25 October 2008
Yikes! Pt. 3
22:00 24 October 2008
I now have more evidence that I am not a farmer. My family received two huge logs for our firewood for the winter and a friend who owns a big saw came over to assist us in making them smaller for our stove. Our friend was doing the big work, cutting up the 2 foot diameter logs into sections with the saw and I was cutting the discs into smaller pieces with an ax and a hammer and wedge. I was really surprised actually how easy this wood split- a huge disc could be twined with a mighty blow from the ax. These halves were subsequently broken into smaller and smaller pieces with the axe until they were about half the width of my forearm-each disc had about 50-60 pieces in it. I actually really like chopping firewood; I find it kind of cathartic and relaxing to make big things into little things.
I digress, in the process of chopping one of the smaller pieces, my hand holding it upright slipped and the (admittedly relatively light) blow of the axe reined all its force across my thumb. I initially was confused why the log didn’t break and then realized that I had instead cleaved my thumb. As I said, the blow was relatively light, but even a light blow from an axe can do relatively serious damage to our digits. I believe I was relatively lucky- while I split my thumbnail cleanly in two with a pretty serious and deep cut- I didn’t damage my nerves so I think that the long-term damage will be relatively minimal. Immediately after realizing the damage I did (I was in shock so it didn’t really hurt) I thought it was worse and convinced myself momentarily that my thumb was held on by a mere flap of skin- luckily this was not the case. Then I immediately washed the cut and called the Emergency Peace Corps Medical Officer line. They gave excellent advice of what I needed to do and had me photograph the wound- later it was emailed to them from the city and they assessed that I didn’t need to make a trip to the PC medical staff and that I could care for it myself. If you are really curious the grizzly extent of my injury- email me and I will show you the pictures- the better part of valor has prevented me from posting here.
I now have more evidence that I am not a farmer. My family received two huge logs for our firewood for the winter and a friend who owns a big saw came over to assist us in making them smaller for our stove. Our friend was doing the big work, cutting up the 2 foot diameter logs into sections with the saw and I was cutting the discs into smaller pieces with an ax and a hammer and wedge. I was really surprised actually how easy this wood split- a huge disc could be twined with a mighty blow from the ax. These halves were subsequently broken into smaller and smaller pieces with the axe until they were about half the width of my forearm-each disc had about 50-60 pieces in it. I actually really like chopping firewood; I find it kind of cathartic and relaxing to make big things into little things.
I digress, in the process of chopping one of the smaller pieces, my hand holding it upright slipped and the (admittedly relatively light) blow of the axe reined all its force across my thumb. I initially was confused why the log didn’t break and then realized that I had instead cleaved my thumb. As I said, the blow was relatively light, but even a light blow from an axe can do relatively serious damage to our digits. I believe I was relatively lucky- while I split my thumbnail cleanly in two with a pretty serious and deep cut- I didn’t damage my nerves so I think that the long-term damage will be relatively minimal. Immediately after realizing the damage I did (I was in shock so it didn’t really hurt) I thought it was worse and convinced myself momentarily that my thumb was held on by a mere flap of skin- luckily this was not the case. Then I immediately washed the cut and called the Emergency Peace Corps Medical Officer line. They gave excellent advice of what I needed to do and had me photograph the wound- later it was emailed to them from the city and they assessed that I didn’t need to make a trip to the PC medical staff and that I could care for it myself. If you are really curious the grizzly extent of my injury- email me and I will show you the pictures- the better part of valor has prevented me from posting here.
Testing My Patience...
22:30 22 October 2008
Today I conceived, wrote, and administered my first test as an English teacher. On the whole it was a frustrating and taxing experience. I gave the test to my fifth formers- it was the first instance of actually graded work and overall, I was really disappointed in the way the whole process went. I expected a lot of the problems I encountered, but it didn’t make it any easier for me to deal with and I have to admit that I think as a proctor of this test, at least from an American standpoint, I was a failure.
I actually enjoyed designing the test in the first place- it was certainly difficult to make- I had to think like a 5th grader and come up with creative ways to test their knowledge- but I enjoyed the actual authoring process of the exam. The test was designed to discover the students’ knowledge of possessive pronouns, location prepositions, and some new vocabulary about clothing we had learned recently (which was in an awesome lesson that involved me bringing in a lot of clothing and having races with the students). For the clothing, I drew a picture of a boy and a girl on the board with colored chalk and obvious articles of clothing, gave them a word bank, and then asked them to complete the sentences “He wears…” and “She wears…”. For the possessive pronouns, I took a more traditional fill in the blank approach with “I have a dog. It is ___ dog”. Lastly, I drew a basic map on the board with four buildings and a road in a row and asked them questions like “The ______ is next to the school.” and “The road is between the _____ and the _____”. Overall, I am still convinced that, had the majority of the students put more effort into studying what I was perfectly reasonable. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that the students did this for several reasons.
We were informed during our technical training sessions of the plethora of problems that we would find with our classes and in particular our testing. These were completely evident during this test. There are a completely different set of acceptable practices and norms during testing. The concept of a quiet testing environment seems foreign here and my counterpart seemed to find it perfectly okay when students opened their books for reference (in retrospect I mind this a lot less than some of the other practices I saw) or talked to each other- admittedly in hushed tones. However, while watching the students cheating verbally asking each other questions without outright copying I kept quiet and reminded myself of the effect of collectivist culture. Here individual achievement is not terribly encouraged and it’s more important to help each other achieve mediocrity than it is to personally achieve excellence. I generalize, of course, but the impact of the culture in the classroom is exceedingly evident always whether a testing or classroom situation. The only time it broke my limit was when I noticed a girl frantically copying down another students’ answers as the time limit appeared without any attempt to conceal her actions. In response to this I snatched up her notebook.
A bigger frustration for me was the actions of my counterpart during the test. I asked her to explain the exercises to the students which she did by translating the entire test (because we would pay for it out of pocket- the test is written on the black board and copied into each student’s copy book and then taken). I minded this because the majority of the test was vocabulary and reading comprehension- obviously this becomes much easier when everything is translated. Similarly throughout the test any time a student asked a question, she would give him/her the answer. This was extremely frustrating to me as I felt my test was being undermined. I think she may have looked at it differently- the performance of students reflects the performance of teachers and if our students perform poorly then it makes us look bad. Regardless, I would rather look like a bad teacher and know what we need to do differently to be a better one than live on in blissful ignorance while students fail to learn. I wanted to talk to my counterpart but face is such a large part of the culture here that I did not want to embarrass her in front of children. Probably I will talk to her later and I hope things change but this was obviously a frustrating first testing experience for me. Let’s hope things improve.
Today I conceived, wrote, and administered my first test as an English teacher. On the whole it was a frustrating and taxing experience. I gave the test to my fifth formers- it was the first instance of actually graded work and overall, I was really disappointed in the way the whole process went. I expected a lot of the problems I encountered, but it didn’t make it any easier for me to deal with and I have to admit that I think as a proctor of this test, at least from an American standpoint, I was a failure.
I actually enjoyed designing the test in the first place- it was certainly difficult to make- I had to think like a 5th grader and come up with creative ways to test their knowledge- but I enjoyed the actual authoring process of the exam. The test was designed to discover the students’ knowledge of possessive pronouns, location prepositions, and some new vocabulary about clothing we had learned recently (which was in an awesome lesson that involved me bringing in a lot of clothing and having races with the students). For the clothing, I drew a picture of a boy and a girl on the board with colored chalk and obvious articles of clothing, gave them a word bank, and then asked them to complete the sentences “He wears…” and “She wears…”. For the possessive pronouns, I took a more traditional fill in the blank approach with “I have a dog. It is ___ dog”. Lastly, I drew a basic map on the board with four buildings and a road in a row and asked them questions like “The ______ is next to the school.” and “The road is between the _____ and the _____”. Overall, I am still convinced that, had the majority of the students put more effort into studying what I was perfectly reasonable. Unfortunately, I don’t believe that the students did this for several reasons.
We were informed during our technical training sessions of the plethora of problems that we would find with our classes and in particular our testing. These were completely evident during this test. There are a completely different set of acceptable practices and norms during testing. The concept of a quiet testing environment seems foreign here and my counterpart seemed to find it perfectly okay when students opened their books for reference (in retrospect I mind this a lot less than some of the other practices I saw) or talked to each other- admittedly in hushed tones. However, while watching the students cheating verbally asking each other questions without outright copying I kept quiet and reminded myself of the effect of collectivist culture. Here individual achievement is not terribly encouraged and it’s more important to help each other achieve mediocrity than it is to personally achieve excellence. I generalize, of course, but the impact of the culture in the classroom is exceedingly evident always whether a testing or classroom situation. The only time it broke my limit was when I noticed a girl frantically copying down another students’ answers as the time limit appeared without any attempt to conceal her actions. In response to this I snatched up her notebook.
A bigger frustration for me was the actions of my counterpart during the test. I asked her to explain the exercises to the students which she did by translating the entire test (because we would pay for it out of pocket- the test is written on the black board and copied into each student’s copy book and then taken). I minded this because the majority of the test was vocabulary and reading comprehension- obviously this becomes much easier when everything is translated. Similarly throughout the test any time a student asked a question, she would give him/her the answer. This was extremely frustrating to me as I felt my test was being undermined. I think she may have looked at it differently- the performance of students reflects the performance of teachers and if our students perform poorly then it makes us look bad. Regardless, I would rather look like a bad teacher and know what we need to do differently to be a better one than live on in blissful ignorance while students fail to learn. I wanted to talk to my counterpart but face is such a large part of the culture here that I did not want to embarrass her in front of children. Probably I will talk to her later and I hope things change but this was obviously a frustrating first testing experience for me. Let’s hope things improve.
Welcome Weekend Update
17:45 22 October 2008
This past weekend was a lot of fun. We had an Issyk-Kul Oblast welcome weekend where we got to meet the rest of the volunteers on the lake we hadn’t, have some administrative meetings, talk about our sites and our preparation of winter, and just see our fellow countrymen. We had a potluck dinner and it was wonderful to have some home-cooked meals that were pretty good approximations of food you could get in the States. The lasagna (with Tivol- a cottage cheese like yogurtish substance- instead of ricotta) was particularly good, and the cheesy bread, salad with lettuce, and humus also were wonderful reminders of the culinary diversity I am currently missing out on.
Regardless, it was a fun weekend but I will have to live frugally the next two weeks as a result of it- I blew nearly $25 over the three days! I guess that doesn’t sound like that much but when you consider my monthly living allowance, it is a significant portion. Living in a village, we are expected to incur less expenses so we get less- after paying my rent each month I get less than the equivalent of four dollars a day- most of which goes towards food. Granted, while this by no means allows me to live extravagantly (our pay is determined by some complex formula giving us enough to live like locals), I have a coal-heated house, eat a square three a day, and have enough left over for a little travel and R&R. This is a lot more many of natives here get- so I don’t consider myself terribly unfortunate. It does take a lot of explaining when people ask about salaries in America though, and I have to explain why $5,000/year, which would allow one to live like a king here, would be unlivable in America.
Anyhow, tonight I am making deviled eggs and grilled cheese sandwiches for my host mother so I best get to the kitchen.
This past weekend was a lot of fun. We had an Issyk-Kul Oblast welcome weekend where we got to meet the rest of the volunteers on the lake we hadn’t, have some administrative meetings, talk about our sites and our preparation of winter, and just see our fellow countrymen. We had a potluck dinner and it was wonderful to have some home-cooked meals that were pretty good approximations of food you could get in the States. The lasagna (with Tivol- a cottage cheese like yogurtish substance- instead of ricotta) was particularly good, and the cheesy bread, salad with lettuce, and humus also were wonderful reminders of the culinary diversity I am currently missing out on.
Regardless, it was a fun weekend but I will have to live frugally the next two weeks as a result of it- I blew nearly $25 over the three days! I guess that doesn’t sound like that much but when you consider my monthly living allowance, it is a significant portion. Living in a village, we are expected to incur less expenses so we get less- after paying my rent each month I get less than the equivalent of four dollars a day- most of which goes towards food. Granted, while this by no means allows me to live extravagantly (our pay is determined by some complex formula giving us enough to live like locals), I have a coal-heated house, eat a square three a day, and have enough left over for a little travel and R&R. This is a lot more many of natives here get- so I don’t consider myself terribly unfortunate. It does take a lot of explaining when people ask about salaries in America though, and I have to explain why $5,000/year, which would allow one to live like a king here, would be unlivable in America.
Anyhow, tonight I am making deviled eggs and grilled cheese sandwiches for my host mother so I best get to the kitchen.
18 October 2008
Yikes! Pt. 2
12:21 18 October 2008
Two days ago I had a somewhat scary experience. It didn’t involve me except as a witness, but nevertheless it was disconcerting. As Peace Corps Volunteers, we are supposed to be very neutral observers towards the cultural and private lives of the Host Country Nationals- we are here for very specific purposes of education and they don’t include intrusion onto their cultural or interpersonal norms. In many ways this is difficult especially with the practice of Bride Kidnapping (which is often done against the bride’s will constituting what is internationally recognized as a human rights violation). Staying impartial and externally non-judgmental when you hear about these types of occurrences is very difficult for me.
So the other day I heard quite a commotion on the street. Initially I thought it was some kind of celebration and went onto the street to investigate. Unfortunately it was nothing of the sort and instead was a very obvious case of domestic violence. As I walked out onto the street I saw them going behind the door of the compound as the children and grandmother hurried out onto the street. Following this I heard a large argument followed by audible hitting. I retreated back inside knowing that I could not and should not do anything about it but it was still a jarring event. Obviously domestic violence occurs around the world, it just saddens me that it is a fairly acceptable form of “keeping ones wife in line”.
This also relates to my service and the prevalence of corporal punishment here. As a teacher, I often have difficulty keeping my students well behaved. We were told that visits with their parents is often an effective method of getting them to behave better. The problem is that sometimes after a visit with the parents the children will come the next day to school with bruises, obviously there is a balance we have to find between discipline in the classroom and personal health and safety of our students. I don’t want to be responsible for the harm that comes to any of my students.
Two days ago I had a somewhat scary experience. It didn’t involve me except as a witness, but nevertheless it was disconcerting. As Peace Corps Volunteers, we are supposed to be very neutral observers towards the cultural and private lives of the Host Country Nationals- we are here for very specific purposes of education and they don’t include intrusion onto their cultural or interpersonal norms. In many ways this is difficult especially with the practice of Bride Kidnapping (which is often done against the bride’s will constituting what is internationally recognized as a human rights violation). Staying impartial and externally non-judgmental when you hear about these types of occurrences is very difficult for me.
So the other day I heard quite a commotion on the street. Initially I thought it was some kind of celebration and went onto the street to investigate. Unfortunately it was nothing of the sort and instead was a very obvious case of domestic violence. As I walked out onto the street I saw them going behind the door of the compound as the children and grandmother hurried out onto the street. Following this I heard a large argument followed by audible hitting. I retreated back inside knowing that I could not and should not do anything about it but it was still a jarring event. Obviously domestic violence occurs around the world, it just saddens me that it is a fairly acceptable form of “keeping ones wife in line”.
This also relates to my service and the prevalence of corporal punishment here. As a teacher, I often have difficulty keeping my students well behaved. We were told that visits with their parents is often an effective method of getting them to behave better. The problem is that sometimes after a visit with the parents the children will come the next day to school with bruises, obviously there is a balance we have to find between discipline in the classroom and personal health and safety of our students. I don’t want to be responsible for the harm that comes to any of my students.
Ce-le-brate Teacher's Day Uh huh!
22:00 16 October 2008
This past Monday we had our Teacher’s Day Holiday party. While the actual date of the holiday had been a week and a half earlier, we were on break at the time so it got rescheduled to Monday. I am happy to report that I was significantly more successful in limiting my consumption of alcohol this time, I got by with only a few sips of homemade wine- though at times I had to literally cover my cup to prevent the addition of vodka. Regardless, the food was really good with an array of cold salads and then the typical plov. I’ve realized since abandoning my vegetarianism that I do enjoy the tastes of some kinds of meat, however, the more I eat it the more I realize that mutton is not one of them. Unfortunately, it is the preferred meat here and when it is in something everything else tastes like it. Oh well, while I doubt I will ever like it, I have become good at choking it down when I have to.
The following day I headed to Cholpon-Ata, a four hour plus travel, to get a flu shot. I had never gotten one before, but I figured since Peace Corps was providing it and I may be at a higher risk to just go ahead and get it. It was also a nice opportunity to see a bunch of other volunteers on the lake as well- it was a mini reunion and it was great to hang out with people that I had missed. Unfortunately, as all good things do, it came to an end and I had to head back (after I spent one night there). Anyhow, I feel that my prose is probably really boring right now- I’m tired. I’m going to Karakol tomorrow after classes for a Peace Corps Issyk-Kul welcome weekend. It should be a lot of fun and hopefully I will have some interesting stories from it.
This past Monday we had our Teacher’s Day Holiday party. While the actual date of the holiday had been a week and a half earlier, we were on break at the time so it got rescheduled to Monday. I am happy to report that I was significantly more successful in limiting my consumption of alcohol this time, I got by with only a few sips of homemade wine- though at times I had to literally cover my cup to prevent the addition of vodka. Regardless, the food was really good with an array of cold salads and then the typical plov. I’ve realized since abandoning my vegetarianism that I do enjoy the tastes of some kinds of meat, however, the more I eat it the more I realize that mutton is not one of them. Unfortunately, it is the preferred meat here and when it is in something everything else tastes like it. Oh well, while I doubt I will ever like it, I have become good at choking it down when I have to.
The following day I headed to Cholpon-Ata, a four hour plus travel, to get a flu shot. I had never gotten one before, but I figured since Peace Corps was providing it and I may be at a higher risk to just go ahead and get it. It was also a nice opportunity to see a bunch of other volunteers on the lake as well- it was a mini reunion and it was great to hang out with people that I had missed. Unfortunately, as all good things do, it came to an end and I had to head back (after I spent one night there). Anyhow, I feel that my prose is probably really boring right now- I’m tired. I’m going to Karakol tomorrow after classes for a Peace Corps Issyk-Kul welcome weekend. It should be a lot of fun and hopefully I will have some interesting stories from it.
Ba Ram You
22:30 13 October 2008
Other than the desire to use the internet and visit friends, the main reason I went into Karakol this past weekend was to attend the Animal Bazaar there. At the bazaar all types of the usual Kyrgyz livestock are bought and traded- horses, fat tailed sheep, cows, fowl, and even a few pigs can be found at the enormous Mal Bazaar in Karakol. But lest I ruin the interesting description, let me move backwards a bit.
Friday I cooked for the second time at site. Unfortunately, my host mother was in Bishkek for a wedding, but I invited some of a local friend, a JICA volunteer, and another PCV to dine with me. My host sister and two of her friends also came over which made the more the merrier. I prepared potato latkes and waldorf salad- an odd combination I admit but everything seemed to come out well and they seemed to enjoy the food. The salad in particular was good, as much for its variation from Kyrgyz salad as its own merits.
I following day I went into Karakol early afternoon after saying goodbye to my host sister Veneera as she returned to Kumptor, the enormous gold mine that accounts for 15% of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP. She works there as a cook fifteen days on and then fifteen days off- I am going to miss having her around since she is about my age and was fun to hang out with and talk to- I even taught her the basics of Frisbee which she seemed to enjoy. Regardless, after saying goodbye I headed into the city with my friend JICA friend Saori who also wanted to do some things unavailable in our village. After using the internet, I got together with some PC friends and we had a dry wine and pasta night. It was really exciting to have legitimate dry wine. While there is no shortage of wine in this country, most all of it is so sweet it makes Manischewitz taste like Hawkeye’s martinis (sorry for the M*A*S*H* reference, I couldn’t think of a cornier joke to make). Unavailable elsewhere, there is one store in Karakol that carries two or three not cough-syrupy wines (along with a wonderful assortment of other Western or Western style foodstuffs that many volunteers like to look at, pick up, and consider buying before they realize how incredibly expensive they are). We picked up a few bottles to split between us, and in the meanwhile played a really fun version of charades while we waited for the electricity to come back on so we could cook- and yes, charades is more challenging by candlelight.
The next morning we all woke early for the much anticipated animal bazaar. While it was radically different from what I expected, it surely didn’t disappoint. I suppose I was expecting stalls with people perusing the various animals and each vendor hawking the quality of their wares. Rather, as I suppose is the Kyrgyz way, there was far much less organization, the only seeming organization was that the types of animals were more or less separated from each other, there was horse, sheep, cow, etc. areas. The way it worked though, despite the massive crowd that was well over a thousand, was that anyone could calmly work his way through the mess of animals, people, and the inevitable mess, find an animal one was interested in, and then begin negotiation with the owner. Consider the sheer volume of both humans and animals, I was amazed at the relative quiet of the whole ordeal- it was amazingly calm and peaceful. This to me was the most interesting part of the bazaar- the heated debates over prices were subdued to a quiet mutter and even the animals, despite their typical boisterousness, where incredibly quiet. Maybe it was a somber realization on their part that they were likely dinner soon, but whatever the reason, the chaos was much more visual than aural.
Later that day I returned and helped my mother tend our animals, I am significantly better with the minor tasks now and get laughed at a great deal less. Things seem well.
Other than the desire to use the internet and visit friends, the main reason I went into Karakol this past weekend was to attend the Animal Bazaar there. At the bazaar all types of the usual Kyrgyz livestock are bought and traded- horses, fat tailed sheep, cows, fowl, and even a few pigs can be found at the enormous Mal Bazaar in Karakol. But lest I ruin the interesting description, let me move backwards a bit.
Friday I cooked for the second time at site. Unfortunately, my host mother was in Bishkek for a wedding, but I invited some of a local friend, a JICA volunteer, and another PCV to dine with me. My host sister and two of her friends also came over which made the more the merrier. I prepared potato latkes and waldorf salad- an odd combination I admit but everything seemed to come out well and they seemed to enjoy the food. The salad in particular was good, as much for its variation from Kyrgyz salad as its own merits.
I following day I went into Karakol early afternoon after saying goodbye to my host sister Veneera as she returned to Kumptor, the enormous gold mine that accounts for 15% of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP. She works there as a cook fifteen days on and then fifteen days off- I am going to miss having her around since she is about my age and was fun to hang out with and talk to- I even taught her the basics of Frisbee which she seemed to enjoy. Regardless, after saying goodbye I headed into the city with my friend JICA friend Saori who also wanted to do some things unavailable in our village. After using the internet, I got together with some PC friends and we had a dry wine and pasta night. It was really exciting to have legitimate dry wine. While there is no shortage of wine in this country, most all of it is so sweet it makes Manischewitz taste like Hawkeye’s martinis (sorry for the M*A*S*H* reference, I couldn’t think of a cornier joke to make). Unavailable elsewhere, there is one store in Karakol that carries two or three not cough-syrupy wines (along with a wonderful assortment of other Western or Western style foodstuffs that many volunteers like to look at, pick up, and consider buying before they realize how incredibly expensive they are). We picked up a few bottles to split between us, and in the meanwhile played a really fun version of charades while we waited for the electricity to come back on so we could cook- and yes, charades is more challenging by candlelight.
The next morning we all woke early for the much anticipated animal bazaar. While it was radically different from what I expected, it surely didn’t disappoint. I suppose I was expecting stalls with people perusing the various animals and each vendor hawking the quality of their wares. Rather, as I suppose is the Kyrgyz way, there was far much less organization, the only seeming organization was that the types of animals were more or less separated from each other, there was horse, sheep, cow, etc. areas. The way it worked though, despite the massive crowd that was well over a thousand, was that anyone could calmly work his way through the mess of animals, people, and the inevitable mess, find an animal one was interested in, and then begin negotiation with the owner. Consider the sheer volume of both humans and animals, I was amazed at the relative quiet of the whole ordeal- it was amazingly calm and peaceful. This to me was the most interesting part of the bazaar- the heated debates over prices were subdued to a quiet mutter and even the animals, despite their typical boisterousness, where incredibly quiet. Maybe it was a somber realization on their part that they were likely dinner soon, but whatever the reason, the chaos was much more visual than aural.
Later that day I returned and helped my mother tend our animals, I am significantly better with the minor tasks now and get laughed at a great deal less. Things seem well.
11 October 2008
Maybe I am a farmer...
22:00 09 October 2008
I’m happy to report that the funk I was in a few days ago- though it was for very legitimate reasons I believe- has eased somewhat. My G-I problems, while not passed are better, and I’ve came to terms with my friend leaving. On an unrelated note, I am also growing a beard. I got very tired of having to shave with cold water when it was cold so I decided a beard was the best course of action, we’ll see how it works out (already I’ve been asked why I hadn’t shaved, but when I explained what I was doing they amicably understood).
Today I had my first Russian tutoring session. My tutor was recommended to me by my counterpart and speaks no English, but I think that will be okay. I told her that I wanted to first focus on speaking and maybe later move onto reading and writing. Seemed to go alright so far.
I also had a much better experience in the fields today than when I became lost with two obstinate cows. We were let out of school early and don’t have classes for the next two days because apparently some of the kids hadn’t finished with the potato harvest- a little frustrating for me, but alright. When I heard my sister was going to help a friend dig potatoes, I figured why not spend the break doing what it was intended for? So I went to the fields with her and spent several hours digging and sorting potatoes. I found myself much more taken to this task than the other farm and home tasks I have tried so far. While it is undoubtedly knee and back breaking work, I found it much more natural and even fun to goof around with people my age (my sister and her friend are both 24) while doing something productive. So yay for not being a total failure on the farm!
I’m happy to report that the funk I was in a few days ago- though it was for very legitimate reasons I believe- has eased somewhat. My G-I problems, while not passed are better, and I’ve came to terms with my friend leaving. On an unrelated note, I am also growing a beard. I got very tired of having to shave with cold water when it was cold so I decided a beard was the best course of action, we’ll see how it works out (already I’ve been asked why I hadn’t shaved, but when I explained what I was doing they amicably understood).
Today I had my first Russian tutoring session. My tutor was recommended to me by my counterpart and speaks no English, but I think that will be okay. I told her that I wanted to first focus on speaking and maybe later move onto reading and writing. Seemed to go alright so far.
I also had a much better experience in the fields today than when I became lost with two obstinate cows. We were let out of school early and don’t have classes for the next two days because apparently some of the kids hadn’t finished with the potato harvest- a little frustrating for me, but alright. When I heard my sister was going to help a friend dig potatoes, I figured why not spend the break doing what it was intended for? So I went to the fields with her and spent several hours digging and sorting potatoes. I found myself much more taken to this task than the other farm and home tasks I have tried so far. While it is undoubtedly knee and back breaking work, I found it much more natural and even fun to goof around with people my age (my sister and her friend are both 24) while doing something productive. So yay for not being a total failure on the farm!
The Turkmen Times
10:30 08 October 2008
The only English news source, either print or otherwise, I have here outside of the semi-irregular Internet I enjoy (not including month week old Newsweeks which, it seems, we will loose soon) is a Turkmenistan based news channel. My family has satellite T.V. as a surprising amount of people here do (there are only two TV stations broadcast from within Kyrgyzstan that I know of) and there are two channels from Turkmenistan which broadcast the same thing, one in Turkmen/Russian and the other in English. I initially turned to it because I was seeking news about the earthquake in Kyrgyzstan and none of the Russian channels I normally watch had anything on it at the time. Ever since that first time, I have continued to watch it, not for its news content which is almost nothing, but because of a somewhat sick fascination with it.
There seem to be only two people that work for the English version of this Turkmen channel- a man and a woman who both speak passable but far from perfect English in an odd monotone Turkmen accent (the guy is a lot better at English and easier to understand). The news content, as I mentioned earlier, is negligible and is basically a reporting on what the Turkmen President- I use the term because it is his title, not because he is in any way a democratically elected leader. In my quest for more information on the Kyrgyz earthquake, the only coverage this channel gave to it was that the President of Turkmenistan had sent a letter of condolence to President Bakiev of Kyrgyzstan- no mention of where, when, how, or any other details of the earthquake. This was all presented (in the 7 seconds it took to express that) with a pixilated map of Kyrgyzstan.
I guess I can’t expect more news from a country which has breaks with elaborate graphically designed proclamations that state “The XXIst Century is the Golden Age of Turkmenistan” in lieu of advertisements- also the official name of the station is the "Independent Impartial Turkmen News Network". However, the news coverage still continues to fascinate me; the main stories today were about the Latvian President visiting (legitimate), an international Book Sellers conference titled “The Golden Age of Turkmenistan in Publishing” attended by twenty some countries (semi-legitimate), grouses are pretty and Turkmenistan has a lot of a unique type them (not news but fluff like some in America), a report on making land arable that previously wasn’t and the reclamation of some number of hectares (confusing, and not really news), the number of tonnes of wheat that had been harvested that year as compared with last year- unsurprisingly the government is reporting a big increase (straight up propaganda, and not even interesting propaganda), and to top it all off, the fact that Turkmenistan has a lot of gas and oil reserves (which isn’t news, just well known facts). All in all, the news sounds much more like an economic advertisement for business investors than an actual attempt at informing the Turkmen public about anything- this theory has been reinforced with subsequent viewings and the realization that many of the less newsy stories are run pretty much every time.
Turkmenistan is a country where the previous president named the days of the week after himself (the current one seems slightly less egomaniacal) and the capital city has more fountains and unused gorgeous buildings than maybe any other in the world- no access to internet/wikipedia when I write these makes my fact checking ability negligible so I’d appreciate it if someone could let me know more about this country and whether or not this is true. This country seems fascinating from their news.
The only English news source, either print or otherwise, I have here outside of the semi-irregular Internet I enjoy (not including month week old Newsweeks which, it seems, we will loose soon) is a Turkmenistan based news channel. My family has satellite T.V. as a surprising amount of people here do (there are only two TV stations broadcast from within Kyrgyzstan that I know of) and there are two channels from Turkmenistan which broadcast the same thing, one in Turkmen/Russian and the other in English. I initially turned to it because I was seeking news about the earthquake in Kyrgyzstan and none of the Russian channels I normally watch had anything on it at the time. Ever since that first time, I have continued to watch it, not for its news content which is almost nothing, but because of a somewhat sick fascination with it.
There seem to be only two people that work for the English version of this Turkmen channel- a man and a woman who both speak passable but far from perfect English in an odd monotone Turkmen accent (the guy is a lot better at English and easier to understand). The news content, as I mentioned earlier, is negligible and is basically a reporting on what the Turkmen President- I use the term because it is his title, not because he is in any way a democratically elected leader. In my quest for more information on the Kyrgyz earthquake, the only coverage this channel gave to it was that the President of Turkmenistan had sent a letter of condolence to President Bakiev of Kyrgyzstan- no mention of where, when, how, or any other details of the earthquake. This was all presented (in the 7 seconds it took to express that) with a pixilated map of Kyrgyzstan.
I guess I can’t expect more news from a country which has breaks with elaborate graphically designed proclamations that state “The XXIst Century is the Golden Age of Turkmenistan” in lieu of advertisements- also the official name of the station is the "Independent Impartial Turkmen News Network". However, the news coverage still continues to fascinate me; the main stories today were about the Latvian President visiting (legitimate), an international Book Sellers conference titled “The Golden Age of Turkmenistan in Publishing” attended by twenty some countries (semi-legitimate), grouses are pretty and Turkmenistan has a lot of a unique type them (not news but fluff like some in America), a report on making land arable that previously wasn’t and the reclamation of some number of hectares (confusing, and not really news), the number of tonnes of wheat that had been harvested that year as compared with last year- unsurprisingly the government is reporting a big increase (straight up propaganda, and not even interesting propaganda), and to top it all off, the fact that Turkmenistan has a lot of gas and oil reserves (which isn’t news, just well known facts). All in all, the news sounds much more like an economic advertisement for business investors than an actual attempt at informing the Turkmen public about anything- this theory has been reinforced with subsequent viewings and the realization that many of the less newsy stories are run pretty much every time.
Turkmenistan is a country where the previous president named the days of the week after himself (the current one seems slightly less egomaniacal) and the capital city has more fountains and unused gorgeous buildings than maybe any other in the world- no access to internet/wikipedia when I write these makes my fact checking ability negligible so I’d appreciate it if someone could let me know more about this country and whether or not this is true. This country seems fascinating from their news.
Downer
18:45 07 October 2008
It is now my official three month anniversary in country (yes I am aware at the inherent irony in calling anything not annual an anniversary) and I can look back and overall, I am immensely happy here. My host families have been really good to me, I enjoy learning the language here, a lot of the culture I really like (though of course there are aspects which are hard for me to adapt to) and I feel like I am making a positive contribution at my work- teaching seems to really suit me. Overall, my service up to this point both as a Trainee and now as a Volunteer has been extremely difficult but also completely worth all the hardships and struggles I have encountered.
Having said that, the past two days have been kind of rough for me. I am sure that many of you have heard about the earthquake in Kyrgyzstan that killed scores of people. Thank goodness that as far as I know all of the Volunteers are alright (and I am sure I would have heard if anything was otherwise). While everyone that I know physically is fine, I’ve talked to volunteers that were nearby (the nearest volunteers were still a good 50 km or so from the epicenter) and it seems that all of their host-families had family or knew people that were killed. As I am in the North of the country, I didn’t even hear about it until much later and didn’t feel anything, but there is a somber cast over the whole country.
While obviously in the grand scheme of things it is of much smaller importance, I was more affected by finding out that a friend of mine decided to ET (Early Termination- the term used for going home early because you want to leave). This was a complete surprise to me- nobody knew she was considering it, and while she was living on the other side of the country, I frequently communicated with her and she was one of the people I bonded with most during training. Needless to say, I feel, her loss will be deeply felt by me and the K-16 community as a whole.
To top off my somewhat negative mood, gastro-intestinal issues have come back resoundingly and this time I don’t have the luxury of a seat. The plus side is that my already quads are going to be Lance Armstrong-like when I am through with this most recent bout. The colder weather (nights dip into the mid-thirties) plus the fact that the two shipments of Gatorade I was supposed to have received got intercepted and stolen in shipment makes my bowel issues even more fun. (Sorry for the sarcasm- in addition for this being a place for me to spread interesting stories and keep abroad of my life, it is also a place for me to vent when I can’t talk to an English speaker. On the plus side it’s been a really long time since I last talked about my BMs, it might have been a record for me)
I apologize for the rather negative energy contained in this entry (but in a twist of the hilarious- I am channeling it into a barbershop quartet arrangement of a Kyrgyz song), but I do think that it is important for anyone considering Peace Corps to realize it is not all fun and games and there are a lot of issues to deal with along with the physical ones you expect. I don’t want it to seem that in any way I regret coming here, I don’t and I still am really committed to my service and think that it was the best possible decision that I could have made. As the old Peace Corps motto stated, being a volunteer is “The toughest job you’ll ever love” for a whole host of reasons (I’m not a huge fan of the new motto, “How far are you willing to go?” because I think it sounds a little like a game of “Nervous” or “Truth or Dare”). I do love this job, without a doubt in my mind, but it has also been the most physically, mentally, and emotionally straining time of my life.
It is now my official three month anniversary in country (yes I am aware at the inherent irony in calling anything not annual an anniversary) and I can look back and overall, I am immensely happy here. My host families have been really good to me, I enjoy learning the language here, a lot of the culture I really like (though of course there are aspects which are hard for me to adapt to) and I feel like I am making a positive contribution at my work- teaching seems to really suit me. Overall, my service up to this point both as a Trainee and now as a Volunteer has been extremely difficult but also completely worth all the hardships and struggles I have encountered.
Having said that, the past two days have been kind of rough for me. I am sure that many of you have heard about the earthquake in Kyrgyzstan that killed scores of people. Thank goodness that as far as I know all of the Volunteers are alright (and I am sure I would have heard if anything was otherwise). While everyone that I know physically is fine, I’ve talked to volunteers that were nearby (the nearest volunteers were still a good 50 km or so from the epicenter) and it seems that all of their host-families had family or knew people that were killed. As I am in the North of the country, I didn’t even hear about it until much later and didn’t feel anything, but there is a somber cast over the whole country.
While obviously in the grand scheme of things it is of much smaller importance, I was more affected by finding out that a friend of mine decided to ET (Early Termination- the term used for going home early because you want to leave). This was a complete surprise to me- nobody knew she was considering it, and while she was living on the other side of the country, I frequently communicated with her and she was one of the people I bonded with most during training. Needless to say, I feel, her loss will be deeply felt by me and the K-16 community as a whole.
To top off my somewhat negative mood, gastro-intestinal issues have come back resoundingly and this time I don’t have the luxury of a seat. The plus side is that my already quads are going to be Lance Armstrong-like when I am through with this most recent bout. The colder weather (nights dip into the mid-thirties) plus the fact that the two shipments of Gatorade I was supposed to have received got intercepted and stolen in shipment makes my bowel issues even more fun. (Sorry for the sarcasm- in addition for this being a place for me to spread interesting stories and keep abroad of my life, it is also a place for me to vent when I can’t talk to an English speaker. On the plus side it’s been a really long time since I last talked about my BMs, it might have been a record for me)
I apologize for the rather negative energy contained in this entry (but in a twist of the hilarious- I am channeling it into a barbershop quartet arrangement of a Kyrgyz song), but I do think that it is important for anyone considering Peace Corps to realize it is not all fun and games and there are a lot of issues to deal with along with the physical ones you expect. I don’t want it to seem that in any way I regret coming here, I don’t and I still am really committed to my service and think that it was the best possible decision that I could have made. As the old Peace Corps motto stated, being a volunteer is “The toughest job you’ll ever love” for a whole host of reasons (I’m not a huge fan of the new motto, “How far are you willing to go?” because I think it sounds a little like a game of “Nervous” or “Truth or Dare”). I do love this job, without a doubt in my mind, but it has also been the most physically, mentally, and emotionally straining time of my life.
I am not a farmer...
9:00 3 October 2008
Over the past few days, I have found out some things about myself. First and foremost is that I would make a truly awful farmer. I found this out because the past three days and two nights I have been living by myself as my host mother and sister went to the funeral for my host mother’s sister’s husband- theoretically my host uncle but I never met him. I mentioned his death in a recent entry and my host mother’s sister was with us for a while- Obviously, I was quiet but respectful around her and mindful of her obvious intense grief. There was one time when we were eating dinner together and the electricity was out- seeing her weathered and sad face seemingly always on the brink of tears lit only by the gentle glow of the candle was a haunting and beautiful site. It would have made a gorgeous if depressing photograph, but my better judgment and sensitivity made sure I didn’t endeavor to attempt that.
Anyhow, I have gotten distracted from my original topic- the aggregate effect of this situation was that I was home alone and asked to tend the various animals my family owns- four cows, a flock of geese, a dozen chickens, a dog, and a cat. Needless to say, I have no previous cow tending experience other than occasionally accompanying my host brother from my training village out to the field. They explained basically what I had to do and I foolishly told my family that I thought I would be able to take of everything alright though- this is what led to several errors on my part. These errors were borne from both the language gap between my host family and me and my complete ineptitude when it comes to tending livestock.
My first mistake came on the holiday of Eid al Orzo (the Kyrgyz Eid Ramadan) which is the most important Muslim holiday in Kyrgyzstan. The tradition calls for families to guest with seven other families over the three day holiday. While I was alone at home most of the day, one of my neighbors invited me into their home to guest. During this first guesting, I received a phone call asking me to enclose the cows. Here is where the language barrier came in, I went home and closed the bulls we have in a covered area and assumed everything was okay. I had misunderstood which cows my host sister was talking about- the two cows that were out in the fields- I rarely see them and had literally forgotten we had them. Later that night I got home after several more hours of guesting and checked on the cows and I was surprised when I noticed the two cows in a different enclosure. Thinking that I had overlooked their presence earlier (I only noticed them through one window because it was lit) I thought that they had been enclosed all day and assumed they must be hungry- therefore I gave them some of the hay we have stocked for winter when the cows can’t pasture. As you may have guessed, those cows had bee abandoned on the field and had been brought home by some neighbors that had seen them and wondered what they were doing there- thank goodness they did this.
The next morning after realizing my mistake I was determined to make it right by doing well with the cows that day. With the help of my neighbors, I readied them for pasture by securing their lines and opening the necessary exits for their transit. It started alright with them going where they are supposed to along the road but quickly degenerated as they wanted to start eating immediately and rushed onto someone else’s field and started munching. I had been to our field once to work and thought that it wasn’t that far so instead of driving them back onto the road I elected to make a beeline through the fields. This started out okay, but it was difficult keeping the cows on track and not eating other people’s grass. As I continued driving the cows for about a kilometer (in the process getting yelled at by a Kyrgyz cowboy) I realized with increasing dread that I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to be going. The fields looked a lot more alike than I had remembered and I had rolled my ankle chasing the cows about- at first it hurt but then subsided and I continued on. As I realized I didn’t know at all where I was, I decided to get a hold of the cows to prevent them from eating more and then call my host family to try and get better instructions.
This proved significantly more difficult that I anticipated. I had wrapped the ropes that would be used to secure them on the correct field around their horns, and getting a hand on their horns was really quite hard- cows can be pretty fast when you are trying to catch them. Eventually, after I sprinted around for about 15 minutes and was sweaty and winded, I finally managed to catch both of them and keep them from eating more of not their grass. I called my family and they said they would send a neighbor to find me. After waiting what seemed like about an hour, but probably was no longer than twenty minutes, I figured my neighbor couldn’t find me, luckily around this time a friendlier Kyrgyz cowboy approached and asked what I was doing and was able to point me in the right direction. After this helpful guidance, I was able to find the correct field, much to the bemusement of the other Kyrgyz families that had been waiting for me there. They thankfully said that they would watch the cows for me and I could go home, so I made the journey back home (it was surprisingly further than I had remembered- about 2 km) and realized after an hour of resting that my ankle was hurt a lot worse than I thought. I was invited to a guesting and went but left early because it hurt so much (Incidentally this was the first time I have gotten “uyah”ed- a Kyrgyz shaming gesture where they draw a line down their left cheek with their finger. It wasn’t a big deal because it was by an ancient Kyrgyz woman that doesn’t hear well and didn’t understand that I was leaving for a legitimate medical reason- everyone else there understood). My ankle got to the point that it hurt so bad that I couldn’t put any weight on it and was literally jumping around my house on one foot. Thankfully, an ibuprofen, an ace-bandage, and resting and elevating made it so I could gingerly limp around. Later that day it was time to go fetch my cows and a preteen glanced at me and bemusedly said he would do it himself- I am sure he thinks I am probably the biggest joke ever (I got laughed a lot at that day) and it’s pretty true.
Anyhow, the cows were just the most entertaining sign of my ineptitude when it comes to livestock but I’ve already written too much about that. Other than my ankle (which is much better now, I can get around without problem) I am doing quite well and am definitely glad to have my family back.
Over the past few days, I have found out some things about myself. First and foremost is that I would make a truly awful farmer. I found this out because the past three days and two nights I have been living by myself as my host mother and sister went to the funeral for my host mother’s sister’s husband- theoretically my host uncle but I never met him. I mentioned his death in a recent entry and my host mother’s sister was with us for a while- Obviously, I was quiet but respectful around her and mindful of her obvious intense grief. There was one time when we were eating dinner together and the electricity was out- seeing her weathered and sad face seemingly always on the brink of tears lit only by the gentle glow of the candle was a haunting and beautiful site. It would have made a gorgeous if depressing photograph, but my better judgment and sensitivity made sure I didn’t endeavor to attempt that.
Anyhow, I have gotten distracted from my original topic- the aggregate effect of this situation was that I was home alone and asked to tend the various animals my family owns- four cows, a flock of geese, a dozen chickens, a dog, and a cat. Needless to say, I have no previous cow tending experience other than occasionally accompanying my host brother from my training village out to the field. They explained basically what I had to do and I foolishly told my family that I thought I would be able to take of everything alright though- this is what led to several errors on my part. These errors were borne from both the language gap between my host family and me and my complete ineptitude when it comes to tending livestock.
My first mistake came on the holiday of Eid al Orzo (the Kyrgyz Eid Ramadan) which is the most important Muslim holiday in Kyrgyzstan. The tradition calls for families to guest with seven other families over the three day holiday. While I was alone at home most of the day, one of my neighbors invited me into their home to guest. During this first guesting, I received a phone call asking me to enclose the cows. Here is where the language barrier came in, I went home and closed the bulls we have in a covered area and assumed everything was okay. I had misunderstood which cows my host sister was talking about- the two cows that were out in the fields- I rarely see them and had literally forgotten we had them. Later that night I got home after several more hours of guesting and checked on the cows and I was surprised when I noticed the two cows in a different enclosure. Thinking that I had overlooked their presence earlier (I only noticed them through one window because it was lit) I thought that they had been enclosed all day and assumed they must be hungry- therefore I gave them some of the hay we have stocked for winter when the cows can’t pasture. As you may have guessed, those cows had bee abandoned on the field and had been brought home by some neighbors that had seen them and wondered what they were doing there- thank goodness they did this.
The next morning after realizing my mistake I was determined to make it right by doing well with the cows that day. With the help of my neighbors, I readied them for pasture by securing their lines and opening the necessary exits for their transit. It started alright with them going where they are supposed to along the road but quickly degenerated as they wanted to start eating immediately and rushed onto someone else’s field and started munching. I had been to our field once to work and thought that it wasn’t that far so instead of driving them back onto the road I elected to make a beeline through the fields. This started out okay, but it was difficult keeping the cows on track and not eating other people’s grass. As I continued driving the cows for about a kilometer (in the process getting yelled at by a Kyrgyz cowboy) I realized with increasing dread that I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to be going. The fields looked a lot more alike than I had remembered and I had rolled my ankle chasing the cows about- at first it hurt but then subsided and I continued on. As I realized I didn’t know at all where I was, I decided to get a hold of the cows to prevent them from eating more and then call my host family to try and get better instructions.
This proved significantly more difficult that I anticipated. I had wrapped the ropes that would be used to secure them on the correct field around their horns, and getting a hand on their horns was really quite hard- cows can be pretty fast when you are trying to catch them. Eventually, after I sprinted around for about 15 minutes and was sweaty and winded, I finally managed to catch both of them and keep them from eating more of not their grass. I called my family and they said they would send a neighbor to find me. After waiting what seemed like about an hour, but probably was no longer than twenty minutes, I figured my neighbor couldn’t find me, luckily around this time a friendlier Kyrgyz cowboy approached and asked what I was doing and was able to point me in the right direction. After this helpful guidance, I was able to find the correct field, much to the bemusement of the other Kyrgyz families that had been waiting for me there. They thankfully said that they would watch the cows for me and I could go home, so I made the journey back home (it was surprisingly further than I had remembered- about 2 km) and realized after an hour of resting that my ankle was hurt a lot worse than I thought. I was invited to a guesting and went but left early because it hurt so much (Incidentally this was the first time I have gotten “uyah”ed- a Kyrgyz shaming gesture where they draw a line down their left cheek with their finger. It wasn’t a big deal because it was by an ancient Kyrgyz woman that doesn’t hear well and didn’t understand that I was leaving for a legitimate medical reason- everyone else there understood). My ankle got to the point that it hurt so bad that I couldn’t put any weight on it and was literally jumping around my house on one foot. Thankfully, an ibuprofen, an ace-bandage, and resting and elevating made it so I could gingerly limp around. Later that day it was time to go fetch my cows and a preteen glanced at me and bemusedly said he would do it himself- I am sure he thinks I am probably the biggest joke ever (I got laughed a lot at that day) and it’s pretty true.
Anyhow, the cows were just the most entertaining sign of my ineptitude when it comes to livestock but I’ve already written too much about that. Other than my ankle (which is much better now, I can get around without problem) I am doing quite well and am definitely glad to have my family back.
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