Happy New Year's Kyrgyz style!!

The joys of guesting… Today my host mom knocked on my door and asked me if I wanted to go to the mountains with them and there was something with a tree. Oh course I said yes, but not really knowing what was in store for me. Well, it was another guesting adventure. My host dad works at the place where they send out the TV signal. He showed me around the building and told me how it worked. From what I got from his explanation I guess the signal comes from Naryn City and then they send it out to the rayon (county) that I live in. I’m pretty sure he only works there during the winter because up until a month or so ago he didn’t work at all and he will be finished working there halfway through January. There are beds there and the men that work there just sleep there and come home once in a while. It is really close to where we live and going there was just another reminder of how different America is from Kyrgyzstan. In Kyrgyzstan most people work in their own village and can walk to work. If you work in other village or city most of the time you either have two houses or you travel by taxi back and forth (and that is very uncommon). Here are some of the highlights of the night…
• Being forced to give a toast (this time they were impressed.
• Watching them pass around a bowl with broth in it and two apple slices and whenever it got passed to you, you had to sing. I was given it and I sang “Jingle Bells.”
• Being sung to by a drunk man and I didn’t have a clue what he was saying.
• Eating Beshbarmak (Kyrgyzstan’s national dish) with my besh barmak (five fingers).
• Accidently saying algalay when giving my toast which means drink it all… I was trying to avoid drinking as little of the super sweet wine they gave me and that didn’t help.
• Watching the VERY drunk man try to stay awake, sing, talk, eat… everything was pretty entertaining.
• Having the men at the party ask if they could guest in America and then come to find out they were saying only the men would come and they would leave the women here. Hmm…
• Taking picture after picture of every family there in front of the New Years tree.
• Watching a fuzzy TV after my host dad just told me we were in the place that sends the signal out for that… wouldn’t you think that the channels would come in better. HA.
• Experiencing a Kyrgyz New Years in all its glory!!

Christmas recap

This has been a great Christmas. If I couldn’t be home with my family the people I spent it with were the next best choice. We had a southern meal including: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, mac and cheese, and meat balls. I made eggnog and we have been drinking that all weekend. I think the greatest part of this whole weekend though, was that I got to go skiing. It cost me about $40 for the ride up there and back, rentals, the lift ticket (there were 3 decent lifts), and food… a steak. What a deal!! We had a blast skiing and enjoying the views.
Yesterday after came home from skiing I made chicken potpie pockets. They were so good. My friend Heather made the pie crust and we put eggs and milk in the dough and it was the flakiest crust I have ever eaten. If I were to have made these in the America they would have been delicious, so making them here after being forced to drink the boiled sheep liquid was even more incredible. There is rumor that tonight we are going to make lasagna. I am in heaven. That makes it more like a normal Christmas for me too because my dad usually makes a Christmas lasagna.
Getting to Karakol (the city we are visiting now) was quite the experience though. My mom has told me that I should start writing my travel experiences down and write a book when I come home, and I’m starting to agree with her. I was going to go to travel with my friend Heather and we had to meet up in Naryn City and leave from there. I got into town pretty quickly but Heather has to stand on the side of the road for a car to drive by. She was lucky to catch the first taxi to go by after standing there 45 minutes. I just asked her how long the wait was and she said it was ONLY 45 minutes… at times it is up to 2 hours in temperature that are in the teens or lower. Anyway, she got into town and we waited in the taxi for about an hour for two more people to show up and ride with us. Once we got into the next town we had to find another taxi or mini bus to take us to our final destination. Well as soon as we walked up there was a mini bus leaving within 15 minutes and we were very excited. We set down our bags and went to find food. We were standing in a small store near by and were talking to a woman about how she thought it was amazing that we knew Kyrgyz because even Kyrgyz people don’t know the language very well. We looked out the window and we could no longer see our mini bus or our bags. I ran out and found out that there was a different mini bus that we were going to take and our bags were in that one… phew. We got in… got seats (not everyone did) and took off. Oh crap… we were going the wrong direction. Well we ended up taking the south shore mini bus that took a little longer. The good part is that that way is more scenic, but the bad part is it was so cold that the windows were frosted over and it was dark within an hour into our ride. We got into town about 10.5 hours after we started our trip but we got greeted by other volunteers who had made cookies and sushi. It was a good trip!
New Years will be with my host family and I’m sure pictures with come with that too. Stay warm and be jolly!
Brooke

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Since sending presents from Kyrgyzstan is a little difficult, I thought that I would post a really great blog for everyone to enjoy. Merry Christmas. This week I spent the week teaching my students about Christmas and how we celebrate it in America. I taught songs and videotaped a few (too bad my internet isn’t good enough to post those), we decorated a Christmas Tree (the kept calling it a yolka which is what they call their New Years Tree), we hung stockings over the fireplace, we ate cookies, and we made and gave cards to one another. All in all even though this is the farthest from a normal Christmas I have ever had, it has turned out to be a really great one. The students have been really interested in American holidays and I really enjoy teaching them about we are similar and different. I will be sending the actually holiday with some other volunteers. We are going to have a big feast and have a lot of fun. I am really excited to go skiing also!
This past week I my health has not been doing very well. It’s just a cold, but it’s a pretty bad one. My host family thinks that I got it because I don’t wear slippers, or because I don’t wear warm enough clothes, but in reality I’m sure it’s because my nieces have been really sick and cough all over all the food at every meal. Today I didn’t even go to school because when I got there I couldn’t even think. I think one of the hardest things to do when you are sick is to think in any way shape or form and it’s pretty hard to avoid when I have to think so hard just to speak in another language. I’ve been hiding in my room. OK enough of a pity party.
The other day when I came home my niece and host dad we standing in the driveway and she started telling me about a small lamb. I had no idea what else she was saying so I just nodded and went inside. Then there was this box with a coat over it sitting our porch for a few days. Then the box moved inside next to my bedroom door. It stayed there for a day or two. Still not knowing what it was I came home one day and the same niece opened the box and started petting a tiny lamb. It couldn’t have been more than a couple days old. I guess it was born and it was sick so they were keeping it inside to nurse it. The box isn’t there anymore (I think that it is outside in the barn). But it was so cute. Not the first thing I thought would be in a box outside my bedroom door, but at this point nothing surprises me anymore. Whenever something surprising happens I just think to myself, “Of course that’s happening now… why wouldn’t.”

My nieces with the lamb.
Tonight at dinner my host dad suggested for us to play the silent game (I guess that game is universal). I think that this is the first time in my life I have ever won that game. This is one of the few times that not knowing the language very well has come in handy. Every time someone talked they would start a new round and we ended up playing 9 rounds. At the end they voted who talked the least and I came in first. Congrats to me! The whole time I was thinking… wow you have no idea how difficult this game is for me when everyone is speaking English, but in Kyrgyz I have that game in the bag!
Anyway, I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday season full of joy and family. I am doing everything I can to make sure that mine is a good one. I even had a tree (as my family knows I will not let Christmas happen without it).
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Brooke
PS we just got a dumping of snow and this is a picture of the view from my classroom window.

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