letters from kyrgyzstan (...where?): August 2008

NEWS! K-16s received our permanent site placements last Wednesday. I will be going to Naryn! My information packet described the area as 70% high mountain peaks and 30% high mountain valleys. So "mountains" would describe it, short and sweet. I was immediately informed that my site is the most remote PC site in the country. hum...
But I'm still very excited. It'll be rough, especially the -50C winters. I'm not really sure how I'll deal with that. But everything else about my area is exciting. It's fantastically gorgeous, 100% Kyrgyz, I will live in a town of about 10,000 people. I've seen pictures of the school and even of some of my future students. I'm several hours from the closest big city but I have a "site buddy" who is about a 1/2 hour drive from me. I'm glad I have someone close by who can relate to my American sensibilities.

Short blog, sorry. I'll try and write more later.

Weird experiences make great stories. Have you ever fallen into the hole in an outhouse? (I haven’t, but I recently heard another PCVT telling his real-life outhouse nightmare.) All that aside, I’m not in Kyrgyzstan to collect stories. There are more comfortable places to collect stories and few people in the U.S. can appreciate the ‘name-that-meat-game.’ While I plan on having lots of great stories at the end of my 2-years of service, what I really want is to discover new strengths in myself, learn to overcome any challenge, and gain another way to view the world. A philosophy I picked up somewhere: if one can look at the world from many different angles, one’s idea of it will be more complete.

It’s been 6 weeks since we arrived in Bishkek. Wow. Really wow. My thoughts are all over the place right now. My sister had her baby (Gibson!) on August 7th. I called mom and got the details of the birth, time, weight, etc about an hour after he was born. It’s amazing. There is a new person in the world, and who he becomes will largely be shaped by the actions/attentions of my sister and Jay. Incredible.

On the other side of the world:

It’s been a busy week at my house. Yesterday our sheep “came home” and today my family harvested our sunflowers from the fields. A quick explanation regarding the sheep: apparently, during the summer, when grass dries up in the low-lands, our 30+ sheep are sent to the mountains to be cared for by a shepherd. During the remainder of the year they live in a pen in the backyard. They’re along-side the house for now because the pen isn’t ready yet. I think the cows are jealous of all the attention that the sheep have been getting.

The sheep are a meat-source during the winter; the sunflowers are a source of vegetable oil for the year. Once the seeds have been separated from the flowers, they will be sent to a factory to be pressed, then the family will get gallons of sunflower-oil for cooking.

I'm definately feeling 'fatigued.' A couple of days ago I fell asleep while riding on a marshrutka (a van-sized public bus). That shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me really well, but this might: I was standing up when I fell sleep. I was standing in the center aisle at the front of the bus, holding on to a handrail that was attached to the ceiling, I closed my eyes for a second and woke up as my knees buckled and I was milliseconds from crumbling to the floor. Good times...