Wednesday, October 25, 2006

I'm back!!!

10/22/06

I haven’t updated this in a while, but I had no idea how many people actually read it. All this time I thought I was writing to an audience of one. First of all, I don’t live in Talas anymore. I didn’t have steady work and there didn’t seem to be hope of finding any. In August I moved to Karakol, which is near the eastern border of the country and close to China. I work with a tourism organization called Ecotrek. We have about 30 men who take tourists on treks in the mountains. I’m teaching them business management skills, because they don’t have many. I am also teaching a Business Skills class at the university. Karakol is a lot nicer than Talas and I’m happier here, though I miss my host family in Talas.

I have an apartment in the center of town. The location is nice – near the university, cafes, and corner stores. I don’t have much furniture, but I’ve been looking for some second hand items.

My new address is:
Kyrgyzstan
Karakol, 722360
Main Post Office
Mailbox #33
Amy Ortega

Just a reminder if you send a package: insure it, wrap the box in brown paper and cover it with duct tape, and draw religious symbols on the box.

I recently came back from visiting my family. It was great to see them. We did so many things in 3 ½ weeks. I’ll try to recount a bit of what we did, but it won’t be so detailed because its been a little while since it happened.

First I spent a few nights in Chicago. When I got through customs in O’Hare I was expecting to see my whole family waiting for me. No one was waiting. I headed outside to see if they were waiting in the car. Then I spotted my father inside. I must have gone out as he came in. It was so good to see him, but talking to him was one of my bigger culture shocks. He was showing me his new cell phone and talking about the newest gadgets. Not only did I have no idea what he was talking about, but I wasn’t too interested. It had no importance to me. And this was all happening while he was driving the car. We were in rush hour with cars not cows AND people follow traffic laws. Excluding a few. I felt so far-removed from a culture where having the newest car or electronic gadget is a matter of importance.

When we got home everyone was waiting for me. It felt just like coming home. I know that’s stating the obvious, but anyone who has left home for a long time and returned knows exactly what I mean. You come back to a certain level of regularity and comfort, but this time there is a surreal quality. In my mind I knew how much I and my life have changed, but my family didn’t know that. Being back was an adjustment for sure.

After a few nights I drove to St. Louis to see, Gillick, one of my college buddies. I hung out for a couple days at his house. That was my first stay in St. Louis even though I lived so close during college and all my friends were from there. The city has a great atmosphere.

When I went back to Chicago, grandma was waiting with masa and corn husks for me. I had to spread masa for a small pot of tamales (because I had demanded we have them while I was home). I love spending time with her cooking, having coffee or watching Spanish soap operas. Those are the times when we have real conversations about life and she tells me stories about herself. When she tells me about her younger days, I feel like I’m being let into a secret world that others rarely see. I’ve learned a lot about her this way.

Mom and I then flew to Paris for 6 days. At first I was not impressed with the city. People were blatantly rude which I do not handle well. I was also famished and exhausted. We were off to a bad start. We went out to find food, but couldn’t find a restaurant that would serve us. We managed to get a ham sandwich and salad. That revived us enough to go for a walk and see some of the city. A little café caught our eyes after a while and we decided to stop in for dessert and a bottle of wine. The waiter was extremely nice to us and he single handedly restored my faith in Parisians. Two Japanese women sitting beside us were studying to be sommeliers. We talked with them a little and they shared some wine. We continued stopping in different restaurants all night and had one thing to eat at each place rather than a big meal all at once. It was my mom’s idea to snack along the way and it was a good one. Throughout the rest of the week we saw different sites in Paris. We took an open bus tour but didn’t stop to go into too many places. I snuck onto the bus an extra day because I didn’t have money to spend. The top deck is great for napping too. The tour operators provide headphones for everyone and old French music is played while you’re basking in the sun. Some of my best napping was done on those buses. We also went to Notre Dame and the Louvre. While they were breathtaking, there were too many tourists. I’ve never been anywhere with so many tourists and I wasn’t too keen on that aspect. But if I could have subtracted them from the equation it would have been perfect. My mom and I had fun together and it gave us a chance to catch up on everything. And by the time I left, I was in love with the city.

I flew back to Chicago a day before my mom due to a booking mix-up, and she met us later in Austin, TX. My dad picked me up from the airport and we went to his favorite wine store. We bought wine, pate and a baguette to tailgate before the Tom Petty concert at the Museum Campus. It was the fanciest pre-party I’ve ever had, but we were in a concrete parking garage sitting by our car. My dad loves Tom Petty and I like seeing him excited about things. We had seats in the 4th row and all of our neighbors were nice people.

The next afternoon we had a flight to catch to go to Austin City Limits. We had technical difficulties and missed that flight. We made it to the airport before the flight left, but they won’t let you check in if you have less then 40 minutes to departure. We sat in the airport for a few hours and were lucky enough to get on a later flight. My lovely family was waiting for us in Austin with food and drinks. We spent the weekend eating, talking and dancing to great music. The ACL fest is huge (7 stages) and well organized. There was a mini Taste of Austin in the park as well as an arts festival. Mini bars were set up throughout the park with cold beverages, which helped us deal with the killer heat. The festival was very chill and the people are peaceful. That’s the type of atmosphere I love.

Back in Manteno the annual Oktoberfest was going on. I was able to go for the first time in 4 or 5 years. I saw several people I went to high school with. I was interested to see what everyone is up to these days. I felt awful because I couldn’t remember people’s names. Even people I had been good friends with. I don’t want to be one of those people who forget others as soon as their out of sight, but that’s how I felt. Maybe I should study the yearbook before I go to a public function like that again. Other people seem to have this uncanny ability to remember names and faces while I end up looking like a jerk.

Overall the trip was great. Surprisingly I was homesick for Kyrgyzstan. I could hardly wait to come back and see my local friends and speak Kyrgyz again.

It took about a week to sleep off the exhaustion I felt. Then, instead of getting back into a routine, I took off for another week. My Talas family was so excited to see me and happy to receive some gifts. Ainash sent me back with 5 jars of homemade preserves. I’ve been secretly wishing someone cared enough about me having enough to eat that they would give me a jar of jam. I was feeling good when I left Talas. Then I flew to Osh in a prop plane. It was awesome! The plane had about 12 rows with 4 seats across. The luggage was stored in the area between the cabin and the cockpit, not under the plane. We flew over snow capped mountains and fields of crops. It was only a 50 minute flight from Bishkek as opposed to a 14 hour drive. I hope to go again next summer and also visit Arslanbob (the walnut forest).

Osh is a beautiful city. Many Uzbeks liver there and their culture is vibrant and interesting. The food is tastier and the people are beautiful and friendly. There is a mountain in the center of the city. If you climb to the top you can see the city in all directions. There is also a fertility slide that helps with fertility if you slide down an odd number of times, though once is unacceptable. Basically 3 times is average. I slid down, but only twice. I also visited Jalalabad, though I wasn’t impressed. It was a lot like Talas but bigger and more dangerous. It wasn’t beautiful and they have active militant Muslim groups. There has been terrorist activity in the last few months, though I was lucky enough not to experience any while I was there.

I hope to hear from everyone more this year than I did last year. Even if its just an email, please keep in contact and let me know the news in the states!!!