Forgot to spell check, sorry

Thanksgiving through November 29

Oh another week gone by.
Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, thanks to good friends, good spirits and the other 5 girls in my village. We spent the day calling home and emailing home, as well as shopping at the bazaar.

For once in my life, I didn’t go shopping. I used the time at the Internet phone to call Kinsie, Lindsy, Edie and the boys and Justin. I tried to call more numbers, but I couldn’t get through to anyone else, and I didn’t have all that much time. So I am sorry to those whom I couldn’t reach, its really hit and miss from here. Of course I talked to my mother, father and sister too, but they called me, first thing in the morning. After phone calls we all went to our favorite café, Café Banu, for good food and good company. Another group of volunteers were there as well, and we ended up singing Christmas Carols all afternoon and dancing until we had to get back to our host families. It was a lot of fun, and it made Thanksgiving a lot happier, despite all the phone calls and homesickness.

On Friday we had our language tests, (LPI’s) which are required in order to become an official volunteer. We were each put in a room with a tester for about 30 minutes, and he asked questions, put us in situations and basically just conversed with us until he felt like he could estimate our language level. I hated every minute of it, but passed, am becoming an official volunteer tomorrow, and am satisfied. I have to give props to Laurie and Chrystal though, as they both passed with flying colors.

We spent Friday afternoon watching the Forty Year Old Virgin on Xouhoa’s computer and relaxing. Friday night though my host mother and I killed a chicken to have our own version of Thanksgiving. She gave me all the white meat, which was wonderful. My host cousin, Aleena, has been staying with us for two weeks, which makes me wonder about where the heck her mother might be? She doesn’t seem to mind; she’s three, and she actually is calling my Apa, which means mom. I am even letting her sleep in my room at night, as she keeps my bed warm. It is so damn cold here that I can almost freeze my nalgene bottle in my room at night.

On Saturday we had Russian language lessons to give us a few basic phrases and somewhat of an understanding of the Russian language in case we need it later on during our service. We were pretty burned out so we pretty much boycotted the lesson. Afterward we had lunch and found out that due to a paperwork medical glich back in DC, Chrystal was being sent home. We spent the afternoon saying horrible good byes and then watching her drive away with a driver to the Manas Airport. (Chrystal I know you are back home reading this now, and I miss you so much already. I am so proud of the way you handled yourself with your head up throughout all this crap, and I hope you give em’ hell from the States. I love you and miss you). Rebecca and I were feeling pretty down after seeing her leave so we headed to my house to watch Sex and the City, season 6.

Guess who was there, my yellow hat disco date! He was working with my host brother on some old pickup in the yard. After a while I had to have supper with him, and then once again he invited me to the discotecha. He was in work clothes though so he had to go home and change and then was to come back for me at 8. Unfortunately the disco got cancelled, so no date for me. I went home to watch more DVDS and had the absolute coldest night since I have been here. There is no heat at my house and my heater is up in Talas, waiting for me. As I write this now, the power is out. I could not get warm no matter what I did. A horrible night.

On Sunday though we got up early and headed into Bishkek. Laurie, Rebecca and I decided to go the giant bazaar, which is seriously bigger than any mall I have ever been to, except its more like tin stalls set up in thin rows, full of random items. If you don’t move fast enough, you get squished into the crazy Russian woman behind you, pulling your hair. I hate the bazaar, but it is really the only place to buy things. We were on a mission for a winter coat for Laurie and a dress coat for me. No luck. We went to ever section of that massive bazaar and neither of us could find a coat that would fit us right. Kyrgyz women are no bigger than 100 pounds and barely five feet two inches tall. All the sleeves were short, and the coats that fit us were the ugliest things you have ever seen, I did buy a sweater with a matching scarf, a teaching skirt and about five pomagranites, which are my absolute favorite fruit in the entire world. (Despite the fact that I had never even had one until I got here).

After our horrible bazaar experience, we decided to go to the American Café, Café Metro. We didn’t really know where it was, but we took a taxi to the cross streets we knew were nearby. We got out of the cab and stood on a street corner, each of us staring off in different directions, trying to remember which way the café was. We asked a woman selling cigarettes and bananas on the street, but she wouldn’t help us. After about five minutes of deliberating, we heard a voice from above us say ‘Where are you trying to go?’ We all looked up, shocked to hear an American, and saw a man smoking a ciggerette on a balcony about five stories up. He was laughing and said he couldn’t watch us any longer. He pointed us in the right direction. Crazy…

At the café we ordered Pepsi Light. It is so wonderful to have Pepsi Light as it is on ice, and this is the only place in the country you can actually get ice. We ordered pizza, a club sandwich and a cheeseburger between the three of us, and we ate every bite. It was wonderful. After three months straight of rice, carrots, potatoes and sheep meat, it was a welcome meal. We even had dessert. Brownies. After that we were content and headed back to the village. But, it was one of the best days we have had in a while.

And then to top it off, I got a banya when I got home. Stuffed with American food, and clean. You can’t beat that.

Monday we had warden training. I am an assistant warden right now, and next year I will take over as warden. The warden is a volunteer who is in charge of a cluster of volunteers in all emergency situations. The warden has a special med kit in addition to our own med kits, as well as an emergency cell phone and a ton of responsibilities. If anyone is hurt the warden accompanies them at all times, if there is a situation that calls for consolidation, the warden is in charge of gathering all the volunteers and using their home for a consolidation point. And this is pretty serious, as last year there was a revolution in Kyrgyzstan, and all the volunteers were consolidated for a few days. Consolidation is the step before evacuating. Last year 13 countries were evacuated.

On Tuesday we spent the day wrapping up medical and safety sessions, before Thursday’s swearing in ceremony. Tomorrow we will officially be volunteers, and then Friday morning we head of to our separate sites, leaving one another behind.

This is where it all begins…

These are some photos, first of my new host mother and her grandson, also the three children that have been staying at my house in the village and a picture of us having a good time at Charlie's birthday.

Party Pics

November 21, 2005

I spent the day in bed today after a mishap with Tylenol p.m.

I woke up early this morning with quite an intense headache, and as the power was out, stumbled from my warm bed, through my freezing bedroom to my cabinet and took four Tylenol pms instead of IB Profen. At 6:30 in the morning. Needless to say I didn’t actually wake up until about 4:30 this afternoon, when my host mom came barging in, insisting that I get up for tea.

We had a pretty fun weekend in the village. First of all I was introduced to Sex and the City, which I cannot believe I have been missing out on all these years. Xouhoa’a friends sent her a box filled with DVD’s, hot chocolate, cheetos and candy. We watched the entire third season, and I am now a fan. I can’t wait to see the rest.

On Saturday after a morning of language lessons, I was invited to the Disco by the yellow hat guy. His name is Moshot. Don’t ask me, I just went with it. Anyway, he came over and invited me by asking my host mother if he could take me. She said I would go, as long as my brother went too. So I went to get dressed, as after all this was my first Kyrgyz arranged date.

We left for the dance at about 7 p.m. Of course we walked, as no one really has a car in the village. It was cold. And the boys kind of ignored me and walked in front of me. Language barriers make for a rough date. I tried to put those issues aside, as well as the whole bride-kidnapping issue jumping out in my mind. The disco tech was held in a basement room at the school. I walked in and of course didn’t have to pay, being an America. When we hung our coats up and walked in, I was quick to notice that I was the only female in the place. All older Kyrgyz boys and a few young ones that I had taught in the mix. Thank god for cell phones. I started texting all the girls and after a half hour they all showed up to rescue me. After that we had a lot of fun. Laurie and I danced with random guys to random old American pop songs. We all chimed in to Tony Braxton’s Unbreak my Heart. It was a blast. I didn’t actually ever get to dance with the yellow hat guy, whom by the way has finally moved on from the yellow hat, only to be replaced with a more winterish one, but he didn’t seem to mind. He stayed nearby and visited with friends home for the weekend from the University. The highlight of the evening seriously had to be when some 17-year-old tried to grope me in the stairwell and my host-brother and my date took him outside. Don’t know what went on, but the kid never came back, and the boys didn’t leave my side again for the rest of night. It was nice to have them looking out for me. They both walked me home, and that was that. A pleasant evening.

On Sunday I got up early to do laundry, but no one else was awake, so I had to resort to watching more Sex and the City episodes on my computer and then got a phone call from home. After about 10, my family got up and I was able to do laundry. Once again I had a lot, and took up the whole line. After laundry I washed my hair and got ready for Charlie’s birthday party in Ivanafka, a Russian village with more volunteers. Laurie and Rebecca showed up and we all took turns using my propane curling iron to get dolled up. We took a cab into the other village and had a blast. About 35 other volunteers came to the bar and we had a Russian cake and lots of beer. It was a lot of fun.

And that leaves me where I am today, just waking up from a deep sleep, ready to start my day, except its dark all ready and 6:30 p.m. Damn that Tylenol pm.


November 22, 2005

I got my first of two Christmas packages today, and to my dismay it was broken into. I tried to mentally prepare myself for this a head of time, but nothing really helps when you open a package and find pieces of wrapping paper and ribbons not attached to anything floating around in a box. The good news is, I figured out what belonged with each piece of wrapping paper, and I taped all of the gifts back up and sealed them for Christmas. The stocking appeared to be in tact as though, as it was full, so I don’t think anything was missing. It just makes Christmas not so fun, when you have a slight preview of what you are getting! Oh well, two of the gifts were still in tact, so no giveaways there, as well as the stuff in the stocking. So thanks mom. And the country Christmas CDS are just what I needed… but just so you know, inside of one of them is really George Strait’s Christmas CD, so when you open that case at home, maybe you’ll find Country Christmas? I probably mixed them up last year… sorry. Hopefully the second box comes as well, as I know that my photo album is in it, and I would hate to lose that. But I think it made it, and that stocking is absolutely wonderful, thanks mom and dad, I am excited for Christmas all ready!!!

Anyway all mail from now on must be sent to this address:

Elizabeth Dalessio
47 Jzerskinskya Street
Kyzyl Aydr Village
Kaara Buura Rayon
Talas Oblast 722700
Kyrgyzstan

Apparently the mail in Talas is wonderful, packages always get there, quickly and in tact too. Don’t mention Peace Corps on the packages anywhere. Printed labels are more reliable as well. Xouhoa had a package sent to here with the label written in font that looked like it was dripping in blood. That didn’t get touched. Keep on duck taping them up… They got into my mother’s last one, apparently not enough tape. They have never seen duck tape here either, so let’s try that now…. Maybe it will be more affective. Could someone send me a new AP style book? That’s Associated Press, for journalists, mind you, I feel like my journalistic style is slipping… (Like should I have used affective or effective in that last sentence)? Yikes!

Today was our final day of technical training. Tomorrow we have medical and safety sessions and then on Friday we have our Language Proficiency Test. Thursday is Thanksgiving, and we decided to go into Tokmok to call home and then have a nice afternoon meal at the fancy restaurant there. They have a version of pizza. It has like a weird sour cream/ cream cheese layer and then a sort of cheese and ketchup on top of that. What can you do? It’s the closest thing to pizza I have seen in months. And the crust is actually pretty good. They also have Coke products. No diet though. You can only get diet coke in Bishkek. And actually in Bishkek its only Pepsi light that you can get. Strange. Too bad we don’t have access to the military’s PX stores…

Anyway tonight I am sitting here listening to Jingle Bells on my Christmas snow globe type thing that my family sent from home… Happy Thanksgiving!

In Memory...

WELCOME TO KYRGYZSTAN

This picture symbolizes Kyrgyzstan totally. Two toddlers baby-sitting an 8 month old child outside in front of their home. THe second picture is of some mountains in Talas, taken from the car window.

Some new pics

This is a party at my house, Rebecca and I are in the back, where the honored guests sit.

Another week, another adventure

Site Visit November 8-13

We got to Bishkek at 10 in the morning and the Issucle Hotel had never looked so good. We met in Tokmok, at our hubsite where a giant tour bus was waiting to take us to meet our counterparts and directors. At the hotel we were assigned rooms and were given 10 minutes before sessions started, so the showering had to wait. Rebecca and I were assigned to the fourth floor of the hotel (there is a picture below) and we got the ultimate suite. Instead of a soviet style room with a squat toilet and two tiny beds with one wool blanket each, we got a master suite. Our room was four times as big as the last time we stayed at the hotel. We had a balcony overlooking the parking lot, a loveseat, one queen sized bed, a TELEVISION with get this CNN and some channel that broadcasted MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL!!! Live even, except it is Tuesday Morning Football here, but hey I watched the Patriots play the Colts and it was great. Our room had a bathroom with a real toilet and a tub with a hand held shower, so we had absolutely no complaints, and were happy to share a bed, as it meant a much more magnificent room! We had our first session of the day with Marat, our safety and security coordinator. It turned out to be a lesson in self-defense, which was kind of interesting. After that we were matched up with our counterparts. Our counterparts consist of people who live in our villages that speak some English and will help us with anything we might encounter over the next year. They are there to help us and translate, etc. My counterpart though was not there, as she is ill and has been in the hospital for the past two months. She is the English teacher at the school that I work at, so the students have not had English this year. In her place, I had a woman named Chunara who teaches German and speaks a little English. She is acting as my counterpart until the real one is better.

We spent the afternoon working with counterparts, doing introductions and setting goals for our sites. After that we were free to enjoy ourselves. Unfortunately, I got my first bad migraine while we were there, and spent the night in bed at the hotel.

IN the morning Chunara showed up at my hotel room door at 7:30, all though we had agreed to meet in the lobby at 8:15. I was still recovering from my amazing ‘hot’ shower and wasn’t quite ready. After I hurried to put socks and shoes on and throw my hair in a braid, we attempted to bring my luggage to the lobby. At this hotel the elevators only hold two people, so it is quite a struggle. With my heater and five thousand bags in tow, we got in a taxi and headed to Talas. Just me and a German teacher who speaks little English.

We left the hotel at 9 AM and got to the bus station to catch a marchrutka. The easiest way to get to Talas is through Kazakstan, but right now they aren’t allowing Americans, so we headed through the mountains. After waiting for three hours to get a full marchrutka load, we finally left the station. In a minivan turned marchrutka. I had to hold my giant backpack at my feet, so was forced to sit sideways the entire trip. Thank god for my ipod. After three hours of swerving, pot holes, dirt roads, cows, sheep, donkey carts, horses, snow, rocks, avalanches, switchbacks, river crossings, bouncing up and down, hitting my head on the window and the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen, we got to the top of the first mountain range. From there we went through the mountains, And I mean through. We literally took a tunnel through the mountains. What an experience. Not necessarily an exciting one at that either. You cannot see ahead of you very far in the tunnel and cars just pass at random from both directions. No one follows any sort of traffic laws. In fact there are no such thing. At the other side of the tunnel we headed down the mountain, another petrifying experience. No one slows down for the switchbacks, they just fly around them and honk the horn a lot. When we got off the mountains, I found myself in a valley surrounded by mountains. We stopped at a one-room café for lunch and then were on the road again. In the marchrutka a man sat behind me who loved to sing to Kyrgyz/Russian music. He kept pulling my headphones from my ears and telling me that I should listen to the Kyrgyz music. After another six hours or so we got to the bus station in Talas City. Normally the ride should take about five hours. I have no idea what made ours so slow. From Talas City we have to either catch a bus or taxi another hour, into Kyzyl-Azyl, my village. We stood outside until after 8 pm in the freezing cold bus station trying to flag down a taxi. After a couple hours we were able to take a small bus into the village, about an hour ride. From there I took a taxi to my new address, which I have posted above this entry. Mail in Talas is much better and I shouldn’t have to worry about it at all.

My new house is on a hill on the main street in town. We arrived very late and after about 10 minutes of banging on the gate and ringing the buzzer, my host mother appeared. She is a 60 year old Kyrgyz woman, and I have posted a picture of her as well. She has two sons and a daughter. Her oldest son works in Bishkek as the English translator for the President of the country. Pretty important job.

My room is upstairs, yes there is an upstairs to my house… It is much smaller than the room I have now, but it is cozy and easier to heat. I also have a CD player in my room, which was a huge surprise. There is a TV room upstairs as well, but I haven’t ventured to see what Russian channels we pick up yet.

It was so late that I was pretty tired and was ready to crash, but Eric, another volunteer in the village showed up to greet me, so that was great. He is a K-12, meaning he has been here for a year, and he works at the Manas School. There are three public schools in the village and one private licium where Nicole, another K-12 volunteer works. Her school has indoor plumbing and internet. Pretty nice. Anyway we had tea and then Eric promised to show me around more on Friday and help me set up a bank account.

My new house has running water, another bonus, but it does get pretty cold so I wonder if it will freeze up in the winter? Who knows.

On Thursday I got to sleep in. I have to use my sleeping bag and then blankets on top of that in order to stay warm, but I think that was just because I didn’t have my heater on all day, and the room was cold. My new Apa (mom) and I walked about 50 yards in the morning to the new school, where I met the Director. (The director here is the principal). She is a really nice Kyrgyz woman who speaks a lot of Russian. I was able to introduce myself and tell her I liked my room and the family. I mentioned that I didn’t have a lock on my door and she said she would send someone over as soon as possible. I got a short tour of the Lenin School, and it is massive, very Russian-style, meaning its an old soviet building with brick walls and no heat, water or indoor plumbing. My classroom is small, but has potential. It is very bare and the chalkboard looks like it is from 1943, but I can work with it.

After that I was given a tour of the town, shown the bank, post office, etc. Then I was on my own.

I went back to my new house, which is easy enough to find, as it is on the only hill in town, and on the main street. The power was out though, so not much to do but read. Eric and Nicole both came over for dinner, which was great. Both speak Kyrgyz fluently, and were a big help in getting to know my new apa.

On Friday, Eric and I spent hours walking around the village. We had a pretty unlucky day. First we went by all four schools so I could be familiar with them. It was raining pretty steadily the whole time, and my jeans were pretty soaked by a half hour into our tour. After that we went to the bank to open an account. Unfortunately it was a pentioner day. This means that everyone and their dogs, cats, horses and sheep are in line to get their checks from the government. The bank woman told us to come back in the afternoon, thus canceling our afternoon plans to go into the city to use the Internet. So we tried the village Internet, but it wasn’t working. After that we went to the café for a beer, and I met a few men who speak English really well. There is a company in the village that is sponsored by a Swiss corporation that loans money to farmers trying to settle property rights. All the workers speak English. The men actually picked up our tab too.

After about an hour at the café we noticed that the women from the bank had come in for a late lunch, meaning no one was working at the bank. They proceed to start drinking, so we knew we wouldn’t be hitting the bank anytime soon. We had lunch and then walked around in the rain a little more and then followed the women back to the bank to open an account. It was funny, they couldn’t break a 500 som bill for me at the bank. Welcome to Kyrgyzstan… I tell myself over and over. Especially as when I got home, yep, you guessed no electricity again.

I spent the night wrapped in my sleeping bag with a book and a flashlight.

In the morning Eric and I walked through the live animal bazaar in the village and then caught a taxi to Talas City.

A perfect example of what I can accomplish here: We stood waiting to catch a taxi, as all marchrutkas were on strike because of the price of beans, and the driver spoke very clear English. He told us that A Peace Corps volunteer at the University in Bishkek taught him to speak English in 1997. We really can make a difference here, and we are all tied together one way or another.

In Talas the Internet didn’t work, so it was an unsuccessful trip, but I did get to meet up with Chyrstal and Lisa. We all had lunch and then I headed back to the village (about an hour ride) to say good-bye and get ready for the return trip.

In the morning after a gloomy phone call from the states, (My Daddy), I headed into Talas alone, feeling pretty upset from the news he had shared. I didn’t bother to barter a cab fare, didn’t care, just wanted to get there to be surrounded by friends. In Talas I met up with eight other volunteers and we all loaded into a van to get back to Tokmok. By the way, there was a lot of snow on the ground. About an hour into the trip back we hit massive snow, a one-lane road and lots of accidents. The driver didn’t seem phased though, and he headed up that mountain range like a bat out of hell. We got to the top clutching each other and our possessions, and breathed a huge sigh of relief when we made it through the tunnel, and down the other side of the range. We got into Bishkek and then into Tokmok in about six hours.

My puppy was sure excited to see me. Rebecca came straight over when she heard I was back, and we reminisced out trips and then passed out, exhausted. Language lessons started back up at 8 AM on Monday morning. We went into Tokmok in the afternoon to do some emailing and to get our hair washed, and of course when I got home I had a banya waiting. And six new puppies, as our other dog has apparently been pregnant the whole time I have been here.

And here comes a wave of bad news….

First, my beautiful puppy, Tex, gone. No one saw him, no one found him on the road or anything, nothing. Just gone. I searched this village up and down, asked neighbors, looked in manholes, everything. Gone.

Second, on Thursday morning here, Wednesday evening in the U.S. my grandma passed away at the age of 82. I hope everyone at home is hanging in there, it is hard to be so far away when everyone is grieving, but I hope you all know that I am right there with you.

November 1-7 Happy October Socialists’ Revolution Day

This week was such a busy week that I actually combined it all into one journal entry and today is another holiday. Wednesday was the big day for everyone. Site announcements. The one thing that pretty much everyone has been looking forward to since we got here. We had our regularly scheduled hub day, in which we suffered more shots, and anticipation of announcements later on in the day. At 3:30 we all gathered around outside of the building for first a group photo, and then to receive an envelope. Once all the envelopes were passed out we all opened them at once to read about our permanent sites. After that, we found our village on a giant, human sized map, and stood on the spot to see where everyone else was in relation to your own spot.

I’m off to Talas. Don’t really know much to say about it. I hear it is nice there. Katie is joining me and so is Chrystal, Michaela, Alex, Lisa, Amy, Jessica, Chris and Melinda. We are leaving tomorrow, the 8th, from Bishkek to go and meet our directors and counterparts, and visit our schools. My school is called the Lenin Secondary School. My new village is Kyzyl-Adry and is in the Kara-Buura rayon in the Talas Oblast. The information that I have gotten so far is that there are 1001 students, 2 English teachers, 51 other teachers and the city has a public banya, a post office, a hospital, a market and a bank. Did I just describe my village as a city? Ha, what was I thinking? The village is said to have around 5,000 people in it and surrounding. The population is very mixed: Kyrgyz and Russian. It is an agricultural area, (maybe like the rolling hills of the Palouse…) and people grow sugar beets, corn and wheat. It is 360 kilometers from the capital city and one hour from Talas City. The director’s name is Uulbolsun.

I have heard that the area is absolutely gorgeous, in a valley between two incredible mountain ranges. There is said to be some skiing up there somewhere, but I don’t know if I trust the ‘ski lifts.’ It reminds me of Fear Factor: Kyrgyzstan. I heard that there is a Frisbee golf course in my village, thanks to another volunteer. Never played, but around here beggars can’t be choosers, so I’ll learn.

Rebecca is headed to Naren, so of course I am disappointed. We will be at least 6 hours from one another, but plan to meet at least once a month in Bishkek. Xouhoa and Christabelle are headed to the lake, while Laurie is going way down south to Jalalabaad and Glenn and Linda to Osh. That rounds out the village. So everyone is pretty excited.

After we had the shock of site announcements, we got a pleasant surprise: mail. One of the drivers brought all of the mail and it was like Christmas in November. Insane, is how I would describe it. His car was filled to the top with packages, and the front seat was filled with post cards and letters. There must have been 50 packages and 200 letters. Of course I got two, as I have a wonderful family. First I got a smaller manila with scarves and cute Halloween stuff and then my winter box with a winter coat, fleece, hat, gloves, scarf, socks, underwear, trail mix, contact solution, Kleenex, and more. It was wonderful. Everyone is so impressed mom with your ability to send a package so well organized. Bad news though. Poor Rebecca. Her older brother put together a package for her and she received it, clearly broken into. All that was inside was a bag of twizzlers, some newspapers and a Russian bible. I don’t think her brother sent her the Russian bible. Everything was stolen from the package except for the candy. So here I stress again, packages have to be taped to the extreme and than wrapped and taped again and the label should be typed. Otherwise this is what happens. Out of our nearly 60 packages, four were destroyed.

The day after the announcements is a Kyrgyz holiday. Actually it is a Muslim holiday: Ramadan. To celebrate one must be a guest a seven different people’s houses or they will have bad luck the following year. After language lessons we all separated to spend the holiday with our host families. The moment I walked through the door my host mother told me to put on a skirt and a hat, and then we were off. Just the two of us, as the men and women don’t celebrate together. We went to a neighbor’s house and sat down for tea and bread and all sorts of Kyrgyz goods that I don’t really like and then we omened and headed to the next house, this time the women from the previous house joining us. That was the routine. At each house we hit we added more women. And house-by-house the cups of tea got smaller as I was literally forcing it down my throat. You have to at least have a cup of tea and a piece of bread at each place. By the 10th house I was pretty much exhausted. But thankfully, the tenth house was my own, and we had pears. No one else had any fruit. So that was nice. By this time we had about 30 women with us, and I posted or will post a picture of the group. Rebecca joined us too. This was her first stop, and she was determined to get to seven houses as well. So you guessed it. My host mom insisted that I not let her travel around the village alone on a holiday, so off we went. Me tired and not hungry, and Rebecca laughing at me. We went to Christabelle’s first, and even though she wasn’t there, we still sat and had tea and snacks and then were on our way again. (Every house has a full table with an amazing spread set out all day, as you never know when or who or how many people might show up at any time). In our village there is a giant house that we always stare at as we go by. It has a satellite dish and an indoor garage and gated patio and everything. We always try to spy but never see anyone. As we walked by on our way to Laurie’s I was admiring the November roses in the garden in front and told Rebecca it would be great if we happened to get an invitation as we walked by. We slowed our pace down and looked pretty, and sure enough a big bossy woman cam running out onto the road and forced us inside. We were introducing ourselves to her and couldn’t quite understand her name. She started saying ‘Besh som’ which means 5 som. We had no idea what was going on, so we thought she wanted us to give her 5 som. We were appalled that the biggest and richest house was asking us for money on a holiday, but were anxious to see the inside of the house. I didn’t have my purse, and Rebecca and I dug through our pockets for money in a panic. That’s when we realized she was trying to tell us that her name is the same name of the woman on the 5 som bill. We were pretty embarrassed. Communication barriers… they get you every time.

The house was amazing for Kyrgyzstan. It had wood paneling and floors and giant pieces of artwork. It was even warm inside. The table was set with all sorts of fruit and Rebecca and I stayed for an hour, looking at family photo albums and chatting with our hostess. She was from the city and came to stay with her son for the holiday. The house had tons of rooms and we weren’t allowed to see one side of the house, for unknown reason, during our tour. Afterward she fixed us up with goody bags of fruit and sent us on our way. I tried to get Rebecca to ask to use the toilet, just to find out if they had real plumbing but we were too chicken. (We later found out that no one in our village has indoor plumbing so it didn’t matter).

By the way, Ramadan means no drinking, so that’s another plus to the holiday. I couldn’t imagine going house to house if we had to drink more than tea.

We hit Laurie’s house and then Chrystal’s and Rebecca got her seven houses in just before dark. I had 14. I was so tired and full of tea that I ran, seriously ran, all the way home from Laurie’s on the other side of town, and passed out. It was like Thanksgiving, but with lots of tea and no football or turkey. Or pumpkin pie, or mashed potatoes. See where I’m going with this? I miss a lot of things here.

This weekend we spent the time trying to relax and recover from all the tea. The kids are still out on fall break, so two boys have been staying at my house, and we amuse each other. They feed the puppy when I am gone, and I teach them English when I have time. They brought me a gift, an Elvis CD. I have no idea where they got it. ON Friday we all went into Tokmok (all the girls) to try and do some interneting, but it seemed like everyone had made it a long weekend, and nothing was open. Saturday Rebecca and I went back into Tokmok and had a lot of fun. We met a Canadian man by chance, as we were walking down the street and heard early 90’s American music that we found ourselves singing along with. When the car stopped a man got out and laughed at us, and Rebecca yelled hey we’re Americans… he laughed some more, and we ended up chatting with him for a while. He lives here with his Kyrgyz wife. She was the most beautiful Kyrgyz woman I have seen so far.

We went to a local tavern to wait for internet time, as from 3-4 everything shuts down for a break. Wouldn’t you know it, we found eight other volunteers doing the same thing. After that we finally got to the Internet, and we brought out beer with us. Something hard to get used to. Beer is like water, you take it wherever you want and drink it whenever you want. I used my Internet time wisely. Caught up with All My Children, Desperate Housewives and my local newspaper.

On Sunday I did laundry and gave Tex his first bath. He has taken to sleeping in the ashes after we have a fire and was a mess. I scrubbed him in a bucket and then blow-dried him all fluffy. He was so scared that I let him sleep in my room all day to recover. I will post more pictures.

I taught the boys how to play baseball in the afternoon. I didn’t realize that besides on TV they had never even seen a baseball glove. I brought two right handers, but I guess if you have never played before it doesn’t matter is you are left or right handed. They caught on pretty well, but after the younger one took a throw off of his knee, we stopped playing. I have pictures too. On Sunday night I went to another party at Rebecca’s house. This time they were celebrating her host sister’s birth, even though it was in August. Rebecca called me at 10 in the morning and said she got up and found more than 40 bottles of vodka on the kitchen floor, all for the party. I’ll just say it was a good time, and I slept well last night.

So I am all packed as we take half of our stuff down to our site now, so we won’t have to carry it all at once. I decided to take any article of clothing that I haven’t touched so far here. I have a lot. I am taking a giant suitcase full, my sleeping bag, my heater, 40 books and my huge backpack too. This way next time should be an easier trip, as will have to make it alone and this time I have help. Don’t really know how I would get by if I had to do all this at once.

So off we go in the morning. All I am looking forward to is tomorrow’s hotel where there is a shower with my name on it. I’m going to take two. Or maybe three.

Azamat...

This is Azamat, my little host-nephew... We have a love/hate relationship (like most men in my life), but he likes my sunglasses. The little girl who looks like a boy is his sister, Inesges or something like it. She is the most spoiled little brat ever.

And she tries to steal my dinosaur

This is the hotel we are staying at periodically...

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I keep getting messages from people, but no one leaves their name!!!! I don't know who they are from, so at least leave your intials!!!!