My Amazing Kyrgyz Family! :)

I have lived with one family for 14 months and I feel like it is time to dedicate one blog post to everything that is wonderful about them. I’m going to do it in bullet points because I feel that is the best way to list some of the great things that I love about them:
• They are always so happy to see me. No matter how long I have been gone on trips to do work or see friends they are always excited to have me walk through the gate and be home!
• I have many volunteer friends who have families that lecture them about silly things that shouldn’t matter (e.g. the way they wash their clothes, drinking cold water, how they cook American food…) but my family just uses those opportunities to learn about my culture and they way I function in life. I have taught them how to cook different American foods, American games, and just explained to them how our cultures may be different but it is interesting to learn about each of them. Neither is wrong or right, just different.
• I have started a few rituals with my nieces because I spend most of my time at home with them. When we eat dinner together we usually finish and then have a big group hug. They now know the word, “HUG.” When my friends were here one of the, Aidana, went up to my friend Laura and said, “hug” and then wrapped her arms around Laura. My friend was shocked by this because it wasn’t something that she was expecting, but she loved it! After our group hugs we might go into tickle wars where we all just start tickling each other and keep saying, “tickle tickle.” At the end of the night we will have a tooth brushing party together. This is great because many people in this country don’t know how important it is to brush their teeth which results in rotting teeth and eventually having to get them replaced. But I’m hoping that by starting early they will always want to brush their teeth regularly.
• My 15 month old nephew has started walking and talking and becoming his own person. Today while we were eating dinner he stumbled into the kitchen and was playing with a cell phone (his favorite thing in the world). I pretended to take it from him and he would run away. Then he started saying, “ticka ticka ticka.” It took me a minute to figure out what he was trying to say. He was trying to say, “Tickle Tickle,” like I say with his sisters. This went on for 10 minutes or so. “Ticka Ticka Ticka,” and his finger pointed out poking me. SO CUTE!!!
• Every time my nieces come to get me to eat food or drink tea they knock on my door and say, “Come eat food.” or “Come drink tea.” When I have friends over they get a kick out of it!
• Playing soccer with them is awesome. Usually it’s me against the two of them. I still usually win and for some reason they always want to come back for more. I’m not nice to them, I tease them, and throw the around a little, and they still like me. Not sure why, but I love them.
• For their birthday (they are two year apart with the same birthday) I gave them snickers and a hand lotion from America. The lotion was named, “PS I love you.” We talked about what I love you means for a little while and then after we drank tea together the younger of the two looked up and said, “I love you.” I almost cried as I said back to her, “I love you, too.” I meant every word of it.
• Aidana, 11, the older of the two, is very perceptive. She can tell when I have enough playing and need to go be by myself. She will just stop playing right then and then tell her sister that we are done and that they need to do something else. That makes me want to play with them more because she makes it easy to play with them!
• How much they love to help me cook anything: Pizza, cinnamon rolls, cookies… anything.
• My amazing host mom who has been through so much this year with her health but still always has a smile on her face and whenever she is home always makes me feel like I’m one of her own.
• My incredible host dad who reminds me every day that there are good men in Kyrgyzstan. Walking around town, having guys yell bad things to me that I don’t want to here can bring me down and then I come home and he is always there to show me that he is amazing. Everything I leave on a trip somewhere he shakes my hand and kisses me on my cheek. Whenever he meets my friends he does the same to them. He always takes time to get to know them and make them feel like they are always welcome.
• I hear so many not great stories about what other families do to their volunteers but taking advantage of them, asking to borrow money, charging them too much for things in their house, making them feel like they aren’t welcome in their house. I am so grateful that I have the family I do because they would never do any of that.
• I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!! I am their second volunteer and they sometimes talk about when the other volunteer left and they cried. Then they usually follow it with saying when I leave they are going to cry again. I know I won’t be able to hold it in!

Back Row: My best friend from HS Laura, Aichuruk (niece, 9), Diana (exchange student who lived with Laura and Krissy 7 years ago who is from KG), Aidana (niece, 11), Azia (their mom and my host sister), My host mom
Next Row: Begiam (host sister who lives in Bishkek) and her son Erjan, Krissy (friend and Laura's sister), Me holding my nephew Nurmo
hammad (Nikolish), Aideme (niece, 5... Begiam's daughter), My host dad!