I hope you are all having a wonderful, fun and food and family filled holiday.
Miss you all tons!
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
Friday, December 25, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Today is full of unexpected surprises:
I didn't have time to post the last blog on wednesday, like i had hoped, so I posted it today. I got TWO amazing packages from home, and can't even put into words the awesomeness of them. I'm heading to a friend's village to celebrate Haunakkah(I'm sorry if I spelled that wrong, I can never seem to get it right.) Today has been weird. First, I rode in a car with dice hanging from the mirror on the way here. Second,when I got in, Ace of Base was playing on the radio. Third, I got out at the bazaar and a taxi driver flagged me down because I left my wallet in his car LAST WEEKEND. I only had about 20 som in it and truthfully, I hadn't even realized that I had lost it, but the man kept if for me for a week! Life is just full of strange and wonderful surprises, and I love it.
Miss you
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
Miss you
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
whew.
15 December 2009
What a week and it has been. And it is only Tuesday. Sigh. Actually I will post this tomorrow, when I go to the city, which I guess makes it Wednesday. I am doing a mid-week city trip for a few different reasons. One, Katie told me that I have a package! I’m super excited. I don’t know which package it’ll be because I am expecting several, but this will be one of those rare occasions when I won’t mind a surprise. Two, I have to buy more yarn. I’m crocheting a blanket. I finally just finished making 35 10X10 inch squares. My host sisters and host mom helped me to arrange them tonight into a design. We spread them all out on the living room floor. I need more yarn to put all the pieces together. It’ll be my first big project, and I’ll get to cross “crochet or knit a blanket” off of THE LIST. Three, I’ll get to post this blog, and hopefully read some emails.
I guess I should explain the “what a week” comment. Let’s see. Sunday, I washed laundry. You remember how I said a while ago that I would never let laundry go more than three weeks? I lied. Again. Big time. I washed clothes before I went to Bishkek for training. As a recap- that was the second week of November. And I haven’t washed clothes since then. Sigh. I tried, believe me, I did! But between the snow and my house being under construction it just hasn’t worked out. And, in addition to having six weeks of accumulated laundry, the washing machine didn’t work. So I had to wash and rinse all of it by hand. It took FOREVER. And for those of you who have never done laundry outside in freezing temperatures- it is about as much fun as it sounds. And, I don’t think my clothes hanging on the line will ever dry. My shirts literally have icicles hanging off them. I brought in a pair of jeans to hang inside and could hold them by the belt loops and have them stand out completely parallel to the ground. I took pictures because it cracked me up.
Yesterday I woke up and then got sick. I don’t know what was up. I luckily made it outside. Luckily, because cleaning sick up off the carpet is a pain in the butt here. I didn’t go to my only class, and slept for a really long time. I guess it was something I ate. Maybe the homemade cheese? I dunno, but it came and went in about four hours, they were just a miserable couple of hours.
Today was a rough day at school. I started at 8 and finished at 5:45. Even my counterpart said that today was a hard day. My good classes were being bad too. We did have a breakthrough though, with the homework issue. We had about an 85% homework completion rate before we missed about a month of school. But they are slipping back into their old habits. We combined the not-doing-homework-thing with the we-don’t-have-a-class-in-our-room-to-be-responsible-for-cleaning-it-thing into a new rule. We have a rotating schedule, and whoever doesn’t do their homework in the day’s scheduled class has to clean the room. It works out well.
In other new from the past week:
I ran out of peanut butter (sad face)
I did not get a banya (sadder face)
I finally figured out the perfect ratio of cocoa powder, powdered milk, and sugar to make a good hot chocolate mix. (happy face)
I watched The Boondock Saints every. single. day,. at least it is a good movie. (background- I usually end my day by watching a movie in bed until I fall asleep or the power goes out. I copy one movie at a time from my external to my desktop so I don’t have to keep my external plugged in, and I haven’t felt like walking all the way across my room to get my external to plug in to get a new movie this week.) I think I can just about quote the entire movie now. haha (“we’re kinda like seven eleven. We may not always be doing business, but we’re always open.”)
Well, I’m probably gonna go attempt to heat up some water so I can wash up before the electricity goes out.
Miss you
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
What a week and it has been. And it is only Tuesday. Sigh. Actually I will post this tomorrow, when I go to the city, which I guess makes it Wednesday. I am doing a mid-week city trip for a few different reasons. One, Katie told me that I have a package! I’m super excited. I don’t know which package it’ll be because I am expecting several, but this will be one of those rare occasions when I won’t mind a surprise. Two, I have to buy more yarn. I’m crocheting a blanket. I finally just finished making 35 10X10 inch squares. My host sisters and host mom helped me to arrange them tonight into a design. We spread them all out on the living room floor. I need more yarn to put all the pieces together. It’ll be my first big project, and I’ll get to cross “crochet or knit a blanket” off of THE LIST. Three, I’ll get to post this blog, and hopefully read some emails.
I guess I should explain the “what a week” comment. Let’s see. Sunday, I washed laundry. You remember how I said a while ago that I would never let laundry go more than three weeks? I lied. Again. Big time. I washed clothes before I went to Bishkek for training. As a recap- that was the second week of November. And I haven’t washed clothes since then. Sigh. I tried, believe me, I did! But between the snow and my house being under construction it just hasn’t worked out. And, in addition to having six weeks of accumulated laundry, the washing machine didn’t work. So I had to wash and rinse all of it by hand. It took FOREVER. And for those of you who have never done laundry outside in freezing temperatures- it is about as much fun as it sounds. And, I don’t think my clothes hanging on the line will ever dry. My shirts literally have icicles hanging off them. I brought in a pair of jeans to hang inside and could hold them by the belt loops and have them stand out completely parallel to the ground. I took pictures because it cracked me up.
Yesterday I woke up and then got sick. I don’t know what was up. I luckily made it outside. Luckily, because cleaning sick up off the carpet is a pain in the butt here. I didn’t go to my only class, and slept for a really long time. I guess it was something I ate. Maybe the homemade cheese? I dunno, but it came and went in about four hours, they were just a miserable couple of hours.
Today was a rough day at school. I started at 8 and finished at 5:45. Even my counterpart said that today was a hard day. My good classes were being bad too. We did have a breakthrough though, with the homework issue. We had about an 85% homework completion rate before we missed about a month of school. But they are slipping back into their old habits. We combined the not-doing-homework-thing with the we-don’t-have-a-class-in-our-room-to-be-responsible-for-cleaning-it-thing into a new rule. We have a rotating schedule, and whoever doesn’t do their homework in the day’s scheduled class has to clean the room. It works out well.
In other new from the past week:
I ran out of peanut butter (sad face)
I did not get a banya (sadder face)
I finally figured out the perfect ratio of cocoa powder, powdered milk, and sugar to make a good hot chocolate mix. (happy face)
I watched The Boondock Saints every. single. day,. at least it is a good movie. (background- I usually end my day by watching a movie in bed until I fall asleep or the power goes out. I copy one movie at a time from my external to my desktop so I don’t have to keep my external plugged in, and I haven’t felt like walking all the way across my room to get my external to plug in to get a new movie this week.) I think I can just about quote the entire movie now. haha (“we’re kinda like seven eleven. We may not always be doing business, but we’re always open.”)
Well, I’m probably gonna go attempt to heat up some water so I can wash up before the electricity goes out.
Miss you
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
Friday, December 11, 2009
Winter
10 December 2009
So, when this southern girl, who has had snow above her ankles maybe three times in her life, and who is perfectly okay with that fact, starts getting happy when it snows because days that snow are warmer; you know she is in the middle of a Kyrgyz winter. Okay, enough with the third person. Basically, what I am trying to say is that it is cold. Technically, I can use the adjective freezing now, without exaggerating. And it is true, the days that snow are warmer, sometimes it is too cold to snow according to Ata, a fact which completely blows my mind. So, yes, winter has arrived with full force here in lovely issyk kul oblast. Since there has been snow on the ground since the first or second week of November and since I’ve already slipped on ice you may feel that I am a bit late with this announcement. It really feels like winter though now. I’ve busted out my tall furry boots, and have managed to not fall in my village yet. I am not going to bother doing the whole “knock-on-wood” thing because I know falling is inevitable, especially with the roads here. Today the roads consist of snow, or packed snow/ice. My winter footwear is serving me pretty well, although I must admit that I do have a bit of a dilemma. My winter boots have pretty good grips on them, which makes walking in snow a bit easier, but the problem with the grips is that the snow gets packed in them and then as soon as a step into school, the packed snow on the bottom turns them into ice skates, and we all know how well I handle myself on ice. The Peace Corps gave all the volunteers Yak Trax, which are these little grippers we put on our shoes to walk better. I don’t really need them for snow, but on packed snow and ice they are life savers. The same problem arises though. On tile floors, they are quite slippery. So, the question becomes- am I going to bite it hard outside my school or inside my school? I’ll let you know when it happens. I am getting a bit tired of wearing the same pair of shoes, but I’ve given up variety for functionality. At least they are functional and cute! Haha Who’d have thought I could talk this long about shoes. Actually, anyone who knows me would know that I could talk for this long about shoes haha. I’ve covered the weather and shoe aspects of winter; let’s move on to the holidays. I’m holding a Christmas Eve Concert and am super excited about it. I spent this week teaching my students Christmas Carols. Yes, I know. Me? The girl who can’t carry a tune in a bucket- teaching someone else a song? Go figure. But, it has perked my spirits up. Having kids walking through the halls singing or humming “let it snow” and “fa la la la la la la la la” makes me really happy. It really puts me in the Christmas spirit. I’m preparing myself for the first Christmas away from home to be really hard, but the more I do to make it seem like Christmas, the closer I feel to home. I think the volunteers close to me might come out for the concert, and then, if I can finagle it, I’m going to spend Christmas Eve night in the city, so I can be with other Americans on Christmas. It is technically a work day, but it is a holiday for me, and it will be exam week anyway, so I’m not going to miss much. I have promised my community that I will be here for the New Years’ Holiday (which is why I am not coming home) and I think we are all pretty excited for me to take part in all the traditions, but for once I can do both- Christmas with Americans and New Years with my host family. I am also going to try to go with one of my Russian teachers to the Orthodox Church for their Christmas services. I’m not sure yet how to work that out, but I have faith that I can make it happen.
Let’s see. What other news? Oh yeah! I went skiing. And by skiing, I mean attempting to ski and basically spending an entire day falling down a mountain. My muscles were sore for days and I keep finding bruises. It was fun. More graceful people probably would’ve had their pride hurt from falling down so much. Haha it didn’t affect me, though, seeing as how I am used to it. I made it down the easiest slope two and half times. The third time, I managed to hit myself in the head with my own ski pole, and decided that was a sign that I should call it a day. I think I walked down quicker than I would’ve skied down anyway. haha I am not very good at skiing, but I will probably go back. For one thing, the view is absolutely gorgeous! (I might try to post pictures) I won’t be able to go often because it is expensive. (by my standards) We added it up, and for transportation, rentals, the ski lift fee, and lunch, we spent about 30 dollars, which is crazy cheap for your average tourist. It was a great day. I was actually planning on not even going into the city, but met up with my site mate, Mike, and he basically guilted me into going. Between going out dancing on Friday night, skiing on Sunday, and walking the 5km to my village (in the snow) on Monday morning, my legs had their best workout in country. Haha It was a great weekend.
I just came back from my pre-bed outhouse trip, and feel that I must describe the experience. Outhouses can be dangerous in the best of times. Add a layer of packed snow on top of the foot grips, and it is very scary. I try very hard not to lose my balance. I think I’d rather fall in front of all my students every day all winter than fall in the outhouse once.
I’m gonna wrap it up for now.
Miss you
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
So, when this southern girl, who has had snow above her ankles maybe three times in her life, and who is perfectly okay with that fact, starts getting happy when it snows because days that snow are warmer; you know she is in the middle of a Kyrgyz winter. Okay, enough with the third person. Basically, what I am trying to say is that it is cold. Technically, I can use the adjective freezing now, without exaggerating. And it is true, the days that snow are warmer, sometimes it is too cold to snow according to Ata, a fact which completely blows my mind. So, yes, winter has arrived with full force here in lovely issyk kul oblast. Since there has been snow on the ground since the first or second week of November and since I’ve already slipped on ice you may feel that I am a bit late with this announcement. It really feels like winter though now. I’ve busted out my tall furry boots, and have managed to not fall in my village yet. I am not going to bother doing the whole “knock-on-wood” thing because I know falling is inevitable, especially with the roads here. Today the roads consist of snow, or packed snow/ice. My winter footwear is serving me pretty well, although I must admit that I do have a bit of a dilemma. My winter boots have pretty good grips on them, which makes walking in snow a bit easier, but the problem with the grips is that the snow gets packed in them and then as soon as a step into school, the packed snow on the bottom turns them into ice skates, and we all know how well I handle myself on ice. The Peace Corps gave all the volunteers Yak Trax, which are these little grippers we put on our shoes to walk better. I don’t really need them for snow, but on packed snow and ice they are life savers. The same problem arises though. On tile floors, they are quite slippery. So, the question becomes- am I going to bite it hard outside my school or inside my school? I’ll let you know when it happens. I am getting a bit tired of wearing the same pair of shoes, but I’ve given up variety for functionality. At least they are functional and cute! Haha Who’d have thought I could talk this long about shoes. Actually, anyone who knows me would know that I could talk for this long about shoes haha. I’ve covered the weather and shoe aspects of winter; let’s move on to the holidays. I’m holding a Christmas Eve Concert and am super excited about it. I spent this week teaching my students Christmas Carols. Yes, I know. Me? The girl who can’t carry a tune in a bucket- teaching someone else a song? Go figure. But, it has perked my spirits up. Having kids walking through the halls singing or humming “let it snow” and “fa la la la la la la la la” makes me really happy. It really puts me in the Christmas spirit. I’m preparing myself for the first Christmas away from home to be really hard, but the more I do to make it seem like Christmas, the closer I feel to home. I think the volunteers close to me might come out for the concert, and then, if I can finagle it, I’m going to spend Christmas Eve night in the city, so I can be with other Americans on Christmas. It is technically a work day, but it is a holiday for me, and it will be exam week anyway, so I’m not going to miss much. I have promised my community that I will be here for the New Years’ Holiday (which is why I am not coming home) and I think we are all pretty excited for me to take part in all the traditions, but for once I can do both- Christmas with Americans and New Years with my host family. I am also going to try to go with one of my Russian teachers to the Orthodox Church for their Christmas services. I’m not sure yet how to work that out, but I have faith that I can make it happen.
Let’s see. What other news? Oh yeah! I went skiing. And by skiing, I mean attempting to ski and basically spending an entire day falling down a mountain. My muscles were sore for days and I keep finding bruises. It was fun. More graceful people probably would’ve had their pride hurt from falling down so much. Haha it didn’t affect me, though, seeing as how I am used to it. I made it down the easiest slope two and half times. The third time, I managed to hit myself in the head with my own ski pole, and decided that was a sign that I should call it a day. I think I walked down quicker than I would’ve skied down anyway. haha I am not very good at skiing, but I will probably go back. For one thing, the view is absolutely gorgeous! (I might try to post pictures) I won’t be able to go often because it is expensive. (by my standards) We added it up, and for transportation, rentals, the ski lift fee, and lunch, we spent about 30 dollars, which is crazy cheap for your average tourist. It was a great day. I was actually planning on not even going into the city, but met up with my site mate, Mike, and he basically guilted me into going. Between going out dancing on Friday night, skiing on Sunday, and walking the 5km to my village (in the snow) on Monday morning, my legs had their best workout in country. Haha It was a great weekend.
I just came back from my pre-bed outhouse trip, and feel that I must describe the experience. Outhouses can be dangerous in the best of times. Add a layer of packed snow on top of the foot grips, and it is very scary. I try very hard not to lose my balance. I think I’d rather fall in front of all my students every day all winter than fall in the outhouse once.
I’m gonna wrap it up for now.
Miss you
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
Sunday, November 29, 2009
school's out
Okay, school isn't really out, but all the schools in my rayon are under quarantine until December 7th!! So, I have a week of no classes. Which means, that for the entire month of Noveber, I will teach a combined total of six classes. And, when I normally teach 18 hours a week, that's quite a drop. The first week was vacation, second week was IST, last week, we only went Monday through Wednesday, and attendance was so low that half the classes were cancelled, and Tuesday starts December. Can I just take a minute to repeat that- Tuesday is December First! December will be my ninth month in country. Nine months is one-third of the way through my Peace Corps Service! If it weren't for the cold and snow, i'd find it hard to believe that it is already December. The second quarter ends the 30th, and the week before that is exam week, which means that I have three weeks, or six classes until tests. For some of my students, these will be the only six English Classes they will have had the entire second quarter. Writing tests is going to be even trickier this quarter. sigh.
oh well. enough school news. how about holiday news? A group of volunteers got together last night to celebrate thanksgiving. We had a great time. We had stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, carrots, scalloped potatoes, coleslaw, and i'm sure i'm forgetting a ton of other stuff. we all ate ourselves silly, and it made me feel not quite so far from home. good times.
Happy Belated Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.
Miss you tons
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
oh well. enough school news. how about holiday news? A group of volunteers got together last night to celebrate thanksgiving. We had a great time. We had stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, carrots, scalloped potatoes, coleslaw, and i'm sure i'm forgetting a ton of other stuff. we all ate ourselves silly, and it made me feel not quite so far from home. good times.
Happy Belated Thanksgiving to everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.
Miss you tons
Love from Kyrgyzstan,
Jess
Monday, November 23, 2009
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
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
and another...
20 November 2009 Part Two
I know what you’re thinking. “Part Two? But Jess, you wrote four pages this morning! What more could you possibly have to say?”
I just got back from guesting and figured I should write about it because it was quite an event. I went with both of my host parents and most of the teaching staff was there too. I’ve gone guesting with my Apa and my teachers and with my Apa and Ata to family parties, but never my Apa, Ata, and my teachers. My teaching staff knows me pretty well. They don’t pressure me to drink, or sing, or take part in anything that I don’t want to do. My Ata knows that I don’t drink, but he made me sing! He told me it was a Kyrgyz ritual and told me that it’d be ooyat (shameful) if I didn’t sing. So, I sang the first thing that popped into my mind. Unfortunately, I spent the intervening hours between writing my first blog and going guesting watching Rent… and the first thing to pop into my head was the opening number, seasons of love. I butchered it and forgot most of the words, but it did sing. And now, my teaching staff will probably never ask me to sing for the next year and a half. Thank goodness! Now they believe me when I say that I can’t sing. haha We had the traditional besh barmak dish, as always, my Ata wanted me to try a bit of horse meat, and I respectfully declined. It is funny to me; my teaching staff knows me so well! When they pass around the kidneys, chunks of fat, and intestine, they don’t even offer it to me. One teacher will put a piece on my plate with the noodles (or rice) and the huge chunk of meat that I won’t eat, and then pass the bowl to the teacher on the other side of me. I think that they just know that I don’t want to touch it. And then, as everyone is packing up their leftovers, someone will inevitably hand mine to Apa. Again, I think they know that touching the greasy meat is not something that I want to do. Tonight we also had bozo, or rather they had bozo. I respectfully oostied, or tasted it. It tastes like someone poured vodka on bread, and then liquefied it. That is the best description I can give.
It is no wonder to me that illnesses spread so quickly here. All the communal food sharing, and glass sharing has got to be a catalyst for the spread of disease. Although if I stick to my college adage that alcohol is a disinfectant, that could explain why some of my teachers don’t get sick.
As we were eating the besh barmak, the teachers played a singing game. There are two teams. One team will sing a verse and the other team has to sing another verse of a song starting with the letter that the last team finished on. One team finished a song with the letter X which sounds like H and there are few songs that being with that letter, so my counterpart struck up a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday. It was cute.
As we all left, one of the male teachers, who I have gotten to be friendly with helped me down the stairs, as it so happens, he is the only male teacher who is not married. One of the other teachers said “I love you” and teased him. It sparked a conversation in which he said that he was going to “take” me, because the Kyrgyz translation of “get married” for men is simple “take a woman.” Well, woman and wife are the same word in Kyrgyz. And all the other teachers remarked on what a good idea this is. Sigh. Something similar has happened at every single toi (party) that I’ve been to in Kyrgyzstan, and I’m not expecting it to stop, which means I guess that I’m getting used to it.
Well I guess that just about sums it up. I’m debating whether I want to go to the city tomorrow, or wait until next Wednesday. I guess we’ll see how I feel in the morning, and when I wake up.
Miss you still
Love from Kyrgyzstan!
Jess
I know what you’re thinking. “Part Two? But Jess, you wrote four pages this morning! What more could you possibly have to say?”
I just got back from guesting and figured I should write about it because it was quite an event. I went with both of my host parents and most of the teaching staff was there too. I’ve gone guesting with my Apa and my teachers and with my Apa and Ata to family parties, but never my Apa, Ata, and my teachers. My teaching staff knows me pretty well. They don’t pressure me to drink, or sing, or take part in anything that I don’t want to do. My Ata knows that I don’t drink, but he made me sing! He told me it was a Kyrgyz ritual and told me that it’d be ooyat (shameful) if I didn’t sing. So, I sang the first thing that popped into my mind. Unfortunately, I spent the intervening hours between writing my first blog and going guesting watching Rent… and the first thing to pop into my head was the opening number, seasons of love. I butchered it and forgot most of the words, but it did sing. And now, my teaching staff will probably never ask me to sing for the next year and a half. Thank goodness! Now they believe me when I say that I can’t sing. haha We had the traditional besh barmak dish, as always, my Ata wanted me to try a bit of horse meat, and I respectfully declined. It is funny to me; my teaching staff knows me so well! When they pass around the kidneys, chunks of fat, and intestine, they don’t even offer it to me. One teacher will put a piece on my plate with the noodles (or rice) and the huge chunk of meat that I won’t eat, and then pass the bowl to the teacher on the other side of me. I think that they just know that I don’t want to touch it. And then, as everyone is packing up their leftovers, someone will inevitably hand mine to Apa. Again, I think they know that touching the greasy meat is not something that I want to do. Tonight we also had bozo, or rather they had bozo. I respectfully oostied, or tasted it. It tastes like someone poured vodka on bread, and then liquefied it. That is the best description I can give.
It is no wonder to me that illnesses spread so quickly here. All the communal food sharing, and glass sharing has got to be a catalyst for the spread of disease. Although if I stick to my college adage that alcohol is a disinfectant, that could explain why some of my teachers don’t get sick.
As we were eating the besh barmak, the teachers played a singing game. There are two teams. One team will sing a verse and the other team has to sing another verse of a song starting with the letter that the last team finished on. One team finished a song with the letter X which sounds like H and there are few songs that being with that letter, so my counterpart struck up a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday. It was cute.
As we all left, one of the male teachers, who I have gotten to be friendly with helped me down the stairs, as it so happens, he is the only male teacher who is not married. One of the other teachers said “I love you” and teased him. It sparked a conversation in which he said that he was going to “take” me, because the Kyrgyz translation of “get married” for men is simple “take a woman.” Well, woman and wife are the same word in Kyrgyz. And all the other teachers remarked on what a good idea this is. Sigh. Something similar has happened at every single toi (party) that I’ve been to in Kyrgyzstan, and I’m not expecting it to stop, which means I guess that I’m getting used to it.
Well I guess that just about sums it up. I’m debating whether I want to go to the city tomorrow, or wait until next Wednesday. I guess we’ll see how I feel in the morning, and when I wake up.
Miss you still
Love from Kyrgyzstan!
Jess
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