Where has the month gone

I gotta be honest. I have no idea where the past 4 weeks have gone since my last entry. Its been a blur! 2 language tests, a visit to my permanent site, warden trainings, trips to Bishkek, time with friends. A complete blur. But big changes are afoot!

In a few days I will be swearing in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. There will be speeches, singing, hugging, crying, laughing and a whole lotta American food to be had in a few days. The past 3 months have really gone by too quickly. I'm going to miss everyone in my K15 group. Now I will look forward to text message, emails, visits and making friends with the volunteers in my new community to the south.

So once again, here are a few highlights from the past few weeks.

-The water was out for 3 days. This is common in Kyrgyzstan so don't be shocked. One village down the street was sans water for almost a week! I've been told if one person in the community fails to pay their water bill no one gets water. I commented to my teacher, " How very socialist of Kyrgyzstan to handle the water this way. This way everyone suffer together." She laughed so hard! I've never seen her laugh that way. If the water ever goes out we can always buy it from the store or pull it from the stream. The stream is pretty scary but Peace Corps provides a personal water filter that boils and steams all the bad stuff out. The problem for me was dirty hair and laundry. I was resigned to greasy hair. I was resigned to Febreezing my clothes, maybe evening hanging them in the wind to blow the bad smell out (it could happen) and a little of the dust. I noticed though Febreeze smells like corn syrup. It specifically reminds me of Dr. Peppers at 6am in my dad's office in Tampa.

During the summers in middle school and high school I would work at my dad's office. Since I didn't have a car I traveled with him. Before the sun came up we would leave Clearwater and make our way across the Courtney Cambel Bridge to Tampa. Dad would blast AM radio or give fatherly advice on dating, drugs, or career paths I should consider. We'd arrive to work, myself still barely awake, and dad would make the coffee. I don't know what he put in the grinds but it was like tar in my belly! My 8am I as doubled over in pain. I don't know how many mornings I suffered but pretty soon I was resigned to drinking Dr. Pepper with my breakfast. And maybe a donut. I don't even like donuts (but oh! What I would do for Dunkin Donut or Krispy Kreme right now!).

-This week I celebrated Rosh Hashanah with Kyrgyz Jews. It was comforting to be around so much familiarity. I heard the shofar blow and Hebrew prayers chanted. At dinner I ate tons of sweet wonderful challah. I wonder if I can buy any around here? Happy New Year to everyone out there too.

-Ramadan started the same day as the Jewish New Year. And to be honest, I can't tell its a holiday. In the south I'm sure it will be more obvious. I actually need to figure out how and where I'll be eating!

-Had a strange conversation with my host dad yesterday morning too. In Kyrgyzstan people will often ask - are you married? How old are you? and How much money do you make? Miss Manners never made it over the mountain. Anyhoo - about once week my host dad likes to ask me questions related to these topics. The latest round was How much does it cost to live in America and specifically how much did it cost me to live in America. These are both really hard questions to answer because America is so diverse. My language skills aren't adequate enough to be able to ask - well, do you want to live in a city or the country? What kind of skills do you have? Is living near a Muslim community important? What about a Russian or Turkish or Kyrgyz speaking population? Will you need public transportation or a car? do you know what car insurance is? Will you want to grow a garden?

I know. I know I know I know. I'm way over thinking. I don't know how people do it. Surely they head to the nearest expat community with native speakers who then help them relocate, right? I ended up using East Texas as my model and said it would cost upward of $5000 US/month to live in a small town. I have no idea if that is remotely true or not. The conversation ended with my host dad saying I speak bad Russian and don't understand.

I honestly don't care what he thinks. He's a friendly guy but he often asks difficult questions and doesn't do a very good job at helping me understand the question. Plus, I think he's put off by my presence. He might feel Peace Corps isn't necessary in his country. Or why should I leave America and come here, to a place with no jobs. I also think he expects me to know more than I already do. Hey, it's only been 3 months! He's been speaking Russian for over 40 year!

Speaking of language tests though.... I scored Intermediate Medium! What does that mean you ask? There are 3 levels in language learning - Novice, Intermediate and Advanced. Each level is then subdivided into Low, Medium and High. Russian is an extremely complex language so we were asked to achieve only Novice-High. I actually jumped a whole level since my test last month. Yeah me!

So that's it for now from the Kyrgyz Republic. Next time you hear from me I'll be living and working in the south. All the best to you and yours.