For the K-18s

So about this time, a bunch of people in America will be getting invitations from the Peace Corps to serve the Kyrgyz Republic for two years. I did not get my invitation until January, but a good portion of my group got theirs in November. This group of people will be the K-18s, or the 18th group of people to come to Kyrgyzstan with the Peace Corps.

I don’t know if the K-18s will be like the K-17s, but if they are, most of them will be pouring over all the information that they can get about Kyrgyzstan, google searching, wikipedia-ing, reading blogs of current and past volunteers, and in general, just maintaining a low grade freak out about getting ready for the trip. At least, that’s what I did.

I found a bunch of really useful information in previous volunteers’ blogs, so I figured I’d pay it forward and give my two cents for the next group, if they want it. If not, oh well, it’ll be fun to write it anyway. Especially since I’m less than a year in right now, and who know how my thoughts will change over the next two years.

I. Packing
The first thing- you will over pack. I almost guarantee it. Heading out to the unknown makes us want to be prepared for every possible thing. It is understandable. So, I’m gonna make a little list of things that I wish I would have done differently.

Things I Didn’t Think I’d Need, But Brought Anyway and Am REALLY Glad I Did:
-headlamp- nighttime trips to the outhouse make it indispensable. You can get a cheap one for less that twenty bucks, and they take up very little space.
-leatherman/pocket knife- so incredibly useful! I never used one in the states, but here, I’ve used it for everything from opening cans to boxes to fixing furniture
-computer and external hard-drive full of movies- I have NO idea what I’d do in my spare time if I didn’t have them. I have more spare time in Kyrgyzstan that I ever had in the states and there is only so much knitting, reading, walking, and talking one can do, plus it is a great way to bond with other volunteers, doing movie swaps. Plus the volunteers that are here will love you for bringing new stuff.
-A lot of shoes haha I’m a shoe fan in the states, so I went a little overboard anyway, but almost everyone in my training village walked through at least one pair of shoes during the first two months, the roads here are just harder on shoes.

Things I Didn’t Bring and Wish I Did:
-Books- I only brought one and that lasted about two and a half days.
-More than one electric converter plug adapter (also, three prong to two prong converter) I also spend about fifty bucks getting the super-duper wattage/voltage converter thingamajiggy, and I have only used it once. I just use the plug adapters, and I haven’t fried anything yet. *knock on wood* You can buy the converters here, but I would recommend getting better quality ones in the US.
-Maps and pictures of US scenes


Things I Brought and Wish I Hadn’t
-An umbrella- it did rain a lot here during PST, but you can buy umbrellas here
-Toiletries: seriously, don’t waste space in your luggage. Bring no more than a travel size of anything, because you can get it here. The PCMO will give the women all the feminine products you need, so don’t fill your bad full of three months’ supply of tampax. Not necessary. You also don’t need a spare tooth brush, you don’t need three months supplies of anything. Shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, mouthwash, soap… they use it here, too. The only exceptions I would list would be saline solution for contacts, baby powder ( it is here, but a little more difficult to find, and you will use it here, even if you don’t in the states), and razor blades. You can find razor blades and shaving cream here, but they’re a little pricey for Peace Corps budgets.
-Too many clothes- pack what you think you need, and then cut it in half, then cut it in half again, then cut it in half again, then you’ve got the right amount. Haha I seriously overpacked. I have clothes here that I haven’t worn yet.

-A few other things: in my personal opinion, if you are thinking about bringing any white clothing items, don’t. One, you’re probably overpacked anyways, and two it is very difficult to keep anything white here. Also, other volunteers will tell you to bring school supplies, but I think it is completely unnecessary. You will hear that the quality of the school supplies here is poor, but really, how much quality do you need when it comes to pens? You can get a decent pen here for about 5 som, which is reasonable, and I’ve been able to find decent notebooks, white board markers, pens, scissors, and a stapler here with no trouble. Personally, I wouldn’t waste the space and weight of heavy school supplies items, but that is just me.

Enough about packing

II Culture

The culture of Kyrgyzstan is really interesting. A few things seem strange, but in general, people here, are just like people in America. They might eat a little bit more meat, and drink a lot more tea, but that is not a big deal. The Peace Corps stresses the drinking aspect of the culture a little bit too much in my opinion. During PST, we had a LOT of sessions about how to deal with the pressure to drink, but most of the volunteers I have talked to haven’t had a big problem dealing with it. The aspect of the culture that gets to me the most is gender inequality. Bride kidnapping, the Kalen system, discrepancies in opportunities for boys and girls, and those sorts of things can be hard to deal with at times. These problems exist everywhere in the world, even in the states, and are much worse in other places than in Kyrgyzstan, but as volunteers we are given a great opportunity to help start small changes in the way that people think about the issues, or even get people to start thinking about them at all. We’re not supposed to be critical of local customs, and I hope I haven’t come off sounding harsh about anything, I am not judging, just letting you know that these issues are here.

III The Job.
I don’t know if you’re anything like me, but when I got my invitation to teach English, I not only thought, but knew that I was immensely under qualified. What makes me capable of teaching English? The fact that I can speak it? Whew. The Peace Corps gave us a lot of training about how to teach during PST, and there are still days when I walk into the classroom feeling like I have no idea what is going on. A lot of my teaching job is trial and error, but thus far, my counterpart and students have been really open and I think they are enjoying all the trials because the teaching style that we are taught is nothing like they have ever experienced before. You learn not to stress too much about the job. At least I have. Maybe I’m just a slacker volunteer. I teach eighteen hours a week and do clubs. Holo, another volunteer is designing an entire curriculum program for his school, and Joy does about ninety gajillion things a week at her university, it seems. You will be able to put forth as much effort as you want. Not everything you want to do will be easy to accomplish, but you can work hard all the time and go ninety miles a minute for two years, or you can take a more relaxed pace, like me. Haha
It is not only the TEFL volunteers who have doubts about their qualifications. We’ve got IR majors teaching health, and I’m sure the SOCD volunteers have moments when they have no idea what they’re doing, but we’re all lost together, haha.

IV The PC life
Granted I’ve only been here for seven months or so, but the PC life has been pretty okay. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be the Peace Corps. I’ve had my ups and downs in country, from breaking down into tears and bawling my eyes out at dinner my first night with my host family during site visit, leaving my bags packed at site visit to make it easier to leave since I thought about E.T.ing, cracking up from slipping on ice and busting my butt, going through the end of the honeymoon phase and hating everything about Kyrgyzstan and the Peace Corps for a solid week, to having a fantastic time guesting with my teaching staff and enjoying beautiful summer days swimming in Issyk kul… the ups and downs are what make the experience. If you can’t handle emotional ups and downs, or aren’t patient, or don’t care, you wouldn’t have made it this far in the application process to get an invitation to come here.

I have no idea if anything I said helps, for all I know I might have just confused you even more than you already were. If you have any questions at all, feel free to email or facebook me.

I can’t wait for you all to get here!

See you soon!

Jess