Books

I've been getting a LOT of reading done. A book a day is what I'm up to. I had heard that we have a lot of time to read, but I hadn't put much thought into it. I should have brought more books. The other volunteers pass books around when they're finished reading them. I've plowed through all the ones that have been lent to me. I'll try to set up a separate page listing the books I read and my thoughts on them. Some of you may find it interesting, but at the very least you'll know which books not to send me. And I need books to read, for my own sanity. I've been spending a lot of hours playing FreeCell as well. Thank goodness I brought my computer. I can watch movies on it, but I only have 1. And I also mess with music and pictures. When my camera works I can download the pictures I've taken. But right now, I only use the computer to play FreeCell. So, the point of this entry is if you're not a book collector, please send me books when you've finished reading them. At this point, I'm not picky and I'll ready absolutely anything.

Photos

I've spent hours and hours uploading pictures on a dial up connection. Check them out, you can get there by clicking "Photos" in my Links list. They are pictures I got mostly from other volunteers because my camera hates me. If I can get it to start working, I'll be adding more photos soon. Otherwise, there won't be more until volunteers give them to me. Enjoy!

My New Jizzob

I'm not working at the internet cafe. Thank goodness, because I don't know how I would have spent my days. Instead I'm working at a place called RDC-ELET (Rural Development Center). They were originally funded by the UK government, but that funding runs out in September and they're supposed to be sustainable by then. Guess what. They're not sustainable. What the NGO does is help poverty stricken people in the villages throughout the state start their own businesses. They give them mini loans to buy sewing machines and supplies, farm equipment, seeds for planting, etc. They've helped quite a few people get started, and they make a good amount of money for Kyrgyz villagers. So they have a good mission, and a good sense of business. It seems that they're dependent on grants and don't want to change that. My job will probably be to get them funding. But in the process I'll be teaching them to write their own grants and find ways to become self sustaining. They also have their hand in tourism and there are some great places to stay around here. If anyone wants to visit Kyrgyzstan, I've got some great resources!

This past week, I spent 3 days traveling around Talas to see the different villages. There was freshly fallen snow and it was beautiful. Dangerous and beautiful. We traveled in a Russian jeep and it was like off roading except we were on roads. But there was very little heat, and my toes and calves were in so much pain. I hope we don't do this again next week.

A Response to Questions

I am currently working in an internet cafe called the Media Center. I believe it was started by UNESCO to be an information resource. So everyday that I work, I have access to the internet. It doesn't always work, but its there. Between my house and work is the bazaar, stores, restaurants, the post office, the White House, and the bank. I'm on the edge of the city, but its still a good location. I'm about a 15-20 minute walk from work, depending how fast I walk.

My buddies from Bolshevik all went in opposite directions. Mike & Brenda are living in Cholpon-Ata (on Lake Issyk Kul) and Andrew is in Jalalabat. I do have 5 other volunteers in the city with me. And in the state of Talas there are 8 of us new volunteers and 7 old volunteers (and by old I mean they've been here for a year).

My apartment is pretty big. There's 3 bedrooms, a room with the toilet, a room with a tub and sink, a large hallway that almost serves as a room, a kitchen and 2 living rooms. My host mom teaches at a medical school nearby (I think). My host sister works with me at the Media Center, and she's really nice. Her daughter is 7 and goes to school. She likes to have things just so, and is a very well-behaved little girl. And she studies every night when she comes home, which is refreshing in a country that doesn't seem to care too much about education. Everyone in my family seems to be educated. One of my host sisters, who lives in Bishkek, studied in Seattle about 10 years ago. That's rare for this country, because its very competitive to join the ACCELS program. Our apartment has an oven, but they use it to store things. I've never seen this type of oven used, everyone who has one stores kitchen wares in it. They use a hot plate or the range on the oven as a stove. At one of the stores in town I saw a large toaster oven for sale. It has a temperature dial and doubles as an oven. I'm debating buying that. And my no-bake cookies didn't happen. I thought I could buy peanut butter here, but I have to go to Bishkek for that. And yesterday I had bought milk as one of the cookie ingredients before I discovered the peanut butter dilemma. So last night I boiled the milk and added some Nesquik that someone gave me. This was the first time I've drank milk in Kyrgyzstan. It scares me. I have been drinking these shakeable yogurt cartons, but they don't sell them in the whole oblast of Talas. I'm trying to get myself used to the milk so I don't become lactose intolerant. I woke up so sick this morning. It took me 1.5 hours to get dressed, and it was only because my host sister told me I need to go to work. Otherwise I would have stayed in my bed. My stomach still hurts, but its getting better. I'll probably have some milk every night until my body adjusts to it. I've been avoiding it for 3 months, but I need to get over that. I just didn't want to get sick like everyone else in my training group.

The variety of foods in the winter is lacking. I went to the market yesterday, and had a hard time finding beans. Talas is known for its beans, and I don't know where they all went. There's plenty of rice, buckwheat, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic and eggs. I can also get dairy products. The sour cream is very thick and delicious, almost the texture of cream cheese. The honey is made locally, and sometimes you find a jar that is out of this world. Other times its very solid, grainy and light colored. But its better than pure sugar in my tea. There are plenty of raisins, dried apricots, and cookies. Also, for the first time I saw a slaughtered pig at the bazaar. The Russians are the only ones that sell pork, because their religion does not have restrictions on the other white meat. I was so happy at this discovery, though I haven't bought any pork yet. But it looked like they had bacon on the counter. Mmmm.

I also haven't tried to buy clothes yet. At the bazaar I'm nervous about picking the wrong size. There isn't a place to try things on. There are stores in Bishkek that sell clothes, and I'm pretty sure you can try things on there. The quality of clothes is not good, but some of my friends have bought them and like them. I'm holding out until my clothes are worn through.

Settling in for Winter

I finally made the move to Talas. I'm a little nervous about what projects I will start. I've put a lot of pressure on myself to be a super volunteer, and now I have to live up to it.

The weather isn't too cold here. In Bishkek, it was painfully cold. Its the weekend so I don't have much of anything to do. And 2 of the 3 people who live at my house are out of town for a week. And the third is leaving on Tuesday, so I'll have the place to myself. I'm excited about that. I'm thinking about making some no-bake cookies if I can track down all of the ingredients.

The mountain pass from Bishkek to Talas is closed for the winter. We had to go through Kazakhstan to get to Talas. It adds a couple hours to the trip, but I'm afraid of heights and icy mountain roads, so it worked out ok. The Kazak border currently has restricted access because their elections are this week. They're trying to minimize any trouble I guess. So at the border we had to stand in the cold and wait a long time to get stamped. The Kazak border guards wanted to practice the little English they know. They asked if I'm Mexican or Turkish. When I said Mexican, they responded with "I love you Mexico." Why thank you. I love you Kazakhstan. People say they love me all the time in English, but I don't think they understand the difference between like and love. They use the same phrase for both in Kyrgyz. There is a phrase for intimately loving someone, but they never use it. I know a woman who has been married for 20 years and has never told her husband she loves him. The women especially don't do it, because they think its bad for a woman to expose herself like that. Its very strange to me. I insisted that she go home and tell him she loves him, but I don't think it worked.

Tomorrow the K-12's are throwing a party for us new volunteers. My group is the 13th group of volunteers in Kyrgyzstan, and we're called K-13's. The groups before us are named in the same fashion. I've heard the volunteers here are pretty cool, and have nothing but good things to say about the area. That'll be good. When I get down in the dumps because its cold and everything is dead, I'll have positive reinforcement to keep me sane. There are 5 other volunteers who live in the same city as me. One of the couples lives about a 100 yards from my work, so I'll get to see them regularly.

We don't know what we're doing for Christmas, but we're already on the hunt for construction paper to make Christmas decorations. And we're trying to figure out where to get a Christmas tree, but I don't know if they sell Christmas lights here. Maybe in Bishkek, but it doesn't look like I'll be heading that way for about a month. I might meet up with Mike & Brenda in Bishkek for my birthday. But it mostly depends on money and the roads.