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
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