The Amazing Adventures of Kyrgyzstan and Col

Chapter 6: The Russians Are Coming

September 24, 2005, continued September 26, 2005

I’ve been up since 5:45 AM. The pit hole is my new best friend. Forget the tree.

Anyway, my big goal for the day was to ask my host family whether I could do my laundry. After that experience, it has become clear that I’ve definitely have taken life in the States for granted. Having to wait a week to wash my clothes and bathe are just two of the rather drastic changes I have had to make. Never mind having to walk through the house, out the back door, through the corn field, around the chickens to get to the hole in the ground, in order to relieve myself.
My body misses porcelin.

[Break for 2 days]

Anyway, two days later, and two special pills from the doctor swallowed, I feel better.

I opened up my Jiff peanut butter and it’s making me miss home. I’m listening to Ben Lee’s “Awake is the New Sleep,” and it’s making me happy. And I have the house to myself for the next 10 minutes. It’s like when I’m home in Lake Forest and everyone is gone and if I wanted to I could run through the house naked and it wouldn’t matter, even though I’d never do it.

Wanna know what’s funny? My host mother, Gulgalkin, told me on the first day that I could call her Apa to make things easier, since really, trying to pronounce her name is in fact a challenge, so I acquiesced. It wasn’t until a few days later that I found out it translates as “Mommy.” I don’t even call Sheila “Mommy.” Maybe when I get back I will.

So turns out Americans are famous here in Kyrgyzstan. I walk down the street and people literally stare. I bet this is how Jennifer Aniston feels all the time. Or Rosie O’Donnell at that.

Is it bad that I’ve already had like 10 tablespoons of peanut butter? If you read this and like to eat peanut butter, send me some. Seriously. A little, tiny one will suffice. Sometimes (and by “sometimes” I mean all the time), the food here makes me sick. Peanut butter is familiar. Familiar, although not necessary and always good, is in this case excellent.

I’m finally reading The Brothers Karamazov. I think having some background with Russian literature is a good bonus. Is good bonus repetitive? Anyway, I have this awesome plan for when I’m teaching and the students are getting out of control to give them what was coined not by me “further education.” This “further education” is going to be a passage from some book or philosopher that I’ve read or am currently reading, and I’m going to make them rewrite the English translation as punishment. I think I’ll choose a couple passages in The Brothers Karamazov as this “further education” and kill two birds with one stone—force them to learn more English and get a quick lesson in famous Russian literature.

So a bunch of the PCVs and I are going to get this book-trade underway in a short while, but I have some close friends from back home and school who read, too. If I could I would email or call each one of you and ask you personally to send me a good book that you’ve just read or think I’d like or think that I should read and send it to me. No? Please. It would mean the world. And that says a lot, considering if you looked at a globe and pointed to where you were at, and then went halfway around it, I’d be there.

Oh, one more thing. I felt human this morning. I was beginning to wonder, but this morning I got sad. And not sad in a bad way, but sad like I realize I’m not going to see you guys for a while sad. I barely got through today’s first language lesson to top it off. See, there is this mirror right in front of me on the wall, and if I look directly in front of myself, I see my reflection. It’s not like I really wanted to look at myself, but sometimes I couldn’t help it, and when I did, I saw myself, and I looked sad, so it made me feel even sadder. I had to really focus on my work to get the feelings suppressed, and it was hard. But I did it. After lunch, I had a couple laughs and got over it and then shared what happened with some of my classmates and then it was all good. Tasiana (Ta-Shauna) decided that we should all get together and have a good cry sometime soon, but before we did so, we had to make a pact to stay tough, never give in and don’t turn back… or something motivational like that.

I think I should review some more Kyrgyz. Just smiling and saying “hello” and “thank you,” can only get me so much further. A part of me was super upset about not learning Russian for these first three months of Pre-Service Training, but I’m over it. This culture is Kyrgyz through and through, and while many, if not all, of the people can speak Russian, it means a whole lot more when I speak to them in their native tongue. Granted, Russian may be more helpful when this is all said and done, but for these next two years, I’m here, in Kyrgyzstan. I’ve decided relationships are the most important aspect of being a human, and relating in a personal way with language is a good first step. Plus, when else in my life will I get to have extensive language lessons in a nomadic language such as Kyrgyz? Riiiight. So, I’ll have to pick up Russian on my own. I have a dictionary to start, so that should help.

A big giant wink and a kiss from Kyrgyzstan.

posted by C @ 4:54 PM