If someone had told me before coming to Kyrgyzstan that this ceremony existed, much less that I would participate in it one day, I would have laughed at them. On Monday, my mother told me that the next day she would be doing something that involved making food to wish for good health for her family and other things. I didn’t think much of it, because that kind of stuff happens all the time. On Tuesday afternoon, I was in my room when Aichurok (my sister) came in and said that the family was making ash (a rice dish – known as plov in the North) and asked if I wanted to come watch. I was really tired, because it’s been a stressful week, so I said no. I also bowed out of the beginning of whatever ceremony they were doing, citing the same exhaustion. She left my room, saying that she would come to get me “when the women make the wishes”. At around 7:00, Aichurok knocked on my door again and motioned me across the hall. There, in a big empty room, sat four older neighbor women, a neighbor girl who’s probably around 13, my aunt, my mother, my grandmother, and my sisters. They all were sitting on the floor (which is normal here) around a tablecloth covered in bread, borsok (small pieces of fried bread), tea, a plate of raisons, a pile of cotton fluff, and two candles. After I sat down, my neighbor handed everyone a small piece of cotton fluff and a handful of raisons. It’s important to note now that raisons here have stems, and you have to pick the stems off before eating the raisons usually. I also was told to cover my head, which hadn’t happened to me yet in country. I was sitting next to my neighbor, who is often at my house talking with the family. She turned out to be the person conducting the ceremony, as I discovered when she started chanting. I was told to pick the stems off of the raisons in front of me and to put the stems themselves onto the piece of cotton and the raisons in a pile. While doing this, I was also told to say the things I wished for. All of the other women quickly started to mutter whatever it is they wished for (mostly good health for their families, from what I could make out) and de-stem the raisons. As the rest of us worked and muttered, my neighbor continued to chant, occasionally clicking her teeth violently and yelling “hup” really loudly. Every once in a while, all of us would hold our hands in front of us, palms up, slightly cupped, while my neighbor prayed, then pass our hands over our faces and say “omeen”(they do that after every meal and when passing graveyards, mosques, etc). Then we would all go back to the raisons. To add to the ridiculous situation, the woman on the other side of my neighbor apparently has an uncontrollable burping problem, so she loudly burped periodically throughout the entire evening. After I finished my pile of raisons, my neighbor told me to do hers for her. She then pulled out a notebook and started to read a story that was handwritten over several pages. The story was also punctuated with chanting, tooth clicking, “hup”ping, and omeening. After the story and chanting were done, she passed around a bowl of water that we all drank from and a jar of salt that we all ate a pinch of (this happens with a lot of ceremonies). We all closed the cotton over our raison stems and twisted the tops so it would stay closed. We passed them all to my aunt, who collected all of the cotton balls and placed them all onto a larger piece of cotton, which she closed around all of the smaller balls. They then took the candles and the cotton away and collected the raisons back onto one plate.
We then sat around and ate and gossiped for a while. First was the bread and candy course, then a cookie course, then the ash and sheep meat course. After we ate, everyone was given a bag full of bread, borsok, candy, walnuts, and raisons. I was also given a hand towel by my mother as a gift. At about 9:00, as soon as everyone was done with the ash, we all filed out of the room to go home. Now I am left bewildered. What exactly was I doing? What will they now do with a large cotton ball full of small cotton balls full of raison stems? Why did this happen at all? I may never quite know the answers to these questions, but I am enjoying my cup full of de-stemmed raisons…
Besides de-stemming raisons onto cotton balls, the past few weeks have been very eventful. I can’t exactly get into it, because I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I may have big news in the next few weeks. Peace Corps came for usual site visits that happen every year to check up on us, our work, our houses, and our families. Work has been far from ideal, so we’re all working together to try to fix it so that my situation improves. I’ll keep everyone posted as it unfolds.
As an example of the amount of free time and creativity I have here, last week, I had two major projects. Both of these were done while watching an entire season of Beverly Hills 90210 in two days (don’t worry, I’m judging myself too). First, I found a bag full of scraps of yarn left over from a summer camp. None of the pieces of yarn were really big enough to do anything with, but I had a lot of time, so I knit some of them into small squares. I then sewed those into a larger square of squares. Now I don’t know what to do with said square of squares, but I have it hanging off of my bookshelf. I put a pin into it, so it’s kind of a pincushion? My second project was what’s called a “peace corps wallet”. This is a paper wallet collaged with various clippings from magazines that a lot of volunteers make to keep busy. Most are just simple envelopes covered in magazine clippings. Anyone who remembers my handmade souvenirs from India will understand how mine is more complicated than most; it has two compartments, a coin part with a closure, and a fancy closure on the outside. It’s already been proven (by the intricate cd case made of Hindi handouts in India) that I can make pretty much anything if given a roll of tape and paper. I’m kind of scared to see what happens once real winter rolls around…
Otherwise, the thing that is keeping me going is planning a trip! Since almost no schools around here will be in session from late December until March (no electricity means no heat, which means no school), I’ll have plenty of free time and PC has been encouraging us to travel, since they don’t want us all to drop out because of the boredom and cold of winter. Because of this and because I’m already in Asia, my friend Nick and I are going to Thailand together in the first week of February. We plan on spending the entire week lying on the beach and eating seafood. I’m also really excited about the prospect of having a shower in the hotel room. By this point, it’s the little things that get me excited.
So, I don’t mean to be cryptic, but I really can’t say much and don’t know what exactly is going to happen, but between work and site visits, my life has been a rollercoaster of emotions for the past few weeks. As promised, Peace Corps has already provided me with really high emotional highs and really low lows, often in the same day, hour, or even minute. Luckily, I have an amazing support system with all of the other incredible volunteers in this area who have helped me cheer up, stay optimistic, and fight for what I need, and of course my fantastic mother with her curious phone calls.
Until next time, I hope everyone is doing great. Happy Thanksgiving, and all of that! We’re having a pie-off here on Thursday and a real Thanksgiving meal over the weekend, so don’t worry about me. It may not be America, but it will be tasty.

I'm not allowed to have any political opinions (or at least express them), but Obama!!! You all know what I'm feeling right now. I'm proud. I went down to Osh on Tuesday to help with a special class on the US election system (explaining the electoral college makes it obvious what an odd and unnecessarilly complicated system it is...) and to watch the commentary and results on international CNN. I feel like this will be one of those moments that everyone remembers where they were when they heard. I was in the American Center in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, with other volunteers, Kyrgyz students, and US embassy workers. That's pretty amazing.
Besides that, I don't really have much to say. It's pretty much been more of same recently. I do, however, have some pictures, so they should say more than I can now.





Ariel and her amazing counterpart. We (and by we, I obviously mean Ariel's counterpart) made the best samsas of my life. These were potatoes and cheese inside a baked bread pocket, kind of like samosas, with different fillings.










Last weekend, I went hiking in the walnut forest. It was a really foggy day, but the views were still spectacular


















The forest itself is kind of creepy with the fallen leaves and the fog. Sleepy Hollow, anyone?









More hiking views















We had hotdogs and roasted peppers for lunch. Luckily, our group had two Eagle Scouts and one ex Air Force guy. Apparently they can make a fire out of pretty much anything, including very wet wood.















My classroom












My room. Notice the SC pride.