Summertime, and the livin' easy

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

Returning It to the Universe!

I recently noticed that my loves in Richmond are writing poetry; and sharing it! This is a good idea. So by way of returning to the universe that which I take from it, here is some poetry. It's my first attempt to write in Kyrgyz, which is a wonderful language for poetry because of a little thing called "vowel harmony". It is about absence, presence, and apple trees. It is also a song, which I will post once I record it.

 

Алма бакта

Алма бакты элестетем

Алма бакта.

Алма бакты элестетем

Алма бакта.

Эсимде элестетем

Алма бакты.

Эсимде элестетем

Алма бакты.

туулган жерди элестетем

Алма бакта.

туулган жерди элестетем

Алма бакта.

сүйүүм элестетем

Алма бакта.

сүйүүм элестетем

Алма бакта.

Алма бакты элестетем

Алма бакта.

Эсимде элестетем

Алма бакты.

туулган жерди элестетем

Алма бакта.

сүйүүм элестетем

Алма бакта.

Алма бакты элестетем

Алма бакта.

In the Apple Orchard

I imagine the apple orchard

In the apple orchard.

In my mind I imagine

The apple orchard.

I imagine my birthplace

In the apple orchard.

I imagine my love

In the apple orchard.

I imagine the apple orchard

In the apple orchard.

In my mind I imagine

The apple orchard.

I imagine my birthplace

In the apple orchard.

I imagine my love

In the apple orchard.

I imagine the apple orchard

In the apple orchard.

Islam in my village

My host family are devout Muslims by Kyrgyzstan standards. They never consume alcohol, pray five times a day, and celebrate Ramadan. Women do not have to wear head scarves and can work and go out as they please. As time has passed, I have learned that our family are at the center of the movement toward a stronger Islamic faith in the village.  If someone would have told me this a year ago, I would immediately worry and consider all the problems the news has presented to me about fundamental Islam. After a year in my village, I truly think that Islam--in the way that my family considers it---would benefit the community.

During soviet times, the people of Kyrgyzstan were not allowed to practice Islam. At this time my host father and his brothers were young men. Their father took them up into the mountains and taught them the Quran. Through this effort they became extremely faithful followers of Islam. Post-independence, hiding one's faith became un-necessary. Our host father and his brother became community leaders and are known by the village as good, hardworking, Muslim men.

Currently, our village is home to a medrassi which the men in my host family are very supportive of.  At the medrassi Kyrgyz boys can study Islam and on Saturdays a class is held for women. Our host father and leaders in the region have worked to bring a Iman to the medrassi (currently the closest is in Kazakhstan) to hold a camp for young men and to visit our village to teach the older generation more about Islam so that they can in turn, teach their children. Our extended family is working to hold weekly meetings to discuss issues in the community and their faith. They explained to me that they are trying to learn and preach an Islam that fits the Kyrgyz people and follows the Quran, not to blindly follow the type of Islam other countries have.

 In my experience here- I have seen that Alcoholism is rampant and spousal abuse is common. In such an environment, they type of Islam my family encourages seems to me to be one solution to the problem. Their brand of Islam seems reasonable to me. Women are respected, education (not just with regards to Islam) is valued, and their children are raised to be hard-working, respectful, and tolerant people. The family goes out of their way to invites Alex and I to Muslim holidays and explain the significance to us, but never push us to take their faith. All and all, they are wonderful people whose giving, tolerant nature is tied into their faith. It has been interesting and enlightening to grow to understand a type of Islam other than what we read about in the news. I am happy to know that in this village, the faith is tolerant and brought to young people by a truly good group of people.

I have a garden!

Women are selling apple tree saplings and seeds on the side of the road. Everyone is in the garden after work starting to plant. The fruit trees are budding. It is most certainly spring.
I just got in from making rows in the piece of the family garden our family is letting me use for this season. Thus far I have planted tomatoes, onions, and garlic. I've also started spinach, lettuce, leeks, and peppers indoors (Thanks for the seeds mom!) and some herbs in pots. I made starter pots out of paper (you know you mold the paper around a bottle and then you can plant the paper and all once the seeds sprout) and my family sat and watched me like I was a crazy person. It was quite a spectacle. After a long winter in which the whole village is covered in white, its amazing to see green again!
Generally life is starting to get busy. I am doing a bunch of composting and job preparedness trainings.
I will write more and upload pictures my next trip.

Have a great week everyone,
Athena

Springtime!

It has been a little while since I last updated you all. We have officially been in Peace Corps a year now which is exciting. The most exciting news I have is that it is SPRING! I also ate spinach and avocados---very luxurious.

We recently celebrated quite a few holidays. We had an epic St. Patrick's Day party and have had many Kyrgyz holidays as well. This month we celebrated Mens' Day, Womens' Day, and Nooruz (Persian new year). There have been lots of days off and lots of parties. Which really means more food and fruit then usual :-).

In other news, I made my first Kyrgyz friend which feels like a really big deal. As volunteers we often know a lot of people but do not have more than cordial relationship with most of them. Over the past few months I have been tutoring a young teacher at my school and we have come to be friends. Yay for friendship :-)

In my professional life--I'm busy. Sarah and I are are planning the annual Talas Camp at which we will teach about tolerance, other cultures, and nutrition. Should be fun and a great thing for the new Talas volunteers to do over the summer. I am planning a seminar on job skills for young men and women for 'Take your child to Work Day' in April. I just submitted a grant proposal for my health curriculum project, which I think will be really amazing. Finally, I got my first grant! It was for hand washing stations to be placed at the three schools in my village. The grant was through Water Charities and is a super awesome program, so if you feel like donating to a great organization that helps bring clean water to villages around the world, check it out here. Alex is doing well and has begun to work at a second school with a really motivated counterpart. He is also working on a few translation projects and a technology training grant.

Now we are in Bishkek for Spring break and for the FORUM English teachers association conference at which we will taught teaching a few session. We are actually here for a bit longer than we expected due to the pass being closed. Evidently March/April is avalanche season. To prevent dangerous avalanches the government closes the roads and uses explosions to trigger controlled avalanches. Crazy stuff.

I hope all of you are doing well. Have a wonderful week!