So it's mid-July and Alex's parents are going to be here in just two days! How exciting. We are planning to visit Issyk-kul lake and take them to our village. Should be a great time.
Alex and I have had a great summer so far. In late June we had a week long English day camp in our village which was great. We taught classroom vocab and some basic English and ended the camp with a pizza party. I taught a few lessons on Indian culture for some local friends' camps. They were sort of silly, people were very disappointed I couldn't sing or dance songs from Bollywood movies and surprised I'm illiterate in Tamil. Ooops! We recently visited Naryn City for a second time to do some work and spend some time with our friends Keely and Tyler. We have a great 4th of July. We also stopped in Kochkor which is a cute town with a surprising amount of Swiss tourists. On the way back we tried to go all the way from Naryn to Talas (3 mountain passes, 10-12 hours) but got stuck in the Otmok pass for 4 hours! I found out I am a lot more patient of a person than when I left. Now, I'm in Bishkek awaiting Alex's parents and doing a bunch of grant research.
Things in Kyrgyzstan are going well. The new group of volunteers have arrived (and are almost done with training) and are WONDERFUL. I just finished a health curriculum booklet for my rayon and will be printing it and sending it to 22 schools so that students can learn about diseases that are prevalent in the area. Our 'Tolerance and other Cultures' camp is coming up in August and promises to be a fun and interesting experience for the volunteers and the students. Alex and I have begun to print textbooks for the three schools in our village which should make next year's classes better. Generally, I am feeling really good about my service right now. All of a sudden the 10 months we have left feels like nothing! Every week a new project pops into my head and I am beginning to have to admit I won't have time for all of them.
Like last summer, the fruit trees are central to my existence. Cherries are ready and apricots will be soon. Horray! Alex and I, as I'm sure you all have guessed, have epic canning plans. This year Alex is going to make the perfect pickle and pickled tomato. Yum. I'm hoping to make more exciting new fruit chutneys.
Well, that's all for now. I'll put a bunch of pictures on Facebook by the end of the month. Everyone state-side, stay cool!
Athena
Alex and I have had a great summer so far. In late June we had a week long English day camp in our village which was great. We taught classroom vocab and some basic English and ended the camp with a pizza party. I taught a few lessons on Indian culture for some local friends' camps. They were sort of silly, people were very disappointed I couldn't sing or dance songs from Bollywood movies and surprised I'm illiterate in Tamil. Ooops! We recently visited Naryn City for a second time to do some work and spend some time with our friends Keely and Tyler. We have a great 4th of July. We also stopped in Kochkor which is a cute town with a surprising amount of Swiss tourists. On the way back we tried to go all the way from Naryn to Talas (3 mountain passes, 10-12 hours) but got stuck in the Otmok pass for 4 hours! I found out I am a lot more patient of a person than when I left. Now, I'm in Bishkek awaiting Alex's parents and doing a bunch of grant research.
Things in Kyrgyzstan are going well. The new group of volunteers have arrived (and are almost done with training) and are WONDERFUL. I just finished a health curriculum booklet for my rayon and will be printing it and sending it to 22 schools so that students can learn about diseases that are prevalent in the area. Our 'Tolerance and other Cultures' camp is coming up in August and promises to be a fun and interesting experience for the volunteers and the students. Alex and I have begun to print textbooks for the three schools in our village which should make next year's classes better. Generally, I am feeling really good about my service right now. All of a sudden the 10 months we have left feels like nothing! Every week a new project pops into my head and I am beginning to have to admit I won't have time for all of them.
Like last summer, the fruit trees are central to my existence. Cherries are ready and apricots will be soon. Horray! Alex and I, as I'm sure you all have guessed, have epic canning plans. This year Alex is going to make the perfect pickle and pickled tomato. Yum. I'm hoping to make more exciting new fruit chutneys.
Well, that's all for now. I'll put a bunch of pictures on Facebook by the end of the month. Everyone state-side, stay cool!
Athena
