Photos from Swearing-In

I'm catching up on all the old photos from training, but I promise some new ones soon. I've been having a good time this summer...though business is slowest at this time. Understandably so...we've definitely broken 100 degrees already and it's only getting hotter. The work/projects will pick up again in September, so I'm not worried.

I taught my host family about California's official sport (no, not surfing). They think I am a Frisbee genius even though they think it's just a giant plate that they've seen dogs catch in their mouths in the movies.

I'm eating lots of delicious local fruits and vegetables. Most American agriculture, whether imported or not, seems to be engineered for durability and transit. Since the transit of produce is so limited here (we get dozens of varieties that people living only a few hours north never have access to) freshness and flavor are paramount. As an admirer of fine produce, I love this quirk.

Enough about produce, here's photos from the day we became official Peace Corps Volunteers:

The Health Promotion group after our Swearing-In Ceremony.


My training village group after Swearing-In, with our wonderful teacher Albina.

Going Away Party in Dmitrievka

All the host families of Dmitrievka.


More of the same. Such a welcoming community...I miss them.

Misc PST photos

Giant monument/park dedicated to the epic hero Manas. This is right behind the hotel we often stay at and is the coolest park in Kyrgyzstan.


We used a giant chalk map of Kyrgyzstan to announce where we would be sent. I love maps.


Sometimes Peace Corps Volunteers take bored photos of themselves. And by sometimes, I mean very often.

Mount Suleiman in the News

Well, probably not international news, but nonetheless. Osh's central mountain was chosen by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.

“Now the Suleiman Too Sacred Mountain will receive the world recognition under the aegis of the international organization. Tourists from all parts of the world will visit the mountain and the flowof investments will rise. Besides, UNESCO will allocate funds annually for maintenance and preservation of cultural and historical values of the Sulaiman Too,” Osh mayor Melisbek Myrzakmatov said.

Osh City Tour

Mount Suleiman lies in the center of the city. Atop sits a previous residence of a babur, which has been reconstructed and remains a sacred place to Muslims.


The center of the old bazaar in Osh has a peace symbol that caught my eye. This bazaar is supposed to be the oldest open-air bazaar in Central Asia. It's so large that I haven't even begun to see the half of it.


We have a nice park running alongside the river. It's defintely a city park with lots of attractions and food stands. But it's still a nice relief from the hustle and bustle of the city's roads.

Hiking in Issyk Ata

Right before training ended, we took a day trip into the mountains just South of Bishkek to a resort town called Issyk Ata. We didn't partake in any of the resort's ammenities, but instead chose to hike up though hills.


Traditional Kyrgyz yurts used a temporary residence for bringing livestock to the mountains during the summer.


Sasha and I hiking in Issyk Ata.


Beautiful grazing horses in the mountains. I know we speculated before I left for Kyrgyzstan, what would Kyrgyz horses look like?

Osh Site Visit

I visited my site back in May to meet with my organization and my new host family. It was such a pleasant trip that I did not want to return to training. Osh is an awesome city.

My new host mother Gavhar, sister Nigora, and I in front of our house.


My new host parents, Gavhar and Kadir.


My new host brother Aibek was visiting from the army and we all wanted to take pictures together. The younger brother is named Atabek.


We went rollerblading at the square, where little Asel had the hardest time!


Nigora and my new friends Umut and Asel.

Celebrating Easter with the Family

Back in my training village, we celebrated Russian Orthodox Easter as a family. I cannot remember whether or not I explained this tradition already, but I want to show the pictures.

An important part of the day was visiting the grave sites of those family members who cannot be present physically to celebrate with us. Many families brough picnics and set up tables next to the grave stones. Everyone brings flowers, candies, and gifts to lay on the graves. It was a festive environment, yet still quite sad.

Then we had guests over and ate a delicious lunch at the outside table. All of the guests came bearing gifts and colored eggs. It's as if the eggs are colored only to present to other families. So, by the end of the day, we had many colored eggs, but none of which we dyed ourselves.

Mama Luba and Veka as they prepare to dye the eggs using old panty hose. The dye is made from the skins of red onions and the designs are made using weeds/leaves from the garden.


Sasha and I - displaying the beautiful eggs that we helped dye.

Keepin busy in spite of the heat...

My first week at work went really well. I still anticipate a long adjustment period before I really get my hands dirty. Yesterday I did get to tag along on some outreach work, which was really interesting. The whole office participated in a training on Friday on Outreach Work and Consultation on HIV. It was challenging for me linguistically, but I enjoyed connecting with my coworkers. Now I'm pouring most of my time into a grant that has a quickly approaching deadline. I don't want to jinx it, so I'll tell more about it if I get it.

But don't worry! There's fun to be had. Our city has several cool beer gardens, excellent ice cream, and a gigantic public pool. Long story short, this summer is starting off nicely.

Orphanages

Several orphanages hosted us during the first few months for various trainings. We are greatly indebted to them for their hospitality. Luckily, we had lots of time to play!


Teaching and playing with the children from the Dmitrievka orphanage.


More Dmitievka orphanage fun.


Carnival games and such at Kirgshelk orphanage.


Letting the orphans get hold of the facepaint was one of the funniest mistakes of training.

Way Off Topic

I know this is off topic, but I feel out of the loop as to what is cool right now in America. Let me know what you're enjoying right now, here's the dish on my current tastes:

When it was still gloomy this Spring I was diggin Bon Iver's latest EP, specifically the title track Blood Bank. Check it out. But now that it's sunny and hot, hot, hot in Osh, I'm liking the poppy stuff that you can hear in every bar/restaurant in town. Most of all they love Akon (crazy, I know). I will admit he has some catchy tunes.

Also, speaking summer, please tell me that you've checked out Summer Heights High. It's a hilarious mockumentary orignally aired on Australian TV. It makes me laugh after I've had a long day in Kyrgyzstan.

First Host Family

I had to say goodbye to my great host family in my northern Kyrgyzstani village. I'm excited to call the South my home now, but I wanted to share some pics from the family that I will miss.


My adorable host neices, Nastia and Veka, playing with our newest baby kitten. Spring in the village means lots of babies (chickens, lambs, bunnies, and puppies too).


Mama Luba and I in her garden. PC made us pose for this one, she's not fond of being photographed so I have to thank them for making her.


Nastia and Veka again, this time at our Going Away party.


Mama Maria gracefully hosted us for all of our language lessons, while Albina (the younger woman) taught us from the very beginning. We were certainly difficult to communicate with at the time, but they did their best! This photo is from Sasha's birthday party.

More from Culture Day

Luxembourg volunteers performing the ceremony of a Kyrgyz baby's first crib.



Young Kyrgyz kids tired after a long day of performances.



Bride and groom celebrating their "Russian Wedding."


All of the host families and participants of our village's cultural presentation. We were very proud.

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.

The big 2. 1.

I want to wish my very special brother a very happy birthday! I wish I could be there to celebrate his 21st birthday!

Know that somewhere on the other side of the globe, a table full of Russians, Kyrgyz, and Americans are saying a toast to congratulate you. No joke.

Now I can breath easily

Bam! 10 weeks into language training, I reached Intermediate-Mid on my Language Proficiency Interview. I feel so relieved to have reached the goal that I set for myself. I hit some sort of Russian plateau a few weeks ago, but I powered through.

Now we have but a few more days in our training villages, to say goodbye and to celebrate our accomplishments. We're throwing a party on Sunday for all the host families in my village. We're supposed to cook American dishes for them, but I skeptical as to how they'll taste. It's bittersweet to leave this village that has been so welcoming. I have promised to visit. The 'swearing-in' ceremony on this upcoming Wednesday is a big day. We will officially become Peace Corps Volunteers.

Culture Day - Russian Wedding

My training village presented a Russian Wedding along with a traditional Russian celebratory dish (Blini) on Culture Day. Every village got together with their host families and village members to create great performances from Kyrgyz, Russian or Turkish culture.

Site Placement - Osh Oblast

All of the new volunteers who will be working in Osh Oblast. We were super excited, and now that I've visited Osh, I can say that were rightfully so.

‘Different Strokes for Different Folks’

Exchanging ideas and culture is like my job right now. I find it incredibly fun and rewarding. Since my language skills are so limited, I spend much too much time speaking about food. One of the first phrases that my host mother imparted on me was instigated when she found out that I drink tea without sugar. We discussed why I might do this and she made all kinds of speculation. The conversation ended with a proverb (I think) that cannot be literally translated very well, but means ‘different strokes for different folks.’ На вкус и цвет – товарищей нет. I love this phrase and use it often. My host mother finds my use of it hilarious and I always enjoy getting a laugh. I would try to teach you all, but I don’t think my phonetic typing of the phrase would be very accurate.

On the subject of tastes and how they vary from culture to culture and from individual to individual, I started thinking of certain tastes that I’ve acquired over the years. Those who remember that far back knew me as a very picky little child. I have definitely come full circle and eat most anything now. But I wonder where and how I made the decisions to broaden or even to narrow my horizons. I have some silly examples in my head, but that’s because the silly occasions are more memorable. I distinctly remember the first time I realized that I hated roller coasters, my first taste of sushi, the first time I enjoyed tuna, and the great taste exposé of beer that I experienced in Germany. Using that example, whenever I meet people who dislike beer, I usually think to myself that the only reason is that they’ve never lived in Germany. I know this is a gross generalization, but I can’t help but associate that location and that culture with the broadening of this particular taste in me.

This has me wondering what tastes of mine could be illuminated or developed here in Kyrgyzstan. My Russian host mother is training me to be more knowledgeable about flowers and, thus, more proactive about presenting them on all sorts of occasions. Also, I already find myself enjoying watching figure skating and musical performances much more than I ever thought I would. I am developing a new taste for chocolate butter. It’s not like Nutella or any other chocolate spread, it’s literally chocolate flavored butter. However, my absolute adoration of all potato dishes seems to be diminishing. Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes. I never thought I could get sick of them, but it is a possibility. On second thought, that’s impossible.

I’m sure others could comment on this topic more eloquently. Do you have a specific taste that you developed upon exposure to a new culture?

Vocabulary 101

Chai – It’s the everyday term here used (in all languages) to refer to tea. I’ve been given both black and green teas at various occasions, but my family prefers black tea, with tons of sugar. They find it strange that I refuse to put tea in my sugar. Luckily, this has facilitated a learning opportunity about our differences, plus, I’ve now learned how to say a variant of ‘Different strokes for different folks’ in Russian. It’s my first of many Russian proverbs.

Banya – It’s by far the best time(s) of the week. For most of the families in these rural communities who lack indoor plumbing, bathing can be a luxury. We have a separate structure on the property, between the barn and the flower garden area, called the banya. It’s basically a sauna designed for bathing, although we do our laundry in it as well. The wood/coal burning stove is lit to heat the vat of hot water filled up in the corner of the sauna. The room becomes nice and cozy, hot, and when I bathe I can maneuver all kinds of buckets and bowls of hot or cold water to suit my bathing needs. I can see how this would be the only logical bathing method in harsh winter temperatures. Right now, it’s still, like I said, a luxurious experience.

Marshrutka – This is the primary mode of public transportation in the Chui Valley area (where I currently live) and I cannot really speak for other parts of the country where I think public transit is limited. It’s similar to a tall van, so passengers without a seat can stand in the aisles, but barely. The idea of personal space in a marshrutka is thrown out the window. And in my short time here so far, several marshrutka drivers have invited small groups of us to board the vehicle when it seems physically impossible for us to do so. He reassures us that lots of people are getting off at the next stop, as if this knowledge will allow us to defy the laws of physics. They are otherwise quite comfortable modes of transportation, in which elderly are ALWAYS given seats and change is passed back from the driver with utmost trust that no one will snatch some to short change his fellow rider.

Mayack – I’m not sure how widely used this Kyrgyz term is…it could very well be Peace Corps slang. Mayacking is when you need to talk to someone, but don’t have enough units on your cell phone. You call them and hang right up, which signals them to call you right back. Since no cell phone plans charge to receive calls here, it’s basically a collect call. Some Peace Corps staff encourage us to mayack them, so we don’t have to waste units when they have better cell phone plans. So, beware, I may mayack you. Just go with it.