So far Spring has been great. The weather has warmed up, the new volunteers
have arrived, 55 of them, but I haven’t met any of them and I think I’ll have
my grant money in time to get everything ready for my camp! The fruit trees are all blooming and I can’t
wait for fresh apricots and cherries soon.
Most of my time has been consumed preparing for camp. We’ve been getting lessons ready, scavenging
up flipcharts and markers from other volunteers since I don’t have money to buy
our own yet to get lessons ready, and finalizing our resource book. The next week I’ll be going with my
counterpart and tutor to Bishkek for a short 2 day training on youth camps. After that I’ll be spending the next week in
Bishkek making books and buying supplies assuming I have the grant money by
then. I am also happy that our weekly
English club is now done. We are going
on an ‘excursion’ to the lake on Saturday as a little end of the year
party.
I remember back during PST we learned about the “cycle of
vulnerability and adjustment” it is a little chart that shows typical volunteer’s
feelings during their service. Around
this time I should be experiencing my mid-service crisis, but knock on wood so
far no crisis unless being out of creamy jif peanut butter counts! In fact I’m feeling very exciting and
optimistic about the upcoming months, in June I have my camp, then travel with
my parents in Turkey then showing them around Kyrgyzstan, in July I just plan
to go to the lake a lot, and do some hiking, come august we have our mid
service conference and I’ll start working on my next project, toilets and hand
washing stations! The beginning of the
school year will be busy with monitoring and evaluating for my camp and closing
my grant out and planning the next project.
Then in October I get to go to the good ole’ US of A for a couple of
weeks for my sister’s wedding along with Gator football, good beer, good food,
and good friends. I’m very exciting to
go home but it will be weird traveling home on a short vacation.
Random act of
kindness
Being a volunteer and a volunteer that looks very different
from the majority of the population can be a drag. People assume I don’t speak Kyrgyz, I don’t
know how much things costs, and as a result many situations arise where I am
talked about in front of me and locals try and rip me off. I don’t care if people talk about me so
that’s irrelevant to me, but I hate being ripped off. I get where people are coming from when they
try and get a little extra out of people that aren’t from the place and don’t
know how much things cost, but that doesn’t make it right and I hate it just as
much. At first I wasn’t sure how much everything cost, now I do. And I refuse to pay when they try and charge
more. I even ooyat (shame) them when I
am feeling in the mood. This past
weekend I was heading to Karakol to get some supplies for my camp. Whenver I travel I bring a backpack with a
little bit of stuff in it. The trip to
Karakol from my village cost 150 som ($3) always. No matter how much luggage, or other things
you have. The ladies always bring
their giant bags full of products from the bazar and are never charged
extra. When I got on the bus the guy tried to charge me 200 som. I said no, I said it never costs that much, then he tried to tell me that gas is more
expensive and I had a bag so it was 200.
BS! Knowing it was BS I wouldn’t
budge and give him the extra 50 som. If
you are in America reading this, an extra dollar is nothing, but when you live
here, speak the language and live on a very small salary $1 is a lot! Especially when someone is trying to cheat
you. So I wouldn’t give the driver the
money then a young 10 year old kid who had befriended me at the bus stop gave
the driver 50 som. I then turned to him
(Bek) and asked what are you doing don’t do that. But he did.
Now I was pissed at the driver and felt like a jerk because this kid
just paid. I tried to give him the
remaining 40 som in my wallet but he wouldn’t take it and showed me his 700 som
(about $15) and said he was rich. Of
course this was money from his parents for the weekend. Bek and I talked most of the trip until the
bus filled up and some old out of shape middle aged woman made him get up so
she could sit. Once we got to Karakol
the driver gave Bek his 50 som back!!! I felt victorious. I then gave him some reese's candy I had that my parent had sent me. Back in the village I’ve ran
into Bek almost everyday. He played
kickball with us the other day and is coming on our excursion to the lake with
my English club students on Saturday.
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| Not Bek, but kickball |
As volunteers we become very cynical towards Kyrgyzstan at
times, the drunk men, the pushy women, the horrible food, the rude yet
hospitable people, and more. While what
Bek did is really a small thing it was a big thing at the moment. Like any place there are cheaters, drunks,
and rude people and they often are the ones we remember but we are surrounded
by so many more people like Bek all the time we just fail to take those moments
in.
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| A random Kyrgyz lady who wanted me to take a picture of her and her cow while I was hiking |
Holidays and breaking
the peace
Holidays are huge in Kyrgyzstan. In May I believe there are 4 or 5 government
holidays. For each holiday there are no
classes, no work, and people get drunk.
We can thank the Soviet Union for the last one. I bring this up because the drunks have been
out en masse lately. Normally there are
a few in the center of my village but they stay there. Lately I’ve run into
them in the stores, by my house, and saw one harassing an elderly lady. This is madness. Yesterday one reminded I wasn’t Kyrgyz so
that was useful, I had almost forgot.
Today I had one ask me to buy him a jooz gram (100 grams of horrible
alcohol) while I was getting some eggs, and as I mentioned there was a young 28ish
year old guy screaming and pushing a woman who was at least 50. That was unreal. Fortunately their were other guys their
trying to get him to chill out. The
holidays in May are all very nationalistic: the names according to Wikipedia,
May 1st Kyrgyzstan People's Unity Day, May 5th Constitution
day, May 8th remembrance day (carried over from the Soviet Union),
and May 9th Great Patriotic War Against Fascism Victory Day
(WW2). These holidays give the men of
Kyrgyzstan one more not needed excuse to get drunk and act obnoxious. We even received a text alert from our Peace
Corps safety and security officer saying “Tomorrow is victory day. Avoid angry
drunks and beware of provocation due to anti-western sentiments in local
media.” I’ll be happy when the drunks
move back into their homes and smoke filled billiard halls and off of the
streets of the usually quiet and peaceful Karl Marx (my village). Kyrgyzstan has also provided some history
lessons during the holiday season, from a news headline “"Bishkek to host
campaign 'We Have Won' dedicated to 69th anniversary of Victory in WWII,"”
and another volunteer’s host brother informed her “As my host brother explained
to me last year on WWII Victory Day: "Kyrgyzstan killed Hitler."” I wish I was making this stuff up, I really
do! I don't want to downplay the effects of WWII had on Kyrgyzstan in any way though, and almost 8% of the population of Kyrgyzstan died as a result of the war.
I guess I can’t hate too much since we have plenty of drunk obnoxious overly patriotic Americans too.
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| Our village monument for WWII |
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| Karl watches over us in front of our government building |
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