Busy in Bishkek 07-07-08

This has been such a strange trip. Time has been flying by and my head is spinning. I’m waiting for the world to catch up. We left Philadelphia 3 days ago, traveled through Istanbul, and are now held captive in a “fancy” Soviet hotel in Bishkek. I took the most frigid shower yesterday morning, I thought by skull would simply turn into ice and shatter. The toilet paper looks like brown crate-paper and is oddly stretchy. It goes into the trash after use. Strange but not particularly troubling…J

Let me back up a bit…

Istanbul was amazing. It’s so full of ancient sites (the walls were built around the city over a thousand years ago and were destroyed by the Turks in the 15^th century), but the streets are full of cars and the men and women walk the streets in modern clothing. Mosques are everywhere and prayers are said on loud-speakers frequently. It is such a fascinating place. We rode the metro light-rail from the airport into town, drank Turkish coffee, went crazy with pictures, and immensely enjoyed everything. Istanbul reminded me of Ecuador. Simply because it was so similar to the US and yet so different. It’s always so fascinating to see new places and have new experiences.

There is little that I can say about Krygyzstan yet. We haven’t had the chance to interact with the people here or see the countryside. The view from our balcony is lovely. There are bare, softly sloped hills next to the city and snow covered peaks in the distance. It’s amazing that there could possibly still be snow there when the days here can be hotter than 110F. The base of the trees that line the road are painted white. There were people gathered in clusters on the sidewalks at 3am when we drove in.

Part of me still doubts that I’ll be able to do it. Apparently the challenges that we’ll face are often overwhelming for the PC volunteers. Kyrgyzstan has one of the highest PCV drop-out rates of any country in the world. Nearly 2/3 of PC Krygyz trainees chose “early termination” and leave before their service term is up. But the fear of failure is slowly being replaced by the excitement the experience. What I will gain will be much more than what I will give up.

Our group is fabulous, very creative and adventurous. Everyone has so many great travel stories, I could happily listen to them talk about them for hours. Many of my first impressions of them have changed a lot. I’m not sure what brought each of us here and I don’t know which of us will succeed in making this place our home, but I hope that I will be able to develop some close friendships while I’m here, both with PCVs and with people in my communities.

Tomorrow marks our first step toward independence; tomorrow we meet our host families. We will live with them for the next 3 months while we’re in training. I know the first few days (weeks) with my family will be awkward with my very limited language skills, but I’m prepared for that. Hopefully the integration into the culture proceeds smoothly and my language skills progress rapidly. First month’s strategy: limit vodka intake.

I’m attaching some of the more interesting photos from the trip. If they stay in order after I upload them, they are: 1) the city walls of Istanbul, 2) more walls, 3) market in Istanbul, 4) mosque in Istanbul- either the Haga Sofia or the Blue Mosque?, 5) Turkish coffee on roof-top café, 6) Istanbul from the plane, 7) Bishkek sunset from hotel, 8) Soviet bus in parking lot