Some very exciting things have happened in my life this week!
I don’t know if people have heard, because supposedly it made big news, but on Sunday night, there was a pretty major earthquake here in the South. I was sitting in bed, reading a book, when I suddenly heard the windows start to rattle. I thought that was strange, since it hadn’t been windy or anything last time I checked. Then I realized that the bed was shaking too, and it didn’t take long to realize what was going on. I was alone in my house because my mother was at work and the rest of the family was in the other house, but I didn’t really think to be scared until later. I found some plaster on my floor the next morning, but no real damage was done here. Supposedly almost 100 people died in a village in Osh, where it was much more intense. So there’s my first natural disaster in Kyrgyzstan!
After a few weeks of waiting, I finally got a schedule of my classes this week! It was wrong when I got it, and people are still confused (because it involved moving classes around—apparently no one had really thought that I might need a schedule or anything before I asked for the 100th time), but I think it’s all ironed out now. I’m teaching with two different teachers, one for 11th form, and one for 9th form. “Teaching with” has very different meanings for the two teachers. For 11th form, I teach and my counterpart sometimes shows up, but usually is off talking to the builders. I never know what I’m supposed to be doing, but I’ve been able to pull some uninspired lessons out of a grammar book when I’m left completely on my own. The other teacher uses the English books left over from Soviet times and teaches extremely random, useless vocabulary. So far, some of the highlights that the students have “learned” are one lesson on the British education system where the students were taught four words: to apply, prestige, tutor, and curriculum vita. Yeah, the 11th form is learning pronouns, and the 9th form is learning curriculum vita. On Thursday, I’m not sure what the lesson was supposed to be on, but they learned Gulf Stream, mild, mine, miner, and to keep in mind. I’m positive that in all of the classes I have observed, I haven’t seen a single lesson plan in use or any foresight as to what will be taught before the teacher walks into the room at the beginning of class. I’m working on a way to start working on lesson plans without completely insulting my co-teachers.
I also started “English club” this week. On Thursday, I had 10th form, with the students handpicked as the best of the class. About 3 or 4 had some clue as to how to say a simple sentence, whereas the other 10 stared blankly at me. I’m assuming a lot of them will stop coming soon, so hopefully I can focus on the few who actually care. On Friday, I had 11th form, and even less of them were at all cooperative. Next week, I agreed to do another club for 7th form, which I’m hoping will be more fun, because 7th formers aren’t quite as “cool” and distant as their older counterparts.
I had another breakthrough in my life here. I’ve been feeling bad about eating with my family recently, because I have lost the ability to stomach most of the meat (I realized that swallowing chunks of unchewed sheep meat is not healthy, but was the only way I could eat it without gagging—I really am a texturephobe), and I don’t drink milk, which makes most of the food my family eats completely useless to me. Monday night was the low point for me. We were eating dinner by candlelight, because the electricity goes out between 5 and 10 most nights. Dinner consisted of horse meat and potatoes, so I was picking around at the potatoes, pretending to eat. That will go down as the night when I realized how similar potatoes and large chunks of horse fat look by candlelight. After eating several large pieces of horse fat and weathering my grandmother yelling at me (though I can’t understand a word of it) for not eating the meat, I decided enough was enough. Since then, I’ve been cooking for myself. We have a gas stove, but so far no gas (supposedly we’re getting it on the 20th), so I’ve had to adopt a strange schedule. Since the power goes out at 5, I have to cook around 4:30, so I eat a big lunch, a smaller meal around 4:30, and another stack later if I’m hungry. My family’s not very happy that I’m not eating dinner with them, because they don’t understand that I count my 4:30 meal as dinner, but hopefully they’ll soften soon. Once the gas gets here, I can cook whenever I want, and that should make it better. This new development has made my life so much better, though. The food has been amazing – no meat, no oil, lots of flavor, pretty much the opposite of Kyrgyz food. The real breakthrough has been psychological, though. Having just a little control over my own life has made me realize just how important that control is to me. Before this week, I was told what to do all the time. At school, I’m shuffled from place to place, then I come home and people tell me when to eat, to drink more tea, what to eat, and it was driving me crazy. Now that I’ve taken a stand, I’ve been much happier.
I also had one of the most pleasant days ever on Wednesday. None of the English teachers work on Wednesdays, so I don’t either. I woke up at my normal time, ate a leisurely breakfast with my family, then went to my room and did an exercise dvd (thanks, Mom!). Then I got a taxi into town, and in the taxi made friends with a nice man. I accidentally promised to teach his 5th form daughter English (he stopped by my classroom on Thursday to schedule the classes – we start on Monday), and he insisted on paying for my taxi ride in exchange. I then went to buy some food for dinner, and stopped by my favorite chickpea lady – she’s an incredibly warm woman who cooks giant pots of chickpeas and sells them with really good spices on them. I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m Danielle, or was asking about Danielle, but she’s really sweet and the chickpeas are amazing, so I don’t really mind. Then I went to pick up a package from my mom (thanks, Mom!), and came home to sit in my window seat (or the ledge I’ve turned into a window seat), drink real American coffee (thanks, Mom!), eat cookies, and read a book. It’s amazing how the simple things can make me so happy.
With a class schedule, and clubs in the afternoon, I’m starting to get a lot busier, which is good. I’m also settling into a routine, which is really comforting (I am definitely your daughter, Dad). It’s still exciting to figure out life here, though. Next week, my cousin is getting married, so I get to experience my first real Kyrgyz wedding. I’m sure I’ll have some good stories from that!
Hope everyone’s doing well!
Love to all!
I don’t know if people have heard, because supposedly it made big news, but on Sunday night, there was a pretty major earthquake here in the South. I was sitting in bed, reading a book, when I suddenly heard the windows start to rattle. I thought that was strange, since it hadn’t been windy or anything last time I checked. Then I realized that the bed was shaking too, and it didn’t take long to realize what was going on. I was alone in my house because my mother was at work and the rest of the family was in the other house, but I didn’t really think to be scared until later. I found some plaster on my floor the next morning, but no real damage was done here. Supposedly almost 100 people died in a village in Osh, where it was much more intense. So there’s my first natural disaster in Kyrgyzstan!
After a few weeks of waiting, I finally got a schedule of my classes this week! It was wrong when I got it, and people are still confused (because it involved moving classes around—apparently no one had really thought that I might need a schedule or anything before I asked for the 100th time), but I think it’s all ironed out now. I’m teaching with two different teachers, one for 11th form, and one for 9th form. “Teaching with” has very different meanings for the two teachers. For 11th form, I teach and my counterpart sometimes shows up, but usually is off talking to the builders. I never know what I’m supposed to be doing, but I’ve been able to pull some uninspired lessons out of a grammar book when I’m left completely on my own. The other teacher uses the English books left over from Soviet times and teaches extremely random, useless vocabulary. So far, some of the highlights that the students have “learned” are one lesson on the British education system where the students were taught four words: to apply, prestige, tutor, and curriculum vita. Yeah, the 11th form is learning pronouns, and the 9th form is learning curriculum vita. On Thursday, I’m not sure what the lesson was supposed to be on, but they learned Gulf Stream, mild, mine, miner, and to keep in mind. I’m positive that in all of the classes I have observed, I haven’t seen a single lesson plan in use or any foresight as to what will be taught before the teacher walks into the room at the beginning of class. I’m working on a way to start working on lesson plans without completely insulting my co-teachers.
I also started “English club” this week. On Thursday, I had 10th form, with the students handpicked as the best of the class. About 3 or 4 had some clue as to how to say a simple sentence, whereas the other 10 stared blankly at me. I’m assuming a lot of them will stop coming soon, so hopefully I can focus on the few who actually care. On Friday, I had 11th form, and even less of them were at all cooperative. Next week, I agreed to do another club for 7th form, which I’m hoping will be more fun, because 7th formers aren’t quite as “cool” and distant as their older counterparts.
I had another breakthrough in my life here. I’ve been feeling bad about eating with my family recently, because I have lost the ability to stomach most of the meat (I realized that swallowing chunks of unchewed sheep meat is not healthy, but was the only way I could eat it without gagging—I really am a texturephobe), and I don’t drink milk, which makes most of the food my family eats completely useless to me. Monday night was the low point for me. We were eating dinner by candlelight, because the electricity goes out between 5 and 10 most nights. Dinner consisted of horse meat and potatoes, so I was picking around at the potatoes, pretending to eat. That will go down as the night when I realized how similar potatoes and large chunks of horse fat look by candlelight. After eating several large pieces of horse fat and weathering my grandmother yelling at me (though I can’t understand a word of it) for not eating the meat, I decided enough was enough. Since then, I’ve been cooking for myself. We have a gas stove, but so far no gas (supposedly we’re getting it on the 20th), so I’ve had to adopt a strange schedule. Since the power goes out at 5, I have to cook around 4:30, so I eat a big lunch, a smaller meal around 4:30, and another stack later if I’m hungry. My family’s not very happy that I’m not eating dinner with them, because they don’t understand that I count my 4:30 meal as dinner, but hopefully they’ll soften soon. Once the gas gets here, I can cook whenever I want, and that should make it better. This new development has made my life so much better, though. The food has been amazing – no meat, no oil, lots of flavor, pretty much the opposite of Kyrgyz food. The real breakthrough has been psychological, though. Having just a little control over my own life has made me realize just how important that control is to me. Before this week, I was told what to do all the time. At school, I’m shuffled from place to place, then I come home and people tell me when to eat, to drink more tea, what to eat, and it was driving me crazy. Now that I’ve taken a stand, I’ve been much happier.
I also had one of the most pleasant days ever on Wednesday. None of the English teachers work on Wednesdays, so I don’t either. I woke up at my normal time, ate a leisurely breakfast with my family, then went to my room and did an exercise dvd (thanks, Mom!). Then I got a taxi into town, and in the taxi made friends with a nice man. I accidentally promised to teach his 5th form daughter English (he stopped by my classroom on Thursday to schedule the classes – we start on Monday), and he insisted on paying for my taxi ride in exchange. I then went to buy some food for dinner, and stopped by my favorite chickpea lady – she’s an incredibly warm woman who cooks giant pots of chickpeas and sells them with really good spices on them. I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m Danielle, or was asking about Danielle, but she’s really sweet and the chickpeas are amazing, so I don’t really mind. Then I went to pick up a package from my mom (thanks, Mom!), and came home to sit in my window seat (or the ledge I’ve turned into a window seat), drink real American coffee (thanks, Mom!), eat cookies, and read a book. It’s amazing how the simple things can make me so happy.
With a class schedule, and clubs in the afternoon, I’m starting to get a lot busier, which is good. I’m also settling into a routine, which is really comforting (I am definitely your daughter, Dad). It’s still exciting to figure out life here, though. Next week, my cousin is getting married, so I get to experience my first real Kyrgyz wedding. I’m sure I’ll have some good stories from that!
Hope everyone’s doing well!
Love to all!
Also, here's a map of my house area. I have a lot of free time.
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