Yesterday was the last bell ceremony, the official end of school/graduation for the 11th form. For the schools that had several months off this winter, it wasn’t really the real end of the year. They all had the ceremony yesterday, but they have up to a month of school left. As for my school., they have exams through the first week of June, but I’m done, since I have nothing to do with the national exams. The ceremony itself was really fun. I had a seat with the honored guests at the front, so that I could take pictures and see everything that was going on. The whole thing happened in a lot right next to my school, with the students standing in their classes all around the edge and the teachers/adults at the front.

In Kyrgyz schools, each class (11th form has 11 A, 11 B, 11 V, and 11 G at my school – they’ve been in the same class since 5th form and have every class every year together) has a “class jetekji” – a homeroom teacher/advisor. They clean their class jetekji’s room every day, and the teacher advises them, yells at them, talks to parents, and serves as their parent/teacher/friend. After years together, the students and the teacher are very close. My counterpart was the class jetekji for 11 B this year. Since they spent so much time in our classroom, I’d gotten to know the girls pretty well.

The girls in 11 A all wore the same dress. The girl looking at me was my host sister when I got to the city.

This is what kids usually wear to school. The uniform throughout Kyrgyzstan is black pants/skirt and white shirt. Different classes have different colors of neckerchief. They don’t usually wear those. I haven’t quite figured out what they mean.

This is the first grade. They recently started wearing that plaid uniform. I don’t know if this is an elementary thing or a new thing. It’s pretty cute, though.

Some of my 9th form students marching with the Kyrgyz flag. The girls marching behind the flag are two of my favorites.

Each 1st grade and 11th grade class put on a little performance. These 1st graders sang a little song. It was adorable and Russian.

These two did a really Kyrgyz dance. They were actually impressively good.

11 G did a Kyrgyz dance too. The dresses were impressive.

At one point, all of the 11th form came into the center and played with bubbles, balloons, balls, and jump ropes. Rediscovering their childhood?

All of the class jetekjis for the 11th form gave speeches about their class. This is my counterpart telling her class that they’re great, and wishing them health, wealth, and happiness.

The students hugged their teachers and gave ridiculous amounts of flowers. I was given three bouquets.

As in the first bell ceremony, the official beginning of school on September 1, an older boy carries a first form girl around the circle as she rings a bell. It’s pretty cute.

So, now that that’s over, it’s officially officially summer for me now! I’m still going to work with my counterpart on a grant we’re trying to write and I’m helping her with planning for a teacher training summer camp that she and Ginger have been working on. Otherwise, I don’t have much of a chance to get bored anytime soon, since Mom’s going to be in Bishkek two weeks from today (!) and then I’m busy between Mom, Dad, and Spain (!!) until mid-July. I’m excited, to say the least.
Also, last week, the new volunteers came to visit. We’re getting two in the city and eight others in the oblast. We got a really awesome group of people, so I’m very excited about the next year we all get to spend together. With so many new volunteers and the overlap of the new ones and the K15s who won’t leave until August/September, it’s going to be a really full house here all summer. Also, my kitten keeps proving herself as the best $2.50 ever.