So, the year is definitely winding down, as the temperatures go up... I'm not quite sure how many more weeks of school I have left (my counterpart also doesn't know...), but it could be between two and four. I'm betting on two, but don't hold me to that. As the days have become increasingly gorgeous, I've been finally motivating myself to spend more and more time outside. My school is pretty much in the opposite corner of the city from my apartment, so I always assumed it would take hours to walk to school. Then, one day a few weeks ago, I decided to experiment. It turns out it only takes about 30 minutes to walk from the center, and about 45 from my apartment. I have started walking to and from school as much as possible, which I'm really enjoying. I walk down some railroad tracks most of the way, so I don't have to worry about traffic or even many people, except for the occasional train, which is more exciting than anything else. It's a great way to take up some of that free time I talk about so much, save some money (12 som a day for marshrutkas! That's... 30 cents...), and get to actually move a little. I've also been going for more walks in the hills behind my apartment, which is really relaxing. I love how quickly I can get out of the city and into what feels like the middle of nowhere. Once I turn off onto the dirt road that leads up the hills, the only people I ever see are the shepards and plenty of sheep. When I went up this week, however, I came across a freshly dug coffin-sized hole in the middle of the field, which is a little disconcerting...
This week was full of Kyrgyz holidays, so I haven't had much school recently. On Tuesday, Ginger's counterpart, who I've met a few times before, invited me and Fritz and Ginger to her apartment (in a "microrayon" (a city within a city) called Spudnik) to go "guesting". It was such a pleasant experience! We met her young kids and her husband, who was really nice. She made a full spread of Kyrgyz food and salads which was really delicious. I also had my first (and probably last) sip of komus (fermented mare's milk). Gulbara's husband poured us each a large bowl full of the carbonated milky liquid with brown chunks floating in it out of a dirctly recycled soda bottle. The three of us looked at eachother, and decided that there was no time like the present, so we all took a sip at the same time. The taste was ... unusual. It's much smokier than I anicipated. It tasted a lot like hickory, as Fritz pointed out. As we all sat there, we metally checked on our throats, hoping we wouldn't have a horrible allergic reaction (some people are deathly allergic to horse products, which you don't quite figure out until you comet to Krygyzstan...), but luckily none came. Fritz drank a few more sips to be polite, but I couldn't force more than that first one down without gagging, so I left it. Besides the komus, we had a great time and even walked away from the day with presents and food in hand!
And in exciting news, last night a bunch of us went to Sarah's apartment to celebrate her birthday (by eating tacos!). While we were sitting around before dinner, Ginger suddenly screamed something. We looked down and saw that she had just been stung by a scorpion! Her foot got really swollen and red and obviously hurt a lot, but the doctors said she should be fine in a few days. She and Fritz are heading to Bishkek today, and then they're flying home to America (this trip was already planned) for their son's graduation.
Good luck with the end of the semester, to those of whom are affected by it. I'm off to walk to work!