Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Free Time Activities

While it sometimes feels like we have very little free time (classes 6 days a week can do that to you), we have been able to find time for some entertainment. Most of the things we do here are similar to free time activities we did in the US, just with a twist.

As in the US, we enjoy spending some of our free time reading. Unlike in the US, books are in short supply due to the fact that we’re not in an English speaking country and we had very specific weight restrictions on our luggage. (We were tempted to pack books instead of socks, but opted for the socks at the last minute). Due to our limited supply we find ourselves trading books with other PC trainees and, therefore, reading some books that we probably wouldn’t have read in the US. So far this has turned out to be a good thing as we have read many interesting and entertaining books.

As in the US we enjoy spending time outdoors. This most frequently means walking. We walk each morning and sometimes take a stroll around the neighborhood in the evening. Unlike in the US, we have to be on the look out for…

Watching DVDs is also a favorite free time activity. Similar to the book situation, we are in short supply of DVDs so we borrow those as well. We view DVDs on our computer screen, either just the two of us or with friends.

Traveling is also something that we like to do when we can. Two weeks ago we took a bus ride to a nearby city and walked through the animal bizarre (cows, goats, sheep, horses, ducks, rabbits, turkeys, dogs, chickens—all on sale) and a clothing bizarre. This past weekend we walked to some Buddhist ruins in a neighboring village. Archeologists are currently excavating the ruins.

Hanging out with other PC trainees is always fun. We recently had a pizza and card night at another trainee’s home. The pizza didn’t turn out too badly. We were able to make it with the bread that people commonly eat here (it’s round and has a thick crust, just like pizza dough). We bought tomato sauce, tomatoes, olives, onions and cheese and we were all set! Instead of cooking the pizzas in an oven we put them in a covered frying pan. Playing cards was fun, too, because we learned a few Kyrgyz games from our language teacher.

Playing sports is another way we like to spend our free time. While the soccer/basketball/volleyball that Martin bought has long since deflated, we have been able to play basketball with the village PE teacher using his sports equipment. Basketball games are quite entertaining. Our most recent basketball game included a few trainees, our language teacher, the village PE teacher and a few neighborhood children. The village

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Konoks

August 19, 2007

One of the most enjoyable aspects of Kyrgyz societies is the tradition of konok, or guesting. Konok (gosti in Russian) is the process in which you go over and visit a neighbor. It generally involves tea and a lot of food. Usually, the person hosting offers their best food and sits the guests in the seat of honor, which is usually a raised seat at the end of the table. For Lauren, it is a little similar to the once tradition in Chile, except there is a lot more pressure to eat. Families invite others for konok for special occasions or just to make someone feel welcome in the neighborhood. So far, Lauren and I have gone on konok three times each and they are the times that we feel most welcome within our neighberhood.

The first time we went on konok was part of our Kyrgyz language class. We had just learned directions and we, in partners, were supposed to find particular family’s houses by asking locals where people lived. One of the catches was that we were only given the first names of the husband and the wife. In a community in the US this task would have been impossible, but in the community we are in everybody knows everybody by name and knows who everyone’s husband or wife is. During this experience, we may have learned more Kyrgyz than any other class. More than that, we were shocked by how people were willing to stop their day to have tea with a new member of the community. Martin and his partner went to the house of a woman who ran a store out of her house. She closed the store for over an hour and fed him all of the best treats from her store: her best bread, fruits, tomatoes, coffee, tea, cookies, and chocolates. Lauren’s hosts similarly made the most of everything

Monday, August 13, 2007

Since we’re at the point when all that was atypical is beginning to feel typical, I thought it might be interesting to share with you our typical day in Kyrgyzstan. We have started to go for walks in the morning since walking is the easiest and most accepted form of exercise here (not that we see any Kyrgyz people walking just for fun). So, we wake up at around 6:15 am and head out of the house just about the time that all the cows are leaving for their day in the fields. Walks here require a bit more concentration than walks at home since we are regularly dodging the presents that the cows leave for us along the road. On our walks we get more than our fair share of second glances, but everyone is very friendly. On occasion we are even stopped and asked if we will bring a package or a letter back with us to the states for someone’s relative that moved there. Usually when they hear that we’re going to be in the country for two years they decide to take their chances with the postal service.

When we return from our walk we prepare for our day. Like going for a walk, it is a little bit different getting ready in the morning. The primary difference is that there is no running water. Our host family has running water a few hours every day. During that time they collect water in large tanks and use it throughout the day. Unfortunately, because of the source of the water, we can’t use it on our toothbrushes. Therefore, we usually brush our teeth using our filtered water at the sink outside. It is also customary in Kyrgyzstan to wash your hands and face before breakfast, because cleanliness at meals is very important. Right before we sit down for breakfast we usually change into our clothes for the day, business casual according to PC dress code, and fill our water bottles with water from our water filter. Usually, at about 7:30 we sit down for breakfast.

Breakfast in Kyrgyzstan, at least for us, is a lot hardier than American fare. We generally have bread, a vegetable salad, some tea, and some sort of main course. As it is summer, we usually eat outside at table that is at ground level, so we must sit on the ground to eat our meals. By 7:50, we are up from the table and on our way to language class in the village or to the marshrootka (private bus) stop to head into Kant for Peace Corps training.

On days that we remain in our village for language training, we travel to our teacher’s house, which only about 10 minutes away. There we gather with 3 other PC trainees and learn the ins and outs of the Kyrgyz language. Each day, we usually have one or two grammar lessons and we learn a set of vocabulary words. To reduce the monotony of drills, our teacher (mugalim), usually has us play games to perfect our word command. For example, today we led someone blindfolded around the neighborhood looking for a bottle using only Kyrgyz directional phrases.

At around 12:15 we break for lunch. Our village host mothers decided that it was convenient for them if we all rotated from home to home for lunches so that they don’t each have to prepare lunch everyday. We enjoy rotating homes in which we have lunch because we get to see the different ways each family prepares things. We also get to know each of the host families a bit better.

On days that we’re in the village, Lauren usually has English Club after lunch. English Club is an hour-long club held at the local school for children in the village. It serves several purposes, the main ones being: to give students practice with English, to get trainees more integrated into the community and to give TEFL trainees an opportunity to practice teaching English. During this time, Martin has technical language self-study, which is known in the US as naptime.

On Peace Corps Days we board a marshrootka and take a ride to Kant. These are especially exciting days as we have access to a flush toilet (albeit one with a shower curtain as a door) and to the internet. The mornings on Peace Corps Days are usually reserved for medical and safety lessons and the afternoons are primarily cultural adaptation discussions.

In the late afternoon/evening, before dinner, we usually spend some time studying Kyrgyz, interacting with our host family and reading or writing. Opportunities to interact with our host family include: getting help with our Kyrgyz homework, watching TV or movies together (usually programs are dubbed in Russian), helping prepare food, walking to the store together for bread or tomatoes or just regular conversation. And of course, we try to get a little bit of self-study in then, too.

Dinner is much like lunch, there is a lot of food served. Dinner (and lunch) also seem to last a bit longer here than in the US. When we finally do sit down for one of these meals they usually last at least an hour.

After dinner we get ready to settle in for the night and make what we hope will be our last trip to the outhouse until morning. Unfortunately, on occasion it is necessary to venture into the darkness and brave the outhouse at night. Luckily we have a headlamp to assist us. While the light is pretty strong, we still have to tread carefully because the headlamp doesn’t always illuminate the safest path around the “gifts” the cows leave in the backyard.

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Day in the Life of a Peace Corps Trainee

State Fair East

We’ve been reminded of the phrase “til the cows come home” several times this week. Before elaborating on the incidents that have brought this saying to the forefront of our minds, it is important to first explain the cow situation in Kyrgyzstan in some detail. There are cows everywhere. There are probably more cows than people. Every family seems to have a few cows that live with them. We have three that reside in our backyard near the sun shower and “toilet.” The cows in Kyrgyzstan are quite independent. Every morning they exit through their owners’ front gates and walk to an open field where all the cows “hang out.” For some cows the walk to the open field involves making various turns onto different streets in the neighborhood (not a single street sign in sight to guide them) and crossing the major road that runs through our village and all the way into Bishkek. There are no crossing guards or stoplights to help them dodge the cars on this major thoroughfare. At the end of the day, one that we imagine is filled with fun, relaxation and food, the cows reverse their route and return home. It’s really amazing to watch the cows parade home because they know just where to go. The other day we witnessed two of them waiting patiently outside of their gate until someone realized that they were home and let them in. It’s all a seemingly smooth process, that is, until the day that the cows do not come home. For two of our cows that day was Saturday. We have a few theories as to their whereabouts on the night in question. Originally I (Lauren) thought that they might have been out with a bunch of floozies, but then Martin reminded me that, if anything, they were the floozies (the whole dairy cows being a female thing). Anyway, our host sister was in quite a tizzy upon realizing that the cows had skipped curfew. She was the only one at home with us at the time. When our host parents did get home our ata (host dad) went looking for the cows. Finally the cows returned home sometime around 4am—we have this highly classified information because Martin was very ill that evening and was up for most of it. The next day our cows learned that there are consequences for their actions…they were grounded and couldn’t go out to play with the other cows. If these type of late night shenanigans on the part of our cows continue we might have to contact the dairy farmers of California and inform them that happy cows, in fact, come from Kyrgyzstan.