Thoughts on Chinese goods, winter and English Club!

It’s the third week of October and as another volunteer in my village put it, “fall is officially here.” Leaves are falling and the days are getting shorter and inevitably colder. I am so scared of the pending winter that I think I’ve subconsciously removed the fact that it will come from my mind. It’s a kind of instinctual psychological survival tactic, right? The only problem is – some preparation is needed on my part. As it stands I have just one jacket and one sweater. The sweater is a cheap, Chinese-made bazaar purchase that is already falling apart. Alas, I will have to seriously consider the soon-to-come sub-freezing temperatures and make some purchases fast. I really should have hit-up REI before leaving the U.S., these Chinese goods are easy on the wallet but just don’t make the cut in terms of usability. Case-in-point: the sweater I bought a mere two weeks ago is literally falling apart piece by piece. Come’ on China … Get it together! (Pun intended)

Placing the subject of winter back where it belongs, deep in the back of my psyche …. My work at the school here in Myrzake is going well. I’ve change my schedule so that I am now not teaching the 10th and 11th forms. I feel a little guilty about leaving the handful of good students in these grade levels, but overall the disrespect and as the Peace Corps labels it, “unwanted attention” I received made it impossible for me to continue teaching them.

The younger kids – the 8th and 9th forms, on the other hand, are a true pleasure to teach. They are really interested in learning English, eager to please and very appreciative of the time I spend with them. I’ve established an ‘English Club’ which meets three times a week where the most active and interested students come. So far we’ve covered the Present Simple Tense, Greetings and Times of Day, a little bit of U.S. geography, and vocabulary used to talk about every day, habitual actions. I’m sure my teaching style seems unorthodox to them, they are used to being dominated with an iron rod and made to repeat some antiquated greeting in English a thousand times. I try to stress genuine understanding of concepts rather than memorization and I try to encourage everyone to participate rather than just the ‘best’ students.


On the home front, things are good as usual. Despite the fact that I speak mostly English in the house with my ‘host mother’ (who’s 25 and speaks nearly perfect English), I feel like there is a real cultural exchange taking place. In fact, I feel that being able to communicate more has aided more in-depth conversations about our respective cultures.

That’s it for now. For those who have been waiting patiently for pictures and are not ‘friends’ with me on Facebook, I’m planning to start a Picasa album … so, look for a link to that soon.
Best wishes to you all! And, if you’re on the West Coast this winter a jealous sneer to you!

Catching Up

It's been a long long time since I've posted here. Finding my way to the internet cafe and then, having it be operational has been a challenge! Here are some blog posts I've written over the last month...

Where in the world is Deanna Evans?
(Written on the last week of September, I think...)

I arrived in my village, Myrzake (murrz-aakay) exactly one week ago. For all of the talk among Kyrgyz of an extreme divide in culture between the North and South of this country, I have failed to recognize much difference – other than an adoption of some Uzbek words in everyday speech and, maybe a slightly more conservative dress although mostly among Uzbeks. I live just outside of Uzgen, which is the capital of this rayon (Uzgen rayon) … I suppose one could liken a ‘rayon’ to a county in the U.S. and an ‘oblast’ to a state. So, I am in the state of Osh and in Uzgen county, in the village of Myrzake.

My village is pretty large, I was told it has a population of 17,000 but I think that may be an inflated figure. Anyhow, it’s big. Sometimes, I can’t believe I’ve been living in Kyrgyzstan for almost four months … and, at other times my “old" life seems so distant. Arizona and the U.S. is becoming a fuzzy mirage – until I hear a song, or smell something that reconnects me to the place I used to call home. One day, about two months ago, I was walking in my old village and someone was blasting Toni Braxton’s song ‘Un-break My Heart’ into the street and suddenly, a rush of patriotism hit me. I found myself feeling such a strong identification with the song that I could have cried from homesickness. It could’ve been the national anthem … although, frighteningly Braxton conjured more sentiment … I guess that’s a testament to how very important pop is to the American soul (or, 90’s music to mine).

I have started to teach English at the local middle school, one of three schools in my village. There are a handful of English teachers, one of which is my ‘counterpart’ with whom I will co-teach. This first week at school has been very interesting indeed (note the hint of sarcasm). On my third day of ‘observation’ or *cough* running the class, I was informed that officials from the Ministry of Education would come on Friday (today) and observe me and my counterpart conduct a lesson. They would also visit the other two schools in the village, wherein staff (my host mother included) have been preparing since last year for their visit. Despite the24-hour notice, I managed to put together a decent lesson plan and, this morning, confidently led a class of about 20 students in an examination of what we call the ‘Present Progressive’ or ‘Present Continuous’ tense i.e. ‘I am going’ or ‘I am eating’. It was only when (half an hour before our lesson began) my counterpart suggested we alter the lesson in order to make use of some fancy visual aids that I almost cracked under pressure. But, alas … my patience prevailed and the ‘presentation’ went smoothly. I teach the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th forms – so, my students range in age from about 10 to 18. For the most part, they are great. They are genuinely interested and excited to learn English – which nullifies my imagined worst-case scenario – me shoving English down students’ throats. There is a sincere desire, I would even say a passion to learn English, and I am happy to help. The role of ‘teacher’ is coming naturally to me and I’m extremely happy about it, I think it will make my time here much more enjoyable.

The Kyrgyz classroom bears no resemblance to its American equivalent. For starters, there are very little resources. Sometimes, a class will have 2 books to be shared among 20 students and the books are often so outdated that their informational value is debatable especially the English books. The facilities at my school are very run-down, and from what I’ve been told, there is no heat in the winter … so the students will be forced to sit in a freezing classroom. Students in my school wear uniforms - the girls wear something that looks like the ‘French maid’ costume women buy for Halloween in the U.S. And the boys wear trousers and a white shirt. Students are very respectful towards teachers. Compared to the treatment of teachers by American kids – I would say it appears Kyrgyz students fear their teachers. This is not wholly a bad thing … I would like to see teachers respected more in the United States. But, the methods used here to induce fear in students (like screaming) are, I think, unnecessary and maybe even counterproductive. I will start holding an “English Club” after school two days a week, where students can get extra help and I can break outside of the curriculum a bit. Depending upon the language skill level (and, maturity level) I am considering bringing up some controversial social topics relevant to Kyrgyzstan such as bride kidnapping and corruption - not to impose any of my own thoughts on these subjects, but to get the kids thinking and talking about it. I’ve noticed that the American classroom is much more ‘diplomatic’ in the sense that individual students’ opinions are more highly valued, and because of that – students engage in discussion more often and are maybe more motivated to learn about a subject … I hope I can expose the kids to this approach through my ‘club’ … Wish me luck! Until next time …



The elements

It’s the second week of October and I’ve reached the official three-month mark in-country. Funny, three months seems measly … nothing more than a summer holiday. To me, however, it feels like I’ve been here for at least a year. I guess, sans wireless and the constant going somewhere in your car … life takes on a slower pace. The days unfold rhythmically and predictably - note that by ‘predictable’ I do not mean orderly, no … order doesn’t exist here. But, what I mean to say is that my daily activities are limited to a handful of variables and no more…. Which is at once peaceful and maddening.

I’ve come to enjoy certain parts of the day and week. Sunday - banya day- is, of course, my favorite day. It’s the one day that I can take a warm bath. The whole family bathes on this day, so it’s a ritual of sorts -and my chance to feel clean again. Let me explain here briefly how a “banya” (or in Kyrgyz ‘mon-chow) works. The ‘bayna’ is a small room, usually separate from the main house that is heated by coal, wood and sometimes sheep poop (romantic, eh?) …. It’s one of many gifts from the Russians to the Kyrgyz people and one I’m extremely grateful for. Sometimes there are two, even three separate rooms… one to hang clothes and towels, one middle room to wash and one extremely hot room to sweat. There is a large basin of boiling hot water (heated by the coal/wood stove) from which you take and mix hot water with cold water (inside of another basin) …. With a kind of big ladle, you spoon warm water over yourself. It’s nothing like a shower, but given my circumstances – its heaven.

I’ve really learned to be grateful for what I DO have here. Some people are really great at looking at the glass ‘half-full’ and, I always thought I was one of those people… until there was suddenly so much that I didn’t have. The lack of things like water, electricity, and plumbing ... can turn your world upside-down - suddenly you realize how precious these things are. I’ve had days when I seriously considered giving up my job here, and coming back to the U.S. so that I could shower, eat food I like … in short, have the conveniences … but then, I look around and see others living happily in these conditions.

A good friend of mine told me that ‘stepping down’ is never easy - if for example, you’ve been used to driving a car to work and for whatever reason, you no longer have a car and have to take a bus or walk…. Public transport would seem much worse to you, than say someone who has always taken the bus, or always walked. For most people here, the conditions are normal and when and if the electricity is on – it’s a bonus. I wish I were that simple. Damn it, America – look at what you’ve done to me.