"Fall is fighting" (Kyrgyz saying)

It's the last week of November and things are well.

It has yet to become frightningly cold ... and, I'm thankful for that. Although, two packages finally made it to me last week from the U.S. with warm clothes and most importantly - shoes, so now I'm ready to brave the icy chills that are brewing at the top of Kyrgyzstan's mountains.

My English Club has lost its novelty, and now there are about three students who come each time - three days a week for one hour. Two of them would like to be translators one day and are very persistent in their goal to learn English - which I am more than happy to help with.
But, I'm finding that I really should spend more time studying teaching methods and coming up with more creative actitives. My goal for this month is to improve my Kyrgyz and make up some fun games for my classes.

(Above and below are pictures of myself and the girls from the 9th form ... by far my most dedicated students! To the right, my English club classroom.)

I will be celebrating Thanksgiving with a group of volunteers in Jalalabad city this weekend, look for pictures from that gathering soon.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in America!

November 7, 2008

It is ‘autumn break’ here and there are no classes so I’ve had ample time to read and write this week, and plan for the beginning of the second academic quarter.

My host mother‘s birthday was today, she turned 26. It still amazes me that a 26 year-old has two children and was married at 19. This is not just the case in Kyrgyzstan, I know that many cultures still marry young and have children at young ages. It is hard to shake my upbringing however, I still consider myself a ‘young’ adult and find it hard to imagine myself having two children at this point in my life.

I am still finding Three Cups of Tea to be extremely interesting and relevant for me. In fact, I’ve had an epiphany of sorts.

The book’s authors quote Helena Norberg-Hodge a writer and researcher who lived a village in Pakistan’s northern areas for 17 years. In her book Ancient Futures, she writes:

“I used to assume that the direction of ‘progress’ was somehow inevitable, not to be questioned. I passively accepted a new road through the middle of the park, a steel-and-glass bank where a 200-year-old church had stood… and the fact that life seemed to get harder and faster with each day. I do not anymore. In Ladakh I have learned that there is more than one path into the future and I have had the privilege to witness another, saner, way of life – a pattern of existence based on the co-evolution between human beings and the earth.”

“I have seen,” she says, “that community and a close relationship with the land can enrich human life beyond all comparisons with material wealth or technological sophistication. I have learned that another way is possible.”

I am also guilty of having Hodge’s initial presumption, that the course to development is fairly pre-determined and one-way. But, there obvious flaws in the system – for example, certain societal problems and damage done to the earth’s natural systems resulting from the current model of economic and civil growth.

I may be incorrect on this and I don’t have numbers, but I would say, some of the age-old social problems such as adultery, abuse of substances, rape and theft exist on a much smaller scale here than in the United States. This is but one example of a society that is considered ‘under-developed’ getting it right where we are not.

And, as far as abuse of the earth’s systems goes, the ecological ‘footprint’ of Kyrgyzstan is that of a 3-month old compared to America’s Ronald McDonald size 12. That’s not to say if the Kyrgyz could take two showers a day and go to the mega-store to buy bananas from Ecuador and beef from Brazil that they would not. Looking at China and India’s example, they probably would. But, if we look at what they’re doing now – buying locally grown produce and small portions of meat, using resources like water and electricity sparingly and walking or car-pooling (albeit out of necessity), we could find some genius in that.

So here’s to learning about what the Kyrgyz can teach us! And, to the expansion of my job description :)

Cheers from Kyrgyzstan…

Give and take: What the Kyrgyz could stand to learn from FedEx, and a solution to American ‘loneliness’

November 1, 2008

It’s the first week of November, and I think winter is starting. Or, *nervous laugh* maybe this is just the ‘overture’ – a free-spirited, superficial intro to the real thing. And, if this is the case: I WILL die this winter …. And my eulogy will read: I wanted to get my package from the post office first.

And so, here it is… My two cents on the ex-Soviet bureaucratic institution called the ‘pochta’ (a.k.a. post office): They need a make-over! It’s time for a sassy Fed-Ex employee to come and show these people how it’s done!

I’ve waited in an empty post office while a female employee finished her tea and gossiped about her plans for the summer before being helped. And, perhaps ‘helped’ is the wrong word here because I’ve never actually been ‘helped’ at the pochta … Only left wondering how such an institution is left standing. Enough said.

On a lighter and more positive note, I’ve been meaning to write about my thoughts on hospitality – Kyrgyz hospitality and how that of Americans generally pales in comparison.
I’m currently reading the book “Three Cups of Tea,” a real-life story about an American man’s mission to build schools for poor villages in Pakistan’s Northern areas and I’ve found striking similarities between Kyrgyz culture and that of the Balti – the people described by the book’s author. The strongest similarity is the high value placed on hospitality, especially hospitality to strangers, or foreigners.

Not a day goes by here that I’m not invited to someone’s home for tea. Hospitality is an obligation and a matter of pride for the Kyrgyz. Certainly, one would be ashamed if they didn’t open their home to a new friend or co-worker. Which should be surprising, given the obvious excuse not to have guests: the Kyrgyz are a poor people. Americans, alternatively, are not and in my opinion could afford to learn from the Kyrgyz example.

So, next time you see your neighbor in the driveway, ask him or her for tea or coffee … it is that easy. And with all the depression and isolation issues people are having in our country this could be a cheap solution.

Things you learned in Kindergarten, and then forgot…

October 23, 2008

This week has been a week of extreme up-and-downs .

I realized last week that the Flex (Future Leaders Exchange) Program, sponsored by American Councils, was testing this week for the next academic year. After a testing and interview process, the program will send a small number of Kyrgyz high school students to the United States where they will live with an American host family and attend high school for one year. This program is advertised to be free to the student. Needless to say, a lot of Kyrgyz students are interested.
(Above left: the line in front of Osh University for Flex testing, notice the young woman with a megacom)

I have one student that attends my English Club that I thought had a chance of passing the tests and whom, in my opinion would make an excellent exchange student. I talked to my English Club kids about it the day before the testing, which was to take place in Osh City (about an hour away from the village) at 7 o’clock in the morning.

The student that I wanted to take is not a student at my school, but at a kind of boarding school or ‘orphanage’ as it’s called here which is funded in part by UNICEF. He did not have money for transportation. I assured him that I would take care of it if need be, but to our surprise the other students in my English club had pooled money and gathered enough money for his transportation.

It was really a wonderful moment watching these kids who were themselves disappointed that their English was not good enough to take the test, give all the money they had to the young man who did have a chance to pass, and maybe, go to America.

The next morning, after getting ready in the dark (there is no electricity at 6 a.m.) and braving the early morning cold, I found myself in a cab on the way to Osh with my student, and two other girls who had come along to take the test too. Once in Osh, at the University, I discovered that my student did not have a passport or ID with him, or two passport-like photographs. This was of course, completely my fault. I, as usual, skimmed over the fine print … and, we had a problem.

By some miracle, the kid had a relative in the city where he happened to have an ID card, and we were able to find a photo place nearby the testing site. After sprinting threw Osh City for about an hour, we found ourselves panting in a long line of students waiting to take a test that was supposed to start an hour before. We had made it. I went inside the testing room. There were some Peace Corps volunteers who work in Osh City there, helping to proctor the exam. I ended up leaving with some volunteers to get food, and assumed my student would make it into the test room in the next one or two batches of students.

A few hours later, after several attempts to call the student, I received a text message that he would be staying in Osh and ‘not to bother with him’. I didn’t inquire further, but as it turns out, he was one year short of being eligible for the program.

And so, today I’m reminded of something my grade school teachers used to tell me: READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.

I have a bad habit of reading part of and not all of the instructions, and in this situation my shortcoming deflated the dream of a 14-year-old. I won’t sleep well tonight. I could comfort myself with fact that I had the best intentions, and thought I was doing everything in my power to help…. But, I guess it’s too little too late.