Cross cultural moments creep up on you.

[I’ve been carrying this entry around for awhile. Unfortunately during my previous visits either the internet was slow, Blogger was out of commission, the computer didn’t recognize my flash drive or I couldn’t find a way to access it. Hey, everything is Russian. This entery was written on July 24]

Since arriving to Kyrgyzstan I’ve come to learn and understand some very important words and phrases–
-“Jzarkah! Jzarkah! Jzarkah!” - Hot! Hot! Hot! as in the weather mid day in Kyrgyzstan. Its reached 100F a few times.
-“Harashow!” - Good!
-“Ya oustalah.” - I’m tired.
-“Mojzne.” – Excuse me.
-“Bajalousta.” – Please and You’re Welcome
-“Spaseeba!” – Thank you!
-“Chai?” - Tea? Hot brown tea is served with every meal. I’ve read Kygryzstanis believe cold beverages are bad for the throat.
-“F’cousna!” - Delicious!
and the most common phrase,
-“Cushite, Kelly, Cushite!” - Eat, Kelly, Eat!

“Cushite” is a common phrase all Peace Corps volunteers hear from the host parents. We all have our stories and methods for politely refusing food. My host mother is an excellent cook and I swear she’s trying to fattening me up! One afternoon my host sister was saying she’d like to loose some weight and that she should start exercising. I said I would love to exercise with her. I mentioned that I had belonged to a gym for the past 2 years and would love to keep up with it, especially for stress relief. My host mother teased me in a haughty sort of way afterwards. I know she meant no ill feeling but I still felt like an outlandish American. It also got me to thinking about leisure time……

My host mom works very hard. She’s up at 5am to prepare for the day and goes to bed around 10pm. During the day she prepares breakfast, lunch and dinner from scratch then washes all the dishes by hand, lets the cow out, bakes bread, makes pasta, sweeps the courtyard and the house, washes the laundry by hand then hangs it on the clothes line to dry. Then there’s entertaining the neighbors.

Kyrgyzstani culture is defined as collectivist - the good of the group come before the individual. An unplanned social call to a neighbor’s house is very common place. Friends and family will gather outside each others homes, come inside for tea or walk the dusty roads of the village together. These social calls can last from 15 minutes to an hour. It could involve one neighbor or 4 plus their children. Understanding this is very important to integrating into the community so I always plan a little cushion time when scheduling my day.

With all of their responsibilities (host mom and sister) where would they find time to exercise even if they wanted to?

Americans work just as hard as my host mom and neighbors. I think my host mom and sister were surprised that I knew how to do chores! The obvious difference is our modern conveniences that allow us to schedule our leisure time and multi task. Instead of slaughtering a chicken in the backyard we buy it skinned and quartered at the grocery store. We load the dishwasher or washing machine and walk away. We schedule gym time. We work at the office late. We go out to eat. And most would consider uninvited guests rude. Americans are generally considered Individualist - our personal needs come before the community.

Once again my lack of Russian prevented me from having this conversation with my host family. Though I really would have liked to. No doubt I’ll have plenty more little moments like that.

Hope all is well with you, whoever you are reading this now.