The End of the Beginning

We’re in our eighth and final week of Pre-Service Training. But wait a minute, when did this happen? Aren’t we still going to Kyrgyz class next week? Yeah, not so much. This time next week, I’ll be in my permanent site village learning the lay of the city and getting to know my counterpart. My counterpart is the Kyrgyz English teacher who I will help develop lesson plans, confidence in teaching, and professionalism with. Weeks are picking up speed and time seems to be flying.

Despite two weeks of me being sick with some nasty cold going around the volunteers, things are going good. We’ve had our Cultural Day where every village puts on a skit, food presentation, dance, song, and maybe Manas reading. Manas is an oral epic with a specific rhyme scheme and much longer than the Odyssey. Here is a photo of my group:

We made a traditional bread called Katima which is similar to a flaky tortilla. First the bread is formed into a small ball and rolled out very thin. The thin dough is then rolled in upon it self and then wrapped around and left to rise. This layered ball is then rolled out again to about a tortilla size and fried in a pan with oil. The rolling technique makes the bread flaky on the inside. Here are some photos of the Katima bakers:

One Sunday we got to travel to a famous tower near by. The tower is called Burana and is thousands of years old. We got to climb to the top of the tower and take in the beautiful scenery.  We had a great time with our language teachers exploring the tower and taking photos:

Travel in Kyrgyzstan is now an easy part of daily life. At first it takes some getting used to. Roads are not regularly maintained and no lanes are painted.  Most roads, except for in Bishkek, are usually a little larger than our two lanes roads. If someone is going slower, cars will just make sure no one in the on coming traffic lane is passing and will speed up around the slower vehicle. From my village, we take taxis to the main road that runs to the capital going North West and Issyk-Kul to the South East.. On the main road we pick up tiny buses called mashrutkas with set towns they stop in. Each mashrutka has a sign in the window with where it stops and a number for that route. Mashrutkas usually have about 17 to 20 seats but people pack in like sardines and many stand. Like I said, it all took some getting used to but now is old hat.

Most recently, my fellow English teachers and I did our final practicum. We team taught with another volunteer at an orphanage with a set curriculum. My partner and I got reading as our topic and had a fun time coming up with creative ways to present the text. In the end we chose a play format and had the students play a game before hand to warm up their brains. I’ve come to enjoy not being a perfectionist anymore. It seems to go out the window in Kyrgyzstan. You must be flexible because things will change. I know this is just the beginning, but I’m already seeing how ‘going with the flow’ will really help me in my work. Too many factors change last minute, things are not exactly how you planned them to be, and times or places may not available. 

The same week as our practicum, all volunteers had to take their language exam. Mostly the test is to gauge how well we were taught the local language, but all to see how well we are prepared. Learning the local language is important for our safety, when communicating with our host family, transportation, and of course living in another country. The test was all spoken and took about 20 minutes. We were all so happy when the exam was over. It honestly was not that bad, but the name of exam and the anticipation put a lot of pressure on everyone. If you do not do well on the exam, you’re asked to meet special goals when you go off to your permanent site and to report continual learning. For the rest of us, we woo will have continual learning and have the opportunity to get a tutor for up to 16 hours of language learning time in the seven weeks we are at permanent site. This is such a great program, I’m confident my Kyrgyz will only improve. 

Yesterday, I went to the bazar in Tokmok (a town to the East of me) to buy baby chicks for my host mom in my current village. We got up early on our only weekend day and tried to find chickens in the small bazar near our village. Usually chickens and ducks can be found, but this Sunday we were out of luck. My host mom said that Tokmok has a huge bazar and she was sure they would have baby chicks. We took a mashrutka to the larger town and wandered the bazar until we found the animal section. Each type of animal has their own area for selling. It reminds me of the Stock Show in Colorado, but it happens every Sunday. There is a sheep and cow area, a dog and cat area, and a chicken/turkey/duck/bunny area. Here are some photos of the bird/bunny area:

We ended up buying 18 baby chicks and one momma chicken to keep the babies warm. The chickens came from a farm in the mountains so the weather down here will be warmer and the mother chicken will keep the babies warm. No heat lamp was needed. 

Today, we finished our last formal Kyrgyz language class. Tomorrow we will have some dialect classes for those moving to the South and an intro to Russian class for those who want to learn a few Russian phrases. In my village, since I have light hair and eyes, people automatically start speaking Russian to me. It will be helpful to learn some Russian to supplement my Kyrgyz. Also, since the area around Issyk-Kul is dominated by Russian tourists in the summer, Russian will be useful. 

Later this week we meet our counterparts and work on team teaching techniques. As an entire group (health, business, and teacher volunteers) we will hold a conference to get to know each other and think about working across sectors. This can be as simple as including an HIV guest lecturer in your English club to including business entrepreneur support. The sky is the limit. 

The biggest day this week is our swearing in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer on June 19th. The moment we’ve all been waiting for is finally here. After we swear in, we immediately leave for our permanent site with our counter part and begin our two year service. What an adventure!

Balykchy For The Next Two Years!

When other volunteers talked with us about pre-serving training being some of the most intense, tiring, and grueling days, they weren't kidding. It's like Peace Corps is giving you anything and everything they think would be useful for your service. Between language learning, culture exploration, medical debriefs, across the board Peace Corps information, and our specific sector training (teaching English for me), your days are packed.

However, two weeks ago I learned where I will be working for the next two years; I'll be in Balykchy city in Issyk-Kul Oblast. Issyk-Kul is a region in the Eastern part of Kyrgyzstan and is named after the lake in the area which is the world's second largest salt water lake after the Caspian Sea. In Kyrgyz, Issyk means hot and Kul means lake. This name refers to the salty water which never allows the lake to freeze. The lake and my city are both at 1,900 meters or 6,233 feet. From what I've gathered, Balykchy is windy but dry (YEY no humidity) and has beaches. The city is quite large with around 40,000 people. The school I will be working in has about 1,300 students so everything is a decent size. Bishkek, the capital with the main Peace Corps office, is just two hours away by marshrutka and hiking or other outdoor activities are just a short drive.

The day of permanent site placement really gave everyone a second wind I think. Most people were kind of in a lull and this brought us all back around.  The morning of, everyone was excited and nervous. We arrived at site to find this huge chalk drawing of Kyrgyzstan on the cement outside of our main meeting hall.

Usually we all go hang out and use wifi and get tea or chat up everyone before classes, but not this day. Everyone stood around and waited. We were given envelopes by our group project managers but told not to look at the folders. This made the suspense even greater. After some kind words about how exciting this day is and to be happy with wherever we are placed, on a count of three we were allowed to open our folders. When you found out your region or city, you were supposed to move to that Oblast/Region on the giant chalk map. Myself and about 14 other volunteers made our way to Issyk-Kul and were greeted by two currently serving volunteers with cherries and Kyrgyzstan maps. What a cool welcome present! Anyway, Issyk-Kul is a pretty large area and so I will have many friends to connect and work on projects with. Here is my group:

Currently we have about two more weeks left until we move on to phase two of training, integrating into our permanent site. Before that point and today stand some pretty big events. This Saturday is a huge day where each village performs Kyrgyz traditions/dance/food to show off what we've learned. Culture Day is a chance to dress up, have some fun and perform.  My group is doing a dance, a skit where we show the tradition of an event known as 'baby's first steps,' traditional bread presentation, an English song, and a performance of some of the Kyrgyz oral epic, Manas. Next week we also have a second teaching practicum and the Kyrgyz language test to see if we are proficient enough. Most people say not to worry about the language exam, but when one hears test, you can't help but be worried. Peace Corps has told us that if you do not pass the the exam, you will not be sent home, but given a tutor and some language goals to pass before the ending of all the training. So, time to take a deep breath! 

After next week we meet with our permanent site host families, we meet with our Kyrgyz counter parts and have a conference with them, and we get sworn in on June 19th. Like I said, we're kept booked solid.  I can't wait to move for the last time and be able to get out there!  As a side note, when I move to my permanent site I will know my mailing address and will get wifi! I'm going to be connected more soon!