My life as a volunteer

A fellow volunteer’s parent just came to visit her and it made me start to think about how normal my life has become. Everything they experienced was new and different to them. Being here for almost 4 months now has already changed me. Here is a list that I have created of things that I’ve noticed that have become normal to me:
• Using an outhouse as my regular toilet and not sitting down to go to the bathroom (I really thought that one was going to bother me a lot more)
• Drinking chi 5+ times a day… I realized that I miss it when I go to volunteer’s apartments who don’t live with a host family.
• Not having a clue what is going on about 90% of the time. Conversations are really hard to follow when they are speaking at a normal pace.
• Re-wearing the same clothes over and over again because it is not easy to hand wash your clothes (I have only washed my jeans once and that’s because I got sick on them).
• Dinner at 9 pm or later. The Kyrgyz people eat dinner really late.
• Being offered 20 sheep to marry someone’s brother/son…
• Having people show up and live with my family for a month or so and then leave for a month or so.
• Hearing strange reasons why I am or someone else is sick… someone just told me they were sick because they were just in hot Bishkek and then came back to Naryn where it’s cold (it’s about 70 here). Or sitting on the ground will make me sick.
• Or the opposite where something will make me strong and healthy… like eating sheep fat… pretty much anything I don’t like is something that will make me strong and healthy (that reminds me of when I was a kid and when I didn’t like something my dad told me it was the best part… thanks Dad). I get told everyday that I’m too skinny and I need to fatten up to be healthy during the cold winters here.
• Watching my little host niece drink out of the spoon that serves the milk for tea then puts it back in the bowl.
• N ever wearing seatbelts. It scares the crap out of me, but you can’t wear one when there isn’t one to wear.
• Knowing exactly where most of your food comes from (this one is a really awesome one!!).
• The best homemade bread… everyday. One of my favorite things since being in country is eating fresh hot bread and tea. It is amazing. That will make up for all the food I don’t like here.
• Waking up to chickens crowing, the calf mooing, and the baby horse naying out my bedroom window.
• Watching an American movie that has been dubbed in Russian. Luckily they are usually poorly dubbed and I can still hear a little English and can get the gist of what’s going on. ( I watched “Harry Potter” or “Gary Potter” as they call him in Russian with my host niece tonight)
These are just a few of the great experiences I have quite often here in Kyrgyzstan. I am so lucky to be able to experience all of this. There is good and there is bad, but I am learning to love it all because that’s the only way I can learn from it all!