title of this blog means "you all very black went." In translation it
sort of means, "you got really dark." In Issyk-kul, they use the
informal plural for the formal singular. It took me a while to get
used to being called by the plural. My sisters said this to me today
after our outing in the city. My arms and face got tanner, but my
shoulders are "кып кызыл," or "very red." I feel like my summer so far
has been"sunburn by number." I wore a T-shirt and got a farmer's tan
sun burn. Capris gave me a below the knee sunburn. A tank top and
cardigan = my chest got sunburned. A spaghetti strap tank top doing
laundry = only my back got burned. Today I wore a tank top and vest
and my shoulders are really really burned. Eventually, I'll be tan all
over. Hopefully, I'll learn my sun block lesson before I get skin
cancer. Sheesh. I had a fantastic day in the city with my sisters.
Aiculu, Kaciet, Aidana, Nurzada, and Nurzada's friend Zumrad all went.
I had to help the American Corner for a bit at a program by the
university, so we went and played Frisbee for about an hour or so.
Then we went to the park. On holidays the park turns into a carnival,
with rides, and vendors, etc. The girls ate ice cream, kettle corn,
cotton candy, and roasted nuts, and, of course, I had to "oosti"
(taste) everything. The girls wanted to ride a few rides that you
couldn't have paid me to get on. I love roller coasters and rides, but
none of the ones here have any kind of safety restraint, so I must
admit I was quite relived when the girls decided they didn't want to
wait in the long lines. We got Azeez a toy. A water gun. Bright idea,
right? Giving a water gun to an already semi-obnoxious four year old…
he enjoyed it for the four hours he had it before he broke it, haha.
We took a picture with the snake and peacock picture people. I was
surprised. None of the girls were afraid of the snake, not even Aiculu
and she's only eight. Nurzada was the only one who wouldn't touch it.
Not because she was scared, but because it was "gross." Haha. The
younger girls wanted to go to the zoo, but the two older girls thought
they were too cool to go, so I put democracy to the test and we had a
vote, so we went to the zoo. I agreed to let Nurzada and Zumrad wait
outside as long as they promised not to go anywhere and to be safe and
all that jazz and I gave them my second cell phone so they could call
me in case of emergencies. I'm responsible. Haha Aiculu hadn't been to
the zoo since she was a toddler, so she had a blast. Kaciet really
enjoyed it, too because there were new animals. Aidana's feet were too
tired to really enjoy it, I think. She didn't wear comfortable walking
shoes. We finished with the zoo and went to lunch. I took them to the
"Pizza House" restaurant in Karakol. It is super expensive (for my
salary) and we could've eaten lagman or ashlianfu or something
cheaper, but we can eat that at home, and I wanted it to be fun. So we
had pizza. My shoulders were super sunburned by this time, but hadn't
started to hurt yet, so as we chatted waiting for pizza, they marveled
over how red my skin got and how hot. They think it is so weird that I
want to get color. I think they like it when I'm super white. We
walked to the center, and had a good chat. The girls don't really talk
at home when Ata is here because he is irritating and wants to turn
everything into a lesson. The feeling of a child holding your hand to
cross the road or to walk with you is such a great feeling. It's like
they grab your hand and your heart at the same time. Everyone should
be around little kids. It is really good for the soul. We eventually
got a taxi back to the village, but the driver wasn't a regular
driver. It turns out that he was the driver that took Apa and I home
the very first time I came to site. I should have known. He was a
scumbag then, too. He charged us more than he should have then, too.
But anyways, we got home okay. The girls all had a great day, and so
did I.
Miss you
Love from Kyrgyzstan (for the next four weeks)
Jess
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