Little sledders

These are some kids on my street. Sleds: the BEST way to travel.

Leaving Naryn

Driving through Kyrgyzstan really highlights the essence of Kyrgyzstan. On Dec 14^th three volunteers and I left Naryn city (the central city in our region – 2 hours by bus from my village) for Bishkek, the capital. We travelled by taxi, about a 4 hour trip depending on the driver. When we left Naryn there was about 5 inches of snow on the ground and the sidewalks were mini ice-rinks. The first snow fell in early October and where it remains untouched by the sun, it lingers. The days have not been warm enough since then to melt it. Everything changed when the snow came. Barren hills and mountains without definition suddenly seemed to be carved of stone and ice in jagged rugged lines. While I was once unimpressed by the Kyrgyz landscape, I now find the scenery breathtaking.

Our region is the coldest in all of Kyrgyzstan and driving to Bishkek meant leaving the bitter cold for slightly warmer temperatures. We left the snow after about an hour of driving. The snow covered mountains became backdrop and tan plains became the most defining part of the landscape. There was the occasional tree, stream, frozen pond. If I had been keeping track, I might have counted over a hundred separate herds of sheep. That is stereotypical image of Kyrgyzstan and it is not a misrepresentation. The occasional horse could be seen wandering around in this empty land, not lost but seemingly not watched over by anyone in particular.

Then I spent 4 days in Bishkek trying to re-discover how to navigate a large city. Traffic is more unnerving that I remember it, and I find that my sense of direction is lost in a town with more than 5 main streets. It’s interesting comparing stories with volunteers who live in larger towns and cities. While I’m shocked that they have access to all kinds of different foods, they are amazed that we don’t have grocery stores even in our biggest city. I know volunteers who check their internet daily and others, like myself, who manage to get to an internet café maybe once a month. While we each have distinct experiences within Peace Corps, we all have similar challenges in adjusting to a new culture, language, and way of life.

During the last day of my stay in Bishkek I decided to head out on my own. Until then I had stuck close to city-volunteers or volunteers who have been here over a year, relying on their knowledge to get around. Running short of time, I stood at a bus stop trying to figure out which bus would take me where I needed to go. Normally I would turn to the person next to me and ask for advice, but there was a problem: everyone around me was Russian. While almost all Kyrgyz people speak Kyrgyz and Russian, most Russians only speak Russian. I only speak Kyrgyz (and it’s still very limited). That’s one challenge I don’t have to deal with at my site. Few Russian ever venture into Naryn...