Spot!

My host family's house.

The street I live on. The tannish rectangle on the road is rice drying- very common when the sun is out.

The host family's transportation, a tricycle. I usually ride these to get to and from the city. Imagine that tiny thing with at least 9 people!

Toto, she lives at my house.

My bike! I don't get to ride it everyday, but everyone in my house has started riding it, as well as several kids from the neighborhood.

My really fancy "washing machine."

My "shower."

Three of the kittens! George, Kito and Murphy Brown.This is the large spider that lives in my bathroom. He just kind of hangs out on the wall. Occasionally he moves to inside the toilet paper roll-it can be a bit of a shock when he pops out.

Typhoon season is supposedly coming to an end. I’ll be glad to have hot sunny days back. It was nice for a few weeks that the rain kept the heat down, but after three months of gloomy days, I can’t wait for continuous sunshine. All the sunshine will certainly make laundry much better. Because of all the rain recently my clothes have been taking a long time to time. My host family has an area to hang up clothes over the pigsty (luckily we don’t have any pigs), so they are kept dry from the rain. However, because they don’t get any sun, it can take a week for them to dry. And by the time they are dry, they sometimes have a not so delightful mildew smell; I wear them anyway. I’ve been trying to re-wear clothes as much as possible to cut down on the amount of laundry I need to do, but this too presents a problem. The clothes I don’t wear are left in my dresser to fester. Everything in my room is damp, so the clothes left in my dresser become moldy. So in the end I need to wash the clothes in my dresser as well. Either I was my clothes and they’re mildewy or I don’t and they’re moldy. Which is worse? The last few weeks I’ve spent a lot of time working on the remedial reading program, or trying to at least. We’ve decided to call it a reading enhancement program so that the students that will be enrolled won’t feel so stigmatized. It’s a slow going process. It looks like the students, between 5-7 from each class, will have at least two sessions during the regular English class hour, and then additional tutoring after school. I’ll be teaching the hours during the school day, and most of the teachers volunteered to help with tutoring after school (yeah!). I think we’re going to try and start a peer-mentoring program as well. Hopefully we will be able to start holding classes beginning mid-September. I’ve also been working on fixing up the library. There are a few organizations in the US that donate books to libraries and schools overseas. My counterpart and I have contacted a couple and have already received confirmation of a few shipments of books! The school is excited; hopefully the books will be able to fit our needs. I’m also going to start having biweekly seminars for the teachers at my school, and maybe even a few from the neighboring high school. Earlier this week the teachers completed a needs assessment survey about what type of trainings they are interested in, and specifically what topics they would like covered. Every single teacher was interested in a seminar about remedial reading and general reading comprehension strategies. When I got their surveys back I was elated that they all felt that way. It’s always awesome to recognize a need, but then to have the community recognize the same need! From all the above paragraphs it sounds like I’m really busy- I’m not. I have a lot of free time. I’ve been reading a lot of books, luckily my mom has been sending a lot, and I have a bunch that I borrowed from the Peace Corps office when I was there in July. I’ve also been spending a lot of time with the four kittens. They are adorable, and take up a lot of my attention. My host family needs to give them away before I become too attached to them! I don’t spend a lot of time seeing other PCVs. Occasionally I have lunch or a dinner with a couple who live near me. But most weekends I spend my time at my house, playing with the kids. It’s so different from Kyrgyzstan. There I spent a lot of time with other volunteers. Every weekend we would all hang out, plus lunch on an almost daily basis. Some days I miss having that camaraderie, but other days I love that I spend so much time with my awesome host family! Earlier this month, my host mother’s and counterpart’s mother died. The last month has been filled with traditional Filipino death observances. First there was the wake, across the street at my counterpart’s house, in the week leading up to the burial. Every night I trooped across the street and sat while families from all over the neighborhood came and prayed and sang. The night after the funeral, all the kids rubbed used motor oil on their skin to they would blend in with the darkness of night so that the ghost would pass them by. It turned into a bit of a slap fight as all the kids ran around trying to rub oil on everyone. The next night, many of the older women from the community returned and after saying the rosary, they played games. One game involved everyone sitting in a circle holding hands, with one person standing in the middle. While they sang a song, they moved their hands rhythmically and tried to pass a stone around the circle without breaking their hands. The person in the center would try and guess where the stone was. If the stone made it all the way around the circle without being found, then the circle won. If, however, the person in the middle found the stone then the person who was holding it as the time had to say a joke. It was fascinating to watch. The funeral was over two weeks ago, and still every night we congregate at my counterpart’s house to hold vigil and say the rosary (I mostly watch, and eat the snacks after). Last week I celebrated the one year anniversary of my arrival in the Philippines! There wasn’t really much celebrating, but the event prompted me to reflect on not only my last year in the Philippines, but also my last three years as a volunteer. I still can’t believe that I’ve been doing this for three years, it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. But I’m happy to say that knowing what I know now, if I went back to three years ago, I would still make the decision to be a volunteer. 

I’ve been trying to grow cilantro; it’s not going very well. I have a small terracotta pot sitting in my windowsill. Every morning I get up and faithfully water it. About a month ago, the first shoot appeared. It grew steadily upward to a height of two inches. I was getting ready to transplant it when I host brother discovered the green plant. Bimboy is only six years old, he couldn’t resist playing with it, and he managed to kill it. Obviously, I was upset, but not deterred. I planted a few additional seeds. And once again it began sprouting. I made sure that the tiny plant got some sunshine everyday, sometimes this meant putting it outside or in another corner of the house (it’s hard to guarantee sunlight in the rainy season). The plant was doing alright, until about a week ago, in an incident involving a chicken. Spot, my host family’s dog, chased a chicken into my room. Why there was a chicken in the house- I am not sure. The chicken was visibly frightened, Spot is easily six times her size, and she frantically beat her wings trying to find a way out. Sunlight was streaming through the window and she thought she had found a way out. It would have been a way out, if my window didn’t have a screen. Not really wanting to touch or grab the chicken I attempted to shoo her out the door, using the end of an umbrella. I would just get her to the door, when Spot would appear from nowhere and chase her back in! At this point, the chicken had pooped all over my floor, run all over the top my bed, including a brief moment of cowering between my pillows. She repeatedly tried to get out through the window, I continued to guide her towards the door, and Spot persistently chased her back in. This cycle continued for about five minutes, until I screamed loudly at Spot to desist (his English comprehension is getting quite good- I wish I could say the same of my students). Finally, the chicken made it outside, and Spot continued to chase her through the yard, but the damage had been done to my dear cilantro plant. With all that scrambling by the chicken on my windowsill, the little plant had been uprooted and shredded. I guess it’s time to replant, again. Yesterday, my host family came into my room early to wake me up. It was time to go potting! They were very excited, and as they were telling me, I wasn’t entirely sure what they meant by potting. I quickly readied myself and soon the whole family was off. We headed to the city, where my family is part of a farming cooperative. At the co-op we pulled up to a large pile of dirt. Suddenly I understood what they meant by potting. We spent the next couple of hours putting soil into 1000+ pots. I left for lunch with other PCVs before they got around to planting fruit tree seeds, dirt deeply embedded under my fingernails and my fingers stained a slight greenish mustard color. I’m taking a break from school for the next couple of weeks and helping out with training for the new volunteers that arrive later today in the Philippines. I’ll be up in Manila facilitating many technical training sessions on everything from classroom management, creating lesson plans to encourage critical thinking, and differentiation (using a variety of teaching strategies to meet the learning needs of all of your students). I’m excited to meet all the new volunteers, and our new country director, who also arrives today. I’ll also get a chance to sit in on the teaching remedial reading technical sessions, and hopefully I’ll learn a few new things to incorporate in my own school’s program.

My host family’s dog, Spot, follows me everywhere. He follows me to school, and sits in the classroom waiting for me to go home. He tries to follow me to the city, running behind the tricycle until he can go no longer keep up. And the other day I rode my bicycle into town and he ran alongside- for 12 km! I’m not sure why I kindle such devotion and loyalty from him. He’s become a joke around my barangay and everyone now knows him. Students at school have finally learned to ignore him, as he site on the floor near my desk. Occasionally, Spot wanders over to one of my host siblings’ classes and they both get slightly embarrassed when he comes in. My six-year-old host brother, who’s in the first grade, was downright mortified that Spot intruded upon his class. I’ve tried locking him in the house when we go to school, but he always manages to find a way out and he comes bounding down the street after us. Right now, at school, three classrooms, mine included are under repair. So, my class, the kindergarten, and grade four are all sharing one big classroom in an abandoned building at out school. It’s distracting. Three classes in one room- so much noise! My counterpart and I have been giving our classes mostly reading assignments to help keep the noise level down. Although, almost all of the students read out loud and not silently to themselves as they should. That’s going to be a skill for us to work on. My school principal really wants a remedial reading program, which our school really does need, so I’ve been working, by myself, on it. It’s a massive undertaking. About half of every class needs additional instruction in reading, that’s about 200 students. There’s no way I can possibly do that all by myself. We also have zero books for them to read. And it’s not really that sustainable if I do all the work myself- what happens when I leave? Unfortunately, the principal is difficult to speak with because she’s not usually at school- I think she does work at the division office in San Jose. Rainy season has started (the Philippines has two seasons- dry and wet). It rains almost every afternoon, and some mornings. It’s also typhoon season. My province doesn’t typically get the full force of the typhoon, but we usually get rain bands and wind. I miss sunshine, but I do like that it’s not sweltering hot, less sweating for me. And the thunder of rain on the tin roof at night is soothing, it drowns out the family’s TV, the kittens’ screeching, the roosters, the dogs, and innumerable other sounds that typically awake me.

All camp photo- with wacky faces.

Alex, my counterpart, and another fellow teacher.

Campers at camp. After learning about keeping the environment clean, they decided to clean the fish pond so the fish would have oxygen and clean water.

Cute neighbors. The girl always says: "Hello, ma'am Sarah. Good afternoon," when i walk by, regardless of the time of day. Adorable.

PCVs who helped at camp.

Third graders at camp.

Pretending to be an octopus at camp.

Apparently I made this face a lot while teaching at NOMET.Mimi, and one of her kittens. So cute.

My awesome color-coded schedule for camp.

campers dancing!

Torrential downpour during a typhoon. Kept us from going home after camp finished.

Mindi and I in Sipalay.

Sunset in Sipalay.

Kesa and I walking down the non-crowded beach in Sipalay.

Awesome hut that we slept in on our vacation.

Enjoying the hammock in Sipalay.

The rest of the world is gearing up for summer; school has ended or is finishing up, days are getting longer, the weather is warming up. Here, however, is different. Summer is over. Rainy season has arrived, driving away hot dusty days. The rice paddies are being plowed by carabaos. And school is back in session. It’s crazy that summer has already come and gone. At a mere seven weeks it felt rather short. Despite its short length, however, I managed to squeeze a number of activities in- in fact, I hardly had a break. Graduation, on April 7, signaled go and was the beginning of my marathon summer. Just after graduation, I went to manila for a week. Thus far in my service, it’s been my only trip to the capital. I didn’t get to see much, other than a huge discrepancy between rich and poor, because I was there for the meeting of the PC Philippines Grants Committee. After a week in Manila, I flew back down to my island and on my way back to site I stopped at the Mango festival on Guimaras island. The sweetest, tastiest mangoes in the Philippines are grown on Guimaras and every year they commemorate their claim to fame with a festival devoted to the delicious fruit. Unfortunately I didn’t get to enjoy any of these mangoes at the festival as there was a shortage. But I did get to hang out with a bunch of PCVs, so it was worth it. After the mango festival it was Holy Week. I escaped the crowds by traveling to Sipalay for some beach time with two other PCVs. It was very relaxing! We could actually swim in our bathing suits and didn’t need to wear shorts and a t-shirt. There was hardly anyone there, so we enjoyed a nearly empty and very beautiful beach. The place we stayed at is owned by a German man, and everything on the menu was deliciously Western. I ate at least four BLTs. I went straight from my short vacation to a teacher training seminar held by a PCV near my site. After facilitating sessions on teaching writing, I rushed back to site to hold my own teacher training seminar for the teachers from my district. The training was successful, and it was fun to meet teachers from other schools in the area. After one day off it was time for IST/PDM (In-Service Training/ Project Design and Management), another PC training. My counterpart was also invited and we learned about project planning and even started planning a project for our school. It wasn’t all work- there was a very memorable night of videoke!I returned to site with three other PCVs, just in time for my barangay fiesta (it’s festival/fiesta season around here). We danced in the plaza, aka a small basketball court, and ate lunch at several different houses. There was just enough time to prepare for summer camp, which started the following day. Camp was so much fun! It was day camp for 100 students from grades 3-6. Campers came from all over the nearby area, so we had campers from a bunch of different schools. There was a lot of fun and screaming, all things the kids don’t normally get to enjoy. In the morning we had life skills oriented sessions, and in the afternoon campers could select a given track for the whole week. Most campers went to dance, art, sports or photography. I think everyone enjoyed themselves, including the 8 PCVs who helped out. I’m already excited for next year! I had one day to recover and then I was off again for a two week teacher training extravaganza. I helped out, along with twenty-six other PCVs at the Negros Occidental Mobile Education Training (NOMET). I facilitated a session on differentiation and multiple intelligences. We traveled to four different schools and gave a two-day teacher training to approximentely 500 teachers at each school. It was an exhausting two weeks, but was fun to hang out with volunteers I don’t get to see very often, as well as work with teachers excited about becoming better teachers. And that brings me to my last week of summer break. I spent all of last week taking a rest. I read, watched movies, hung out with my host family. I even squeezed in a little laundry. And now school has started. This year I am teaching grades five and six, as well as handling English Club for grades 3-6. I’m excited school as started again! I’m looking forward to learning more about my students, Filipino culture, and working on some fun projects.

Boracay.

more Boracay

My student who was a TOPS awardee is in yellow. And my counterpart's daughter is in brown.

My 'gown.'My counterpart and I.

All the kids.

Classic family photo. My host sister is pulling my host mother's hair.

Me and my host mom.

My host father on the left, and his awesome sister in the middle.

A fellow Californian! My host father's aunt came for a visit from CA.

My host brother is adorable. His school class was the USA for an event they had at his school.

It’s crazy how I will go weeks without doing anything exciting, and then I do a bunch of new/ fun things in one week; last week for example. It started out like any other- I struggled to get out of bed on Monday. But I pulled myself together and ran to school. Once there, my day continued like usual. However, after my last afternoon class I had a special errand to run. So I ran home, quickly changed clothes, put on shoes (this was only the 7th time I’ve done that since getting here in August), and hopped on my new bike. I rode into San Jose, which is the city closest to me. It’s not too far, and I’ve gotten my time down to about a half hour. Once there I met my host mother and we went shopping for fabric. I needed to buy fabric to have a gown made for an event I attended Friday. A friend of hers designed it, and we just had to pick up fabric and a few other things and head to a tailor. It didn’t take long. Soon after, I was back on my bike and riding towards home. I made it about two kilometers before I had a bit of an accident avoiding a large rock in the road. I tumbled off my bike and rolled into the middle of the highway. I am really lucky, and I’m mean really lucky, that there was a not a car coming the opposite direction. I jumped up as quickly as possible and scrambled back to the side of the road. My brand new bike wasn’t damaged, but I was a bit scraped up. I had hit the cement road with my left shoulder and knee, and my right hand. Shoulder and knee ok, except for bruising. But I’ve been wearing a sling on my right arm ever since. I had to go to the hospital Tuesday in Iloilo for x-rays, but thankfully nothing broken. Thursday was a fun day. A relative in of my host family lives in the next barangay over, and it was her barangay festival that day, so she invited everyone over for dinner. We all piled into my counterpart’s van (my cp is also my host mother’s sister), and drove two minutes down the road. There were a bunch of kids and we just had fun dancing and playing outside all night in the dark. And thankfully I didn’t hear Shakira’s ‘Waka Waka,’ which typically plays on repeat here. Despite my bum arm, I got my gown made, in a traditional Filipino way, called a Filipiniana. The sleeves are big, but not puffy, and stand up about two inches from my shoulder. I wore the dress Friday afternoon to the province’s TOPS awards. The awards were for the Ten Outstanding Pupils and Students of Antique Province. One my students was an awardee, so I got to go. It was kind of fun being at a black tie event, Filipino style. And I my ‘future husband’ (as my host mother refers to him), aka the Congressman, was there, so I met him again. I even had my hair and make-up done! On Saturday I finally went to Boracay (you should take the time to google that). Everytime I meet someone new, they inevitably ask me if I have been yet. It’s tropical paradise, and it’s only a four hour bus ride away. So very early on Saturday morning I headed out with two fellow PCVs for a short weekend of sun. It was amazing. It’s very touristy; it was weird to see so many non-Filipinos, and to see so much skin! Usually when I go swimming here it’s in shorts and a t-shirt, but in Boracay everyone was in their tiny bathing suits. And because of all the tourists there are restaurants of every variety, so I got to enjoy some non-Filipino food. I had a delicious bacon cheese burger, with real ketchup! The real ketchup was amazing. Most of the available ketchup here is banana ketchup, made from bananas, not tomatoes! It’s amazingly not too far a departure from tomato ketchup, but it’s still not quite the same.

This last week has certainly been interesting. Monday started early. My alarm beeped wrenched me out my sleep at three am. I dressed according to precise instructions given to me by my counterpart, and was waiting out on the street for my ride by 3:45. This being the Philippines, and me having yet mastered Filipino time, I waited for a good twenty minutes in the dark. Finally, the jeepney arrived with the other teachers from my school and we were off to the capital of our province, San Jose. Our destination was the house of the province’s congressman; it was his birthday.

They have a unique tradition here in which people go to the house of someone important on their birthday early in the morning (or in my opinion, in the middle of the night), and sing songs to the person. It was a rather big affair, no surprise, it being the congressman’s birthday. The teachers of the province started out the morning serenading the congressman. Supposedly other government agencies and employees were in charge of other parts of the day of celebration.

I should mention that the congressman here was celebration his 30th birthday. Not only is he young, but also, apparently, he is single. Therefore, many people, including my host mother, have decided to try to set us up. That is probably why I was given precise instructions as to what clothing to wear.

On Tuesday, my municipality began celebrating a three-day fiesta. Tuesday was “Teacher’s Night.” All the teachers from the elementary schools performed, by school, different Filipino folk dances. Originally, I was supposed to be part of our school’s troupe, but I guess I’m freakishly tall (at not even 5’6”), and none of the other teachers were tall enough to partner with me; so I just watched from the audience. It was actually quite entertaining to see such a variety of native folk dances. I also thought my school’s teachers were the best, not that I’m biased or anything. After the performances, there was a live band, and I lived up to my new reputation for being a good dancer by dancing with various government officials, the mayor included.

Thursday was the parade for the fiesta. All teachers reported, and we all wore a blue Dept Ed shirt with a bright colored sash, and a beaded type necklace. I was expecting to walk with my teachers, sort of in the middle of the crowd, but my district supervisor had other plans. I held the Dept Ed banner and walked at the front of all the teachers from our district. Along the route, the district supervisor stopped every twenty feet to introduce me to someone new. When we finally reached the end, they forced me onstage! Although I guess it’s not really force if I acquiesce so quickly. I sat up there watching the rest of the parade, and stayed for various performances by the high school drum and lyre groups (lyres being glockenspiels in this case).

My internet project(s) have been put on a standstill. I was misled into believing it was possible to install internet at the school. My counterpart and I inquired last week, but the cable has yet to reach as far as our barangay, perhaps next month of the month after. So it will have to wait until the next school year, which starts in June (this school year ending end of March). Thanks to everyone who agreed to be an email pen pal! I’ll send out another query in a few months.

I’ve now been at my permanent site for close to two months, and Icouldn’t be happier with my placement. My host family is amazing. Ihave two host siblings; Deo (aka Bimboy)- age six, and Clarisse- agenine; there is also a niece that lives with us who is 13. My hostfather works for the governor, and my host mother works for the Dept.of Environment and Natural Resources doing a lot of agro-forestry andwatershed management projects. From what I’ve seen, it’s uncommon tohave such a complete family here in the Philippines. Usually, at leastone member is off working abroad.

My school is small, and all of the teachers are nice and have gone outof their way to make me feel welcome. Everyday someone on staff bringssome sort of Philippine delicacy for me to try. So I’ve tried allsorts of things made with very very sticky rice, and other delicioussweet pastry type things.

I have figured out my schedule, I will be teaching both sections ofgrades 4 and 5, in their English subject. I taught a couple of classesbefore the Christmas break, but I will start teaching full time thisweek. Also, I have resurrected the school’s, non-functioning, Englishclub. So twice week I’ll be teaching English club, starting tomorrow.

Celebrating Christmas here was both what I thought it would be, andalso a bit different than I was expecting. Christmas spirit had beenbuilding for months by the time December finally arrived. And then Iattended several Christmas parties throughout the month of December.The Christmas parties were not quite what I expected. There is alwaysa program, people get up and perform- either singing or dancing, andeach act is interspersed with games. And of course Christmas presentsare exchanged. There were all kinds of sales, and exchanging ofChristmas gifts, so naturally I assumed that my family would beexchanging gifts as well. So I went out, to the mall (yes there’s amall), and bought them all gifts. But alas, on Christmas, no giftgiving. But I think they appreciated it anyway that I gave them gifts.

My host family and my counterpart (who is my host mother’s sister)have been great about taking me along to birthday parties, toweddings, and to see various places of interest. I feel like I’vealready seen more of culture in the Philippines than I did in my firstyear in Kyrgyzstan. It also sort of feels like I’m going throughtraining now, because I’m doing and learning all the things I shouldhave learned during PST but didn’t get to do.

Hopefully I will have a bike sometime in the next two weeks, so I willbe able to go out and explore the area around my house a bit moreeasily. As it is right now, it’s almost impossible for me to go to thecenter of my town as there is no transportation going that way.Really, the only place I can get to is San Jose, which is the capitalof the province I am living in. This is fine most of the time, becauseI can get almost anything I would want in San Jose. This Peace Corps experience is so different than in Kyrgyzstan. First of all, as I already mentioned, there is a mall only twenty minutes from me. At thesupermarket there, yes the supermarket, I can find almost anything Iwould at an American supermarket- including spices, cranberry juice,and peanut butter. The only thing lacking is cheese. My family hascable, half of which are channels in English, many of them American channels.

That’s it for now. The internet I have access to is too slow to postpictures, so those will have to wait until this weekend when I go intothe city. Happy New Year!

Sign from our Swear- in

My language cluster at Swear-in.

My host brother (wearing sunglasses) and host cousins. We spent a day at the beach.

Rice Terraces. My host mother does a lot of agroforestry projects, this is one of them.

Sibalom River valley.

My school!

On the walk home from school- I have an entourage.

The road home from school.

They made me a sign! It's hanging in my office.

Ernie Dave, aka my godchild, at his baptism. We had to judge some type of contest at the elementary school.The mural that was painted during our English camp.Drawings from my session at English camps.Teaching at English camp.Kids working on the mural at English camp.

My training host family.My sixth grade class on my last day.Students studying hard.Groups of students had to simultaneously stand on a very small piece of paper. HILARIOUS.

The teachers at our practicum site threw us a despedida (a good bye party).

It’s my last day at my training site. I took my LPI (language profiecieny interview) yesterday morning; I don’t think I did as well as I could have, but oh well, I won’t need the language at my permanent site anyway. This morning we, the PCTs, threw a despedida (a goodbye party) for all of our host families here to say thank you. I took most of my belongings to my permanent site on a day trip last Saturday. It was a long day, but worth it to get most of my stuff there, so that I do not have to deal with it this week during our counterparts’ conference/ Swear-In. It’s been a crazy week for my language cluster, which is a bummer because I feel like it tainted my last week here in Banate. But I am really excited to just get to permanent site and start being a volunteer. I’ve been ready since I got to the Philippines, and it’s been rather frustrating to have to go through training again. But now its over, yeah!, and I can finally go back to being a PCV. The baptism a couple of weeks was interesting. It was not at all what I was expecting. When I got to the church, only the godparents were present for the baptism, of which there were about twenty for both babies being baptized that day. Ernie Dave’s mother held him for the ceremony, while we all crowded behind, and then we simply blessed the baby. The whole ceremony lasted only about ten minutes. After the baptism, it was back to the family’s house for a feast. And it really was a feast- including a whole roasted pig (lechon). Halloween here is celebrated on November 1st, in conjunction with All Soul’s Day. After I had language class in the morning, I went with my family to the cemetery. At the cemetery we lit candles at the family graves, watched some people play mahjongg, eat some snacks, and enjoyed a cold beverage. The cemetery was packed with other families doing the same things. That evening, Trisha, a fellow PCV, dressed me up in costume and the two of us, and her family, went to the Barangay Capitan’s house for a Halloween party/ costume contest. There were a lot of kids wearing ridiculous face make-up, and a few adults dressed up as various ghouls or dead people. Spirits are taken very seriously here. Most people believe that they exist. On such spirit is the White Lady (my costume for Halloween). The White Lady is a ghost that can frequently be found haunting the roadside. Another that people commonly believe in is the aswang. An aswang seems to be a cross between a zombie and a vampire, but with more emphasis on the zombie. A person is infected by another aswang spitting into his/her ear. There’s actually a verb in the language for this action- yanggaw. A capri is a large man that smokes a fat cigar. Apparently capris hide in objects in your house, such a in a post, and upset the general order/ health of your household. My language facilitator told us that when he was little, his grandmother’s house had three Capri living in the posts in the living room, and this was the cause of recent illness in the house. A ‘shaman’ had to come to the house to exorcise the spirits. Christmas has really picked up around here. On the news every night, there is a countdown until Christmas. And everywhere I go, there is Christmas music playing. I feel like there’s going to be this great build-up to Christmas and then on the actual day, it won’t really be a big deal. Our English camp, which we did as our community project, was last week. It went amazingly well! We had more students the second day than on the first day because so many students had gone home and told their friends how much fun it was. Each session of the day was devoted to a different macro-skill (listening/speaking, reading, and writing), and there was also a session of mural painting. The mural turned out beautifully and now the school has something to always remind them of us. On the second day we made all the students do a scavenger hunt, and that was probably my favorite part. Watching the kids run around and make human pyramids, sing a song, or tell a joke was adorable. I really love all the elementary students- so smart, and so cute!

Two weeks ago we had a conference in the City of Smiles, aka Bacolod, and while we were there, we found out our permanent sites! My site is in the province of Antique, in a super rural barangay (village). My barangay is inland, but not too far from the ocean, and sandwiched against the mountainous region of Panay Island. The elementary school I’ll be working out is really small for a school here; there are only about 480 students. My counterpart seems really nice, and so does my new host family. The house at which I’ll be staying at is surrounded by rice fields and banana trees; it’s so peaceful and quiet- it will be a nice change from the hustle and hubbub of where I’m at now.One challenge that I’ll be facing my first few months at site is that they speak a different language! Right now I’m learning Hiligaynon (aka Ilonggo), but they speak Kinaray-a at my permanent site. Luckily the languages are related, and the grammar seems to be mostly the same. But still, it’s a bummer that I’ll have spent three months learning a language I won’t really need. Oh well. One thing I haven’t gotten used to yet is the mosquitoes. They love me here! If I don’t have pants on, with some sort of DEET on beneath, my legs will be dotted with at least a dozen bites within the hour. It’s really unpleasant. Once last week, while I was eating lunch- I got 14 in ten minutes! This past week has been full of fun things. On Sunday, I went with a few fellow PCTs to a beach about an hour North of here. We took a bus, and then a boat ride out to a white sand island. We had the whole beach to ourselves. The water was a beautiful clear turquoise color, but goodness it was warm; almost too warm. Getting in the water didn’t give me the same satisfying cool down that swimming normally does. But it was still nice to get out of Banate and actually see some of the spectacularly beautiful coastline I had heard about. On Monday, we took a field trip to an indigenous community, to visit the Ati. The Ati are the indigenous peoples of Panay Island who were here long before people came from Borneo and Malaysia and settled here. They have their own language, and traditions, which they fight hard to preserve. While up in their community, which is a reservation, we learned a bit about their history, traditional weaving, and saw a traditional dance performed. We spoke with one of the leaders of the community who told us about how they got their reservation. Apparently, in the 1980s they had a Peace Corps Volunteer who helped them through the paperwork, as well as to help preserve the integrity of their land through the planting of trees. It was awesome to hear about and actually see the success of another PCV’s service. Tomorrow I’m becoming a godmother to a baby I’ve met once. All four of us in my language cluster were asked to be godmothers to the baby, and apparently it’s rude to not accept, so tomorrow I’ll stand up in church, hold a candle, and become one of the many godmothers of Ernie Dave. As a thank you to the community that has been so welcoming to us for our training, we are doing a community project. The community, aka the school we have been working at, decided they want an English camp. So the week after next, while the students are on semester break, we will be conducting a two-day English camp with some sort of environment theme (undecided as of today), which will include the production of an environmentally themed mural painting. I’m excited about the project because, well, I love camp. It should be fun- and our four counterparts, and the school, are excited about it too. I can’t believe I only have three weeks left of training, and then I’m off to permanent site! I can’t wait.

My awesome language cluster. Evelyn, Trisha, and MindiBeach excursion

My family has already decorated for Christmas. Yes they know its only October, but Christmas is celebrated in all the 'ber' months.

You're so jealous right now.

The boat that took us out to the island beach.

Walk back from language class at the beach.

We had language class here one day.

Everything is so green! I love it.

The fruit here is delicious. Every night after dinner, I eat heaps of it. Some nights I will eat a mango. On other nights I will eat rombutan, a small reddish spiny fruit, that has a sweet flesh. These last few nights, and usually mornings and afternoons, I have been eating lansones. Lansones are amazing; I eat close to a kilo everyday. They grow in bunches, kind of like grapes, but each fruit is about the size of a golf ball. After peeling the skin off, there are wedges of tart yet sweet deliciousness. However, peeling and eating the fruit has the unfortunate side effect of staining the fingers a dark orange-brown. Oftentimes I will look down at my orange tinged fingertips, and my mind instantly wanders to Kyrgyzstan. Suddenly I am standing in my classroom in Bazarkorgon with fifteen expectant sixth graders looking up at me, their similarly stained fingers clutching a pencil. How different fall is here, if I could even call it fall. Most of the time I am sticky with sweat, my bangs clinging to my forehead. Families are not out in the fields harvesting cotton or picking walnuts (the latter being the reason for stained fingers in Kyrgyzstan). Leaves are not falling from the trees, and the temperature is not slowly dipping towards freezing (however much I may wish for it). I have never really lived anywhere with such a lack of distinction between the seasons. It feels like summer- I listen to the calming swoosh of the water outside my window, with the quiet yet incessant buzz of the fan near my bed. It is rare for the temperature in my room to drop below 84, and just the thought of wearing pants makes me shudder. These past two weeks I have been more frustrated than I have been in a long time. I had forgotten what it was like to feel uneasy and unsure of myself in a new culture. My integration into Kyrgyz culture was so gradual that I never noticed when it happened, and I took for granted the ease and comfort with which I existed in that culture. So here I am, having forgotten the process, and I find myself frustrated at myself with not knowing how to handle certain events, circumstances, or even just daily life. I have been especially frustrated with my host family situation. I know that they are extremely nice and hospitable people; I know that in ordinary circumstances I would feel like I was somehow part of the family, that I would have the chance to eat and converse with them, but these are not ordinary circumstances. I have been torn between being understanding and being frustrated. Intellectually I know that my family has more important things to worry about than me. However, I still find myself faulting them for their cursory acknowledgement of my existence in their house. I am frustrated that I eat by myself; I am frustrated that I do not really get a chance to practice speaking in Hiligaynon, and I am frustrated that I feel like I am a burden to them at this profoundly personal time of their lives. Various people keep reassuring me that once the burial happens, things will be different. I am trying to trust their assurances, and I guess only time will tell. This coming week the trainees from the Visayas region (the middle collection of islands in the Philippines) are headed to Bacolod, a city on the island of Negros Oriental, for our site-announcement. On Monday, we find out where our permanent site is going to be for the next two years, and in the latter half of the week, we are actually going to go visit our permanent site. I am super excited for the mini-vacation although I cannot believe that I am already finding out where I will be living and working for my service.

View from my window.

My room.

The trisikad driver, my luggage and new host family.

People are really into signs here.

Wow; it’s been an interesting week. So much has happened and I don’t really know where to start, so I’ll go chronologically. Last weekend started out with my first videoke experience. There was one other PCT with me. Soon after our arrival it became apparent that the only people who would be singing was the two of us. Five hours later and many many songs of videoke, we headed home.

Sunday was another first; I had my first experience with dating. A fellow PCT is dating another PCT and he had come to our town to hang out. When he arrived he had two members of his host family accompanying him, soon after I was picked up to be yet another chaperone. So with his host family, her host family, and the two of them we headed to a local beach resort. We walked around and then we, the chaperones, headed over to another area to give the two of them time to get to know each other.

While we were watching from afar, I met a member who had worked with a PC volunteer from the first batch of volunteers to the Philippines in 1961. It was crazy to think that not only had Peace Corps been in the Philippines for almost 50 years, but also that a volunteer had been in this exact village so long ago.

Monday was unnecessarily dramatic, to begin with at least. A few of us were invited to the vice-mayor’s birthday party. But before we could go, we heard from Peace Corps that we needed to stay home. So after much phone tagging, I stopped by with some PC staff for only a few minutes.

I had only been home for about ten minutes when my host mother rushed in, hurriedly told me that she was taking her husband to the hospital, and was out the door before I could ask any questions. I went to bed and awoke around 3:15 to someone wailing. At this point I had no idea what was going on, and so stayed in my room listening for the next few hours. By the time I got up no one was left in the house and so I went off to language class.

But the chikka-chikka system was in already in full swing. I heard from another trainee that my host father had died at the hospital in the wee hours of the morning. Clearly my host family is devastated, especially since it was so sudden and out of the blue. He was only 50, and he died of a stroke.

So now I’m really getting a cultural experience. Family and friends have been around all week. They’ve set up this covered outdoor area outside the house where people congregate. Gambling is apparently quite common during a wake, and so every night there are people playing bingo, or mah-jongg. The coffin is set up in the front room, with candles surrounding, and there is some sort of vigil every night. It’s not uncommon for there to be two weeks between death and burial here. The burial will be the week after next, after the daughter arrives from Singapore.

It’s been strange for me because I’m not entirely sure how to act or what’s expected of me. I’ve only known these people for a little over a week, and now I’m suddenly thrust into this incredibly personal event. I wouldn’t really know how to act in my own culture, let alone in an entirely new and foreign culture.

I’ve been trying to give my family some space, so I’ve been spending time with the other trainees in my area, and doing a few things with their families. Today I went to a birthday party at the beach. We sang videoke, ate spaghetti and went swimming. It was a nice respite from the heat and from some very intense cultural integration.

This next week I start observing at the local elementary school, and soon after will actually start teaching there. I met my counterpart this past week. It was her father that actually worked with the first volunteer here. She’s quite awesome, and seems very excited to work with me, and is very enthusiastic about her students’ learning. I’m excited to start working with her.

Maayong aga sa tanan! (Good morning to you all!) So I’ve finally settled down a bit here and started training. I spent my first week at a resort, an hour outside of Manila, with the other 144 trainees. The week was spent mostly going over various Peace Corps policies and goals. Mostly information I already knew. But that’s ok. And then on the very last day of that week I found out where I was going to go for training.

So on Friday of last week, I took my bag and headed to the airport to fly south. I flew to Iloilo City, on the island of Panay, before driving about an hour northward to the town of Banate! The town is fairly small, right on the beach, and mostly a fishing town. I’m learning Hiligaynon, also known as Ilonggo.

We’ve had about a week of training classes here at site. I have language in the morning and then stuff about the education system here in the afternoon. Thus far I’m finding the language much easier to learn than Kyrgyz. But it’s only been one week, so we’ll see.

My host family is nice; there are a couple of kids that are living there, and many more that live in the surrounding area. The house is right on the beach and I have an excellent view from my bedroom. The kids’ neighborhood hangout spot is a basketball hoop on the beach directly in front of my house, so there’s always a bunch of kids running around.

The kids here are all obsessed with what they call ‘spider gambling.’ Most kids walk around with a matchbox that contains some spider they’ve caught. Apparently they starve them for five days, and then they have their spider fight other spiders on a stick. It’s very interesting to watch how into it they all get.

Ok, well that’s it for now! I hope everyone enjoys their Labor Day weekend!

Hey everyone!

Just a quick note before I'm off on my next big adventure. I'm headed

to the Philippines tomorrow morning (5 am!), where I'll be serving yet

again as a Peace Corps Volunteer until Nov 2012.

If you feel the need to send me a letter, a postcard, or a package

(please do! even if it only says hello), email me for my address.

I'm rather excited about this upcoming adventure. It's going to be

fun, interesting, at times awful and horrid. But hopefully most of the

time good and exciting. I'm not looking forward to the humidity, or

having to do training all over again. I am looking forward to learning

a new language and experiencing a new culture. I am happy to make new

friends, and widen my world perspective.

I finished packing this afternoon. I thought I had finished yesterday,

but I decided that I really wanted to bring my tent, and thus the

repacking extravaganza began. But now it's all done and I'm bringing

about half of what I took to Kyrgyzstan. Tomorrow I'm headed to

Philadelphia for a one-day orientation on Thursday, and then Friday

I'm flying from NYC, via Tokyo, to Manila. I'm excited to meet

everyone, but not excited for the counter-productive flights that I'll

have to endure over the next few days.

My kitty, Timurlan, will continue living in the lap of luxury here at

Casa Thorne (he has not one, but two, catnip plants to take naps in).

I'll miss him and his snuggly mane, but I'm sure he'll be happier

staying in America.

Ok all- thanks for tuning in, and I'll be sure to keep you all updated

as the months progress.

So most of you have heard by now- my service in Kyrgyzstan has come to end. After assessing the safety situation in the region of the country that I live in, it was decided that the volunteers cannot return. The volunteers from my group (K16) and my region are being evacuated from the country. The volunteers from the K17 group are being placed at new sites in open regions. Those of us leaving were given Interruption of Service. This means that we were unable to complete our service due to circumstances out of our control. So here I am, three months early, headed home.After 22 months of being in Kyrgyzstan I have to say goodbye. This is not the way I wanted to leave. I didn't get to say goodbye- not to my host families, my students, my school, or my community. I won't get the chance to finish my projects. The new toilet my school wanted will not be being constructed, Joni's and my three-week summer camp extravaganza is being parceled out to other volunteers. I have seven hours left in country. I'm at the Peace Corps office with three other volunteers who will also be traveling back to the states. Some staff went down to pack up my house and are returning tonight. I'm hoping that they'll make it in time for me to collect that, but it's possible it won't happen. My cat came up in a taxi yesterday, and thanks to the enormous generosity of Ariel's host family he's flying back with me. Thank you to everyone who supported me over the last two years. I appreciated your letters, your packages, your prayers, and your emails. It would have been much more difficult for me if I hadn't had such amazing people to lean on. So thank you again for listening to me over the last 22 months. And don't forget to tune in August for the trials and tribulations of volunteer life in the Philippines.  

I had neglected writing because I really just don't know where to

start. I've spent the last two weeks in a near constant state of

anxiety. No one, myself included, thought things would go so far so

fast. Two weeks ago, well really two and half weeks ago, I was calmly

eating ice cream with Ariel and Alex. I received a call from Peace

Corps that said there were planned opposition rallies all over the

country the next day and to be vigilant. I didn't really think much of

it.I awoke on Wednesday, April 6, and things had… changed. No one really

seemed to know what was going on. Things had happened through the

night in Talas, one of the oblasts in the North. Peace Corps called

again and we were told to not leave our houses. Gossip and rumors were

flying by text message through the PCV community. The afternoon was

rather uneventful.Joni got stuck in my village and so she spent Wednesday night at my

house. Starting around 4 pm things began escalating. Joni and I tried

to keep ourselves calm by playing yahtzee and making humus (from

scratch!). Text messages and phone calls came throughout the night,

anytime anyone found out an update. We tried sleeping, but our phones

just kept beeping all night.We awoke Thursday to relative calm. I had plans to clean my house and

prepare for a few extra PCVs to spend the night. At noon I got a call

that said I had to get my group together and immediately leave my

village. I can tell you right now- no one ever wants to get that phone

call.

I quickly through things in my bag, Joni organized a taxi for us all,

and within thirty minutes we were gone. I squeezed my cat thinking I

would probably never see him again. I left dirty dishes in the

kitchen, food in the fridge, a bag of trash, and my room in general

disarray. We stopped briefly, like two minutes, in Joni's village so

she could grab her passport, and then the six of us were off.Our plans changed once we were on the road, and at that point it

really seemed as if we were being evacuated. What we heard, not

directly from Peace Corps, was that we were headed to Almaty in

Kazakhstan. This proved to be untrue.All of the southern volunteers headed north, and we've been in the

same place now for two weeks. Things will seem relatively calm in

country for a couple of days, and then something new will happen. It's

a constant rollercoaster of emotion. One day we think that we will be

able to back to site, another it looks doubtful. This is not the way I

wanted to end my Peace Corps service.I'm still in state of limbo as to when my stay at this location will

end. I just don't know. I have my suspicions as to what will happen-

I'm just not ready to share what those are. It sounds like I'll know

more by Wednesday next week.

These are photos that I tried to post a little over a week ago, but I couldn't access this site. And better late than never.Bryan and I hiked to the uppermost point on the right hand side.

View from the uppermost point. Bryan and I are going to try and hike back to the lake and go camping.

Awesome view from our hike.

Joni and Ariel outside our post office. Soviet faces while waiting for the post office lady to return from her three-hour lunch.

A homemade bacon cheeseburger. It was delicious, expensive to make, and so good I documented it. 

My kitty, Timurlan, stalking a hole and waiting for a mouse to pop out.

Hello all! Despite the current turmoil in country, we fully expect that camp will take place. Now more than ever it is important to educate the kids of this country and engender leadership skills and a sense of civic responsibility as the country rebuilds itself. So, please donate whatever you can, and ask others you know to donate as well. This is an amazing opportunity for the kids here, even more than we thought before. So please help us get the word out! Thanks to everyone who has donated already and is in the process of donating, we are more than grateful!

Follow this link to donate: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=307-143

Time has flown, and it seems like I've witnessed all four seasons in the last few weeks. My program manager (PM), Maria, came down and I went with her to visit various villages near mine and talk to schools and potential counterparts about Peace Corps and having a volunteer. Maria and I also checked out potential housing for the new volunteers.   That same day I had my interview with the PC Philippines people. Also it now looks like I am going to be replaced with a new volunteer. I had discussed it with my PM- how I felt that my school perhaps needed a break after me, and that it would be better to give the volunteer to a school who had never worked with a volunteer before. But it looks like a new volunteer will be headed to my site as my replacement.   Nooruz, the biggest holiday of the year here, was a bit of a let down. The day before it started raining, and by four o'clock it was snowing! This just one day after 70-degree weather! The snow continued all day Nooruz, which is supposed to celebrate the coming of spring, and most of the fun activities were cancelled. Ariel and I braved the snow and headed to the center and saw more than a few disappointed faces.   One curious thing about Kyrgyzstan is how they dress according to the calendar rather than by the weather. The week previous to Nooruz was glorious- warm, sunny. My counterpart, Aigul, was standing around in a full-length lined leather coat. When I asked her if she was hot, which I was, her reply was no, as it was not Nooruz yet. And then on Nooruz I saw many people who were inappropriately dressed for the snowy weather!   Spring break has been the last two weeks. During the first week I went down to Osh to hang out with my friend Bryan and go hiking. The hike, while it kicked my butt, was beautiful and awesome; it was definitely worth it. But I have spent the entire second week of break in bed with some mysterious illness.   After watching the blossoms fall off the apricot trees in my yard, the weather was warmed up again and the apple tree in front of my house is blossoming. It's so nice to not have my heat on, to have my door open, and feel the warm sun on my face.   As for camp funding- thanks to everyone so far who has donated! Right now we still need about $3700. So if you haven't donated, please please please donate, even if it's just a small amount and tell people you know to donate. We really only have a few weeks left to get the rest, and if we don't- Joni and I are going to have to reconsider camp. Follow this link to donate: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=307-143  

Hey all!  I'm just jotting off this quick note because my plans for next year were, sort of, finalized. I am extending-by-transfer. This means that I am staying in Peace Corps but am going to another country. So starting in August I am going to be a volunteer in the Philippines! I am soooooo excited about this!! (note the double exclamation point) So from August of this year until, I think, November 2012 I will be an education volunteer in the Philippines! yeah! I'll be back stateside for about month, mid-July to mid-August. Hopefully I'll get to see some of you.

Ok, Happy spring all!

I've neglected writing the past weeks, mostly from what I feel is a lack of something to say. Spring is in full throttle here, which is welcome after the snowy and frigid February. I can now walk around in a t-shirt around mid-day. In two weeks (March 21) we will be celebrating Nooruz, or Navrus in Uzbek. The holiday, one of the biggest of the year, is popular throughout Central Asia (even Iran) and dates back to the Zoroastrian celebration marking the beginning of spring. Things are gearing up big time for the event, and it also marks the beginning of a two-week break from school. We've all started thinking and talking about what's going to happen six months from now. Where will we go? What will we do? It seems to be the only topic of conversation these days. It's crazy to think that this time last year I was counting the ten months I had been here. And now it has been twenty-one months, and I'm counting the six I have left. It doesn't really seem real that I've reached the end of my service here. And to answer the above questions: I know what I want to do next year, and where I want to go, but it's currently in the planning stages and I don't want to jinx it. So perhaps in a few weeks I'll make the big announcement. The next group of volunteers is arriving at the end of the month- including someone from SLO! It will be interesting to see if I'm replaced and what our interaction will be over the summer. Will I quickly be forgotten in place of this new volunteer? Or will I be remembered every time someone uses the toilet of my school (since I'm building them a new one)? I just finished reading 100 Letters Home: My Two Years in Kyrgyzstan by Emily Ross. My mom sent it to me (thanks!) and I read it in one day. If you get a chance, considering reading it. She manages to express a lot of the frustrations I felt and still feel (and that I am not always able to convey) about being a volunteer, and about living and teaching here. Sometimes my lack of something to say ultimately stems from the fact that I do things, everyday, that no longer seem fantastical or unique. They are events and activities that no longer seem out of the ordinary. When I was at home for Christmas, I did notice that I never used my knife to eat with. Not that odd here. I remember arriving at my site and looking, in vain, for a butter knife to buy in the bazaar. I was shocked that such knives were nowhere to be found! I also no longer point. Pointing is a rude thing here. So now, when I want someone to come to me, or I'm indicating a particular gesture, I do this sort of circular hand motion with my arm extended. And a third thing, I've adjusted to saying ill instead of sick; sick is a very rude word in Kyrgyz. When other volunteers and I get together we all say ill when talking about our endless illnesses.  And these are just three examples of innumerable instances. 

Well I'm back in Kyrgyzstan; and now that I'm back- it almost feels like I never left. My first two weeks back were cold and hectic. My house upon my arrival was 34 degrees inside (chilly!). I also headed back up to Bishkek only a few days after being back for a training seminar. But now I'm back in my village and it seems as if spring is here. It's warmed up, and is warmer than it was back in October. And we've had rain instead of snow.   The grant that I wrote to build a new toilet for my school was approved, so we'll start construction later this semester. Also, Joni's and my Future Leaders of Kyrgyzstan camp grant is still up. Thank you, so much, to everyone who has donated money so far! However, we still have a ways to go, so please click the link and pull out your credit card. You can find the grant here: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=307-143   I just finished reading The Ugly American- it was amazing, the book that inspired JFK to start the Peace Corps. Several of the characters in the book are diplomats who don't speak the language of the country they work in, and this often leads to cultural misunderstandings. I am so thankful that I can communicate with the people who live here. I am a full believer in the idea that you can't really understand another culture without speaking its language. Yes, there are universal things that transcend cultural and linguistic differences, such as motherhood, but so many other things don't. Learning t speak another language allows and show you that people express similar things differently.   I always think about this in how Kyrgyz uses the word to sit. To sit is a verb in both English and Kyrgyz, but it doesn't quite describe the same action in both languages. English usage of the verb implies the actual touching of your butt to another surface; while in Kyrgyz it's the action of bending your knees and moving into the sitting position. Whereas in English you could say I am sitting, using the present continuous tense, you cannot use this tense with the verb to sit in Kyrgyz. With this slight difference there implies a whole different concept of 'sitting.'   Sitting is not something Kyrgyz people do- they interact. They go guesting, they drink endless cups of tea, and they argue about politics and the current price of carrots. There is no way to describe sitting in Kyrgyz because Kyrgyz people are never alone (something most people here don't enjoy), they are always doing something else. There is no 'resting.'   And this is just one word. I could get into how Kyrgyz people call everything that is green- blue, even thought they have a word for green. Green tea is blue tea; green eyes are blue eyes, etc. Or perhaps how the days of the week are numbered (first day, second day, etc.) even thought they have words for the days of the week. Or even how months of the year are always called by their Russian names, despite having names in Kyrgyz. All these things explain how Kyrgyz people view and approach their world; view and approaches I might have misunderstood or dismissed had I not learned Kyrgyz.

Well I'm home. After 85 hours of travel, I made it to the promised land. So far I got my haircut, and I've played with my cat (who is much larger than I remember), and have tried not to be too out of control when it comes to all the tasty things available for me. My grant for my toilet project is almost finished, I hope to finish that today and get it sent in. My other grant however is done! Yeah!    Joni and I wrote a grant for summer camp next summer. Summer camp is an amazing opportunity for kids from our area. It's not something they usually get to do, and many kids get a break from working in the fields. One of our sessions will be on Life Goals. It may not seem like a big deal, but Kyrgyz children are never asked what they want to be when the grow up. Many students have not thought about it. They get to 11th form and suddenly they have to think about what they will do next year. Will they go to university? What will they study, where will they go? Our camp will offer students the opportunity to learn and do things they would otherwise never be exposed to.    The form of grant we wrote is a PCPP grant (Peace Corps Partnership Program grant). With this type of grant, it goes up on the PC website and our friends and families can donate to our grant. Other people can also search for our grant and donate as well. All donations are tax deductible. Joni and I worked it out; it's approximately $35 per person attending camp. Every little bit counts, so think about it, and help the Kyrgyz kids attend a week of fun!

Follow this link to look at our grant and donate: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=307-143

And Happy Holidays!

These past few weeks have gone by in a blur. Winter is here in full throttle- it really makes me miss the sweltering days of summer. Joni, Alex and I held another teacher-training seminar, and we had a really great turn out. Usually we have five or six teachers show up, but this time we had nineteen! Our great turnout was probably due to the fact that we announced we were handing out applications to get a Peace Corps volunteer.  But the teachers were attentive and participated, and the seminar went well.   Just after our seminar, Ariel, Joni and I headed to Osh. We spent the night and ate 'American' food at a restaurant in the city. A little taste of what's to come- my stomach and digestion did not enjoy the meal as much as my taste buds did. The next morning we headed to Kara-Suu, which is a bazaar town on the Uzbek border. The town has the largest bazaar in southern Kyrgyzstan.  We were more curious than we were looking for a deal, but it was an adventure. Ariel's host sister told us that the bazaar in our village is second only in size to Kara-Suu's bazaar, in the South. I'm not sure how much I believe her, especially after experiencing the full scale of the Kara-Suu bazaar.   In light of recent events over the past couple of weeks I've been thinking a lot about what another volunteer mentioned on Thanksgiving. We were going around room, just before we ate six delicious pies, and saying what we were thankful for. Most everyone mentioned how we were thankful for the amazing volunteer community we had in Jalalabad, and how despite the fact that not one of us was with our families for the holiday, it still felt like we were. And then we got to Anthony. He said he was thankful for being an American.   I can honestly say that I've never thought about being an American, and how it's even something I should be thankful for. Especially after studying abroad, and surrounding myself with other cultures, I always felt that being an American was something to be embarrassed about. What was there to be thankful for? But as I sit here, wrapped in my sleeping bag, with no heat, intermittent electricity and really needing to pee (the outhouse being across the courtyard through a snowstorm) and I've realized that I am thankful to be an American. Tolerance, justice, the way women are seen as equal and not as something you can steal; all the things I've taken for granted. Life here isn't like it is back home- maybe it's a good thing, maybe it's a bad thing (it's certainly different). I have to be careful not to become entrenched in the idea that America is better than everywhere else, we certainly have our share of things to be ashamed of, but for once I can actually say I'm thankful to be an American.

Bazarkorgon celebrates Thanksgiving!

the cooked turkey, which didn't really fit in the oven...

Third step in turkey cleaning process.

De-feathering the turkey.

Nothing like a freshly slaughtered turkey for thanksgiving.

My 6th form class playing twister.

My awesome spinner board. yes, i am aware that twister only has four colors.

The finished board! I even laminated it with tape.

Cooking club with my 7th form.

7th form

Nargiza and Seil, from 7th form

November went by quickly and really don't have much to say, I didn't do much. The first week was fall break, the following week and half was a teaching seminar for my counterparts, and then through a series of ridiculous circumstances I didn't have any lessons. So far in the month of November, I have only taught one lesson. I spent a lot of time reading, and thinking about Thanksgiving, and eating lunch with other volunteers.   There are three cafes that we regularly eat at in my village. One, Arman's, is named after a former volunteer; another has a really great outdoor eating area; and the third has delicious sashlyk. Sashlyk is sort of like a kebab, but only with meat; it's very big in southern Kyrgyzstan. The sashlyk that we get there reminds Joni and I of tri-tip and is so tasty. Rather than the overcooked boiled and bland meat we usually get, this is medium-rare and flavorful. It's definitely one of my favorite parts of the week.   During fall break I had cooking club with my favorite 7th form students. We made pizza, but I'm not so sure that they liked it. After they left I worked on a twister board and spinner to use in my English club. It took a lot of time and I even laminated it. Joni had also made one and tried to use it during one of her lessons. Her students did not like it. I was a bit afraid that my students also wouldn't like it, but they did! It was really fun.   This next month is full of excitement. This coming weekend we are having another teacher training, after which we are going to Kara-suu. Kara-suu is a town on the Uzbek border that has turned into a really cheap bazaar. Joni and I finished writing our grant for next summers' camps, and I'm working on my grant for my school's new toilet.  And then two more weeks of school and then America! I'm really excited for my two weeks of hot water, flushing toilets, heat, and food.

The kids who live at my house, the third time they came.

Joni and Ryan with the jack-oh-lanterns. Mine's nose fell off- I never did find it.

The kids from my house the first time they came trick-or-treating.

Handing out candy.

Students that came trick-or-treating.

Me with my students.

My very first trick-or-treater.

We made brownies in my 9th, 10th and 11th form English club.

The boys 'helping' to make brownies.

brownies. That's my new host sister in the center.

My jack-o-lantern before its nose fell off.

The BK girls at Ginger's birthday party.

There are days when I've had it up to here with Kyrgyz culture, and there are other days when I find myself amazed by the culture. Just the other day I was speaking Kyrgyz with my new landlord/ host mother. I've known her since December and worked on winter camp and both summer camps with her. Every sentence that came out of my mouth was using the formal you.   In many languages there is a formal you and informal you. In Kyrgyz there are both, but it differs from other languages, or at least the languages I've been exposed to. In Kyrgyz you can never really switch from formal or informal when you become friends with someone or are familiar with someone. If someone is older than you- you use the formal, regardless. They could be one week older than you and you still use the formal, even siblings. If you happen to be the younger twin- you use the formal. I just found it crazy that I was speaking so formally with this woman that I know pretty well. Kyrgyz culture, it's so polite.   I recently purchased a new bazaar bag. It's lime green and quite stylish. It's made from that weird recycled paper fabric that's becoming so fashionable in the now green conscious USA. Kyrgyz people are becoming green without even realizing it! I've seen this particular bazaar bag everywhere; all the locals are using them. Although to them they just see a more durable bag. Typically a local buys a thick plastic bag and uses it and reuses it, until it falls apart, so this new style bag is seen as so much more long lasting. All year I've found it funny how the plastic bags are seen as fashion accessories (last year's fashionable model was the large green Barnes and Noble bags). They use them for everything! For things they bought in the bazaar, for their banya stuff, for packing for vacation. I remember showing up for winter camp and seeing all the kids with their stuff packed in plastic bags- hilarious.   The past couple of weeks have been exciting. Halloween was very busy for me. The week before Halloween, I explained the holiday to all my new classes, and reviewed with my classes from last year. Then I invited all of my kids to come trick-or-treating on Friday evening. The BK volunteers came over to witness this and help pass out candy. It was so much fun. A bunch of students came and brought their younger siblings with them. I loved seeing all their costumes- it's always been my favorite part of Halloween. The kids that live at my house got dressed up too! There are four of them, all under five, and their moms dressed them up and they came over. It was so adorable. They enjoyed the holiday so much they went inside, and came back with different costumes on.   We had to cancel our harvest festival that was planned for later this month. A couple of weeks ago there was a big fight in the stadium between boys from four of the schools in my village. A few were seriously injured and the police have been stationed at all the schools in the area to keep school violence down. Tension has been high between the schools in the area, and so we decided to cancel the festival. We didn't want any fights breaking out, as we would have been seen as responsible. I'm bummed that we cancelled it; I was so looking forward to it. Perhaps if inter-school violence declines, we'll have a spring festival.   The TEFL program (teaching English as a foreign language) here is changing this year. In our last semester of teaching we, the volunteers, are supposed to simply observe our counterparts, rather than teach with them. This is so we can give them feedback and so they learn how to teach without us with us still here. It's all about sustainability. I completely understand the reason for this change. It just means that I only have six weeks of teaching left. Six weeks. I can't believe it. Instead of counting how months I've been here (15 in case you were wondering), I'm counting how months I have left. It doesn't feel like I should be six weeks away from being done with my primary assignment. Twenty-seven months no longer seems like a long time, like enough time.

My new backyard. Apple trees and grape vines.

My new house.

New house.

Turkeys fighting in my yard.

new kitchen

other room

sleeping area

I had dinner with my counterpart, Aigul, and her family.

We woke up after camping to this. All that snow was brand new.

Joni and Ariel with our sweet fire.

Our sweet campsite above kok-jangkok.

Ariel and I putting together the tent.

Walnut forest.

Ariel and Joni trudging up the hill.

After months of talking about it, we finally went camping. Ariel, Joni, and I hiked high above another volunteer's village and set up camp. Since this was a short trip and we didn't exactly have it approved, we tried to stay close to other volunteers. It was beautiful. Much colder than in our area, but it was refreshing to not be roasting. We hiked amongst the walnut trees, in the second largest walnut forest in the world, until we found a stop at the top of the mountain. We waited until the herders were down off the mountain and then we set up camp, and built a fire. It was a great, albeit cold, night. I started my English clubs this week. The kids were excited; I planned only fun things to do. But I did notice that none of my favorite kids from last year showed up. It turns out that all my best students are now attending Ariel's school, which is the really fancy and better school. I'm a bit disappointed. Yesterday three of us decided to have a teacher-training seminar on lesson planning. We called and texted teachers from all over the rayon, and personally invited a bunch of teachers. Only one teacher showed up. Even our counterparts didn't come. It was a bit disappointing. So instead of having the seminar, we had chai and samsas (a food bearing a slight resemblance to a samosa), and just chatted in English. The one teacher who came is one of my only true Kyrgyz friends, Gulnaz. She works at the Russian school, although not for long, she too is moving to teach at Ariel's school. After a rather funny conversation with a taxi driver last weekend, I decided to start compiling a list of reasons of why I love Kyrgyzstan. Also, after this week, I realized that it will be good to look at occasionally to remind myself of why I'm still here. When trying to choose a taxi driver to take, I always ask what kind of car they have. My favorite response is when they shot, 'I have a big car, a golf.' And they in all serious mean that the Volkswagen Golf is considered a luxurious roomy car, which is this area of the country, it is. I love that women still bake bread every week for the family to eat. I love hearing the call to prayer- it adds structure to my day, and allows five moments to pause and rest. The apples here are unbelievably delicious, and unbelievably cheap. I never have to answer questions about myself anymore. Enough people know who I am, that when someone asks, they answer for me: 'oh she's American, she works here, she's born in '85, and she's not married.' Every time I visit someone I leave with a goody bag of candy, nuts, apples and bread. Sometimes I even get meat!

Time here seems suspended. The weeks go by, and I don't even really notice. I'm starting to get back into my teaching routine. So far my schedule has changed four times, which can be frustrating. Last year I would have gone on some tirade about the Kyrgyz education system, but this year I sort of expected it- I'm going with the flow. And really the schedule does need to be changed, it never comes out right the first time; actually it needs to be changed again, but I'm not holding my breath. This year I'm teaching 5th-9th forms. I have three of my five classes from last year, and I replaced my two graduating 11th forms. In the past couple of weeks I've also moved. When I found a scorpion five inches from my pillow, I decided enough was enough. The next day I was on the phone, and arranged to look at a new place. My new place is a compound house, not an apartment, so it has the added protection that a family offers. It's significantly smaller than the apartment, but no scorpions! My new family is nice, they keep asking if I need anything else for my room, but I have a pretty sweet set-up. My house is two rooms, a small kitchen and then a bedroom/ everything room. I like it. There's always water at night, available from a pump in the yard, as well as a really nice outhouse and a banya that they actually use. I feel like I moved up in the world. The volunteers in my area have started planning a fall harvest festival in my village- think elementary school carnival. The festival is going to be a fundraiser for my school toilet, as it is going to end up being a very costly project. We're hoping to get local businesses involved as well as local community leaders. I think it's going to turn out well, and the kids and the community will really enjoy it. My kitty is really no longer a kitty. He spends most of his time on the windowsill stalking the turkeys that roam the yard. I'm hoping that my new family will agree to sell me one of their turkeys for Thanksgiving. And kill it and de-feather it for me, as I'm not really sure how to do either of those things. Fall weather teased us for a week, and has since fled, which is disappointing because I am tired of the heat. I just want to sleep under a blanket and have my outfits be temperature appropriate again. Jeans and a t-shirt are very hot in 100+ weather. And don't be thinking I have the luxury of air-conditioning, or shade for that matter. This upcoming weekend the girls and I plan to go camping. Although we don't yet have any idea exactly where, or any details prepared for it, we're going. It should be fun. We're thinking somewhere in the walnut forest, but we'll see. The big news of the week, around here, has been that the supermarket in Jalalabad is closing. Our beloved Narodni, where we could buy a few things that were unavailable in the bazaar, such as tonic water (which was really only one time), and nutella. But to be fair, we didn't really go that often, and no one else did either, that place was always empty. However, it really put a damper on a COS (close-of-service) plan of mine. Every time I went to Narodni, they gave me coins for change. Coins! Coins here are basically worthless, and no one will take them (even Narodni!), especially the really small ones that are less than a som. I had this plan to save all the coins the store gave me and in year from now, buy something with only coins! I had already started saving, and now I have all of these coins and there is nothing I can do with them. Ugh. Alright all. Happy Columbus Day!? That's coming up soon, right? Well enjoy your day off, and as we say in the local lingo-жакшы бар! (Jockshay bar, roughly translates to- good go!).

Time seems to pass without me realizing exactly how much time has past. Looking at the calendar this week I was shocked to see it's already well into September. One year ago today was my very first day as a Peace Corps Volunteer, and my very first day living in my village. I still can't believe that I've been in country nearly fifteen months. Looking back on my first year of service, I am glad that I made the decision to be here. I may not love teaching everyday, and I may reach my cultural overload every now and then, but when I do fun things like camp, teach a successful lesson, or have a fun teacher training, I remember why I'm here.   I remember awaking the morning after our swearing-in party (feeling a bit hungover) and getting on a Southern bound flight. After a three hour taxi ride, I hopped out with my luggage and walked into my new home. It was scary, it was like starting out all over again. But here I am, survived a year, and still happy about it. Ariel and I have come to be known as our village's "redemption volunteers." There has been something like fifteen volunteers who have served in our village, and only three have finished all two years. Everyone else left before they made it seven months. If Ariel and I didn't make it, the village wasn't getting any more volunteers. To have made it past those other twelve volunteers is great. People no longer seem afraid that we're giong to leave.   There's this ice cream place that we always go to, at least five times a week. Ariel and I were sitting there the other day thinking about how lucky we were and how much we loved our site. The two of us think that we got the best site in the country. Our village has a village feel, but is quite large by Kyrgyz standards, so we have city like amenities. Cafes to eat at, a huge bazaar to shop in, and easy transportation to anywhere in the country.   The last few weeks have been uneventful. Ramadan started, school started, and we celebrated Kyrgyz Independence Day. The weather has started to cool off, which is great, I was starting to really hate the heat (110 and no air-con= unpleasant). The Bazarkorgon girls are planning a rayon wide Harvest Festival that is going to be a fundraiser, but for what exactly we're not sure. That's about all I have planned this fall, which is a welcome break after my hectic summer schedule.  

 

Ryan, Joni, and I bought cheap Chinese bicycles in the bazaar.

Ryan and I with our new bikes. I think Alex is negotiating for a playboy bunny stamped bike bell.

Me with four of my five sitemates on Kyrgyz Independence Day (Aug 31), and some random kid who jumped in last minute.

Joni, Ariel and I in front of the Bazarkorgon yurt on Independence Day.

Local students participating in the independence day celebrations.

Bazarkorgon officials watching over the festivities, while Lenin watches over them.

The main stage on independence day. Local girls wearing national dress.

A traditional Kyrgyz yurt.

Girls in national dress.

The girls hard at work- coming up with team names.

At a workshop on the first day- everything is so green!

There was a ferris wheel at camp... but it was broken.

We're in charge- can't you tell?

Tug-of-war got fierce! The girls snapped the rope in half.

Walking down the counselors' cabin- camp was beautiful and delightfully not hot

Tye-dye- a little bit of American camp, the girls loved it

We had a scavenger hunt one night. Joni and I made the girls form a human pyramid when they found us.

At one of the sessions, the girls had to make a community map, and all the groups made a map of camp. One group included Joni and I!

The volunteers- hard at work!

Everyone from first camp.

Anthony came up with some sort of team-building exercise. This photo makes it look more torturous than it was.

The volunteers demonstrated steal the bacon. Camp Counselors at second camp. Second camp! The volunteers performing at the talent show- I think they're singing Britney Spears.

Having fun at arts and crafts.

This is Aktan, Joni's host-brother; he was the star of second camp.

The last six weeks have been camp, camp, and more camp. Joni and I wrote grants to have two camps this summer. The first was for sixty high school aged girls from all over Jalalabad Oblast; the second camp was for fifth, sixth, and seventh form boys and girls from around Bazarkorgon Rayon (a rayon is sort of like a county).    There were a number of hurdles to overcome, mostly having to do with our funding. At times it was frustrating, and at other times it looked like camp wasn't going to happen at all.  But it all worked itself out eventually, and once I got to camp, it was awesome.   During first camp, near the end of July, I had Alex, a new 17 in my area, to take care of my cat. Oops, big mistake. He apparently was not paying attention when I gave him instructions so he only came to feed the cat once, on Tuesday- I got back from camp on Saturday! The only reason that Timurlane seems to have survived is because my bathroom floor was mysteriously flooded.   Saturday night, after having returned from camp, Cameron and I were cooking dinner when all of a sudden it sounded like dripping water. I peeked into the bathroom and beheld a miracle- RUNNING WATER! Now when I say I have running water, it's not like I turn the faucet and water comes out. Really it just drips, and I can't turn it on or off. I had heard that the water occasionally turns on, maybe once a year, for a couple of hours, but this far surpasses that. The water comes on for about six hours everyday, usually in the evening, and there doesn't seem to be any sign that it will stop. This running water has made living in my apartment so much more enjoyable. I can flush my toilet! I can wash my clothes! I can bathe in my bathtub! I love it.   After first camp I had less than a week before I headed to second camp. Joni needed to make an unexpected visit back to America, and so I was left to do almost all the rest of the planning/organizing by myself. At this point camp began to unravel. I had to find two replacement volunteers to come to camp, which was no easy task- everyone was busy. I got sick and then our Kyrgyz director decided not to go to camp. In the end it all worked out, and camp was just as much fun as the previous, despite the problems and the rain.   Immediately after camp, Cameron was back down South with his cousin and her boyfriend who were visiting from America. Their visit coincided with the J-Bad volunteers' visit to Osh. So we all headed down and went out dancing on Saturday night. Osh is so much more of a city than Jalalabad, so we had Chinese food for dinner- delicious. And I actually got to be out when it was dark! That may not sound like much, but I make it a rule to remain indoors once the sun goes down- I don't like to be prey for drunk men. The club was fun until said drunk men tried to start a fight with the male volunteers. Despite the way the night ended, I had a lot of fun!   My trip back to J-Bad was uneventful, albeit very Kyrgyz. When Ariel and I went to get out taxi back to our village the taxi driver handed us his keys, pointed in the direction of his car, and told us to make ourselves comfortable while he found more passengers. Only in Kyrgyzstan would someone just hand over car keys and not worry that his car would get stolen.   The next few weeks I finally get to enjoy summer! I have trips to the pool and a trip to Talas (an oblast in the North) to visit Cameron planned. And this week I have to say goodbye to the 15s who are headed home. I can't believe that this time next year I will be saying my own goodbyes to Kyrgyzstan. One year feels dually a short time and a long time. When I first began my service I didn't think that two years was that long. And while it isn't in the long run, I'm starting to see that it is in fact a significant chunk of time. While I'm here living in and experiencing a new culture, my friends and family are continuing their lives and it feels kind of like I put my on hold.   One 15 left in the middle of July and he's sent a few emails. It sounds hard to go back. People don't really understand what you've been through, and how do you explain two years of experiences in five minutes (the amount of time most people are willing to listen)?   With the 17s arriving, and the 15s departing, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the next year and what I still want to accomplish. My primary assignment, teaching English, hasn't been rewarding as I had hoped, but all of my secondary projects have exceeded my expectations and I've found them immensely rewarding. Despite all of the problems associated with my camps, I loved planning, organizing and running them, and I have enjoyed the teacher trainings that I have conducted. I'm hoping that next year I can spend more time than I did last year on my secondary projects.   So that's it for now, I'm sorry for the serious gap in communication. Hopefully I'll be more loquacious now that I'm not hiding in the mountains at camp. Enjoy the rest of summer! 

The last few weeks I've been rather busy, considering that I am no longer teaching. My parents came to visit me for a week and a half at the beginning of June. I spent the time showeing them around the country and my village. It was interesting to see their reactions to things in country, to Kyrgyzstan through their eyes. So many things are just so commonplace to me that I never even think about them anymore.   When they first arrived we immediately took a taxi straight south to Jalalabad. U hadn't been on the Bishkek-Osh highway for a couple of months, and things were much different this time. The drive was beautiful. Snow was beginning to melt, and things everywhere were turning green. Families had started to set up their summer residences, in yurts along the highway.   Kyrgyz culture is still nomadic, but today it's more of a vertical nomadism. During the colder months, people and the herds spend time in the warmer valleys, while in summer they head up into the cooler mountains. When we were driving down, it was time for all of the animals to head up to the jailoo (mountain pastures). So the road was clogged with swarms of sheep, cows, and horses. Our taxi driver spent much of the drive using his horn.   With my parents and Ariel, my sitemate, we headed to the lake region and went to Karakol. Ariel and I were largely disappointed with the town. After everything we had heard, we expected more. I still definitely prefer the more vibrant south. My mom really took a liking to Karakol- but that may have had more to do with the hotel.   After my parents let, the new volunteers (the K-17s) arrived at permanent site. I have four new sitemates. One is actually in my village, and the other three in surrounding villages. They seem nice- hopefully we'll all get along and not have too much drama.   Since it's summer, I also went on a mini-vacation to Talas, an oblast in the north, the visit Cameron. Other volunteers are always hating on Talas, but I liked it. I got to see my friend Patrick, we studied Kyrgyz together last summer. And I played Frisbee golf. K-10 volunteers set up a Frisbee golf course outside Talas city and volunteers still use it! It was an awesome way to spend the day.   The rest of my summer is turning out to be very busy. Joni and I have been planning a number of things. We're having a series of teacher training seminars for English teachers throughout our rayon (a rayon is sort of like a county). Also, we are having TWO summer camps! We're a little nuts. I'm already stressed about the planning and conducting of two summer camps, and it's not even July! But both camps will be fun… I hope.   Our first camp is for 10th and 11th form girls from throughout the Jalalabad Oblast, and our second camp is for 5th, 6th, and 7th form boys and girls from our rayon. We've had a bit of stress with the funding for both camps, but it's looking like we're going to get both completely funded.   Also, we are having a 4th of July party with our local friends, families, and counterparts- to introduce them to an American holiday. We're going to have a bbq and have fireworks. One of the three goals of Peace Corps is to share American culture with HCNs (host country nationals). So Joni, Ariel and I thought this would be a good way and time to work on the second goal of Peace Corps service.   The last thing on my summer list is working on a grant project for my school. Initially, my school wanted a resource center with English language books and materials, but after speaking with my director, my school has decided on something else. My school's director feels that students' health should be our first priority, and I agree. So, we have decided to construct a new toilet for our school. I have no idea how old the toilet we have now is, but I can say that it is disgusting. During the school year I would wait all day until I got home, rather than use that toilet. Once, I even ended my afternoon club twenty minutes early because I really had to use the toilet and I didn't want to use the school one.   I'm about a week shy of having been in country for a year. I still cannot believe that I have been here that long. Especially now that the weather is hot, it really does feel like I got off that plane last week. I continue to be surprised by Kyrgyz people and culture, I'm still learning the Kyrgyz language, and I still feel like an outsider. I'm not sure if I'll ever really feel like I'm a part of my village- there really are too many cultural differences. I love my village, and I love the people I get to interact with, locals and volunteers alike, but every time I go to the bazaar, or to the ice cream place, I still feel like I have a long way to go with my cultural and community integration. I'm excited to see where this next year and couple of months goes. I can't even begin to imagine what I will feel like at this point next year.

Timurlane, my new kitty.

My kitchen, with a broken fridge

the entryway, with buckets awaiting water

my bedroom

the living room, i got lucky with the furniture- normally apts don't come with quite so much

how i cook- homemade hotplate, and a small red oven

view behind my bedroom- I forgot that it was ever that green

My two counterparts- Salima, and Aigul at my birthday party

Cameron and I went to my host family's house for my cousin's bday

My 11 yr old host cousin, right before I moved out- she was my favorite person in that house

The last couple of weeks I've been thinking about water. It's been raining more than usual, which has had an impact on this year's crops; things are not growing. Joni's counterpart has a field where they planted watermelons, by now the watermelons should have been growing, but this year- no such luck. Water is very much a part of my daily life, not that it wasn't before, but I spend a lot more time thinking about water these days. My apartment, and actually my whole village, does not have running water. The village also has no ground water, so traditional wells are not an option. To get water I take two buckets and walk back behind my apartment building to a fellow teacher's house, where I can fill my buckets. The woman has an in-ground tank that gets filled with water as it empties. The walk there isn't too far, but the walk back seems endless. Water is deceivingly heavy! And the handles of those buckets- they dig into the palms of your hands, which is uncomfortable. This past week, the teacher's "well' was empty! So I haven't had water all week. To flush my toilet I had to go to the canal- which is full of lovely muddy water, and collect two buckets. Not really the best water for drinking or cleaning, so my apartment is a bit of a mess.   I also got a kitten! The kitten was Anthony's, but he decided he was actually allergic to it, so the kitty came my way. He's really cute, and very little. I've named him Timurlane, after Timur the "lame," who was a mongol warrior. Timurlane really lives up to his moniker, he's fiesty and fierce.   School was supposed to end May 25, but because of our long break in winter, school has been extended until June 13th. Not that students or teachers can be found at school. Many have already left for smaller villages and fieldwork.   Joni and I have been gearing up for summer camp! I'm really excited. The camp is going to be for high school girls from all over the Jalalabad Oblast. We have a lot of volunteers interested in helping out, which is great. I think it's because everyone heard how awesome our winter camp was, and now they want to help with summer camp!   My parents are arriving in a matter of hours! They missed their connecting flight in London, and so got redirected through Istanbul and are arriving in the morning. I'm pretty excited; it's been almost exactly a year since I've seen them. I have no idea what we are going to see and do, but as always in Kyrgyzstan- I'm going to go with the flow.   Happy Summer!

It's been a few weeks. So much has happened, but at the same time it feels as if I haven't really done anything. After Nooruz, I settled back into my school schedule, although my students did not. My afternoon classes are "specialized courses," and seem to be optional. I have spent many afternoons over the last few weeks staring at an empty classroom.   My English clubs are going really well. All the kids that come want to be there and to learn. Sometimes English club is my favorite part of the week. On Mondays I've started teaching one lesson at the Russian school in my village. Don't be misled by the term 'Russian' though, the students are mostly Krygyz or Uzbek, they just have all their classes in Russian. At the Russian school is a really young and awesome English teacher, Gulnaz. She's really motivated to improve her English and her teaching. Teaching with her is fun, and every week, I'm reminded why I became a Peace Corps volunteer.   In the first week of April, Jalalabad had a guest! Eric Weiner, an author from the US (he wrote The Geography of Bliss) came for a visit. He had met Fritz and Ginger (two volunteers down here) when they were back stateside in January, and he came out for a visit because he was writing an article for New York Magazine about Peace Corps.  The article should be coming out either next month or the month after. I'm not really sure. But his visit coincided with a birthday party, so we all got to meet and talk with him.   At the beginning of April, I started looking for a new place to live. I had several options available and then I moved into an apartment about two weeks ago. The apartment is nice, albeit very soviet, and it does not have running water. Volunteers have lived in the apartment in years past, and so it came stocked with some books in English, as well as a lot of furniture. I have to be very Kyrgyz and go down the street with buckets to collect water, but luckily I'm only on the first floor.   So far I really enjoy the freedom of getting to cook my own food. The diet I was on with my host family was… minimal- I have lost a lot of weight over the last few months. Now I can cook my own meals, and eat things besides soup, and just maybe my clothes will fit again by the end of the summer!   I spent last week in Bishkek. I went to the K17s training to help give a session with the medical unit about sexual assault. It was a long way to go for only 5 minutes of talking, but it was necessary. Myself and another female volunteer were there to talk about a couple of incidents that happened in the last few months. I can remember sitting in that session last year, not really listening, and dismissing the statistics that the doctors gave us. I think that by having the two of us share, it made the statistics seem more real. While I was standing in front of the sixty of them, it certainly looked like they were all listening. So perhaps, next year's statistics will be one less.   We found out a couple of days ago where all the new volunteers are going. Ariel, Joni, and I are excited about the three new volunteers headed our way. I met a couple of them when I was up in Bishkek, and they seem awesome and fun. They're coming down for a few days at the end of May. We've been planning a few fun things to introduce them to the amazingness that is the south.   Starting today holiday season is in full swing. There are three holidays during the next week, and it looks like school is going to be cancelled until the 10th. My friend Cameron from Talas (an oblast in the North) is coming down for a visit this week, so at least I'll have things to fill my week with.

There are two acronyms I find myself using a lot these days: TIK (this is Kyrgyzstan) and CAWA (Central Asia wins again). Peace Corps' abundant use of acronyms must be rubbing off on me. At least once a day I have a TIK moment, such as this afternoon when I found a walnut in my purse, unshelled of course.   I had an ultimate CAWA moment last week. The K-16s were headed to Bishkek for our PDM conference. Ariel, Leslie and I were taking a taxi. The driver picked us up around 7 am, on time amazingly, and we set off. After several hours in the car, and past the half-way point, we reached a road block. The road was closed due to an avalanche and seven deaths, and would remain closed for another five days. We called the PC office and informed them and then turned around. Our instructions were to drive to Osh, and get on the first flight. We called all the volunteers planning to drive and informed them as well. Before we even reached Osh, still a five hour drive away, we discovered that all flights were sold out. We frantically tried to organize a flight from the car (not easy) with our intermittent cell phone service. Peace Corps told us not to bother because the first flight out wasn't until Thursday and we would miss the entire PDM conference by the time we arrived. So only a select few of us headed up Thursday for a different training, which was taking place Friday.   Rather than go back to school or to Jalalabad, we stayed in Osh for two days. For two days we saw the sights, and ate some good food. We stayed at one the 16s' apartments- he, however, was not prepared for guests. So it was an uncomfortable two nights. While there we walked around and enjoyed the glorious weather- I even got slightly sunburned. Spring had begun, everything was green and the apricot blossoms were beginning to bloom; it was so warm that I didn't even need to wear a sweater.   My weekend in Bishkek was ridiculous, and not necessarily in a good way, though I did get to see all of the other 16s. PDM was the last time that all of the 16s would be together until our close-of-service conference. Friday night turned into a serious incident. I can't discuss the details, but it really pissed me off. The week after I was filled with anxiety and stress, waiting for the situation to be resolved. And now I have to watch four of my friends go home.   School is back in session, but the holiday season has begun! March 21st is the biggest holiday in Kyrgyzstan. Nooruz, or Navrus in Uzbek, dates back to Zoroastrian times. While not originally an Islamic holiday, the holiday has been adopted throughout Central Asia as an Islamic holiday. Traditionally, a dish called 'sumalak' is made. It takes about twenty-four hours of constant stirring to create sumalak. As to what exactly is in it, I'm not sure, but wheat is definitely in it. It involves boiling down, then adding more liquid, then boiling down again until the consistency is like carmel. They do this at least seven times.   I spent Nooruz in Jalalabad with the other volunteers as it was also Leslie's birthday. The big park in Jalalabad had a huge festival going on, which is where spent some time. In the park there is a giant ferris wheel, so of course we had to get on. It was one of the scarier rides of my life. Despite going very slowly, the small chain across the gap did not make me feel better. It was a very TIK moment.   The news here is full of events. There was an alleged 'assassination,' general elections were called, and the opposition parties have organized nationwide protest rallies. It's been a crazy couple weeks for Kyrgyzstan and for Peace Corps. Just in time for the K-17s. The 17s will be here in less than a week! It's crazy that enough time has passed for a new crop of volunteers to arrive. To me, it still feels like I got here yesterday.

25/07/2008 Last evening, Elena and I went to the magazin (a little shop) down the street to buy a watermelon (darbus). The sun was going down and we had t walk through more than one swarm of misquits, but we made it unscathed, well almost- I have thee bites on my wrist. Once at the magazin there was only one watermelon left, huge, but rather unsightly, we bought it anyway; it ended up weighing 11 kilos- and Elena, being only five, could not carry it. Finally our blue gate was in sight, and I unloaded the watermelon and Aizada, my host mom (Apa), cut it up. DELICIOUS. Watermelon season is fantastic. I don't know if I've mentioned watermelons before, but they are worth mentioning daily. I eat watermelon at least once a day, sometimes three. When my language group and I are walking to one of our sessions, we pass by quite a few watermelon sellers on the main road- their watermelons stacked neatly by the dozens. If this is the way fruit seasons go, I'm excited for the upcoming apricot and apple seasons. My host brother Sultan, who's 8, loves rocking out with my ipod. I love listening to him try and sing 'apologize.' He doesn't quite get the lyrics right, i imagine it's what i sound like when trying to speak Kyrgyz. I'm finally starting to get used to the cyrillic alphabet, at least when the word is in Kyrgyz, with Russian words I have a bit more difficulty. I've finally fallen into a bit of a routine, after a couple of weeks in-country. I have morning language clasds, followed by various PC sessions in the afternoons. After which, my language group hangs out, walks home, visits the magazin, etc. Nic and i usually end up walking home together, since we live practically next door, and on the opposite end of town from everyone else. By the time we start walking down his street, the chon apas are looking curiously at us, and all the small kids come running up to Nic to say hello. It's possible that the neighborhood has the wrong idea. I drop Nic off and continue walking, this time saying hello to all the old women congregated along the street. Half of them are relatves anyway. It seems as if there is at least on house on all the surrounding streets that have family members related to my host family. There is one family, almost across the street from Nci, that is my host father's younger brother's family, s well as his parents. In Kyrgyz culture the youngest son's family lives with the parents. My Ata's brother is married, to a women who is also 23, and they have two of the cutest kids. I've been over a few times for chai or some watermelon. Once, about two weeks ago, I attended a family party. Their sone, who's three, was circumcised and there was a party to celebrate. There was food, laughter, some vodka shots (not me, of course), and a very upset three year old hobbling around. I have my permanent site interview this upcoming week. I'm rather anxious to know where I'll be living for the next two years. I've got my fingers crossed for Naryn oblast, although I think anywhere would be awesome. Thre are seven oblasts (regions/ provinces) in Kyrgyzstan: Naryn, Talas, Issyk-Kul, Jalalabad, Osh, Chui (where I am now), and Batken. Naryn is the most traditionally Kyrgyz, 98%, has beautiful mountains, is the largest and most central oblast, as well as the coldest. I should find out my prmanent site in mid-late August. 28/07/2008 I was talking to a K-14 earlier this week about the Kyrgyz interest in Santa Claus. It began when all of the k-16s were in Bishkek for a cultural event (more on that later) anda k-14 took a few of us to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. On the table was a toothpick holder shaped like a santa hat. It turns out that a couple of years ago, a study was done by some company (I think American) to determine the most efficient santa claus. They discovered that for St Nick to be the most efficient he could be, he would live in Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz people latched on to this, embraced Santa Claus (despite their being no Christmas) and even named a mountain after him. Saturday, my group of volunteers was in Bishkek, the capital. Our first stop was the art museum. It was small, but there were a lot of words by Kyrgyz artists. I'll have to go back when there are not 60 americans running around. For the most part there words were pastoral scenes. There was one room devoted to traditional kyrgyz rugs, the shirdak. Huge, beautiful, and colorful felt rugs ( I can't wait to buy one). After our museum vist was our chinese lunch, followed by the TsuM, a sort of giant electronics bazaar. Then it was back to my village for dinner and fun with my host family. I've tried to post photos- but i keep accidently deleting my jump drive once i get to the internet cafe, i really should learn some russian. hopefully i'll get some up soon. also- i got a cellphone- email me if you want the number, i'll get back to you next wednesday (my internet day.

Hello all! I arrived in Kyrgyzstan last week, and have been living with my host family for about a week now. They are awesome. There are two kids- Sultan and Elena (8 and 5), who are adorable. We run around the yard playing games, as well as many games of cards. Elena is very much taken with me- she has even started to dress like me, going as far as to put on glasses. Our house is nice, we have a large vegetable garden out back, three cows, three sheep, a dog, and a cat. There are also a bunch of cousins who live in the neighborhood, a few of which are always over. It took me a couple of days to figure out who actually lived at the house, and who the immediate family was. There are five of us in my Kyrgyz language group, and all of us have been practicing what we're learning, or at least attempting to practice. Our LCF (language teacher) is amazing. He's from Jalalabad and is quite funny. I went to a traditional Kyrgyz party last night. There was good food, toasts and vodka, and dozens of small kids running around. So far the food is delicious. It's not agreeing with my stomach, but it tastes great. A lot of root vegetables, and mutton. And watermelon, lots of watermelon- which is delicious. Everyday my language group has lunch at one of our houses, so we get to try a lot of different traditional foods. My favorite was a rice dish called Plov, as well as some sort of giant meat dumpling. There is also chai at every meal, and many many cups of it. The Kyrgyz phrase I hear most at meals is Sarah- chai each, chai each (drink tea, drink tea). That's all for now, hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to post a couple of pictures.