As I mentioned in my last post, the past few months have kept me busy. I’ve been involved in many projects and teaching always has a busy set schedule. There has also been a pressing matter regarding the visas of the volunteer group before mine. But I’ll get to that later. First, I’ll pick up where I left off…
The women’s empowerment training went well and our lessons in Balykchy have started. One of my site mates, Taylor, wanted to help with the women’s club and because I have been very busy, she’s taken over it for me basically. She’s a health volunteer and has had less work lately. It worked out very well. I still try to get over to the Education Center, an after school art and English school focusing on extra curricular classes. Students learn English, puppeteering, dancing, singing, fashion design, computers, building engineering, drawing, and felting among many others. I really like the feel of this school and there is creativity shown all over the walls. I think I like it so much because it reminds me of DSA, the art school I attended from middle to high school. It has a good vibe and great teachers. Because my counterpart for the women’s club project was a teacher from this school, she thought our club base could be drawn from the female teachers at her school. They are great people and have such awesome personalities. They love Taylor teaching Yoga and they came up with some very interesting topics to discuss. Our first lesson was like a teaser and getting to know you. We played some name games, personal question games, and asked them to brainstorm what they wanted from the club. They came up with a comprehensive list including how to illuminate stress, relationships at home regarding gender, money management, terrorism in our world, time management, fashion, and exercise. I asked them why they wanted to talk about terrorism and they said because it is becoming a big issue in our world today. They also talked about how the main focus is directed against muslims. I’ll be interested to hear what comes from our in-depth discussion later. But I do want to say, all the friends I have made and the families who have accepted me into their home here are wonderful, caring, good-hearted people.
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| Chinara and I after the 5k run finishing the Women's Empowerment Training. |
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| First lesson in Kochkor and of the entire grant! |
Some of my favorite people in country are the group of girls from the ‘Girls Leading Our World’ summer camp I was a part of. For World Aids Day on December 1st, Taylor and I wrote a grant to take the girls out to neighboring villages who do not participate in the GLOW program and have the girls give lessons. We took 11 girls and at each village they taught one 9th, one 10th, and one 11th grade class. Our plans and villages changed a lot throughout the planing process but in the end our results were amazing! I feel it was a great success and I’m happy at the work we all accomplished as a group. Because older students only go to school from 8am-1pm, we decided to divide up our lessons into two days. On Monday November 30th we went to Kochkor city, a small city 45 minutes away in the neighboring oblast of Naryn. Our girls taught at two schools, one with a Peace Corps Volunteer and one with a Japanese Volunteer. This trip was the first time for many of the girls to go to Naryn. We stopped by the reservoir between our city and Kochkor and took some pictures to celebrate our first day! They had so much fun and were very professional.
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| A different lesson in the second school in Kochkor. |
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| At the reservoir. |
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| End of grant picture in Tory-Aygur. |
The second day we stayed in the Issyk-Kol oblast and went to two neighboring villages, one 15 minutes away and the other 25. A fellow Peace Corps Volunteer was at the farther of the two villages, Tory-Aygur and helped us get a contact with the first school in Sari Kamish. Again, our girls did great. You could tell they got an adrenalin rush after teaching and would always come back to the meeting room and discuss with other groups how they did and how active the students were. A few times the students were naughty or not as active and our girls handled it very well. They took command of the classroom and asked quieter students to answer questions. I am so proud of these girls. They are 15 to 17 years old and teaching a sensitive subject but held their own and gave very informative lessons.
Earlier in November I went on a trip to Issyk-Ata in Chui oblast with Photo Club. Issyk-Ata has hot springs and is a place where many sick people go to relax in the healing waters. There is also a great short hike to a waterfall. In my third phase of training I went, but seeing it in the snow was amazing! The mountains in this area remind me of the Tetons and the snow made it even more magical. We had fun tromping through the snow.
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| Playing with falling snow. |
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| Heading to the waterfall. |
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| Teton-like mountains. |
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| Frozen waterfall! |
Recent news, at the end of October I moved out of my host family’s house and into an apartment. My commute was too long from home to school and since it gets light so late and dark so early, I decided to move closer to my school. Apartment life is really nice. I have my own space, can cook my gluten free food, and keep my face acne free. I do miss my host siblings who call me every other week or so and who I see in class almost every day.
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| Naryn Thanksgiving!! |
With the snow comes the holiday season and I know we all get a little homesick now. We’ve been in county for about six months and all our friends and family back home are doing festive things. It’s just not the same here. To try to keep it festive, for Thanksgiving I went down to Naryn city and had a huge dinner with about 35 volunteers. We had turkey, pumpkin pie, veggies galore, lots of potatoes, and even cranberry sauce from America! It was good to see a group of people I don’t easily get to be around and explore a new city. The ride to Naryn reminds me of the canyon to Glenwood Springs. Except these roads are gravel/dirt and only two way roads. It was a good trip and even though I missed my own Issyk-Kol Thanksgiving, I’m glad I went.
Most recently a fellow Issyk-Kol volunteer, Emily, came to my city and helped give a presentation on earthquake preparedness. Lately there has been many earthquakes in the area and not many people know what to do. My women’s club counterpart, Chinara, at the Education Center gave the 15 minute presentation to her English students and then we practiced protecting ourselves under desks and had a building evacuation test. Students now know what to do during an earthquake while they are at school and they know they must save enough water for all members in their family at home in case of an emergency.
So now for the news…of uncertainty. It’s been hanging in the air. The volunteers from the year before us, K-22s, had to wait a long time for visas in August and were only given four month visas. It was a very complicated event last time and we were hoping it would be easier this time. It’s now December, four months later, and we’re doing it all over again. Visas for the K-22 group expire at the end of December but there is a whole process of getting accredited and then actually processing the visas. The group has been given an option of leaving and completing service now or staying in country to find out what happens with visas. However for my group, either way, we have to wait for the final verdict. We keep questioning - will they be given visas or will they not? What happens if they don't get them? What happens if it’s only another four month visa? What will happen to us? So, there is a lot of uncertainty. Right now it’s a waiting game. We will hopefully know the outcome by the 16th of December. No matter what happens, reflecting on my time, I feel I accomplished some positive things. I am also proud of the confidence and better teaching I see in my counterpart and the growth in the GLOW girls' leadership. This is all certainly an adventure.
