2 October 2009

2 October 2009

I’m a liar. You know how I said that I’d never leave laundry for three weeks… ever… again? Well, two weeks ago was my bi-weekly laundry day, but I was temporarily evicted, and then last weekend, we lost power and it rained, so here I sit with A MONTH of laundry to do. Granted, a month’s worth of laundry here is so much less than it’d be back home given my redefinition of the word “dirty,” but, even with my rewearing schedule, a month of clothes is still a lot. For example, clean underwear every day, that’s 30odd pairs, most shirts I wear at least 5-7 times to school before washing, unless I spill something on myself, haha, so let’s say 6 dress shirts if we include overlap from last month, too. My jeans I usually wear for a month without washing. (kinda gross, I know, but denim is a pain to wash and dry here…. I still haven’t figured out why Peace Corps volunteers are assumed to be dirty... haha) My dress pants usually go for a month too, but I’ve got the long ones that I wear with heels and the shorter ones that I wear with flats, and I haven’t washed them since getting to site in June… so that’s two pairs of dress pants. Plus, two skirts that I’ve been alternating for a month, and then there’s my house clothes. I usually wear a t-shirt and a pair of bum pants around the house and to sleep in for a week straight, so that’s four more shirts, and four more pants… plus my bedding, and my towels, and my socks… sheesh. It is a ton. Other background information that you need to know… I was supposed to teach four lessons today until 1. But, my second class, the boys all got called out to do work to winterize the school. Then I had a break and was supposed to teach two more lessons, but after the third lesson today, it was cleaning time and the students have to clean the school, which means no class. So. Here it is, 10:15am and I am done with work for the week. “Why don’t you do your laundry now?” you might ask. That’s a very good question. Well, I went to start hauling my water and was going to light a fire under the big kazan (it is like a huge cauldron type pot, seriously it’s so big I could take a bath in it haha) but then I looked in the big pot, and there was food in there. We lost power yesterday so Apa cooked in the pot, and what with it being potato harvesting time, winter salad making time (like canning in the states), school cleaning day, and the other regular work, I guess there hasn’t been time to clean it yet, and it isn’t really a job that I want to undertake myself. Alas, since tomato, potato, and noodle-flavored clothes are really what I want to wear, I’m not doing laundry right now. AND tomorrow I’m going guesting since it is the teachers’ day holiday, I probably won’t be able to do it tomorrow. Oh, the disadvantages of having too many clothes… I can feasibly go another two weeks before I run out of underwear, and another month or two before I have no clothes… If only I had less clothes, I’d be forced to do laundry… sigh. Poor me. Haha

Anyways, enough ranting about laundry. The time has come to talk of other things. (love that movie) Teachers’ day, for instance: I was given a present today by my 11th grade class. They gave me one of the felt souvenirs that is shaped like an old fashioned canteen; I found out later that one of the girls made it. They also gave me a hand made beaded necklace and ornament. They also made a really sweet card with paper flowers. I am continually wowed at the ingenuity of the students here. In America, kids would just buy something, but here they make everything. Even my creativity is improving here.

Speaking of which, I finished my first ever crocheted scarf. I used the dark red yarn that Jenn sent me and bought some grey to accent with. I’m working on a hat now. I’ll post pics modeling my goodies when I finish. It is hard to make things without a pattern, but through trial and a lot of error, the finished projects should be reasonably mediocre. Haha


Other bits of randomness:
I’m learning some Kyrgyz superstitions. I know every area has their own different little things, for example, I was always told when I was little that if your nose itched, someone is coming to visit you. My host dad and I had an encounter this morning when I was on my way to the outhouse, and the outer door to our house had a massive spider web with a half-dollar sized epic monster spider in the middle of it stretched across it. Me, being my typical brave, courageous, daring self… was paralyzed with fear. Haha Okay, really, I was looking around for something to get rid of it with, when my host dad came and just wiped the web with his hand (ew, shudder, gross) and grabbed the spider and took it outside. He then told me that having a spider build its web across your door is good luck because it means someone is coming to visit. It is opposed, of course, to my belief that having a spider build a web across your door simply means that there is a huge nasty spider blocking your way to the outside. Haha


miss you
love from kyrgyzstan,
jess