Time flies when you're having.. a revolution?

Oh my god.  Life has been a blur recently.  

As you all know, there was a revolution in Kyrgyzstan.  No volunteers were hurt.  The majority of us were moved to a safe location.  After 5 days at this undisclosed location I was sent back to my village.

Upon returning to site I spent a week in anxiety, distractedly going to school and waiting for any tidbit of news that came my way through the grapevine.  That was not fun.  So I took a week long trip to Kara Kol where I worked on a WID/GAD project and mostly just relaxed.  It was nice to be in a place that was seemingly untouched by the violent, political goings ons.  

Two days later our COS (Close of Service) conference began.  There's not much to say about that, because I imagine most of you aren't interested in hearing about a 3 day party.  It was the last time all of the K-16s would be together, and it was great.  One note-worthy piece:  I DID A COAL WALK!!  We had a bonfire on the beach and once the fire died down a bunch of us just went for it.  It was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life.  And my feet survived unscathed, though quite dirty.

I also have my COS date.  I will officially be leaving Kyrgyzstan on August 24th (which probably means early morning of the 25th).  Get ready!

Now here are some pictures of the beautiful resort on the lake that we stayed at for our COS conference:

Update

Hello blog reading people!

I'm sure by now most of you have seen some sort of news forum and are aware of the current situation in Kyrgyzstan.  In a nut shell, it's pretty crazy over here.  I want to assure all of you that I am safe.  Peace Corps staff and the rest of the volunteers are safe.  Many people have been relocated to safe areas to wait out the storm, but Peace Corps' official position is that we will not be evacuated, and everyone will be back to work shortly.  For more information check out any news website.  There are also some pretty intense videos posted on YouTube, if that's your thing.  I'll let you know if anything worth mentioning comes up.  As of now, we are simply waiting to see how things will turn out.

That's all!

Fun fact of the day

The Russian language has it's own verb for eating a Snickers candy bar. Example: "Ya snickersnu" = "I eat a snickers candy bar".

Awesome.

On a sadder note, I've decided to end my service early. I will be registering for early termination sometime next week and coming home shortly after that. I just can't take this isolation anymore. Haha, just kidding! Isn't April Fool's Day fun?

A Day in the Life of a Volunteer.. And Then Some

The weather on Friday was absolutely beautiful. It must’ve been at least 70 degrees. Finally, I thought to myself, Spring is officially here! The entire day I was raving about how nice it was outside to anyone who would listen to me. They would respond with agreement, and then follow it up by saying that all weather reports claimed it was going to snow the next day. Impossible, I thought.. I don’t believe it!

Later that night, I realized I was definitely wrong. I was staying with Meredith, and we were sitting with her host mom, drinking tea, and chatting. All of a sudden it sounded like planes were flying overhead, which isn’t unusual as the Russian air base is nearby her village. But it wasn’t planes this time, it was just the wind announcing that a storm was on the way. We were expressing our distaste in the fickle weather when Meredith’s host mom exclaims, “Meredith! Isn’t your laundry hanging outside?!”

She gets up to go retrieve it and I follow her outside to lend a hand, as she spent all morning doing laundry and there are four full lines of clothes hanging to dry. It’s dark out so she turns on the yard light and we both groan as we see that half of her clothes are now scattered across the yard, which consists, almost entirely, of half-dried mud and cow shit. We run over and frantically start picking things up. It’s the nature of wind to have the most effect on those items which are the lightest, so, unfortunately for Meredith, this means that most of the garments now on the ground are the intimate ones that you’d least like to see covered in brown splotches...

We’re running around gathering clothes, and I can’t help but laugh at the situation, when the power goes out. Kyrgyz power lines are not very strong so when it gets really windy the electricity is shut off to avoid fires from fallen lines and whatnot. I am mid-crouch, with my hand reaching out to a pair of underwear when everything turns completely black.. and I can’t help but laugh a little harder.

We gather the rest of the clothes by the light of my cell phone, bring them inside, and then light some candles.

“That really sucks,” I say sympathetically (as I’ve been in similar situations), “What are you gonna do?”

“Fuck it,” she says in exasperation, brushing the filth off of a shirt. “I’m so not washing everything again..”

To make matters worse, in the rush of bringing the clothes in we leave our shoes outside on the stoop. It’s part of Kyrgyz culture to take your shoes off when entering the house, but in most houses there is a space inside the door reserved for footwear. With laundry on the mind, we aren’t thinking, and don’t bother bringing them in. We realized our mistake the next morning when we go outside to find our shoes soaking in the rain.

The rain quickly turns into snow and the weather reports are proven true.. It doesn’t stop snowing the whole day. As my shoes were drenched, and I was dressed for 70 degree weather, I’m inclined to say that Saturday was not a good day. But as I’m writing this, on Sunday, it is sunny once again.. Though from the sound of all the snow melting off of my roof right now you’d think we were still in a rainstorm.

************

I wrote that at home yesterday on my laptop, but as I sit at the Peace Corps office now I realize that there is some news I should share with everyone..

I’ve decided not to pursue Jamaica. I still think it would be an amazing experience, and I realize that if I put it off and then decide to do it later in life (which is possible) I won’t have the sway with Peace Corps that I do now, but I’ve been getting really excited about law school recently. I know that law school will still be there even after another term of Peace Corps service, but I feel like I’m ready to start that chapter of my life. Everyday I’m less and less willing to put it off for another two years.

This realization got me thinking about what I would do with all the time in between Peace Corps and the start of the 2011 school term. It is a whole year, after all, so I don’t want to just be sitting around living with my dad in Cameron Park (even though I love you dearly!), and with the economy as it is now my chances of getting a job that pays more than minimum wage are slim to none.

Then I remembered a few other volunteers talking about doing AmeriCorps when they get home. AmeriCorps is very similar to Peace Corps, they would just be serving communities in America instead of abroad. AmeriCorps provides a modest living stipend, the opportunity to continue working with people in need, and it doesn’t require a two year commitment. To top it off, instead of offering a readjustment allowance, the way Peace Corps does, AmeriCorps gives you the option of accepting a small cash sum at the end of your service, or a larger sum that can only be used to pay for education. This sounds perfect for me!

I am still gathering information about how to apply and what my options would be, but I’m excited about this idea and I hope it turns out to be a realistic possibility for me. I’ll let you all know more once I know more myself!

That’s it!

Dogs in heat, Jamaica, and Spring

So, my neighbor has two dogs. One is a small, male terrior (Bobby), and the other is a large, brindle female. For the better part of a week the female has been in heat and it’s driving me CRAZY. I swear to god, every single male dog in the entire village has been flocking to our backyard to get a piece of the action. Bobby, however, is a bit possessive.. which means that all day I have to listen to jealous growls and agressive barking as this tiny terrior attempts to ward off all of his girlfriend’s ‘suitors’. Occasionally, all the chest bulging works, and the village dogs leave. In these situations, Bobby trots over to his lady, full of triumphant adreneline, and, pardon the graphic detail, attempts to ‘claim’ her. You don’t need to be a scientist to imagine that, with a small dog and a big dog, anatomy is working against them and Bobby’s attempts are not only unsuccessful, but incredibly awkward.. At other times, all the chest bulging turns into an all out dog brawl and I, being the sensitive-to-animals person that I have been raised to be, run out into the yard to try and stop it. I know I shouldn’t do this, I should just let Kyrgyz dogs be as they are.. But I have grown quite attached to my neighbors dogs, especially Bobby, and it pains me to listen to him yelping when two or three larger males decide to call his bluff and go in for the attack. After scaring off the intruders I walk back into my apartment only to find that Bobby and his lady consistently try to follow me inside. I like them, but not that much (especially during muddy season), so I send them back into the yard and listen as the whole process repeats itself.

This has been my week. It’s only 100som to get an animal fixed in this country, that’s about $2.50, but I have heard that Kyrgyz people think it’s inhumane to do so. Maybe they’re right, I’m not interested in starting a debate about it.. All I know is that if there were ever a time when I was considering dropping a few hundred bucks to sterilize a village’s worth of dogs, now would be it..

Moving right along, I have some news about Jamaica. Apparently, I am unable to do a transfer extension. Peace Corps doesn’t approve them unless there’s two months or less in between the end of one term of service and the beginning of the next. Because there would be a 7 month break in between Kyrgyzstan and Jamaica there are too many liability issues and it’s just not possible. My only option would be to re-enroll once I’m back in America, which is only a tad more inconvenient than doing everything from here. I still wouldn’t have to redo the application or medical process, but I would have to do all the appropriate e-mail correspondence on my own, and there’s a slightly smaller chance that I will have control over which country I get assigned to. With re-enrolling, I can apply to a certain region and voice a preference for a certain country (which will carry some weight, they say), but I can’t apply to one specific country the way I could if I was doing a transfer extension. I’m still interested, but I can’t start that process until I’m home, so I guess there’s not much else to say on that front.

Winter is finally coming to a close! Besides one day of snow last Friday, we’ve had a mixture of sunny and rainy days recently. The weather is definitely getting warmer, which is very fortunate because having my heater plugged in all the time was definitely taking a toll on my wallet. One more season gone also means I’m one season closer to seeing all you beautiful people again! The countdown is around 5 months now and time has definitely started to move faster. I can almost taste all the delicious food I will soon have access to!

I will now leave you with some pictures..


The view from my backyard:









The dogs.. The little guy in the front is Bobby. The one in the middle is the female, and the others are.. gentlemen callers..



The back side of my apartment building. Classy.

Random pile of puppies trying to stay warm:

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Whoops!

Thank you for reminding me, Tilly!  

I forgot to mention it in my last post but I have recently received 3 packages and I want to give a HUGE thanks to those who sent them!!  Thanks to Tilly and co., my dad, and Cindy, I have been chowing down on some delicious American treats recently.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

On a different note, as of Friday I'm in a band!  Meredith, Laura, and I have decided to use all of our free time to be musically productive. I discovered this amazing music program on my computer so we've already recorded some songs!  Check out our myspace page:

www.myspace.com/totesmakeupparty

Yeah, we're called Make-up Party.  Good times!

Six months and counting!

That’s right, folks! Only six months until I’m back! As excited as I am it’s becoming more and more clear that there are tons of things I’m going to miss about this place. Some of them things that I have complained about in the past, but have since grown accustomed to.. Such is the irony of life. I can tell you one thing I’m NOT going to miss: WINTER! Despite winter’s late coming this year (December and January were surprisingly warm.. for winter, that is) the past few days have felt like the coldest days I’ve ever experienced. My 15 minute walks to and from school everyday have become nightmare material. I can feel my nose hairs freeze with every inhale, and then melt again with every exhale. It’s a very interesting feeling, which wouldn’t be entirely uncomfortable if it weren’t for the fact that the rest of my face feels like it’s going to break off into shards of ice at any moment. It makes me miss living in a place with little to no seasonal weather changes, like San Francisco and Santa Cruz. Know what other place has little to no seasonal weather changes? Jamaica! Which leads me to my next point..

Though it may come as a shock, or possibly a disappointment, to many of you, I’m in the process of applying to do a transfer/extension to Peace Corps Jamaica. What this means is, if accepted, I would be doing a-whole-nother 27 months of service. It would not be immediate, however. Training for Jamaica begins in March and my Kyrgyzstan service would end in August, leaving me in America for 7 months in between. I figure this is plenty of time to catch up with everyone and get my fill of life in America before hitting the road again. When Peace Corps initially offered information about transfer extensions the thought of applying was the last thing on my mind, but the more I think about it the more I think it’s an opportunity I can’t possibly pass up. Because I’ve already done Peace Corps Kyrgyzstan I’m in a position which gives me the privilege of hand-picking which countries I want to apply to, and which work programs I want to be considered for. While there are tons of amazing countries which came into mind once I realized this (Thailand, Samoa, Peru, the Philippines, Fiji, South Africa, etc.), I will explain why I chose Jamaica.

There are two things that stand out in my head as being the most difficult things about my Peace Corps experience. The first is homesickness. Kyrgyzstan is kind of in the middle of nowhere, which makes it very difficult and expensive to travel here, or to travel anywhere from here. Because of this I haven’t gone home to visit, and I’ve had only 3 visitors. That’s actually more visitors than I expected, but their trips wouldn’t have been possible without the generosity of my father (I love you, Dad!). Missing friends and family during my service has definitely brought me close to quitting a couple times, especially around the holidays. Recognizing this, I knew that if I was going to do Peace Corps again it would have to be somewhere closer to America, and cheaper to travel to and from. Not to mention, it should be a country that people are familiar with and would have an active interest in visiting for reasons other than just me being there..

The second difficult thing has been language and cultural differences. It has been really hard for me to make true local friends. One reason is the obvious language restrictions. My language can only get me so far in a conversation before my vocabulary fails me, or before we get on to controversial topics that Peace Corps encourages us to avoid (politics, religion, etc.). I find it hard to relate to people on a meaningful level. All those things that I can’t, or shouldn’t, talk about are the things that usually bring me closer to people. Shared opinions about politics, religion, and philosophy are important. Or if not shared opinions, than at least the ability to discuss and debate (in a friendly manner, of course) those areas in which our opinions differ. Language aside, the culture here is also very different.. and very conservative. I feel I’ve had to hide many aspects of my personality and who I am in order to integrate and so as not to offend people. Don’t get me wrong.. I’ve met tons of great people here, many of whom I’d like to keep in touch with, but no one that I truly relate to or feel I’ve made a deep connection with. Except for other volunteers..

Side note: Before anyone says something incredibly charming like, “Why don’t you just study more and then you can have more meaningful conversations?!”, I need to explain something about Kyrgyz. The Kyrgyz language is incredibly under-developed. When the Soviet union took over in 1919, Russian was made the official language of the state. At that time, local Kyrgyz people were nomadic farmers and sheep herders whose lives revolved around family and small village communities. The language reflects this. Imagine if no new words had been added to English in the last 100 years. This would be similar to, but still not as extreme as, Kyrgyz. Ninety percent of the words that were introduced to Kyrgyzstan in the 1900s were introduced in Russian. This means words relating to business, politics, technology, philosophy, the legal system, the media, society, and other topics in higher education are primarily in Russian. There are no Kyrgyz equivalents. Now, it is possible to express some of these more complex ideas in the Kyrgyz language, but it is incredibly difficult. So, you ask, why didn’t I try to learn Russian on my own? Well, maybe I should’ve.. But Peace Corps taught me Kyrgyz and that’s what I’ve stuck with

Anyway, with both of these things in mind, I started to do research on Peace Corps countries, and that research led me to Jamaica. It’s close to America, and from what I’ve heard round trip flights are only around $500-$600. This means that, with the money I’ve earned from my first “tour of duty”, I can easily visit during the holidays or anytime I’m missing home too much. Also, they speak English in Jamaica! Well, Patois, actually. Some would argue that Patois is not really English but hey, it’s much closer than Kyrgyz. The culture is also a better fit for me. I realize that Jamaica is still very conservative in many ways, but nowhere near as extreme as here. Once I figure out the linguistic differences and gauge what I can say without offending people, I think I have a much better chance making local friends in Jamaica. Not to mention.. HELLO! IT’S FRICKIN’ JAMAICA!! I realize I won’t be placed in a tourist destination resembling a tropical paradise but I’ve always been much more of a forest/beach girl than a mountain girl and I know that beauty will surround me, or be within reach, even if I’m not in Montego Bay. And many other things I may have to deal with (no running water, limited electricity, poverty stricken communities, different work ethic, etc) are things that I’ve dealt with here and I won’t be phased by them. Of course there will be unforeseen difficulties, but I’m ready to meet them head on.

Moving right along.. As many of you know, my best friend, Shannon, came to visit me recently. I could take you through a step by step playback of what we did but I think that would be a lot more interesting to me than to any of you. Highlights from her trip include the circus, skiing, guesting, my birthday, and.. well, basically just her being here! Pictures are posted on facebook.

That's it!