Tash Rabat (stone structure)

One year in and I have so much to look forward to. I have begun to map out my last 14 months and see what I need to do when to accomplish everything I want to. Much of it will be done over the summer, and that’s good because that gives me things to do this summer. I am really excited to see what the next year brings me because this past year has brought me so much. Last night the new trainees arrived to country and we are all so excited for them to be here. It brings back so many memories that seem so long ago, but they were only a year ago. Makes me grateful that I don’t have to go through training again! Training was a really hard time for me, but now I am able to function in this foreign land, communicate with the locals, have friends who don’t speak English, and eat food that I will be happy to leave when PC is over.
My friend Heather, a volunteer who lives nearby had a friend come from America. They came to my village and I showed them around. We also went to Tash Rabat (stone structure). This is a stone structure that they can date back to the 10th century. They think that it was some sort of hotel for the travelers along the Silk Road. There are several rooms and dark tunnels in it. I went there last summer with some other volunteers, but it was cool to go in the winter/spring with snow still on the ground. One of the coolest parts of this place is since Kyrgyzstan and especially the At Bashy region (where I live) is one of the least researched places in the world there aren’t restrictions from go inside or on top of the structure so you can see it up close and personal. It’s really interesting to look at the construction and wonder and imagine how they built it. There are parts inside where there is still plaster on the walls and you can tell that designs were carved into them. So much history. Going there makes me really realize how young America is and how much happened all over the world before America even started to develop into the country that it is today.
Tash Rabat is at least an hour past the last village before China. There are still houses and families who live near the structure year round, but their houses are all alone. There is one house that has been build right near the structure and they are in charge of it. During the summer they set up yurts for tourist to stay in and they also have horse treks that people can go on. Since we went in the winter nothing was up, but they did have a camel and a wolf to take pictures with. We think they found the wolf as a puppy and just put a chain around its neck to keep it there. It is really sad. The camel wasn’t very happy either and kept trying to eat our hair. We were charged to take pictures with the animals as well as to go inside Tash Rabat. Well, Heather and I weren’t charged to go in because we are volunteers in this country but Diane had to pay 50som (a little more than a dollar) to go inside. It’s really nothing when you think about it, but 50som has become a lot of money to me. Especially when I can call America for 25 mins for that amount of money.
On our way home, our taxi driver suddenly stopped the car and started pointing out into a field. I felt like I was home with my dad pointing out a random bird or something. Well there were several prairie dogs out in the field running around. They were everywhere. I had never seen them here before. It was really cool.
The road that we have to take to get to Tash Rabat is really bad because right now it is being redone. It is the only road that goes from China to Bishkek (the capital) and they Chinese have made a deal with Kyrgyzstan where they will pave a new road and they can drive their trucks through it. It is a 3 year project and last summer was the first summer of it. Last summer they chewed up the whole road and then they are going to start paving. Well, when we were driving we passed a huge semi truck and it kicked up a large rock (larger than my fist) and it started bouncing toward our car. It hit the windshield and it cracked and spider-webbed out. Small shards of glass landed on Heather, who was in the front seat, and the driver. It was really scary. Luckily it didn’t go through the window because it would have hit him. This morning I saw him when I was walking around town and he told me that he will go to Bishkek tomorrow to get a replacement. He said it will cost 3500som ($75) to fix it. Sounds like nothing to us, but it is so much money to him. But as a said before at least no one got hurt! I wish I would have taken a picture.



I think there was some sort of underground system with this structure. I had heard at one point that they kept prisoners in these holes.



Tash Rabat



Diane (Heather's friend) and I are warming our hands over the imaginary fire under the dome inside the building.



This is our taxi driver with the camel after he tried to eat his hair. This is the taxi driver who always says hi to me. He is really great. His name is Zoo baike (you call any man older than you baike).



This is the wolf they found as a puppy. As you can tell we kept our distance.

My "finals" week

Sometimes it is just easier to give a rundown of my previous day or week because I feel it gives the best representation of my life here. This will be for the past week (the week before spring break where I should be giving exams so I can turn in grades).
Monday: It was a pretty normal day. My counterpart and I made a Jeopardy game (some things don’t change) for a study day before the tests. We gave it to both of my 11th grade classes and the 8th grade class. It was so great for the 11th grade classes because they were really into trying to answer correctly and they were really showing how much they learned. It was awesome. Then 8th grade came. I think this class is the bane of my existence. I want to help them and teach them, but they just want to mock us and do anything but sit quietly. Most classes will have one or two boys that are disruptive and many times they don’t show up to class. Well, every boy in this class is tentek (naughty) and that is about 10 boys that are disruptive and obnoxious and make teaching that class not fun. If the boys were not in the class it would be a lot of fun and they would learn so much more. But as it is now most of class is focused on trying to get the boys to stop hitting and throwing things.
Tuesday: We gave the test to the 8th grade class and they cheated on the whole thing. Cheating in the country is not something they look down upon nor do they think that it’s cheating. I went outside the classroom to give the oral part of the test and my counterpart stayed in the classroom to watch the students and make sure they didn’t cheat. Well every time I walked in the room to get another student the students were climbing over the desks and looking at each other’s papers. Well, there goes trying to prevent that. She told me which ones were cheating and we are going to make them take it over, but I wanted her to stop it when it started. At least I know that I’m needed here and there are things that I can work on. Then… I was supposed to have two different 9th grade classes after we gave that test. My counterpart then told me that the students were setting up for a first aid seminar for the next day and we couldn’t teach them.
Wednesday: First Aid seminar. No classes today so that means no test given to 11th grade and no study session to either of the 10 grade classes. I was given the job of taking pictures of the day as the students acted out various situations where first aid is needed and then recited text about first aid. They wanted to take my camera and take pictures with it and then give it back to me but I kindly offered to take them (because I already have horrible luck with cameras and I want to be the one to break it if it breaks).
Thursday: Second day of First Aid seminar. No classes again. My counterpart told me that we were going to have a party for Nooruz (a holiday on the 21st of March) and that I needed to make some food. Well, took that as it would be at 3pm that day. So I went home and made cookies and then showed up to school with them. No… the party is on Saturday. So, what did I do? Ate the cookies and I’m going to make something else for Saturday. This night that is what I had for dinner.
Friday: One student is in one of my 10th grade classes. One out of 16 students is there. That means no test review day. As for the other 10th grade class all of the students are there. We played Jeopardy and they did awesome. This is my favorite classes because all of the students are interested and fun to teach. I am able to teach most of the class in all English and they understand most of it. We have started doing a video club and they love watching all my American girlie movies that have subtitles. Next year I get to choose which classes I will teach and they are one of the few classes that I will keep. They make me happy! After this class we went to the teacher’s room to wait for the next class to start. Well, the teachers started talking about the teacher’s party that will be on Saturday and kept talking 15 minutes into the next class. This class (11th grade) we were going to give them their test but we couldn’t because there wasn’t enough time. I went to the class and there were only 6 of the 14 students so it would have been pointless anyway. I watched them play a card game and I never understood what they were doing.
Then, I went home because a man from Peace Corps HQ came to KG last week and is interviewing volunteers and staff about everything. They picked 19 volunteers at random and are interviewing them about their service, staff support, training… ect. The best part about that was he brought me Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and mini Kitkat bars. Awesome. Then I went to the post office and got a surprise package. There was cheez-it’s in it. And gum, and cookies, and soap, and bobbypins, and letters. It is a great package! Thanks Lauren. I’m still waiting for one more to come from my sister and I’m excited for that one too because it has some great food in it. And patches for my pants because all of my jeans have busted out on the inner thigh. See there is a reason why I have so many pants in America. It’s so my pants don’t bust out! (To all my students who read this and remember the time I ripped my jeans in class playing volleyball, that was an isolated incident).
I then met with an English teacher in my village. She teaches at a different school and is trying to get a volunteer for next year. We went to the café and ate lunch/dinner. And we had a lot of fun. I’m starting to get some local friends and meet with them more regularly. I’m helping her with her English and she is helping me with my Kyrgyz. It was a really great way to end my hectic and frustrating week.
My conclusion to this week is that if I get frustrated with it all I’m going to be frustrated all the time. After the first day of not teaching I told my counterpart that we were just going to give the tests after break and hopefully they will remember at least some of the information. My patients and tolerance has gotten a lot better over the past year. In 11 days I will have lived in Kyrgyzstan for one full year. Amazing. I’m so amazed with how much has become normal. Just under a year ago so many things were a struggle and now are just how I function every day. When I go home people are going to think I’m strange.
I’ve included some pictures of the first aid day.



An example of some students showing what to do in a first aid emergency.



This is my zowvich (assistant principal) with some students showing off a gas mask.



This is some students showing what to do in case of radiation exposure because there are a lot of radiation sites in Kyrgyzstan.

Sunshine!!

I have had the week I have needed for quite some time now! The sun has been shining, which is all I really needed, the snow is melting away (it makes it difficult to walk anywhere because all of the mud, but I’ll take it), my counterpart taught alone today (including wrote her own lessons) and I am seeing progress in how she is teaching, my host mom came home from Bishkek (I always miss her when she is gone), my improved diet is helping my digestive tract, and spring break is only a week away. I am finishing up writing a grant which is going to be great. I have so many other projects going on and they are all things that I enjoy so that is great. I’m just waiting for better food to start showing up at the bazaars. Oh, what I would do for a tomato and cucumber salad right now. But granola has been a godsend. And also food that my friends and family have sent me over the winter. I can’t imagine how bad it would have been without that. I was struggling as it was.
Today I spent a good hour or so (no one showed up to my English club that they begged me for) reading about Thailand and dreaming about what I’ll be doing next Dec/Jan. I just got a huge tax return too and so I’m thinking maybe another trip will be in order! Or I could save the money and have it for when I finish PC so I have something to start off with. Nah… probably not.
On my way home from school today a man stopped me and asked if we had met before. I never know because I meet so many people and I usually meet them all at the same time so I never remember everyone. He was very excited about it though. After talking to him for a while he told me that I knew a lot of Kyrgyz. It’s not really true, but it totally made my day to have someone say that to me. I can understand much more than I can speak, and to people who are willing to give me the time I can communicate a lot by speaking broken language and using gestures.
Oh, also today one of my counterparts that is more difficult to work with told me that maybe we shouldn’t try to force to work together this year because we are both too busy and we will start next year working together. I am so glad she finally came to that conclusion on her own because she will accept that more.
Life is feeling pretty good right now and I am only two months away from summer vacation and my friends coming to visit! This summer is already full of great things that we are going to do here and hopefully by then all of my grants will be funded and I can focus more on teacher trainings at my school. I never thought I would have such a plan here, but as time goes on I am seeing everything fall into place. I want spend my second year working directly with the teachers at my school and less on writing projects. That will help the sustainability of what I have been trying to do here.
Today I am thankful for SUNSHINE!! May your life be full of sunshine and happiness!