So I had a long, semi eloquent explanation of my first week at my permanent site written, but this computer is all in Russian and I can't find how to get to my flash drive, so I'm going to give up and write another less eloquent explanation.
Last Thursday (September 18), I became an official Peace Corps volunteer, after three months of being a "trainee". The ceremony was nice, with my host family and the teacher I will be working with in the audience. Afterward, we had a night with all of us at the same hotel. We had a party in one room, with a lot of people and no electricity (c'est la vie here), which reminded me how much I love our group of volunteers.
Early Friday morning, however, reality hit and we left to fly to Osh and drive to J-bad from there. Since then, I have been living in my village, adjusting and trying to figure out everything.
The transition has been pretty difficult, because several things working together. First, I left Kant with a cold that has since become a lung and sinus infection. I am on a lot of antibiotics now, so I should be feeling better in a few days, but the past week or so has been spent with me exhausted from hacking up my lungs all day.
Also, my predicessor, Danielle, had a big project at the end of her service that was building a fence around the school grounds. The project isn't done yet, so I had to pick up where she left off. Peace Corps says that we aren't supposed to do any big projects for at least the first three months of service, because we need time to adjust and we have training in January on how to do projects, so I dont' know what's going on now. On my first day, I spent more time shopping for welding supplies than at school. My counterpart is much more interested in the project than in me teaching, because everyone wants the project to be over as fast as possible.
Teaching has also been a struggle. I've spent a lot of time sitting in my classroom while the English teachers fight in Kyrgyz about my schedule. After days of that, I still don't have a schedule. I've taught a few classes, with differing success. Each grade are divided into three or four class (A, B, V, and G), with A being the best students and V or G being the worst. Yesterday, my counterpart and I taught 10th grade A and B together, then she threw me into a room with 10 V and left for the entire period. The boys in the class were aweful. The girls at least put a tiny bit of effort into the assignment they were supposed to be doing, but the boys were aweful. I quickly became a real teacher-- yelling at them and even confiscating a cell phone (one boy kept trying to take pictures of me with his phone. He deserved it). By the end, the boys had all copied the right answers from the girls, and I had given up on them. Hopefully, I can talk to my counterpart to let her know that I can't be alone with them.
One extreme positive so far, however, has been my family. They have been extremely warm and inviting to me. My mother is really cute and sweet. The boys have started to say hi to me (a big step for teenage boys). My two year-old sister is a great source of entertainment, especially since my language is so limited. A few days ago, she found a book with pictures of Americans, and went through and pointed to every girl and said "Lesie Ejey" (Lesie = the closest she can get to Leslie, and Ejey = older sister/respectful term for a girl older than you). My 14 year-old sister has been amazing, since her English is so good. She's been really helpful with the adjustment and explaining everything to me. She's also a really sweet girl, so we've had fun together. My aunt and grandmother are both nice, though we don't talk much. Even the dogs I was terrified of before have turned out to be really nice. The houses are nice too-- I like living with so many animals around the yard.
After my first day of school, I was extremely frustrated and pretty upset about how things were happening. Aichuruk, the 14 year-old, asked if I wanted to go for a walk with her. We walked out to the edge of another village, and then turned back. As we turned around, so did my mood. In front of me was such a gorgeous view -- the sun was setting over a row of weeping willows, with the mosque poking up above them. All around me was farmland, full of sunflowers and wheat. It was amazing how quickly I became content again. It's the little things in life that make it what it is.
Last night was the two-year anniversary of my grandfather's death, and a big party. The family spent all day cooking and killing a sheep. They let me help make borsok (little pieces of fried bread) and clean out the sheep's intestines. Needless to say, I found one activity more pleasant than the other, but I'm glad they're letting me help. In the evening, a lot of people came to the house, and we spent hours cooking, eating, and sitting. There was one room full of men, and two full of women and children. I was pretty exhausted from being sick, so the hours of sitting got tiring, but it was great to be able to watch such a big group of women enjoying themselves.
The movement from training to work has been interesting and challanging, but I'm still very excited about what I am doing here. I'm looking forward to settling in and getting a routine, as well as getting to know my family and my village better.
Also, I heard recently that you can send me text messages for free online! Go to http://megacom.kg (my cellphone company) (when it first loads, click where it says "eng" for english). On the left, click on the second option, "send SMS" and scroll down. My number is 996550 (the second option) then 324451. Be sure to say who you are, so I don't get confused. Also, remember that my cell phone is my alarm clock, and we're 10 hours ahead of the East coast here, so don't wake me up, or I'll get cranky. Other than that, please do say hi if you want!
I'll post more when I can next!