it’s further. And hauling 2 buckets for the sixth time for one laundry day is awful. I believe I said before that I’d never go three weeks without washing laundry. I lied. I did. And I will never do it again. For real this time.
******later
I’m gonna go help my host mom make some oromo (read the food blog) for dinner. My host sisters and dad went to the lake to go swimming. I’d have loved to have gone, but I figured staying close to the outhouse would be a good idea, just to play it safe.
******later still
The oromo is steaming, the laundry is drying (hopefully the wind won’t blow it all into the mud, that would be awful)
***** later again. This is an all day blog. haha
Making the oromo was fine. Eating it was a bad idea.
******
Much much later:
It’s the same day, well technically it’s tomorrow, but it is 1:30 in the morning and I am just now getting back from a party that will probably last several more hours. (and they will most likely all be up by 5 or 6 to start working) I ducked out early, and got a don’t be a sissy- it is still early – type comment from a woman old enough to be my grandmother. Way to make me feel lame.
I’m exhausted from being sick and not sleeping yesterday, but wired from the 12 cups of tea I had to avoid the vodka and I know that as soon as my head hits the pillow, I’ll be out like a light. But I wanted to jot down a few things about my first all-out Kyrgyz party.
-I went to the “final bell” party for the graduating 11th graders. It is like graduation mixed with prom, with everyone’s families too.
-Food. Oh my. So much food.
-Dancing: okay- think every move from footloose, plus the dancing scene from titantic, add in a little hula arm movements, and the carlton dance. That’s what I’m pretty sure that I looked like. And I fit in okay. There were a few babushkas that I was pretty sure were gonna throw out a hip they way they were shaking it, but they put all the youngsters to shame. It was awesome!
Also, the students danced a ballroom type dance. It was super neat. Then the guys and their moms and the girls and their dads danced. It made me really miss my daddy.
-singing. Everyone sings. Its like pseudo karoke. I think I got a by this time because I’m still new. But next time, I won’t be exempt, I’m sure.
-There is no way to sneak out quietly of a Kyrgyz party. My director and another teacher walked me home (I learned my lesson, and will never be out alone after dark, even in my Podunk village) and the woman singing stopped and asked are you leaving? Over the microphone. Le sigh.
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I think that’s all for now. A full day’s blog from Kyrgyzstan, wow this was a long one.

Miss you,
Love from the country that never sleeps,
Jess