Food in the KG

While trying to help get through this time of year without being around my friends and family I am trying to educate the people around me about our holidays and what we do to celebrate. Tomorrow in my classes we will be having Christmas parties and I made cookies for them to eat. The problem about being in this country and trying to cook food that you we were so good at cooking when you were back in the states is the ingredients are different here. For example, the sugar they use here is beet sugar and not cane sugar. It reacts differently when you cook with it. I made sugar cookies (I wanted to make ones that we roll out and cut out shapes but I don’t have cookie cutters here and it’s not the same without frosting) and they taste good but they just didn’t turn out right. The best part about it though is that everyone who I’m feeding the cookies to have never had a sugar cookie in America. So to them they are amazing. My nieces really wanted to help me so I let them roll the dough into balls, roll them in sugar, and press a fork into them. They did really well. I also made chocolate chip cookie bars which actually turned out really well. I don’t have vanilla here because it is really hard to find and you can usually only find it in Bishkek and on the lake (they have everything). I think making cookies with my nieces is one of my favorite memories in country to date. I think I might try to cook with them more often. I know for New Years we will make more cookies and make pizza so that will be a lot of fun. They are so much fun. I hope you enjoy the pictures of my family. I enjoy living with them. I think that the best part is EVERY time I come home they come out of the main room and yell, “Brooke Ejay” (Ejay is what you call an older female). It’s so much fun to be loved so much for not doing anything.
This weekend I also made pizza. I think it is the best pizza I have ever made before. One had a butter garlic sauce with pepperoni (yes real pepperoni that another volunteer’s mom sent him from America), peppers, and cheese. That one was AMAZING. And the other pizza had a white garlic sauce with caramelized onions, chicken, and cheese. It was even better the next morning for breakfast. I do what I can to get by with the food. I love cooking and it is a huge destresser. It is also a really great way for me to learn new vocabulary!
Next weekend I will be in Karakol (a large city on the lake) skiing and cooking with friends. I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and is spending it with loved ones!
Brooke

This is Aichuruk pressing the cookies down with a fork

Aidana rolling the cookies in sugar

Me and my little monkeys

Bathing is a luxury??

I never thought that I would think getting to bathe once a week by myself would be a luxury. It’s amazing how different your life can be from one year to the next. Last year I was living at home close to my family and friends. I could shower anytime I wanted to. I could eat just about any type of food I would ever want, whenever I would want it. I could drive my car and leave when I wanted to not when transportation permitted. I put all that together and realize that even though I don’t get those “luxuries” I am probably the happiest that I have ever been in my life. So many days I walk down the road and just smile because there is so much to be amazed by! I have met some of the greatest people I have ever met, I am constantly surrounded by nature’s beauty and I’m getting a real life view of how other parts of the world function without all the extras America has. It is so true that happiness comes in simplicity. I have found that there are times I have to remind myself to go take a banya now rather than just making it to the next banya. I don’t always smell good, but neither does anyone else. But it would be nice to be able to bathe and be the only person in there.
The most awkward moment to date during my service in the Peace Corps happened last week when I was in the banya. Usually I go in there and put on my tunnel vision because I just want to get in and out of there ASAP. Well last Friday I was in the changing room and halfway undressed when a woman started talking to me in English. She apparently teaches English at one of the schools in my village and she wants me to help her. We spoke in half English and half Kyrgyz about me helping her and then I gave her number so she could call me and we could set up a meeting. I would prefer to go back to being invisible. Every time something like that happens I just have to remind myself that it is getting me one step closer to being fearless and doing exactly what I want to do when I want to do it. How amazing would life be if we were controlled by our fears?
I think that one of the best parts about being here is that it is giving my ideas of what I want to do for the rest of my life. Well knowing me I doubt I will ever commit to rest of my life, but at least what I want to work towards when I finish my service. The amount of free time here to contemplate life and my purpose in it is sometimes good, but other times not so great.
Right now I’m looking at going into the medical field with some type of nursing. Mostly I would like to either do midwifery or nutrition. I have been researching online for different programs but mostly I have found programs that I need a lot of prerequisites that I have not fulfilled. If anyone knows of any programs that are geared toward non-science bachelor degree people that would help me out a lot.

The Kyrgyz know how to PARTY!!

I am lying in bed right now with headphones in because in the room right next to me they are singing (and very off key at that!). AND the speaker is against my wall. It is 1am and my family told me that I could go to bed. I kept saying no, but then decided that I saw enough of the party an didn’t need to stay awake until 4am when the party will be finished. There still are two more meals to be eaten. Let’s start from the beginning.
My host brother and his wife had a baby last August and my family is having a baby blessing party here was I write this. I woke up this morning and everyone kept telling me that I could help later. So I just went into my room and hid out. I helped out with making some salads and got to put my knife skills to use. Guests all showed up in a couple cars at the same time. My niece came pounding on my door telling me to come because the one big job that I was given for the whole night was to take pictures. That was a good thing because it gave me something to do and not have to sit awkwardly as people asked me questions that I don’t understand. After we ate it was present time. There were two sherdaks (traditional Kyrgyz rugs) and a lot of tushuks (padded mats that go on the floor to sit on). They were also a rocker, a hot water dispenser, long warm jackets for my host mom and sisters and probably a lot more. Then the bag of borsok (fried bread) and the box of a sheep were opened and all of the sudden we were eating again and giving more toasts.
After drinking tea, making toasts, and eating food the guests all went to a café in town. My host mom told me that I was going to go with them too. Two of my host sisters were already there. I watched as the second car crammed with over 10 people in drive away. So, I just put on my boots and started walking. As I was walking my host dad drove by and stopped so I could ride with him. At the café the only people there who were in my family were my two sisters. Everyone else stayed back at the house. We spent over 3 hours there singing, giving toasts, dancing, eating, and drinking a lot of vodka. My host dad’s brother kept trying to make me drink but I really didn’t want to. I made my first toast in Kyrgyz and let’s say they were less than impressed. It was so bad that my host sister who speaks English said that I could do it in English and she would translate. They tried to make me sing to, but they could only push me so far. Most people were giving a toast and then finishing it off with a song. For those of you who know me well know that I love to sing, but I never sing in front of a group of people with a microphone.
Then, after a couple of courses of food at the café we left and headed back to the house. When I got there no one came in the house with me. I was so confused, but later found out that the guests went to a neighbor’s house to eat more food there. Luckily I wasn’t forced to go there. My nieces wanted me to play a game with them so I played a game of candyland with my little nieces. It was actually pretty fun. Also while the guest were at the neighbor’s we began to make more food. All the guest then came back around 11pm and drank tea again. I went and hid in the kitchen with my sisters and helped make more food. Just like in America, I hid in the kitchen during a party because that is where I am most comfortable. That’s where it ended for me. They guests had started sing and dancing in the other room, but I managed to avoid that. I think right now they have finally started eating another round of food. I told my family that this is nothing like parties in America and that ours usually last 3-4 hours not 12. They said that in the south their parties last 3 days. That is so much work!
I think out of everything that has happened today the strangest part for me was that they people that the party was for never really interacted with the guests. My sister in law was cooking or cleaning the whole time, my host brother was in and out making sure everything was going alright. When we were at the café it was just my sisters there, when they went to the neighbor’s I think my host dad was the only one who went with the guests. I was expecting a blessing ceremony, but there wasn’t (that I saw). I’m not going to lie… they do know how to throw a party but it so much work. I am exhausted and I didn’t even do as much work as everyone else. Anyway… That’s my first big party experience.

Pictures to come!

Happy early Thanksgiving!

Well I learned a word today that now looking back I never thought I would learn… earthquake. There was a short one while I was teaching today. I was teaching club with two 5th grade students and I just looked at them and they looked at me and we were very confused. It was very short… maybe 2-3 seconds but I heard it was a 5.0. The epicenter was a few hours from me in the same oblast. Anyway, another thing to put on the list of things I never thought I would experience here. I mean… I have experience them in America, but never in a developing country. Good thing it was not very big.
Life has been interesting lately. For the past month or so I have been bouncing around in several different directions and I am living a life that I never expected to live as a Peace Corps volunteer. I have way more luxuries than I ever thought would be possible. I see my American friends at least once a week, have a cell phone, my house is very warm even though it is very cold outside. This past week I had a site visit from a Peace Corps staff and it was really good to get feedback on what was going well and what areas I could work on to make my service more successful.
Last weekend I went to a friend’s village and it is always great to go out there because even though where I live is much less industrial and technologically advanced as most other places in this country it is even less out there. I waited for an hour for a taxi and when one finally showed up there was a crowd of several people waiting to go out there. I luckily pushed my way in (I was the second person waiting for the taxi so I didn’t cut and it would matter here anyway because there is no such thing as lines or cutting). I ended up with about 2 square inches of seat to rest a portion on a thigh on. I had one baby laying on my chest as she slept and the other almost laying on the floor. I was using the driver’s head rest as a pillow so I could try to forget the pain my legs were in trying to hold myself up during the 45 minute ride. With 10 people in a taxi it gets a little cramped. One guy tried to tell me that he wanted my seat but I wouldn’t get out, so he ended up sitting next to another man in the front seat. Two grown men shared the passenger seat of a car. That’s another thing I never thought I would see.
When I got out to his village I was greeted by my friend’s host mom and later his brother came in, shook my hand and kissed me on the cheek. I really love that if you make an effort to show that you care most of the time you will get that in return. Luckily his host parents were going back into town the next day and let us ride in their car with them. I didn’t have to pay for a taxi or have to cram into the corner. Oh the little things in life that make you happy!
This Saturday there is a group of volunteers who are going to get together and have Thanksgiving. I was planning on going because if I couldn’t be at home with my family I could at least have it with my Peace Corps family. Well, when I came home from visiting my friend my family told me that they were going to have a baby blessing party for my new nephew that was born in August on the same day. How could I turn that down? They looked so sad when I told them that I had plans to leave so I decided to have my first uncelebrated Thanksgiving at 27. I have been making up for it by teaching my students about Thanksgiving and having them make turkey hands and talk about what they are thankful for. That’ll do for now!
The party will be a trip. We will have 30 people at my little house for one night. I will help make food and watch them slaughter the sheep. We are going to make bozo tomorrow which is a fermented wheat drink. I don’t plan on drinking it but it will be interesting to watch how they make it.
Anyway, I’ll post pictures of the festivities later. I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving. I am thankful for such a great opportunity to experience a culture first hand and for the people who love me so much that they send me letters and packages!! :)
Have a good one!
Brooke

Happy Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran’s Day and thank you to all of you who have spend time serving our country.
It’s been a long time since my last post. I guess it has been a little difficult to get back into work mode after being in vacation mode! Since we are only allowed to travel during school breaks I really try to take advantage of it when we have them. A group of four of us went to Almaty, Kazakhstan for 4 days. It was amazing. Almaty is only a 4 hour mini bus ride away from Bishkek and it only costs $6 to get there. Talk about a deal. The hard part of going there was that it is one of the top 50 most expensive cities in the world. More expensive than LA. My bank account really felt it, but it was totally worth it. And just like most of my vacations most of my money was spent on food. We went to many different restaurants that had food that I miss from America. There was actually a restaurant that we went to that was called American Bar and Grill and it lived up to its name. I had a bleu cheese burger! AWESOME! I think that the strangest part of the trip was one thing after another kept happening making the whole thing feel surreal. We started off by meeting a guy on the bus ride over to Almaty who used to live in America and he really helped us get over the border and got us a taxi to our hotel. He wanted to meet up with us to have drinks that night and after we had incredible Indian food (that was so good that one of the other volunteers I was traveling with almost cried) we walked around town and found an Irish pub called the Dublin. He joined us there… but sadly they didn’t have any Guinness so we had to go to another bar. This time we tried the Guinness bar, hoping that they wouldn’t fail us. They didn’t.

He also brought some friends who knew English too and it was really great to talk to them. I also heard before we left that Almaty had a Baskin Robbins so we were able to ask them where we could find it. :) That night as we were leaving we went to hail a taxi and a white LIMO stopped. The driver was so funny. After a little negotiating about the price we got in and had the most interesting taxi ride of our lives. He was speaking in English/Russian/Spanish and going off on rants that we could only partly understand. I was laughing so hard it was starting to hurt. He was so into what he was talking about he never actually dropped us off on the correct street. He got within a few blocks so we just got out, but it was hilarious.

The next day we went on a walking tour of the city and saw some incredible site that the city had to share. The city had some pretty interesting architecture but still had the old soviet feel to it that Bishkek has. At one point we were walking through a park and looked over and saw a huge building with bright colors. As we got closer we realized that it was a Russian Orthodox church. This church is very interesting because it is made completely out of wood including the nails that hold it together. It was magnificent inside and out. My friend Heather and I really wanted to go to a service but we were there an hour too early and then got distracted later in the day. Maybe next time I go to Almaty. We have already made plans because there was so many things we still want to see.

The third day we went to a museum and saw a lot of old Kazakh clothing and archeology. We also went to a mega center and found Baskin Robbins, Pizza Hut, and KFC. It was so good. I have always been a person who will never eat American food when I am traveling, but after being away from American for seven months I really miss it a lot, sadly. We also found a large grocery store in that mall and bought peanut butter, tortillas, tonic water, AVACADOS, and many other goodies we can’t find in Bishkek. Did I tell you that this was an expensive trip? OOPS… oh well! I was able to eat everything that I have been craving!!
The last day as we were leaving the coffee shop that we ate breakfast at, there was a Rols Roice sitting out front with a driver waiting in it. This city has money! It was a much different world than what I have been living in for the past seven months.
All in all it was a great trip. Eating all that great food really helped my slight homesickness. Though it was a little difficult to readjust to my life here it has been good to be back and live a more simple life.
When I was in Bishkek I had a lot of fun with my friends. Before and after my trip to Almaty I spent hanging out with friends and making great memories. Halloween was great and I was a duck.

Well we had 3 nights of festivities and I started as a ninja (a throwback to teaching at Corbett), then I was ballerina, then I was a duck the third night. All were good costumes and fun was had in all. On the Friday before Halloween we had a party at an orphanage. That is one of the volunteer’s site and so he threw the party for the kids and a bunch of volunteers came and helped out. It was great. We each had to create an activity and mine was a potato sack race.

The idea came to me one morning when I was sleeping at a friend’s house and when we woke up I really had the urge to sleeping bag wrestle. I know… I will always be a child at heart. There was also bobbing for apples, face painting, pumpkin toss and other fun activities. It was great!

After my trip to Almaty I met with some (I guess you could call them) extended family who have lived here for 8 years. My cousin’s husband’s aunt and uncle live here and took me to lunch. (Thanks Gretchen for letting me know that they are here) I have the strangest connects to this country. Have you ever really felt like you are in the right place at the right time? I think that’s how my life has been since I came here seven months ago. I still can’t believe it has been that long. Anyway, it was a really great lunch and really great to meet them. They are also doing great things in their community near Bishkek.
Oh yay… My host mom just came home from being away for over a month. She had to have surgery on something. I’m not sure what, but she is home now and she is looking good. Not moving too quickly, but her spirits are good. I really missed her a lot!
Anyway, that is the update for now. I hope you are doing well and just remember care packages and letter are always welcome. If you need the address it is posted in a June blog post or email me and I’ll send you a word document of it.

Just a normal day

I have been sitting at my computer trying to think of a good story or something interesting that has happened in the past week or so and I’m coming up with a blank. The strangest part of that would be that anyone back at home could have come up with a dozen or so anecdotes, but this is my life now and so much of what was not normal 6 months ago is very normal now. I’ll just tell my story of today and for me it’s normal, but if it happened in America I would be such a crazy story.
I had set up a meeting with a teacher yesterday. We were to meet at 3pm at the school so I could help her with her English and her lesson planning. Well when 3 o’clock rolled around I found her, but she was teaching a class until 4. Hmm… I just chalked it up to miscommunication because sometimes that easier. Then we set up a time to meet this morning. We were going to meet at 9am. That was the time she said would work best for her. Well I showed up at the school at 9am and she was nowhere to be found. I waited for 20 minutes and then sent her a text saying how long I waited and for her to let me know when would be a better time. She called me later to tell me she was at the school at 9am. Well, where were you in the school then, I asked her. “I was in the 9a class.” “How can we have a meeting if you have class at that time?” She didn’t have an answer for me. You know, surprisingly enough… it didn’t really bother me. I have gotten used to people not showing up to meetings. I then went to the new English resource center in my village to help log books. Then I went back to the school to teach the teachers at my school English. When I showed up the teachers said they were too tired to have class and asked if we could do it another day. That again, didn’t bother me. It actually invigorated me because I was able to communicate really well with the teachers and even though they went to get an English teacher to translate even though I never needed it. Everything that the teacher translated was what I understood and I only spoke in Kyrgyz. So we went home. Then, I gave my little niece, 10, an English lesson and it was so wonderful. We worked on the alphabet and sang the song together. I was able to explain the ending to her and she totally understood. I taught her words that started with each letter of the alphabet and she taught me the Russian words for them. All in all it was a really good day. I have noticed that my patients are getting better. I still have my days and problems, but there are a lot of things that I’m starting to let go. Six months in and I’m starting to feel different.
I just need to remember to hold on to these good days to help me get through the tough ones where everything seems to fall apart. Once I am able to do that I will be golden. (in 2 days I’ll have been here for 7 months… time flies!)

My life in KG and everything my village has

As promised… Accommodations in my village:
• I live on one edge of town and where I live there aren’t any paved roads. It is bad most of the time because when the roads are dry the cars drive fast and dust goes everywhere. It’s really not good especially since I bathe once a week. My face and hair get gross. But when it rains it all turns into mud. The funny thing is that mud in Kyrgyz is a not a very good word (2 words) in English. It makes me giggle every time I hear it. During the winter it won’t be too bad because it will be covered in snow and all the pot holes will be filled in.
• My school (there are three secondary schools and one technical school in my village) is about a 5-10 minute walk. It matters how fast I’m walking. They call it the new school but it was build 20 years ago. There is a kindergarten that is right next to it. Students go there until they are ready to start secondary school. Kids usually start 1st grade around 5 or 6 years old. They go to school for 11 years. Then off to university, technical school, or to work. Some students will leave secondary school around 9th or 10th grade and start at a technical then. My first host brother did that. He went to a school to become an accountant.
• At the school electricity is rarely used and so when there is no power the only way that you can really know is because the bell that lets us know that class is over is a hand held bell that someone rings while walking up and down the hallways. Oh, but if there is electricity the school bell doesn’t ring itself. A teacher has to be on “duty” everyday and they are in charge of ringing the bell and the end and start of each class. The sound of the bell sounds like a fire alarm in America and scares me every time it goes off.
• In town there is one café that I usually go to with other volunteers about once a week. The food is pretty decent Kyrgyz food and the people know us there. There are also about 4-5 small cafes which are called ashkana. We go there when we want something different but they usually only have two or three dishes there. Sometimes they don’t have any food at all.
• We have 2 small bazaars during the weeks (Monday-Saturday). And on Sunday we have a very large bazaar called the mal bazaar or domestic animal bazaar. There they sell sheep, horses, cows, chickens, and sometimes yaks and camels. There is a man in At Bashy who trains falcons and sometimes he will be there with his falcons. At this bazaar we usually get shashlik which is kabobs. There is one guy we always go to because he always has beef. The others all have sheep and there is only so much sheep I can eat. This bazaar is on the other side of town than I live on. When I go to it I take a marshruka (a mini bus) and it costs 7 som (about 14 cents).
• The stores here are everywhere. We don’t have grocery stores in Naryn, but everywhere you go there will be small stores called dookon that sell juice, some food, and vodka. There are probably hundreds of them in just my village alone. I don’t know how they all stay in business with so many around but they do.
• There is a sport center in my village. The director is my neighbor said I could come anytime I wanted to play sports. He would just give me the key. I’m thinking of doing some clubs or camps there.
• There is a small stadium/field. That is there I play soccer with my little neighbor girls. It is pretty nice for a Kyrgyz field.
• In the public banya there is rarely lights on in there too. When you first walk in there is a small room with lockers to change and store your clothes. Then there is another room that is warm and you wash in there. There is also a sauna that attached to that room and sometimes women hold the door open and the washing room gets really hot. I really hate that a lot! I don’t like to be hot.
• Everywhere you walk in any city or village in this country there are animals that are everywhere. Stray dogs that wander around. My neighbors have a really mean dog and barks and snarls at me a lot. I really hate it because I have to pass it to get home. There are lots of other animals too. Like at 6 pm all the cows come home. I never truly understood the saying, “until the cows come home” until I moved to this country. They really do come home all walking together down the street. Ha ha.
• The way they keep their horses from running away is to tie their feet together. They are still able to move around and eat but they aren’t able to run. It actually makes me sad watching it.
• There is one gas station in my village. But if you go to any small village away from mine there are lots of houses that have a sign that say benzene and they sell gas in old bottles. Somehow they fill old water or pop or beer bottles with gas and sell to people who run out where there aren’t any gas stations. Somehow that is smart and very stupid at the same time.
• Since I am in the mountains there are lots of places to hike. It absolutely beautiful.
• One thing that I really miss about Portland is that it is so easy to get around because it is basically a grid and most streets are fairly straight and predictable. Here the roads aren’t straight and most of the time there is one rhyme or reason to where they go. I have gotten lost so many times and I just have to watch the mountains to make sure I can find my way home.
That’s quite a few things. I hope this gives you a little bit of a visual of where I live and what life is like for the Kyrgyz people in At Bashy.