27 January 2010
After riding the high from such a wonderful week, I guess I should have known what would happen. The emotional roller coaster. again... And trust me, the drop from such a high peak was not fun. at all. I'm back on level ground now, but the way down was a doozie. I don't really want to talk about it, but to say that I think I have truly become a part of my community. My counterpart and host family were the ones that made me laugh and helped me through my bad day. They are all tuned to my emotions in a way that is almost creepy. Haha Maybe it is because my emotions are always so clearly etched on face, who knows.
Enough about the down days. They aren't as much fun to write about. Plus, continuing with my positive thinking mantra, you are now entitled to a good thing to balance out the bad. So, I will tell you a funny anecdote (or two) (or maybe three)
1. I came home from school the other day and my host aunt was here. I joined the family for a cup of tea and my aunt said to me- "you get prettier every time I see you (roughly translated) I thought it was really sweet of her, plus it was the day that I had my hair in my newly found french braided twisty thing, and we all know the truth that Kyrgyzstan has made me way to sickly pale to be considered pretty, but I was grateful for the compliment anyway.. until she added "it is because you want to get a kyrgyz man, isn't it?" (again roughly translated) My entire family had a good laugh.
2. I went with my host mom and sisters to a different host aunts' house for a visit (not like real guesting, just a family tea) My sisters (like every other teenage girl on the planet apparently) are obsessed with Twilight. So, we watched it in Russian (again) I'm not sure if you all have seen the movie or not, but there is a part where the main character slips on ice and falls down. At this point in the movie, my normally quiet Apa pipes up and says "that's like our jessika, falling down on flat land." I've written an entire blog about falling down, so I don't really need to elaborate, but I think they are all still amused about my lack of grace. Also, according to Ata, I should stand on my head for six minutes a day, and do somersaults to improve my balance. In the words of Momma (it was 5am when we talked, so the words might not be exactly right, but the general gist was:) "and then you can break your neck instead of an ankle." haha thanks mom.
3. When we first got to Kyrgyzstan, a wise and experienced volunteer (a k-16, and now that i think about it, I've been here longer than he had been at that time haha) told us about the stages of being a volunteer:
first stage: volunteer sees a hair in food. stops eating
second stage: volunteer sees a hair in food. picks out hair. eats.
third stage: volunteer sees a hair in food. eats around the hair.
fourth stage: volunteer sees a hair in food. eats the hair with the food.
I think you all know where this is going. We had delicious pumpkin manti last saturday. On sunday we had the leftovers. As I was eating said delicious pumpkin manti, on the piece on my fork, headed to my mouth, I spotted a hair, and then I kept eating! I thought "it was only a little hair." No sooner than the thought crossed my mind, the realization of what I had just done hit me. I ate a hair. Knowingly. And I am less bothered by that fact than I know that I should be. Haha I guess we can add that to “the list of things I never thought I’d do.”
All jokes aside, being “integrated” into my community is a truly fantastic feeling. And coming from the girl who doubted if she could make it through the whole week of site visit without ETing, that is saying something. Now if I am out of my village for more than a day or two, I find myself missing it. Weird, huh? I guess it just show the adaptability of the human spirit. There are some days when I miss home in America terribly. But, my little village nestled between two mountain ranges, with snow on the ground perpetually since November, with temperamental electricity, with an abundance of meat and a lack of vegetables and with some of the most welcoming people I have ever known has become my home, and I love it.
I still miss you though.
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
p.s. what happened to January? I think I might be in some sort of time warp because time is going way to fast.
It is later now and I just wanted to add a few addendums from today:
I just got my butt kicked at UNO, playing with my host family. I gave my sisters the cards so they could play whenever they want and my oldest sister told me that they probably wouldn’t play without me. In her words “without you it isn’t interesting.” I love my host family.
Also, I fell down again just now when I went outside to dump the bucket of water that I used to wash my hair. So not only does my wrist really hurt, I also got covered in soapy water. Haha. Only me, right?
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
and I think to myself, what a wonderful world
22 January 2010
This has been such a fantastic week! The sun is shining, today is warm (and that is completely relative by warm I mean maybe above freezing?) I am in a great mood and just had to share. I’ve got a break before my afternoon classes and thought I would take the time to tell you how awesome this week has been:
My director and zavuch (vice principal) observed our seventh grade class on Monday and gave us a “5” which is like an A! She loved our teaching style and said that our lesson was so good that not only the kids understood, but so did she and she does not speak English. So next week we’re starting an English Club for the teachers! Being honest, the class’ theme was “weather” which is not a hard theme to teach, so we can’t really take that much credit, but it is still cool that my director liked it.
My little brother told me I was awesome.
On Wednesday, thirty girls came to girls’ club. Today thirty three came! Today, we were talking about what problems the girls have, and what things they want; some things that they said were that they wanted an English Club, a Computer Club, a volleyball club, and a dance club. (they also mentioned some other, more serious problems and issues, but I promised I wouldn’t talk to other people about what they told me:-) So, next week we’re gonna talk about how they can get the things they want. I’m super excited Also, as I was using one of my free periods to prepare for the club, a group of boys asked if they could participate or have their own club! How awesome is that?
This week I made food-gasmic cinnamon rolls and vegetarian fried rice that was a huge hit with the family- my picky sister ate TWO helpings! I also make chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. They were good, but a little burnt because I got distracted talking to my sisters. I’ll take that trade though, bonding with my sisters for crunchy cookies. Haha
I’ve learned half the words to my favorite Kyrygz song, and I’m still practicing.
Today 100% of my students in all classes did their homework! Our rule is that the kids that don’t do their homework have to clean the floor, so today we had no one to clean the floor! I love that problem! Haha
My hair has gotten long enough that I can manage a single French braid and I did my hair in sort of a French twisty thing that looks really cute and hides the grease really well. Yay!
And I have two days in front of me filled with beautiful nothingness. Aside from washing laundry and straightening my room, I have nothing to do this weekend and it shall be lovely!
Miss you
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
This has been such a fantastic week! The sun is shining, today is warm (and that is completely relative by warm I mean maybe above freezing?) I am in a great mood and just had to share. I’ve got a break before my afternoon classes and thought I would take the time to tell you how awesome this week has been:
My director and zavuch (vice principal) observed our seventh grade class on Monday and gave us a “5” which is like an A! She loved our teaching style and said that our lesson was so good that not only the kids understood, but so did she and she does not speak English. So next week we’re starting an English Club for the teachers! Being honest, the class’ theme was “weather” which is not a hard theme to teach, so we can’t really take that much credit, but it is still cool that my director liked it.
My little brother told me I was awesome.
On Wednesday, thirty girls came to girls’ club. Today thirty three came! Today, we were talking about what problems the girls have, and what things they want; some things that they said were that they wanted an English Club, a Computer Club, a volleyball club, and a dance club. (they also mentioned some other, more serious problems and issues, but I promised I wouldn’t talk to other people about what they told me:-) So, next week we’re gonna talk about how they can get the things they want. I’m super excited Also, as I was using one of my free periods to prepare for the club, a group of boys asked if they could participate or have their own club! How awesome is that?
This week I made food-gasmic cinnamon rolls and vegetarian fried rice that was a huge hit with the family- my picky sister ate TWO helpings! I also make chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. They were good, but a little burnt because I got distracted talking to my sisters. I’ll take that trade though, bonding with my sisters for crunchy cookies. Haha
I’ve learned half the words to my favorite Kyrygz song, and I’m still practicing.
Today 100% of my students in all classes did their homework! Our rule is that the kids that don’t do their homework have to clean the floor, so today we had no one to clean the floor! I love that problem! Haha
My hair has gotten long enough that I can manage a single French braid and I did my hair in sort of a French twisty thing that looks really cute and hides the grease really well. Yay!
And I have two days in front of me filled with beautiful nothingness. Aside from washing laundry and straightening my room, I have nothing to do this weekend and it shall be lovely!
Miss you
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
I don't even like snow yet I can't deny the snow covered mountains are breathtakingly beautiful
I’m graceful. Wait, no I’m not. I’m dead clumsy. Oh no, my big secret is out! Haha seriously though, I fall down. A lot. Living in an extraordinarily cold place for the first time in my life has proven (unnecessarily) that snow, ice, and clumsy people can coexist, but it isn’t much fun for said clumsy person. My host family and counterparts and local friends, who have known me for several months, are starting to act like my family and friends that I have know for years back home. When they see me fall or hear that I fell… again… their reactions have become sort of an exasperated sigh of “again?” I guess it’s nice that my clumsiness endears me to people (loved the comment sarah elam haha) I almost fell today leaving school. That would have been embarrassing because there were about twenty kids milling around. The last time I fell at school, luckily, there was no one around. Today as a slipped and caught myself I surprised my counterpart who is one breath said “ohnoohmygodbecareful.” Haha We had a Peace Corps training last week, and I fell out of the shower… I know… who else would do that? In my own defense, I had gotten used to stepping out on the shower mat, and it wasn’t there the last time. Anyways I have a huge nasty bruise on my foot from it. When my family saw it, they asked me what happened, got the usual response of “again?’ Then my Ata told me we should have a toi so I won’t fall down. To understand this, you need some background info. Kyrgyzstan is a land of parties, or tois. One of the traditions is a toi the first time a baby walks. At the toi, they tie the baby’s feet together. Then, they have a race with all the kids, and the person who wins gets to cut the binding and the baby walks. It is a really cool tradition and people express their wished that the baby will have a clear path and good fortune and all that jazz, which literally translates to “white road” and “won’t fall down.” My Ata told me we should have this toi for me, so that I won’t fall down as much. And then he laughed hysterically at his own humour. Just like dealing with Dad back home.
It continually surprises me how everywhere I go in the world; people are essentially the same, whatever the culture. It is great! As my language improves (I got an Advanced-Mid) on my last language proficiency) I understand more of what is going on around me. I’ve started to catch the…. I don’t really know what to call it. It isn’t sarcasm, but it is similar. The little-under-the-breath-comments and off-hand remarks crack me up. They aren’t that funny, per se, but something about the fact that I can understand them makes me smile. After I came back from a week long training, but Ata and I had “the you’ll miss us when you go back” conversation for the seventeenth time. I thought that I was the only one that it irritated, but then Apa said something along the lines of “are you saying that again? You’ve only said it twenty times already” and I cracked up. It was great. Three of my sisters are teenagers, so the little snarky comments they make to each other and with each other are hilarious. It is just like how Jordan and I used to bicker… what am I saying “used to?” It isn’t serious; they’re just picking on each other and I am beginning to understand it!
I’m also working on learning some Kyrgyz songs so I have better material for tois when I am forced to sing against my will haha that and reading, well attempting to read, newspapers has helped me improve my language. I still need a lot of work, but at least I can communicate.
I’m gonna go make some lunch before I head to my next class. Yay boiled eggs.
Miss you
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
It continually surprises me how everywhere I go in the world; people are essentially the same, whatever the culture. It is great! As my language improves (I got an Advanced-Mid) on my last language proficiency) I understand more of what is going on around me. I’ve started to catch the…. I don’t really know what to call it. It isn’t sarcasm, but it is similar. The little-under-the-breath-comments and off-hand remarks crack me up. They aren’t that funny, per se, but something about the fact that I can understand them makes me smile. After I came back from a week long training, but Ata and I had “the you’ll miss us when you go back” conversation for the seventeenth time. I thought that I was the only one that it irritated, but then Apa said something along the lines of “are you saying that again? You’ve only said it twenty times already” and I cracked up. It was great. Three of my sisters are teenagers, so the little snarky comments they make to each other and with each other are hilarious. It is just like how Jordan and I used to bicker… what am I saying “used to?” It isn’t serious; they’re just picking on each other and I am beginning to understand it!
I’m also working on learning some Kyrgyz songs so I have better material for tois when I am forced to sing against my will haha that and reading, well attempting to read, newspapers has helped me improve my language. I still need a lot of work, but at least I can communicate.
I’m gonna go make some lunch before I head to my next class. Yay boiled eggs.
Miss you
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
Friday, January 15, 2010
how sweet it is to be loved by you
What a great week!
I spent the week at a PC training so I got so visit with a lot of my favorites here.
I did a polar plunge- a.k.a. jumped in the lake in the middle of january.
I made omelets last night and the kicker:
I ATE GUACAMOLE!!! I finally got my Christmas package (the post office closes for a week at new years) and my family sent me a jar of guacamole. my life is complete.
I am at the internet cafe now, so i'm gonna keep this short, but i will write again soon!
miss you
love from Kyrgyzstan,
jess
I spent the week at a PC training so I got so visit with a lot of my favorites here.
I did a polar plunge- a.k.a. jumped in the lake in the middle of january.
I made omelets last night and the kicker:
I ATE GUACAMOLE!!! I finally got my Christmas package (the post office closes for a week at new years) and my family sent me a jar of guacamole. my life is complete.
I am at the internet cafe now, so i'm gonna keep this short, but i will write again soon!
miss you
love from Kyrgyzstan,
jess
Thursday, January 7, 2010
A blog about nothin'
7 January 2010
I just typed November 2009 instead of January 2010. sigh… where does the time go? I’m sure I’m probably boring you all silly with such frequent blogs, but having internet in my village makes it so much easier. Nothing at all has been going on, really, and I am still writing. I wonder why that is? It is snowing today. Again. I was hoping we’d gotten past the worst of the winter weather. My family keeps telling me how warm this winter has been compared to others. I guess I’m still a southern girl at heart, because I can’t make “warm” and “snow” go together in my mind. If this is a “warm” winter, then I guess I got really lucky because to me it is cold. I shudder to think what a cold winter would be like. I thought winter would be really hard to deal with, what with staying indoors, but thus far, it has been easier than I thought. Maybe it is because it seems like there is always something going on? My family had a huge party, partly for new years, partly for Kaciet’s birthday, and all the extended family came. There were like 30 people in my house. It was overwhelming, but I managed to have a good time. For one thing, there were actually people my age. Granted, all the young women that are my age are married and have kids, but at least I wasn’t stuck in that weird gap between the ages. I had a fun time trying to get my one host aunt from Bishkek to realize that I do not speak Russian. She must have been told forty seven times by me, and the rest of my family that I speak Kyrgyz, but she lives in the city and normally only speaks Russian, so it took her a while to realize. She, along with most of the family thought that I’m fascinating, and my room turned into an exhibit. They love that I put pictures and the cards from home on my wall. I don’t get it. I really don’t think I am that interesting of a human being, but I suppose it IS kinda like being at the zoo, seeing something that you’ve never seen before haha. My aunt brought presents for the whole family for new years. I got a really pretty necklace, and some lipstick. It is actually a color that I will wear, which is surprising coming from someone who had never met me. That ought to make momma happy, since she’s only been telling me that I need more color since, oh, let me think, the first time I ever wore makeup. Haha Speaking of makeup, I’m starting my girls’ club tomorrow with a party. We’re gonna do makeovers and do all the girly slumber party type stuff, minus the slumber party. It will be weird for me helping the girls with makeup, since I’m no expert myself, but Heidi is coming up for a visit, and is gonna help out. I wanted to do manicures and stuff, too, but that will have to wait for another time because we don’t have a whole lot of time tomorrow afternoon for the party. I’ve realized that the condition of my nails corresponds to my mood. When I’m in a bad mood, giving myself a manicure perks me up (I know! I am such a girl…) and when I’m in a good mood, my nails are much more likely to look ragged. Weird, huh? Well, Heidi is coming back with me from the city tomorrow, so I’ve got to straighten up my room so Apa won’t flip out haha (just like being at home). I know. This blog was such a waste haha. I figured I should share my nothing-going-ons with you.
Miss you
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
I just typed November 2009 instead of January 2010. sigh… where does the time go? I’m sure I’m probably boring you all silly with such frequent blogs, but having internet in my village makes it so much easier. Nothing at all has been going on, really, and I am still writing. I wonder why that is? It is snowing today. Again. I was hoping we’d gotten past the worst of the winter weather. My family keeps telling me how warm this winter has been compared to others. I guess I’m still a southern girl at heart, because I can’t make “warm” and “snow” go together in my mind. If this is a “warm” winter, then I guess I got really lucky because to me it is cold. I shudder to think what a cold winter would be like. I thought winter would be really hard to deal with, what with staying indoors, but thus far, it has been easier than I thought. Maybe it is because it seems like there is always something going on? My family had a huge party, partly for new years, partly for Kaciet’s birthday, and all the extended family came. There were like 30 people in my house. It was overwhelming, but I managed to have a good time. For one thing, there were actually people my age. Granted, all the young women that are my age are married and have kids, but at least I wasn’t stuck in that weird gap between the ages. I had a fun time trying to get my one host aunt from Bishkek to realize that I do not speak Russian. She must have been told forty seven times by me, and the rest of my family that I speak Kyrgyz, but she lives in the city and normally only speaks Russian, so it took her a while to realize. She, along with most of the family thought that I’m fascinating, and my room turned into an exhibit. They love that I put pictures and the cards from home on my wall. I don’t get it. I really don’t think I am that interesting of a human being, but I suppose it IS kinda like being at the zoo, seeing something that you’ve never seen before haha. My aunt brought presents for the whole family for new years. I got a really pretty necklace, and some lipstick. It is actually a color that I will wear, which is surprising coming from someone who had never met me. That ought to make momma happy, since she’s only been telling me that I need more color since, oh, let me think, the first time I ever wore makeup. Haha Speaking of makeup, I’m starting my girls’ club tomorrow with a party. We’re gonna do makeovers and do all the girly slumber party type stuff, minus the slumber party. It will be weird for me helping the girls with makeup, since I’m no expert myself, but Heidi is coming up for a visit, and is gonna help out. I wanted to do manicures and stuff, too, but that will have to wait for another time because we don’t have a whole lot of time tomorrow afternoon for the party. I’ve realized that the condition of my nails corresponds to my mood. When I’m in a bad mood, giving myself a manicure perks me up (I know! I am such a girl…) and when I’m in a good mood, my nails are much more likely to look ragged. Weird, huh? Well, Heidi is coming back with me from the city tomorrow, so I’ve got to straighten up my room so Apa won’t flip out haha (just like being at home). I know. This blog was such a waste haha. I figured I should share my nothing-going-ons with you.
Miss you
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Highlight from the past week and the New Year
Hearing the “I think I might be sick tomorrow” excuse from one of my favorite smart ass students
Hearing the Kyrgyz equivalent of the “it’s clean, but is it mama clean?” question (at least it wasn’t directed at me haha
Hearing my absolute favorite line in a Kyrgyz new year’s toast (and I heard a bunch of toasts) here goes: “may all your daughters get married”
Giving my host siblings their crocheted scarves (the youngest three wore theirs all day)
Going to the village new year’s party- although, I think this deserves a paragraph to talk about instead of a bullet. I really wanted to go to this party, after all, I didn’t go home to America for the holidays so I could be here to celebrate, but I didn’t want to go by myself because the whole walking-alone-at-dark-thing is highly discouraged. My host sisters and I have been bonding and we conspired that I should ask the parents if they could go with me, because they’ve never been allowed to go. I asked. Ata was wavering and Apa said “no,” which sucked. The girls were kinda upset. I was too. Their reasons for not giving permission were uber frustrating (partly because I heard it growing up, too) My host dad is kinda a big deal in the village and Apa thought that if the girls went, they’d be what translated to the Kyrgyz equivalent of “easy girls” and it would reflect poorly on my host dad because people would think he wasn’t strict and yadayadayada. How many times did I get the “your behavior reflects on me speech?” Yeah, it still sucks haha. So the girls couldn’t go, and I resigned myself to not going to because I didn’t want to go alone. Then, one of my favorite 11th grade students (who is more like a friend than a students, because we’re like three or four years apart) came and asked if I wanted to come guesting at her house, so I did. I went and had chai and stuff with her family, and then we went to the New Year’s party. I think my host parents were a little overly strict because the majority of my 8th-11th graders were there, not to mention families with toddlers. Sure, there was a drunk guy or two, but you can encounter that just walking down the street… Anyways, I danced a bunch (I’m going to come home and wow you all with hitherto unsuspected dance skills haha) and met a bunch of kids who would’ve been my 11th grade students, but quit after 9th grade. We also played a bunch of games. I got dragged into playing tug-of-war and ended up on a team with my students against my teachers because they divide it by birth year, and I’m closer in age to my students than my co-workers (that is still weird to me) --Also, a side note on the birth year thing- often, instead of getting asked how old I am, I get asked what my year is. Since I’m 1988, as of January 1, I can start saying that I am twenty two because I will turn twenty two this year, even if it isn’t for another eight months. I think I’m gonna stick with twenty one, though. I’ve only just started answering twenty one instead of twenty. Time bewilders me here. I was still writing October in December. This 2010 switch is gonna throw me off until at least March. Sigh.)
I went back to my student’s house and we celebrated the countdown with sips of champagne and fireworks. I love fireworks. At midnight, what seemed like every single family in the village set off fireworks (I was much to close to exploding things for my comfort, but still had a great time) I felt like Jordan, or any other ADD kid haha, 360 degrees of sparkly, shiny things going off in every direction had my head spinning. I got home a little after 12. Apa was asleep, and Ata was watching T.V. It was just like being in America, haha. And that pretty much sums up new years, because I did absolutely nothing on new years day.
Today, I helped make borsok and just spent an hour cleaning the floor of my room. You know those little car “vacuums,” that are really just rolling lint brushes that you attempt to use for ten minutes before realizing that they don’t work, giving up, and paying the fifty cents to use the powerful sucker vac at the car wash? Yeah, that is what I use to clean my floor, without the fifty cent cop out option. We have an actual vacuum cleaner, but just take my word for it that the hand held non-powered option is easier.
Now I think I’m going to go wash my hair, because I’m going to be put on exhibit tonight and tomorrow, a.k.a. we have guests coming, and I’m pretty sure our weekly banya is not going to happen because of the aforementioned guests.
Miss you
Wishing you all the best in the new year,
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
Hearing the Kyrgyz equivalent of the “it’s clean, but is it mama clean?” question (at least it wasn’t directed at me haha
Hearing my absolute favorite line in a Kyrgyz new year’s toast (and I heard a bunch of toasts) here goes: “may all your daughters get married”
Giving my host siblings their crocheted scarves (the youngest three wore theirs all day)
Going to the village new year’s party- although, I think this deserves a paragraph to talk about instead of a bullet. I really wanted to go to this party, after all, I didn’t go home to America for the holidays so I could be here to celebrate, but I didn’t want to go by myself because the whole walking-alone-at-dark-thing is highly discouraged. My host sisters and I have been bonding and we conspired that I should ask the parents if they could go with me, because they’ve never been allowed to go. I asked. Ata was wavering and Apa said “no,” which sucked. The girls were kinda upset. I was too. Their reasons for not giving permission were uber frustrating (partly because I heard it growing up, too) My host dad is kinda a big deal in the village and Apa thought that if the girls went, they’d be what translated to the Kyrgyz equivalent of “easy girls” and it would reflect poorly on my host dad because people would think he wasn’t strict and yadayadayada. How many times did I get the “your behavior reflects on me speech?” Yeah, it still sucks haha. So the girls couldn’t go, and I resigned myself to not going to because I didn’t want to go alone. Then, one of my favorite 11th grade students (who is more like a friend than a students, because we’re like three or four years apart) came and asked if I wanted to come guesting at her house, so I did. I went and had chai and stuff with her family, and then we went to the New Year’s party. I think my host parents were a little overly strict because the majority of my 8th-11th graders were there, not to mention families with toddlers. Sure, there was a drunk guy or two, but you can encounter that just walking down the street… Anyways, I danced a bunch (I’m going to come home and wow you all with hitherto unsuspected dance skills haha) and met a bunch of kids who would’ve been my 11th grade students, but quit after 9th grade. We also played a bunch of games. I got dragged into playing tug-of-war and ended up on a team with my students against my teachers because they divide it by birth year, and I’m closer in age to my students than my co-workers (that is still weird to me) --Also, a side note on the birth year thing- often, instead of getting asked how old I am, I get asked what my year is. Since I’m 1988, as of January 1, I can start saying that I am twenty two because I will turn twenty two this year, even if it isn’t for another eight months. I think I’m gonna stick with twenty one, though. I’ve only just started answering twenty one instead of twenty. Time bewilders me here. I was still writing October in December. This 2010 switch is gonna throw me off until at least March. Sigh.)
I went back to my student’s house and we celebrated the countdown with sips of champagne and fireworks. I love fireworks. At midnight, what seemed like every single family in the village set off fireworks (I was much to close to exploding things for my comfort, but still had a great time) I felt like Jordan, or any other ADD kid haha, 360 degrees of sparkly, shiny things going off in every direction had my head spinning. I got home a little after 12. Apa was asleep, and Ata was watching T.V. It was just like being in America, haha. And that pretty much sums up new years, because I did absolutely nothing on new years day.
Today, I helped make borsok and just spent an hour cleaning the floor of my room. You know those little car “vacuums,” that are really just rolling lint brushes that you attempt to use for ten minutes before realizing that they don’t work, giving up, and paying the fifty cents to use the powerful sucker vac at the car wash? Yeah, that is what I use to clean my floor, without the fifty cent cop out option. We have an actual vacuum cleaner, but just take my word for it that the hand held non-powered option is easier.
Now I think I’m going to go wash my hair, because I’m going to be put on exhibit tonight and tomorrow, a.k.a. we have guests coming, and I’m pretty sure our weekly banya is not going to happen because of the aforementioned guests.
Miss you
Wishing you all the best in the new year,
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
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