As of Wednesday the 21st, I have served exactly two months as a Peace Corps volunteer. It may seem like a long time, but constant fear of starvation and murder has made the time fly by! I figured this would be another good time to get a few points out there just so people know exactly what has been going on with me in Kyrgyzstan in a more convenient package for your on-the-go lifestyle:
1. I have officially completed 17.39% of my adventure (20 of 115). Only 22 months left, but two of those are February, so they barely even count. The biggest problem now is trying to figure out what I’m going to do when I get back. I’ll start sending my resume to those interested. You know where to find me…
2. My Kyrgyz probably isn’t much better than it was when I left PST, but I do know some cool new words. “Oshonduktan” means therefore, like “I woke up late, therefore I am late for work.” My director was so impressed she wasn’t even mad!
3. We have lost seven more people since last update, bringing the total number of K-15s to 45. That means over 4% of volunteers nationwide are right here in my village. And to think, we thought we were in the middle of nowhere!
4. I currently make about 1/8 of the income I made in the United States and I don’t even know what to spend all this money on. To put it simply, there really isn’t much to buy here. I did buy one of those cool water boiling kettles. You know, the ones that plug into the wall and then snap into the little base and boils two liters of water in about 3 minutes? You don’t? Well, those of us who don’t have hot running water enjoy those kinds of things. Thank you very much.
5. I have still not been the victim of any crime (knock on wood), unless of course you count the piece of crap extension cord I paid 200 som for that literally melted itself together when I tried to use my new water boiler. Now I have a beautiful piece of artwork to liven up my trash bin.
6. I have hit a dog in the face with a rock. He had it coming though and I didn’t really mean it. It was dark and he was barking, so I stepped down and picked up a rock. Usually, that’s all it takes, but he stepped toward me. When I yelled “Bish” at him and stepped toward him, he came closer so I through the rock about two feet in front of him and it bounced up and hit him in the head. In retrospect, I feel bad, but man it felt good at the time.
7. I have not thrown up in country yet (again, knock on wood), but I have come close. I have threatened having to throw up in order to get out of drinking more. Apparently, it is really shameful to throw up in front of anybody that isn’t family, so most Kyrgyz men will let you slide by without drinking if you pull the “Tus” card.
8. I celebrated the country’s second biggest holiday with my family at the end of October, called “Orozo Aite.” The holiday is the end of Ramadan and families are required to go to seven other houses and eat. My street is either incredibly social with each other or they hate everyone who isn’t them, because our eight families hung together and went house to house until we had all fulfilled our requirements. There was a lot of food. I then went with some other volunteers to more houses, bringing my total to eleven. I’m gonna go for the PC record of 27.5 next year. I guess you only get half credit if explode in the last house.
9. My Kyrgyz friends probably equal my American friends in Kyrgyzstan count, if animals are included. Our family has two cats who I helped name. One is called “Chong Bash” or “Big head” in English (seriously, the biggest I have seen on a cat not featured on Discovery Chanel) and the other is simply “Cat.” It doesn’t mean anything in Kyrgyz. I just met our new goat today. He is much nicer than this new asshole sheep we have. I apologize for the language, but that guy is really a dick. It might be mean to say this, but I can’t wait till I get to watch him die. I will enjoy every bite.
10. I have been told officially 1,439 times that I need to marry a good Kyrgyz girl while I’m here. When I tell the people that I have someone waiting back in America (and yes, I do that Stephanie), the men tell me that I need a girl in every country and the women tell me that their daughter is probably better. In any circumstance, I get free tea and cookies out of the deal usually, so that’s nice.
11. The reading list continues, though not quite as long as before, since I’ve started watching movies and hanging out with human beings: The new Alan Greenspan book, Silk Road to Ruin (Great book if you are interested in Central Asia and have a sense of humor), Free to Choose, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Wuthering Heights, Critical Mass (not recommended), tons of The Economist (thank you sweetie) and Newsweek (thank you federal tax payers), and getting ready to dive into Mayhew’s London Labor and London Poor.
My next post will be officially during the Christmas shopping season. I want to take this opportunity to remind everyone to be nice to their local retailers. Most of them don’t want to be there any more than you do and their jobs definitely sucks way more than yours. Unless you work in retail. Then it sucks just as much.
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1 comment:
Next time, get a bigger rock. Almost sounds like dog was rabid. I mailed your holiday package yesterday. It was almost too big. That would have been a heart brake, mother worked so hard on it. I know you count starting after training but I prefer "since July"
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