Pictures...

Preparing the food for canning. Working on knife skills!


Tav and Heather sterilizing the jars.


My host mom makes these rugs and is going to teach me how to make them! :)

ugh... drunk men!

I am exhausted. I have been going nonstop for two weeks now. I started with a TEFL (my teaching English program) workshop where we started to plan a one year curriculum for the 8th grade. Then at the same hotel on the beach we had language and cultural training for a week. It was beautiful on the lake and the hotel was an amazing. There were many parts of it that were nicer that most hotels that I would stay at in America. While there I tried to get an updated antivirus on my computer and it deleted its ability to get on the internet. Luckily it happened when I was with someone who knew a lot about computers and was able to reinstall my operating system. Now my computer works better than ever and the battery life is so much longer.
After we finished all our training and planning and whatnot I needed to go to Bishkek to pick up money for a grant. It was passed down to me by a volunteer who has now left. While in Bishkek I took advantage of everything that is there. We went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant. The food was amazing. We had sweet and sour chicken, a spicy tofu dish, something with beef in it… but I’m pretty sure it was intestines and a crispy chicken. It was so nice to not eat sheep and sheep fat. The best part was we ordered family style and split the bill and it only cost me a little over $3. I was also able to find a camera in Bishkek, which is so exciting because I have been living without one for over a month and that has been painful! I was also able to buy beans, dried peas, Pringles, and canned peppers. I am a happy girl.
The morning before I went home I went to the Peace Corps office. That was my first time there and I was amazed by how nice it is there. Free internet, fresh clean water to fill up my water bottle and not have to pay for, a shower if I need it… awesome! I got to the taxi station and got a taxi to go home and my taxi driver told me that he had a full car and that we were leaving right then. NO… I was the only passenger that he had and I had to wait for an hour for more people to come (an hour really isn’t that long, but I was meeting a friend and I just wanted to get home!). The worst part about being the first person to get into a taxi isn’t the waiting part is the not knowing who else is going to ride with you. This time it ended up being pretty bad because there was a guy sitting behind me who got into the car drunk and then proceeded to drink more on the five hour trip home. From what I saw in the car he drank at least 4.5 liters of beer. He proposed to me, offered me to drink with him, kept hitting my arm the whole way to get me to talk to him, he rambled off in Russian every time even though I kept telling him that I didn’t understand him. I really wish that other people in the car would have helped me out. They mostly just laughed at him. Very frustrating.
I finally got home and away from the crazy drunk man. I really missed my family because I hadn’t seen them in over a week and a half. The best part was though… I showed up with 18 large canning jars (about 2 liters each) and massive amounts of vegetables to can the next day oh and a friend. They had no idea… I just said, “maybe tomorrow we can can?” (in Kyrgyz) and that was that. Ha. That is one of the bet parts of Kyrgyzstan… you can just show up with people who need a place to stay and maybe even a project that will take all day and it doesn’t even phase them. It’s normal.
The next day we canned eight jars of tomato sauce, four jars of pickles, four jars of a pickled vegetable mix that we made up (carrots, cabbage, onion, garlic, green and red peppers, eggplant, and really hot tiny red peppers), and one jar of pickled beets and eggs (one lid got messed up and we didn’t put anything in that jar). It took 14 hours to can everything and we didn’t get to bed until 1am, but it was worth it. Now I’ll have some food for the winter. There is so much garlic in everything. I just hope that we were able to get the lids on correctly and that they sealed the way they should. Their lids here are very different. I guess we’ll see. I am so tired now and I’m going to sleep all day!

My students are published authors!

I just finished the greatest week to date in Kyrgyzstan. Along with a group of seven other volunteers we pulled off a journalism camp where the kids learned about lifeskills and journalism, researched a topic area and produced a story that has been published. The website where the articles were posted is www.gcekyrgyzstan.ning.com. They aren’t posted yet, but will be within the next 48 hours. Please comment on them because we are trying to show the importance of the internet and how they can be connected to people all over the world. We had 19 Kyrgyz high school aged students interview and research in the areas of Diversity, Women and Gender, Health, and Environment. The camp was an overnight camp that was six days long. One of the days we headed out to the city and one of the volunteers set up interviews for each of the groups to conduct. It was absolutely incredible what these students we able to accomplish. They all helped write an article in English. The thought, effort, and creativity that went into the entire week was astounding! I am so exhausted now and want to sleep forever, but knowing that we were able to pull this off with only being volunteers for two months is really encouraging for what we will be able to do in the next two years. Only one of the volunteers who was part of this has been here for a year, the rest of us all swore in as volunteers this past June.
Enough gloating…more about food… On our way home we had our driver stop on the side of the road to buy some honey. Everyone has been telling me that Kyrgyzstan has some of the best honey in the world. Every time I have tasted it, it really wasn’t anything special. The only honey that I ever saw in country was very different than any honey in America. It was crystallized and I really didn’t like the taste. I love honey so it really made me sad. But one day I was at a friend’s house we were having tea and bread and they pulled out a honey that looked a little more familiar. It was incredible. It tasted like wild flowers and was the best honey that I have ever tasted… I was eating it by the spoonful. We couldn’t really figure out where it came from because I felt like every time I asked, I got a different answer. All I know was it is delicious. Well while on my way to this camp we passed by several stands that were selling honey. I decided to take a chance because they had the non crystallized honey. Oh man, it was one of the best purchases I have made to date. I was a lot of money for one jar… $7.33 (more that I get paid in one day) but well worth it! I can’t wait to eat it with bread and butter… or make granola, or make… So many options.
This past week our camp was on the lake, so I got to experience what life is like in touristy Kyrgyzstan. Because of the recent events that have occurred over the past four months there are many less tourist than usual, but it was interesting to see how different the volunteers’ lives are who live in a place where they have more amenities. I found myself saying several times… “What you have that? I’m so jealous” but that more I thought about it I’m really not jealous at all because that’s not why I joined the Peace Corps. I joined the Peace Corps to experience a remote life, to understand what life is like in a developing country and to help as much as I can. I can see so much potential where I am and I am grateful that there isn’t a grocery store anywhere near where I live. There isn’t even one in my entire oblast. I love going to the bazaar and buying produce and fresh bread. And walking down the street and having people say “Hi” to me not because I’m a foreigner, but because they actually know me. I’m not just a white girl where I live; I’m the white girl who teaches English.
This past week was such a great experience for me. I already listed many of the accomplishments that we did as a group and how were able to encourage and teach the student. But one of the greatest things I believe that happened over the week was my connection with the local youth. There were students going up to other volunteers telling them that they really liked me because they thought I was funny and they don’t really see adult women act the way I do. I was a little nervous coming to a more conservative country because I am loud and very different than what they expect people to be. The nice part is that most people understand that I am American and don’t expect me to conform everything (I am still respectful, but I can’t lose myself). I am so happy to show the youth here that you can be yourself and that’s ok. We had a lot of fun dancing, singing, learning, and creating over this past week and it really pumps me up for more to come. I know that there will be hard times, but I will be able to look back on this and remember why we are here and what we are able to accomplish.



I am teaching nutrition and health to Kyrgyz students



I got to teach a group of girls how to make cinnamon rolls. They loved it. It was really different teaching them because they have been making bread most of their lives. I just had to tell them what to do and they did it. The cinnamon rolls turned out great!



Couldn't avoid playing on the beach!

4 months down

Today I have been in country for exactly 4 months. Time sure is flying by. I’m sure there is so much that I could talk about, but all of this has become normal to me and there are so many things are no longer new. I am going to a camp that some volunteers are putting on near the lake next week. I am excited to leave my oblast and see something new. It is a journalism camp and the students are going to write articles about a topic that they are given. I believe this is going to be a great camp. Everything I have heard about the place where we are going to stay at is pretty awesome. It is right on the lake and when we aren’t doing sessions the kids (and we) can play in the water and play sports. AND… I think there are showers, so that is nice. It is weird to think about, but I’m getting used to not bathing everyday, but the thought of a hot shower sounds so great! The best part of it is that they worked it into the budget that we don’t have to pay for our own transportation. That’s really great since it is pretty expensive to get out there. I just figured it out that I get paid a little over $6 a day and that includes paying for EVERYTHING. I pay rent, food, utilities, transportation, entertainment… anything I want to do. And I get paid over twice as much as a normal teacher here. Teachers here (just like in most places) get paid so little. Actually, most service jobs here get paid very minimally. Doctors, teachers, cops… are all some of the least paid jobs. Being a taxi driver you make probably the most. It really makes me sad. Wow this paragraph took a huge detour!!
I have been eating watermelon so much lately. Living in America you don’t really thing about things being in season very much. There are a few foods that you usually only can get seasonally, but you can get most produce year-round. Here that is not the case at all. Right now there is a lot of produce at the bazaar including melon, apricots, plums, apples, tomatoes, cucumbers… I know that in the fall the squashes will come out. But come winter all there will be in the bazaar is potatoes, carrots, and onions. We will be working on my creativity on what I will be eating. Right now I eat most of my meals with my host family, but I might go insane in the winter only eating meat and potatoes. I don’t like either enough to only eat that. Even right now I’m not really getting enough protein because they just boil all the meat together in one pot and I have such a hard time with eating animal fat and all the gristle that sheep has in it I feel like I’m chewing for days. I do eat homemade yogurt everyday and my host mom will make me fried eggs sometimes, but it’s still hard. The other day I went to the local restaurant with another volunteer and I got a full meat platter (which for me is very uncommon) just because I was craving it so much. It was delicious. It was something that actually had flavor!
Everyday is a new experience and I learn so much about their culture but also about myself. As I write these blog updates I really want to paint a true picture of my life here. I’m going to be honest, some days it is really difficult and there are a lot of things from America that I miss terribly. But then, like today… I really was having a hard day and I was tired and I got a letter from home, and then I had a really great meeting with a counterpart and my host nieces started practicing English with me and were so excited to learn and, and, and. There is always something to pull me up and realize that this is very worth being here. I do get lonely, and tired, and frustrated, but the good outweighs the bad tenfold and I realize that I am lucky to be here.
So, if you want to make my days better you are more than welcome to write me letters and better yet send me packages. I do love getting packages. There are flat rate boxes at the postoffice and you can fit as much as you can into the box and send it off for one price. Here is my address again if you are inclined to send me something.

Brooke Huddleston
722600, Naryn Oblast
At-Bashy Rayon, At-Bashy Village
Ity Sylimanov St.
Kyrgyzstan

Кыргызстан
Ин. 722600, Hарын Oбл.
Aт–башы Pайону, Aт–башы Aйылы
yп. Aйты Cулайманов
Брук Хаддлстон

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!

Cherry spit

Today my host mom, niece, and I pitted cherries for cherry jam and I just kept thinking about all the hours we spent over the years picking and pitting the cherries from our tree for cherry pie. These cherries are very similar in size but they are the color of bing cherries. Just think of how messy that got with a 10 year old helping. It was fun. We got into a race at one point. I really like doing things like that with my family because it gives me a really great opportunity to work on my language and bond with them. My host mom is really patient and helpful with language. She really lets me try to get my words out without interrupting me which is really good for me! I taught them the words for cherry, pit and spit because I was asking them what the words were and then they did the same for English, we for cherry and pit. Then one sprayed my host mom in the face and so I taught spit. “Cherry Spit” hahaha. Oh… another funny story. My host niece was asking how to say “I’m hungry” in English then she went around the house saying it until we were finished. Then after she stopped for a while she said it again but this time she said “I’m hundred.” We got a good laugh from that one. She always say’s “Oh my god” too. It always makes me laugh because I never expect it. I didn’t teach her that one though. I have been teaching her soccer and showing her my mad skills. It is good to have someone to play with because there are times when I know I should get out of my room, but I just don't want to. Having a child knocking at your door makes it easier to get out and play games and be active!

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.