Leslie in Kyrgyzstan!: One month!?

The realization that one month ago, I was in the air, on my way to Bishkek is surprising in many ways. First, it feels like this has been the longest month of my life, but secondly, it puts this whole adventure into some perspective. Every once in a while, I get the flashes of “oh my god, I am going to be here for two years!”. Even those moments house a lot of emotions simultaneously: so far, I’ve been loving this country and the people in it, so I am very excited to be here with them, working and learning and all of that; on the other hand, if I measure the next two years off of this last month, it looks daunting. That being said, I am very excited to be here and have been having a great time. I can’t wait to find out where I will be (I find out two weeks from today!) and to get started with my teaching and working with the community. I thought I had a good idea about where I was going to end up, but I found out today that that is probably not going to happen. I’m glad I found that out now, so that I won’t be surprised or disappointed when I do find out where I’m going, but I’m still really positive about all of the regions, so I’m sure I’ll be happy about any placement. I’ve gotten into a very comfortable routine here. Every day, I get up early (thanks to the animals), have breakfast and chai with my parents, relax, and walk my five minute commute to class at 8:30. There, the four of us have class until 12, when we meet up with the other group in town for lunch, where the host mothers continue to work to outdo each other. This competition is great for us, because every lunch has been amazing so far. After lunch, we usually have more sessions (cross cultural, or teaching tech) or sometimes just free time. I usually relax after class, either in my room, or outside with my sisters. We eat around 7:00 every night, then I talk with my family and read/study/watch movies on my computer until I pretty much pass out. It’s still exhausting to live here, in that it’s hard to escape the Kyrgyz and everything. The past few days have been a lot cooler, which is making everything easier. It’s nice to not wake up drenched in sweat (though I haven’t made it so far as to sleep with a sheet over me or anything), and it’s finally pleasant to be outside. It will be interesting to live in such a strongly “seasoned” environment. We get the best and the worst of each season, but I’ve experienced that already… Last week, we started “English Club”, which has been a lot of fun. Two days a week, for an hour a day, we hold classes. It’s great practice to be able to work with Kyrgyz kids on English before I even set foot in a real classroom. We split the group into three classes, with three volunteers in each group. I’m in one of the younger groups – our kids range from probably 8-12 years old. Their English also varies, but it pretty basic, for the most part. We spent last week learning body parts (meaning we sang a lot of “head shoulders knees and toes” and played the hokey pokey). This week, we’re focusing on clothing and colors. We even wrote our own song to teach the colors. Getting up in front of a group of students to present a lesson is encouraging. It’s been fun, and there haven’t been any real problems yet, so I’m not quite as scared about being a teacher in a month. One month from now, I will be just returning from visiting my permanent site, where I will introduce myself to the school and check out the community. From there, I have another week and a half before I’m sworn in as an official volunteer! Everything is still going well here. My family is amazing (I can hear squeals of laughter from my 10 year old sister in the next room now, as I pre-type this) and the other volunteers in the village are great. On Sunday, we got together to make American style brunch (hash browns, omelets, and French toast) at Serena’s. By “American style”, however, I mean cooked partially in a toaster oven, partially in a griddle on a hot plate with no temperature controls, and partially in a giant woodburning outdoor wok. It was definitely a process, but it was a lot of fun and tasted great! Kyrgyz classes are coming along well. For the past few days, I’ve been talking a lot more at breakfast and dinner with my family, and my father keeps telling me how good my Kyrgyz is getting. I’ve gotten to the point where I can actually carry on real conversations beyond the standard “hello my name is”. Yesterday at breakfast, I told them all about my host parents in India and we talked about how good it is to learn about other cultures. All of that in Kyrgyz, with no dictionaries or anything. Progress is always fun. Otherwise, everything is pretty much uneventful. I’ve been feeling good, sleeping well, eating well, and all of that fun stuff. I hope everyone else is doing well at home. Keep me posted on how everything is, so that I don’t fall too far behind on everyone’s lives. It may take me a week or two, but I will respond to the best of my ability!
Love to all, Leslie

And now, because I have the time and a USB port that works, I will overload you all with pictures. Some of these were stolen from Joni and Serena, but most are mine.