Kyrgyz Kindness

So far the Kyrgyz people have treated me with such kindness. My training host mother is a prime example and it's hard to say how much I've been able to give back. I know that I've definitely listened to her more than most of her family. Unfortunately, many of those one-sided conversations involved me feigning understanding (I am way too good at this!). But the night before I would be leaving her house to move to the south, we really had a nice heart-to-heart. We talked about life and love and how difficult it is to make decisions that affect other people.

My language skills are slowly improving to the point that I can address more complex topics, but I think this conversation was more special than that. After living with her everyday for the past 11 weeks, she and I have developed our own communication methods. She knows when to gesture to bring the point across and what vocabulary I am most familiar with. Vice versely, she can understand my misnomers and poorly constructed sentences more than anyone. The heart-to-heart conversation made it more difficult to say goodbye. She shed some tears as we parted ways on Wednesday, and for me, reflecting back on it right now evokes a similar emotion.

I just can't get over how human beings overcome so many obstacles to communicate with one another. It's fascinating and inspiring. I'm also at that point where I wonder: Did I really need another person to miss? I have plenty on the other side of the planet!

Kind marshrutka drivers, kind local children, and many more kind hearted community members have given me a warm impression of this country. Everything about this country is so different than I expected, but I somehow feel exactly like I expected I would.