9 hour hike!!!

I went on hike last weekend. The peak I hiked is called, “Ala Mushuk” which means Spotted Cat. I guess it looks like a cat from the air. Some people tried to show me the part of the cat from the ground and I didn’t see it, but oh well. All I know is that it took the five of us nine hours to do the whole hike. That included stopping for at least 20-30 minutes at the top to let a rain storm to pass and then we hiked down (slid on my butt) on wet ground. It was such a beautiful hike though and it was amazing to see Naryn City from way up high. I was with four boys. For most of the hike I was stay with them until the second half of the end when we kind of lost our original path and had to go down in the trees and it felt like the ground was at a 35-45 degree angle. When we got back I was s exhausted, but at least I can now say that I have hiked the spotted cat. The worst part was though, was that I lost my camera up there. So, I won’t be getting many pictures for a while. (I got these pictures from a friend)

This is the view of Naryn City


This is four of the five of us waiting for the rain to go away so we could hike down. It was so cold and wet! Great memories!

Language keeps on going. I am trying to laugh at everything because it is making the process so much less stressful. Yesterday I was at a friend’s house for dinner and I was talking to her host father. He told me that I understand less than my friend Kris does and then I had to translate to her what he said. Ha… it’s all on perspective on how much language you know. A week ago I talked to a local guy who works at the restaurant we go to about once a week and we talked only in Kyrgyz for almost 20 minutes and I only had to ask him to repeat a couple times. I do feel a big difference in my understanding, but my ability to respond is not so great. This winter is really going to be good for my language because it will be so cold and snowy out that I will want to spend all my time in my house with my family. Especially since it will be so difficult to travel.
I am really starting to make some great friends and we are making plans to do some traveling. This summer I will be going to the lake. Actually in about two weeks I will be going there because we are going to be doing a journalism camp. It will be good to see other parts of the country. After I go there there is only one more oblast that I haven’t gone to (that we are allowed to go to at this time… we can’t go to the south because of the instability there).
This country is full of surprises. I don’t know if it is because I just don’t understand what is going most of the time and people talk about things and I just don’t hear it or people and things really just show up and disappear without any notice. I have a feeling it’s the second one. One really good surprise happened today. Usually my family does banya (how we bathe) on Saturdays and it can be anywhere from 2-3 weeks between them. Well today is Friday and I came home from being away for a week and we were having banya. Best surprise ever since it has been about over a week since I washed my hair and it was starting to smell bad and look like it was permanently wet. Another great surprise was when I came home rather than just my host mom and dad there was my host brother and his wife and one of my host sisters and her two daughters (one of which I had never met). They have the same birthday and it is today, so that is why everyone was here. It is hard when you want to be alone and there is a house full of people, but it was ok. I played some soccer with the girls and I watched them try to play “Counter Strike.” It totally brought me back to my sophomore year in college and watching the boys on the floor above me play. It’s amazing how small the world is and how many things here are the same as in America.