Kyrgyz Autumn

It's been a while since I last updated the blog.

October was a fairly busy. I worked throughout the month, teaching classes at a regular pace with my counterpart; we had started to form a better relationship during this time. It was also a stressful time because I was preparing for a Halloween concourse on the 31st. Most things considered it went well-- we had about 65-70 children show up, a haunted house, games, pumpkin carving, skits (though only 3 of the 7 groups performed...), and everyone wore costumes. It was valuable to me because I learned a bit more about management, and I realize I have a lot of areas to improve upon (especially since I'm planning on putting together the summer camp this year).

November was also busy, but in a different way. Right after Halloween, I went down to Osh for a week. My primary concern on this trip was being there for my buddy Daniel, who went down for a "big event." Things ended up going very well for him, so I'm happy for that. I also had a good time -- eating good food, getting a shower most every day, meeting with some good people. It's a very different place than what the rest of volunteers see in country.

After Osh I came back to Talas for a week, taught classes, then headed up to Chui Oblast for VAC. First I went to see my training family for a few days. It was really great seeing them again, I miss them a lot -- it always breaks my heart when I have to leave them again, they're really great people. After a few days with them, I headed in to Bishkek. I had intended on utilizing the internet at PC headquarters while there -- I had been preparing for a month and a half all the things I wanted to send/see/do -- but many people were falling ill so the doctor closed down the building (with me being quite disgruntled at this). All things said, though, it was a decent enough trip. The biggest news from VAC is that I got elected president of the body, so now I have even more responsibility -- it will be a challenge due to my internet situation, but I'm planning on trying to use it more, and also move to more cellphone communication (which is the primary mode of communicating here). I had to stay in Bishkek for most of the week due to dental appointments -- thankfully everything went ok, the dentists we go to are good practitioners and, sans flouride treatments, are on par with very qualified doctors in the US in my opinion -- some PCVs even say they're better than the ones that they themselves had back in the States! Anyway, my primary objective was picking up stuff throughout the week for Thanksgiving. I was charged with picking up the turkey, something which was 'finagled' into the country from the States and awarded to us, a 22 pound Butterball. Also I tried looking for things for my personal project, and ended up picking up a few important ingredients. Unfortunately the sweet potatoes that my friend found weren't very good so we went without for the holiday (sweet potatoes are not known here, I can't even find a translation of it in Kyrgyz or Russian). I ate some decent food, got to shower once again, and after my week was spent I headed back to Talas, with precious Thanksgiving charges in hand.

When I got back to site, I quickly learned that schools were closing throughout the oblast (another 'quarantine' or 'epidemic'), my school being no exception here. While in Bishkek I was shocked to see that a lot of people were wearing masks, especially because it reminded me of sars. Well, everyone is up-in-arms about the flu, particularly 'swine flu,' and the masks and 'quarantine' are all reactions to it. Now, Kyrgyz people are still very traditional or superstitious, esp. when it has to do with illness. I can understand this reaction, even if it's coming during cold and flu season. It's also a testament to the propagation of Russian news and how skewed it can (and tends) to be. Anyway, as far as I know there's been a very minimal outbreak of swine flu, something in the range of 25 people in the country, but given the trends of customs and the information they've been fed, people here are, quite simply, freaking out. Compile that with the season and regular colds or flus, and we have to present situation. Not to mention the "pig" aspect of it, pigs being an already abhorred animal here and the whole taboo that creates. Nevertheless, November was a month in which I did not work a whole lot. Thankfully I haven't been ill yet (knock on wood) and, despite my host family insisting that I devour raw garlic and lemon to stave off the epidemic, I've been watching what I eat and touch and have been washing my hands quite frequently (which is more than I can say for a lot of people here, despite trying to inform them of what to do...). Let's see how things go once I get back into the mix at school with all those kids and their unwashed hands and uncovered coughs...

Thanksgiving was a good time. I was planning for most of the month how/what I wanted to make. As some of you may have gleaned, I've taken up baking while here, and I dare say I've started to get good at it. Originally I wanted to utilize the internet at PC HQ while I was in Bishkek to get some recipes, but was foiled on that front. So I quickly found something on the net while back in Talas and got charged an arm and a leg for it. Anyway, I was given the charge of pies. Pies were my baby this time around, and I took them to heart. While in Bishkek I picked up some caramel, whipped cream, and an extra pie pan -- the plan was set in motion, I was going to make a work of art here. Now, we didn't celebrate on Thanksgiving day itself because Thanksgiving is a Thursday, not a holiday outside the US, and some volunteers had work. So we celebrated the following Saturday. I came into Talas City on Friday and started baking at around 2 pm. At 12 am the power goes off, so I had to stop then -- so I resumed at 8 am the next morning, and finished up at 10:30 am, plenty of time before our 2 pm get-together. What did I make? Well, I had a city volunteer pick up a pumpkin (5 kilograms, much more than I wanted/needed). I also picked up some apples, along with a whole bunch of other stuff (butter, flour, sugar etc) for crusts and fillings. The result? Five pies. Each one has its own name: "Latticed Cinnamon Apple Pie," "Basic Pumpkin Pie," "Cookie Crumble Crust Pumpkin Pie," (this one's name isn't fit to be published so I'll just go with...) "Big Pumpkin Pie," and my coup de grace pie: "Walnut Crusted Cinnamon Caramel Apple Crumble Pie." I was particularly pleased with my new crusts (I had only made the standard crust prior to trying these) and my second pumpkin pie recipe -- the basic pumpkin pie was ok, but the other two were much better. I think everyone enjoyed the pies. Also, there was a lot of pumpkin left over so I made some mashed pumpkin as an ode to my mother's butternut squash -- that turned out pretty good too. Thanksgiving went well (despite us not making hats this year by a veto from some volunteers, and my being upset at this having went out and purchased paper to make said hats), the turkey was delicious (very hard to cook one here with the big ovens not having temperature gauges) and I was once again full.