I'll Make A Man Out of You

now have officiallly finished my second week of Phase II at my permanent site and the past few days have been very eye opening.

ROSIE THE RIVETER: KYRGYZ STYLE

Monday started out as a fairly rough day. My host mother had suddenly lost her oldest brother in a car accident early in the morning. Unable to have the language skills to communicate my condolances, I could only stand and watch in silence as my host mother's world was turned upside down. Due to customs, my mother left for her hometown to help in the funeral preperations. This left me at home with my three younger host siblings. Fortunately, our famliy neighbor came over throughout the day to help out. My host mother returned after two days.

What I want to share with everyone is the incredible strength and hardwork that these Kyrgyz women go through, even at a very young age. In the two weeks that I have been here, I have watched my 11-year old host sister (Begemau) cook, clean, take care of our 1.5 year old baby sister (Nazbekye), do the laundry and in her spare time, play. With our mother having to read the Koran for the next 40 days as part of the ritual for when a loved one passes away, Begemau has had to stay at home and help out. Instead of playing and attending my little English club, she has had to sweep and vacuum the floors, make bread (24-year old me still can't do this..), do the laundry and keep an eye on Nazbekye. I couldn't help but think of what I was doing on a daily basis when I was 11 years old, which certainly was not any of the things that she has been doing for a majority of her life.

I am in awe of these girls who turn into such incredible women here and the things that they endure and encounter throughout their lives. 

I AM NOT A TEACHER

This was what I found myself saying repeatedly this week. My counterpart helped organize a mini-English club within my village to help me integrate and practice my Kyrgyz, and because Phase II has proven to be very..... good for self-reflections. For those of you who know me very well, you know that patience is something I have been prayed for and worked on for a long time. Therefore, it was a big reason as to why I eventually gave up on my childhood dreams of being a teacher. However, as I've come to learn, teaching English is just a part of the Peace Corps. Even if it isn't your original job sector. So, Monday was also my first day of teaching English. Ever. It went pretty horribly and very quickly so. Four out of ten students showed up and all of different levels. Did I mention that the classes were two hours long? I don't think that two- hour long English classes in the middle of summer break is what these children had in mind. By Tuesday afternoon, I had thought about just quitting... 

However, Thursday proved to be just the change I needed. Thanks to my fellow TEFL volunteer friends, I decided to turn my two hour classes into two, one-hour classes. They’re going much more smoothly now! I have one more week to go in my mini-English classes and will help work an English camp for a week in a nearby town. Despite not having any teaching background and not wanting to teach English, I have come to find it quite rewarding. When students come to class the next day and show what they’ve learned and practiced, it makes me extremely proud! 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Yesterday was 4th of July here in Bishkek! All of us new Chui volunteers met up in Bishkek to commemorate the occasion with the majority of the seasoned Chui volunteers with a nice picnic at a local park. We had pasta salad (WITH ITALIAN DRESSING!!!), ranch dip (OH HOW I'VE MISSED RANCH. RANCH!!!! YUMMY!) and homemade chocolate chip cookies. 

We then went to the infamous Obama Bar which is Obama themed. I, of course, had to take a selfie with Mr. President Obama (it's just a cardboard cutout but looks so real!). Afterwards, we hopped on down to the local BBQ joint for some delicious pulled pork and all the fixin's! While it wasn't quite what we had hoped... it was still delicious and a nice reminder of home and comfort food. 

Until next time…. 

Just A Meager Volunteer

Disclaimer: this was actually written 4 days ago....

It’s been 4 days since I was officially sworn in as  K23 Peace Corps Kyrgyz Republic Volunteer. Life has certainly slowed down a bit since Phase 1. I have settled into my new home for the next two years. My mother is a 30 year old widow with 3 children. We live in the small Kyrgyz village of Epkin, which is about an hour marshrutka ride from the capital city of Bishkek. Since my big move, I have gone into Bishkek 2 out of the 4 days. The foodie in me needed some comforting and familiar foods. Never have I been so happy to eat a Caesar salad in my life. The past two days were full of muffins, salads, burritos, and Korean food. As much as I like the Kyrgyz food here, sometimes I just need a short break from the goat meat and potatoes. If any of you end up visiting Bishkek… don’t worry, I’ll find all the best places to eat. Story of my life…

 Yesterday was my first day of “work” with my organization. They had a “conference” with the activists from the oblast. So, my organization works with women in rural villages around the “state” by teaching them better farming techniques and business skills. Each of the villages that a part of the organization are represented by a local activist. These women met yesterday to discuss and evaluate the pros and cons that had been occurring in their villages. I look forward to working with these amazing women for the next two years. 

1 Phase Down, 2 More to Go!

Clarification: I actually wrote this post a week ago, but was never able to post it online…

Let me start by apologizing for not posting or updating blogs lately. Life in Kyrgyzstan has been pretty busy… We had our Language Proficiency Interviews this past Friday and language classes had taken up most of my time. Good news! I passed my interview/exam! To continue where I last left off:

I believe my last post was about my new permanent site, Epkin. Since then, I have hiked a beautiful mountain (only 40 minutes away from my new site btw), met my permanent host mother, passed my language interview and climbed a historic minaret.

ISSYK-ATA:

About two weeks ago, I hiked Issyk-Ata (which literally translates to “Hot Father”) with some fellow volunteers/friends. It’s about an hour and a half marshrutka ride from our Rayon Center (village center?). Famous for its natural hot springs, springs and waterfalls, it was certainly a memorable and wonderful trip! We started the day with a 40-minute hike to a little nice natural spring. With green rolling hills surrounding us, a soothing river below us and gray-ish snow-capped mountains in the background, I was just in awe of Kyrgyzstan’s beauty.

Often, we see glimpses of these mountains and hills in the distance from our current villages, but once there, I was just dumbfounded by God’s beautiful creations. I couldn’t help but think and be reminded of how insignificant we are on this Earth. We, as humans, live and die… however, God’s creations live on for generations and generations. Moments like these remind me that the world doesn’t revolve around me and this world is certainly more than what I want and aspire to be. I was just a tiny little humble creature in the midst of such beauty that at the moment, seemed so large and majestic. However, even then, my surroundings were just another tiny part of a puzzle. 

Once we reached the spring, we saw a handful of people climbing near us to capture a better view. The adventurous side of me who has missed climbing decided that it would be fun to follow suit. After climbing approximately 30 feet of steep and loose gravel, we finally reached a beautiful viewpoint. Climbing down was even scarier than climbing up… but I made it back down safe and sound! When we reached the bottom, we were surrounded by a group of junior high school aged students. Most of the time, the Kyrgyz people ignore me because I tend to fit in due to my Asian physical appearance. However, when you have a few other volunteers with you who look as Caucasian as possible, we were taking countless selfies all the way back. After this hike, I don’t think the life of the rich and famous is one I’d like to pursue if it involves paparazzi. 

A NEW FAMILY:

This past Thursday, we volunteers, met our new permanent host families in Bishkek! It was exciting and nerve-wrecking all at the same time. My new host mother is 30 years old. Her name is Nargiza and she is the widowed mother of 3 children: 2 girls (11 and 1.5) and 1 boy (9). More to come on my new family once I meet them….

THE DREADED LANGUAGE INTERVIEW:

Last Friday, we all had the dreaded Language Proficiency Interviews. It is an oral exam to test our language levels and in order to continue our training, we needed at least a Novice High to pass. Well… I PASSED! Since I’ve never had an oral exam before and was being recorded, I completely blanked out and basically forgot everything I had learned. It was quite embarrassing and terrifying. BUT I PASSED!!!! YAY! 

A LOST TOWER:

So, it’s not really a lost tower, but it made you interested right? Right? A volunteer and I went to visit a nearby minaret that is a remaining minaret of a former mosque and fortress from the ancient city of Balasagun. The city was established by the Karakhanids and was once part of the great Mongul empire. The tower itself is now only half the original size due to several major earthquakes and was rebuilt as a result. However, once we made it to the top after climbing a tiny, dark, slippery and steep staircase, the view it offered was breathtaking. As usual… oh how thankful I am to be a volunteer in this beautiful country. 

Chui, Chui, Chui

Today was the big site announcement day! When I arrived at hub site this morning, I was very nervous. So nervous in fact, I had hardly slept the night before and had a dream that I was going to an oblast that I didn't want to go to. Funny how dreams work sometimes.... 

I will be staying in Chui Oblast (when I say oblast, think states as an equivilant) in the small village of Epkin. Epkin is home to approximately 1,300 and has the basic corner stores and schools. It is located in the foothills with plenty of hiking trails and beautiful scenery! I will be working with an NGO that works to empower the women and youth population in rural villages around our oblast. This is usually done through business and basic computer training. A fellow volunteer and I are hoping to start secondary projects involving health/fitness in the area! While the location may not have been my first choice, I am extremely excited about my organization and new projects!

To be perfectly honest, I was somewhat hoping to get any other oblasts but Chui because it is where we have been for the last month during our language training. I wanted to get placed somewhere different and new in the Krygyz Republic. However, as I read about my job description and learned more about my host family, I became more and more excited. I think that it will take some time before I completely accept the fact that I will not be near Issyk-Kul, Naryn or even the newly opened and intriguing Jalala-bad. At the same time, I know that my experience will be what I make of it and I couldn't be more excited to get one of my top job choices. Besides, I'll be very close to the capital city of Bishkek and even get to eat fresh fruit year round. 

The one thing Peace Corps is definitely teaching me is to be more patient. With patience and perserverance, I know that I can make the next two years some of the best years of my life! We have two more weeks of language training before the Language Proficiency Exam (LPE). Hopefully I'll be able to pass it.... especially since I'll need to achieve an advanced level of Kyrgyz to be able to live and work effectively. After the LPE, we have one week of preparations and training for our jobs before we actually leave for our permanent sites for six weeks. After six weeks, we will then return to our training villages for three more weeks of language training before we finally complete Pre-Service Training (PST) and our 2 years service officially begins! 

The Hills are Alive and Rainy

Well, I have officially entered Week 4 of training in the Kyrgyz Republic! Hard to believe that I will soon have been here for a month. My Kyrgyz language skills are improving slowly, but surely. Let’s just say I can pronounce it and write it out grammatically. When it comes to actually speaking it… well I still have a while to go! I mean, I think I’m at the same level of a 4 year old by now? Surely. 

Today, I was finally able to travel around by myself and decided to celebrate it with a nice hike. I visited some friends/fellow volunteers in a nearby village and we hiked the hills and valleys near them. While they have the luxury of doing so at their leisure, I am not so lucky and it was just what I needed! I’ve really missed my Denver hikes and finally getting the opportunity to see Kyrgyzstan’s beautiful scenery was the perfect remedy. It was most certainly an interesting and unforgettable hike! 

Let me start from yesterday and by explaining the crazy multi-polar Kyrgyz weather. Half of yesterday was hot, humid and sunny. Then in the afternoon, out of nowhere, a mini-sandstorm emerged with huge gusts of wind. Hence, the sandstorm. Shortly afterwards, it started pouring rain and caused a power outage. I had been celebrating a friend’s birthday and we ended up waiting over 2 hours for our food due to the outage. The majority of the evening was spent in the dark and waterless. I’m not quite sure what the connection between the two is, but nevertheless, that’s how it was. 

 

Fast forwarding to this morning…. we started our hike in pretty muddy conditions! Yay! Silly me chose to not invest some super duty hiking boots before leaving the states. After trekking in muddy hills for a while, we finally stumbled upon a ridge that overlooked the nearby villages and it was absolutely breath-taking. We then decided to continue the adventure and attempted to reach a higher ridge nearby. Attempted is the key word here and we failed pretty miserably. Most of us were slipping and falling in the mud and it was hilarious. After deciding to take a different route and head back, we then stumbled upon rain. At first, it was gorgeous with the clouds and fog rolling in and surrounding us. Then, it actually started to rain and we couldn’t see the path back down. 

Long story short, we did eventually make it back home. Despite the rain, mud, cows and cow poop. Whew! 

The next post coming up this weekend will be information on my permanent site! That’s right! We find out where will officially be placed for the next two years on Friday! So exciting yet so far away… I think that my prayers to be a more patient person are definitely being answered. If you know me, I certainly need a lot of it! 

After a much needed hike, two blisters and several sore muscles later, I look forward to recuperating this week and am in anticipation of what this weekend has to offer! 

Luxemburg…...Kyrgyzstan that is!

I apologize for the long pause! The past week/10/12 days (I’ve lost count!) have been crazy! After our 3 day orientation in the capital city of Bishkek, we were separated into groups for our Pre-Service Training (PST). Therefore, internet is pretty scarce now. My group is housed in the village of Luxemburg, which is approximately half an hour away from Bishkek. In our village, there is actually another group as well. There are about 6 groups that consist of 2 groups. So, there are 6 villages and in each village, there are two groups. We have our language classes in our villages and meet in the center of all the groups at Krasnayarechka for medical, cultural and program training.

We each live with a host family and my family is a wonderful family of six! The big family I never had! My “mother” is actually the grandmother of the family. Or, the chon-apa as they say in Kyrgyz. That’s right, I’m learning the Kyrgyz language! The language is so interesting because of the Turkic and Russian influence. The grammar on the other hand…. so many rules for endings! It’s crazy to see how much we have learned in just 5 days of language schooling! Anyways, back to my family. My “mother” is 65 years old and her name is Nyrjamal. Also living with her are: her son, Taalaй, daughter-in-law, Sveta, grandson, Adelet (23), grand-daughter, Alina (21), and grandson, Argen (15). They are farmers and so everything we eat is from their garden. They also have a cow for milking, which they sell to the milkmen, who will buy their milk to sell to venders (like restaurants, bakeries and etc.) in Bishkek. They also use the milk for their own personal purposes such as drinking, yogurt and porridge making. The yogurt my mother makes is AMAZING!!!! Seriously. You have not had yogurt until you’ve had this yogurt. It has a similar taste to Greek yogurt. Here, we add some of the fruit jam to it. They add this jam (also homemade) to tea, bread, porridge and well, pretty much everything. Tea is one of the sacred drinks here. We have tea all day and every day. It’s actually quite nice! We also have salad and bread with every meal. I have yet to eat a bad meal here! I’m sure I still have some interesting dishes to taste. 

The outhouse here is quite interesting and surprisingly easier to assimilate to than I had originally thought. I just tell myself it’s like a 2 year camping trip! The other thing that has been easier to get used to is the amount of baths/showers I take here. Back in the United States, we take baths for granted. We have the luxury to do so whenever and how ever many times we want. Here, it’s just not possible to do so. I’m actually quite lucky and my family has a modern shower with hot water. Most of the other volunteers however, either have a banya or must go to a public banya. Although my family has a shower, they do not take a shower every day. Despite telling me that I can shower whenever I want to, I feel that I must do what they do. So… it’s a shower every 3 days. I have had fellow volunteers who have yet to take a bath since two Sundays ago, or they’ve only had one bath since then. Water is a sacred thing. Appreciate it. Seriously. Luckily, it’s not summer yet. I can’t even imagine…  sorry. 

As mentioned, internet/wi-fi is also not common here. Therefore, I only have access on certain days during the week when we go to the training center. Please excuse the long pauses that may continue to occur. We will become busier with more intensive language training and program training. All is well in the Kyrgyz Republic! The mountains are beautiful, the people are welcoming and my fellow volunteers are wonderful! I’m safe and I’m healthy! What more could a girl ask for? Here are a few pictures to prove it: 

Of Course We Had to End the Flight the Way it Started...

April 26, 2015

 

Yesterday, I arrived in Bishkek! After a grueling journey, I managed to arrive safe and sound with only my two-checked luggage missing. Oh, don’t worry, about 2/3 of my group lost at least one luggage. Let me start from the beginning….

 

April 24, 2015: We arrived at Dulles Airport at approximately 1PM. Our flight was scheduled for 6:35PM. This whole time, we had been thinking that we would have pleeeeeeennnntttttyyyyyy of time before our flight. How would we spend the whole 5 hours of time in between?!?! That is until 1/3 of us had already passed through security and I was almost to the screening section, when we were told that the Lufthansa check-in had completely messed up our luggage and needed us to all return to the check-in desks and re-do our checked luggage. We had been told that we would have to re-check our luggage in Istanbul. However, that was not supposed to be the case and instead, was actually supposed to go through all the way to Bishkek. Apparently, we would also have to get our boarding pass for the second flight in Frankfurt and our third boarding pass in Istanbul.   So, off to a GREAT start. Most of us came back and waited in line for about 30 minutes, when a few members of our group volunteered to stay and finish the process for us. Security: Round 2. We finally got to our gate and had about 2 hours left before our flight. About 1.5 hour before boarding, we were told that we all needed to get our visa and passport double checked with the airline. Only our group. The process took about the rest of our waiting time.

 

April 25, 2015: We landed in Frankfurt and had an hour between flights. It took us about 40 minutes to land, de-board and run to our next gate. Don’t forget, we still had to check-in at the gate to get our boarding pass for this flight. All 60 of us. Needless to say, we caused the flight to be delayed for 1 hour and our fellow passengers were NOT thrilled. 2.5 hours later, we landed in Istanbul! Thank goodness! Now, to check-in with our airline AGAIN to receive our boarding pass for our last flight! This took well over 2 hours and in the middle of the process, the line for ‘Transfers without Boarding Passes’ grew longer and was also filled with angry passengers. We would later find out that all flights were delayed and some even cancelled. Apparently, an earlier flight had landed and one of its engines had caught on fire. We were supposed to have a 5 hour layover in Istanbul. It actually ended up being 9 hours and we had to change gates in the midst of the ordeal. The cool part about our layover was the fact that the Kyrgyz Olympic Hockey Team was on the same flight and we totally took a picture with them. FINALLY arriving in Bishkek at 7:00AM… we discovered that only 1/4 of our luggage actually arrived with us. 

We ended up arriving at our hotel (the 5-Star Ak-Keme) at 8:30AM with only 4 hours until our orientation and the beginning of our training at noon. We had language lessons and introductions from 12-7pm. Needless to say, we were a sad group of volunteers. Everyone was exhausted. 

Here's a view from my hotel room: