14 September 2009
Happy Birthday Camden! Today is my only nephew’s first birthday and I’m not there to help celebrate. I hate it. The drawback of being here is missing so many things like that back home. It seems so weird to think that a year ago I was just about getting my hand broken by my darling sister while she was in labor. Haha the year has flown by!
And, I got my flu shot today. What a day.
I also waged war on the spiders in my room… with the vacuum cleaner. I sucked ‘em up. No more creepy crawlies in here. Jessika: 1 Spiders: 0. haha (although, if I’m being honest, its is probably more Jessika: 1 Spiders: 3, because they’ve scared me half to death several times)
I had the thought today about how my tastes have changed since coming here. For example, the newest list: “Things Jessika didn’t like at home, but likes now,” includes things like: honey, beets, eggplant, cabbage, beer, raspberries, peaches, singing (I’m still not very good), and flossing her teeth haha. And “things Jessika liked at home, and really, really likes now,” includes: beans, hummus (home made is SO much better), apples, tea, peppers, peanuts, peanut butter, raisins, reading books, and going for walks. Of course, some things don’t change. “Things Jessika didn’t like at home, and hates here,” encompasses vodka, meat, and doing laundry. And “Things Jessika loved at home, and still loves,” contains chocolate, giving herself manicures, and cooking (although the last two are both more difficult here). (Yes, I realize I wrote that in third person. Haha)
Speaking of cooking, I think I may have mentioned that after making it for myself, I was attempting chili for the family, too, but don’t think I mentioned how it went over. For the most part, my family loved it. 5/7 is pretty good odds. 6/8 is better, if I include myself. My host dad and the guy who is helping with the construction on our house had two servings. My mom and two oldest sisters finished their bowls, which is more than they would’ve eaten if they were just being polite. My two younger sisters didn’t care for it, I don’t think. The youngest barely ate any, but she doesn’t like vegetables that much, and considering that it was vegetarian chili… I wasn’t surprised.
I posted my last blogs when I was in the city skipping school, a.k.a. chaperoning my three students who took the FLEX test. The first round was a 16 question multiple choice test, and they took the top ~35% on to the second round which is supposed to have a listening portion and an essay. The test started at 9am. I was told that the FLEX program people were expecting about 200 kids. 410 took the test. They did it in groups of 100, and my girls were in the third group, so they finished about 11:45. We were expecting results in the early afternoon, but the sheer number of test-takers meant that the results weren’t going to be posted until 6. So, I had the conundrum of keeping three ninth graders busy for six hours. (Truthfully, I feel that they kept me busy instead of the other way around) I took them to the American Corner, and they poured over some American Magazines. I showed them Virginia and Kentucky in the big photo atlas. They liked the pictures. They looked up cities that they had heard of, like Chicago, New York, and L.A. and were amazed at the population numbers. (The entire country of Kyrgyzstan has between 5-6 million, so having a single city with double that blew their minds) I took them to an internet café, and showed them email, my blog, facebook, and they helped me find a copy of the US constitution in Russian, because I couldn’t find it when I searched in English and I can’t read the Russian. (It blew my mind to be with ninth years who had never been on the internet!) I treated them to lunch, then we went to the big store, zum, and they bought some dvds. I found the sixth Harry Potter, but it was only in Russian, not English, so I didn’t buy it. I want to understand it the first time I watch it, haha. They bought me a pen that is made of a wooden carving since I treated them to lunch, and we looked at some of the cool stuff in the store. I bought cake pans, and hopefully I’ll put them to good use soon. After zum, we went to the Karakol Museum (I didn’t even know there was a museum). I was pretty cool. The room with the animals kinda creeped me out, though. The stuffed boar that stood almost to my waist (Its tusks were huge!) was intimidating, but the classic clothing and wool portrait of Stalin was cool. I also learned a little bit of history, because there were some English captions. My village’s old name was named after a Russian explorer. We walked from the museum to a park, which was really pretty. It had some old carnival rides, swings, and a mini roller coaster, and a ferris wheel. I don’t think they work anymore, and you couldn’t pay me to ride them if they did, but it was cool to imagine how nice of a place it was during its peak. From the park, we went to the zoo, and I use that in the loosest term possible. It was kinda sad. The zoo here is just animals in cages, none of the “natural habitat” stuff that we attempt in the states. (PETA would have a hissy fit, I imagine) I did manage to turn the zoo in to a lesson. I taught the girls the English names for animals and they taught me the Kyrgyz and Russian. I met up with Holo, another volunteer, who just moved up here, and we caught up while the girls ate ice cream, then my students and I headed back to the school to wait for the results. We got there at 6, and then waited til 7:45 for them to be posted. None of my students made it past the first round. I wasn’t really surprised, but it was still disappointing for them, I think. We talked about how it was good practice, because now they know what the test is like, and they can take it again next year after more preparation. Getting home was sort of a fiasco because it is next to impossible to get a taxi after 6, but we made it back home okay, eventually. It was so bizarre for me to be the one in charge. I had an image of what would happen if a teacher took three students out of school for a day, without permission slips, and kept them out until 10pm in the states... The girls’ parents did know where they were, and I made them call home and tell them that we’d be later than expected, in my defense. Also, since I’m only about 5 years older than my students, and have the language skills of about a six year old, it seemed really weird for me to be the responsible one.
Well, it is almost 11, so I’d better start getting ready for bed. (I’m turning into such an old lady…)
Miss you!
Love from Kyrgyzstan, (the country where I wear wool socks in September)
Jess
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