So I guess this one should start with the Issyk Kul trip.

(Let's try this one again...)

For those Peace Corps staffers reading, the trip was very productive. We discussed secondary project ideas with other TEFL volunteers and obtained some helpful TOEFL lesson plans. For everyone else, this trip was a really fun experience. We spent the first night in Bishkek for medical, and what a lovely coincidence that several other volunteers were staying in the same hotel for a health training that week!

Bright and early on day 2, we set out for the vokcal to find a ride to the lake. This was quick and painless, and, though the car was mostly youngsters, only one took a liking to standing by my ear and speaking in shouts. I consider this a win. The lake part was nice. We visited friends, ate watermelon, swam – classic lake things. We also visited some friends in Karakol, which is a little ways from the lake and more popular for its hiking. We did not have time to hike this time, but we visited an old church and enjoyed luxuries such as parmesan cheese – oh, what a life... But being spoiled can only last so long, and after a few days we returned to Talas with cheese in our bellies (and resources on our jump drives!) Thankfully, the journey home was just as painless as the journey there.

The next big event was Kyrgyz independence day, 31 August. I had hoped to see the horse games, but we heard many different times from many different “reliable sources” about when the games started, so it didn't quite work out. Maybe next year. I did, however, meet up with my counterpart and see some of the other festivities. Every rayon/county sets up a yurt at the stadium; we visited our rayon's yurt where they served us plov, borsok, and (of course) tea. Then we visited friends in some of the other yurts.

Next was a theatrical ceremony, most of which I did not understand, but there was a woman dressed as a mountain who narrated most of it – I believe she was Mother Earth. The whole thing seemed to culminate when these soldiers arrived bearing photographs of Talas citizens who died in the revolution. Though I had no idea what was going on, it felt very independence-y.

The next day was First Bell. Despite popular beliefe, this is not the first day of school. All the students and teachers gathered outside, the director said some things about some teachers (I got a flower), and the names of all the first form kids (school starts at age seven). Then, true to the day's name, some first formers walk around the circle of people ringing a bell. After the ceremony, all the teachers got together to drink tea, some also celebrated the day with some vodka, and eat plov and borsok. An accordian player was with us in the cafeteria, and he twisted many an arm into singing his accompaniment. We have quite a talented staff, and it was a whole lot of fun.

So we are now just about two weeks deep into the school year, and I tell you what, it is quite a different experience to be in school in a place where the top priority is farming (and the main harvest season is now). At first, it was very frustrating to me – why have class when over half the students are absent for the whole first two weeks? (Now, we are over a month into the school year. Last week we had no school so that everyone could work on the fields. This week, we are still missing about half the students. My counterpart says maybe next month..) But I am appreciating it more and more. Gulshair and I are learning to plan and teach together, and since we will probably need to reteach most everything when harvest season ends, having these practice lessons will be useful. This week we find out whether or not the government will grant the school some vacation time (they did) for the main harvest. So maybe by my next update I will be able to tell you guys a little more about school (I cannot.)

So, just before that week off from school, Talas oblast had In-Service Training, which was three days of training in Talas city. The first day was with our counterparts and family (my dad came to it). There were some good discussions. The next day was just us with our counterparts. We did practice lessons for one of the city schools. I think ours went well – either that or the folks who gave us feedback were just super positive. The third day was just us with a good bit of language practice.

After the training, a few volunteers and I bummed a ride to Bishkek with the staff, and I went straight on to Naryn to view classes and clubs, collect lesson plans, and see some friends I've been missing. I spent three days with my friend Casey. She had a few lessons the first day; afterwards, the two eleventh form classes had a Kyrgyz concert/competition. They sang, danced, recited Manas, acted, and sang a lot more. Both teams did a great job and it ended in a tie. Her family had a koy soy (pig slaughter) for me – not as gross to watch as I had thought it would have been. It is kind of amazing how many parts of the pig you can eat. (I have pictures of them all, but don't worry, I am too cheap to upload photos this time.) Casey and her host brothers took me around the village to show me their hospitol and parks – she lives in a beautiful town! We played frisbee and soccer and rode a horse (with a helmet, of course..) Then Casey gave me a whole bunch of great resources that I just finished organizing, and I was on the road again.

Next I went to Tav's village. He lives a ways further out, and it was neat to figure out the transportation to get there. People were really helpful and friendly so it was easier than I expected. I went straight to Tav's school where a teacher saw me in the lobby and brought me to his (the teacher's, not Tav's) class to talk to the kids. The kids did not want me to leave to find Tav's classroom, so I just chilled with them until Tav found me. His classes and clubs were a lot of fun – since he's in his second year it was nice to see a more structured routine. He really lucked out that at his school the teachers stay in one classroom and the students move between classes; I am jealous about this. The next day a couple other volunteers from Talas joined us and brought ideas to the clubs. This trip motivated me to get a lot more involved in my community. Since I live on a main road, it's easy for me to run to Talas city whenever, but this trip helped to remind me that I am a village volunteers, and village volunteers are wonderful folks.

I hope all is well on the home front. Stay happy and HEALTHY, please and thank you.
I love you guys.

So I guess this one should start with the Issyk Kul trip.

So I'm not at Preston's work and this computer is in Russian, and I can't figure out how to paste, so you guys don't get any words. Maybe I'll be able to put pictures on..

Nope. Internet shat out for me. Maybe next month.
Sorry, guys.

This one is dedicated to the end of my first tub of peanut butter.

That's right, in four whole months I have only gone through one pound and twelve ounces of peanut butter. I am in as much shock as you. My omnivorous streak is fading out, slowly since many Kyrgyz meals are cooked in sheep fat, but fading nonetheless. I have indulged in all the cultural dishes, so don't give me any lip about this hindering in the great cultural assimilation. My counterpart, Gulshair, helped me go so far as to help in making Kyrgyzstan's true nation dish: besh barmak.

First, the men boil a sheep in the kazan (big pot situated over a fire). Here you see Gulshair and her husband doing just that:

As that's boiling, the women (for this event, me and Gulshair) roll out and cut dough with which to make noodles.

Then they scoop the sheep from the kazan, and we toss the noodles to boil in the broth. Here's some proof that I was helping:

Finally, you pile the noodles on platters to be shared amongst three people, and the meat is placed on top. I'm not sure exactly how people were divided between the rooms, but I was in a room with a bunch of friendly older women I had never met before. One of Gulshair's sons came around to each of us before the meal with a kettle of water for us to wash our hands because this meal is to be eaten without utensils. However, I am super messy, and our hostess did not trust me to eat the traditional way- you will notice I am the only one with a spoon.

Turns out I am not the biggest far of sheep taste. Fortunately, in these warm months, Kyrgyzstan is filled with produce, and my host family has quite the garden. As meat-rich as the cultural dishes may be, my family really does not eat much meat. They may have some with dinner, but my host mother is an angel and goes out of her way to dish up my plate sans-meat. (If any of you are curious, mom, I have been conscious of maintaining a healthy enough protein intake- sometimes there's cheese but usually via mixed nuts and grains.) Also, soon the beans will be ready for harvest, which will be awesome. My oblast produces a whole bunch of beans, and most locals use them for animal feed so they are dirt cheap.

Food seems to be hot on the brain right now. In other news, my family is wonderful. I have already mentioned how great my host mother is in regard to feeding me, but beyond that, she is such a gentle soul. For a little while now, we have been hosting her youngest grandchild, Salamat, a precious little girl of one and a half years. My host mom teaches the younger forms at my school, so one can assume she is good with children, but the grandmother-granddaughter relationship they have is precious. The way they interact just pulls at your heartstrings. And Salamat is an impressive little one- chugs straight from the tea cup, doesn't take any nonsense from the cat, and knows my name.

Speaking of grandmothers, my host grandmother is the bomb. She technically lives next door, but we're only separated by a barn and we share the garden, so it's like we live together. This woman is tiny- maybe half my size- but she is feisty, in conversation and particularly interactions with her grandchildren, and works hard in the garden. Maybe I feel most drawn to her because of how much affection she has towards me. Yesterday (Tuesday, 26), we had dinner at her house- I'm not sure what the event was, but all of her children came by throughout the day, and most of her daughters remained for dinner. For the first five minutes she kept me in a tight hug and bragged about me to her daughters. This was really silly because she was bragging about my language and she thinks I only know about a dozen words (not that my language is good, but I like to think I know more than a dozen words.) Her daughters congratulated me, but they were not nearly as impressed as her.

I have been spending quite a bit of time with my little sister recently. Lack of involvement with younger people throughout my life is certainly making this an interesting new relationship. I love her dearly; she is cute as can be, has quite the appetite for learning, is generally upbeat and actively involved in everything she can be. She recently was able to communicate that she wants to bond over computer games, which is fun, but I do not have internet and most of the games on my computer are temporary. This means that as soon as she starts to understand and truly enjoy a game it becomes inaccessible; and, being a pre-teen who has just been introduced to computer games, she is addicted and goes through them unreasonably fast. Explaining free temporary games with my language is challenging, but I think she vaguely understands. Still, she is twelve, unfamiliar with computers, and addicted; so, when a game runs out of free sessions, she feels cheated in some way. I am terrible at dealing with disappointment, so my new plan is to spread out our game sessions. As I write this, I have had to turn her away thrice. We need to find a new bonding activity.

We have been able to connect some outside of the home since she started coming to my English club. When I am available, my English club meets three days a week, and we are awesome. Today (Wednesday, 27) I had twenty kids, and my counterpart was busy for the first couple hours, so it was just me running the show. Believe it or not, I was able to keep a hold on things for the first hour and a half or so! I consider this quite the accomplishment. Most of the children in my club are first or second form, so they're about seven years old. Many are just learning to write in general, and here I am trying to teach them English- it's comparable to a shit show. We must be a truly comical scene to any flies on the wall, but my goodness we have fun.

When I started the English circle, it was at the request of a few girls who were about to graduate. That was much easier since they actually knew somewhat conversational English, so we would just sit around and talk for an hour or two. Then they went off to college in Bishkek; we still talk from time to time via cell phone. Phase two of the club was just a couple girls in an upper form who wanted some help with technical English. We would meet and play word games for an hour or two. Now we're in phase three. Though they may be learning less than the kids in the first two phases, we are having a blast. They won't let me leave the school until they've had at least three hours of club. Tomorrow there is no club, but we are all getting together for a picnic in the nearby woods. I will certainly try to photograph that and hopefully add a couple more photos here:

Seventeen students showed up for the picnic (here, picnics are called excursions.) Here I am with most of them. The girl in the black baseball cap is my little sister.

We were out by the river from eleven until two thirty. Before today, I was worried that some kids would forget to pack a lunch. Oh, how little I still know about this place. Everyone brought huge shopping bags filled with food. We had pasta, rice, salad, two types of potatoes, and a plethora of cucumbers, bread and candy. We ate twice, and everyone still had leftovers. Silly me only brought a small bag of peanuts and raisins. Fortunately, my sister brought a huge sack of ormo (a noodle-y vegetable roll), so our house had something substantial to contribute.

And here's one of me with my counterpart and her daughter. (This hat was an excellent buy- I think my face is the only part of me not burned.)

Our excursion was a great success, and the kids seem anxious to start our club again in a couple weeks. Part of the reason why my club has been divided into phases is that I have been preoccupied for a few interspersed weeks this summer. In the month of July, I worked at two camps, and the first week in August I am working at a third. The first camp was held at the lyceum in Talas City; it was fun and everything ran smoothly. The director, a K18 volunteer in Talas City, hired some women to cook and clean up after all the meals, Kyrgyz meals. He allowed for plenty of free time, and the volunteers played games with the kids every day. Volunteers slept in one part of the lyceum while students slept in a separate part, so they could stay up and chatter to all hours of the night. This was very much a camp centered on how the kids would want a camp to be.

The second camp, as some of you know already, crashed and burned for me. This was held in Besh Tash, a national park south of the city. The site is beautiful. A friend and I woke up in the mornings to run along the road, and one day a bunch of us climbed up the foothills- absolutely beautiful area. Those of you who visit, I would love to take you here. Less favorable differences between this camp and the first camp include but are certainly not limited to: the volunteers did all the cooking and cleaning, the meals were all comprised of foods unfamiliar to the kids (as one volunteer pointed out, this was a concentrated introduction of fiber to most of these kids), limited free time for kids but especially to volunteers, some volunteers (including yours truly) slept with the kids and were expected to hush them at an undisclosed hour. For reasons unnecessary to expound upon, on the third day I got kicked out of this camp by the director. So Preston and I returned to Talas City and resumed daily life of Americans in Kyrgyzstan.

We started by giving Preston a hair cut. The battery to the trimmer died part way through, and I want to publish this for posterity:

The whole daily life thing is going really well for me. Other than club, I spend my time with my host family or reading. I am still fighting my way through Count of Monte Cristo- don't get me wrong, I enjoy it, but it is such a lengthy read; fortunately, he is about to start seeking revenge, so it should start moving more quickly. I have been doing alright at integrating yoga or pilates into my daily routine, and, for those of you who are curious, my legs look awesome. Life here is really good- I am both a happy and healthy camper. I still hope to buy a bike for more exercise, which would be super convenient since I'm only eleven kilometers from the city and could quit paying to hitchhike, but I will wait a couple weeks longer to decide on that because a) the person I was hoping would help me find a decent bike for a decent price is the husband of the camp director who is out for my blood, and b) after this third camp, I plan to travel to the other open oblasts with a few volunteers, and this trip may dip into my bike funds. You will be updated.

Looking ahead to school, I am so excited. The school gives each department a day off during the school week as a methodology day- which shows that lesson planning (something volunteers were told we would have to train our counterparts to do) is already important to my school, and my counterpart and I don't have to find time to put aside time to do it since it is built into our schedule. Also, she understands that as a PCV I belong neither to her nor to the school (some volunteers have problems with this, but my counterpart is awesome- I really lucked out.) This means that if I want to take up the offer of that other English teacher to help her with her classes, I can- not sure if I really want to, but she teaches younger forms and it could be fun. Also, I do not have to help Gulshair with her classes every day of the school week. Certainly, I am here to work, and I am excited to get into the classroom and see how all of this teaching stuff works- but I am paid to work eighteen hours a week, which means I am allowed to make my schedule so that I can have three day weekends. Things are unfolding nicely for me; I hope the same can be said for all of you.

Sorry that this is so late in coming, but CONGRATLATIONS to all of you who graduated this spring! I am proud of you guys and wish I could have been there. Remember all these milestones that happen for you while I'm away, and we will have a party for every last one of them when I return. Mom and dad, I just got your second letter this week- Peace Corps forwarded it from Kant to Bishkek then to Talas; it has had quite the journey since it left you in May- and it reminded me that for a time Cloey was missing. Faith and Blake, I am so happy you were able to find her again! Train Samson not just to guard the house but to look out for that little butt breath. Oh, and Faith and Barf, I saw this sign in Bishkek (in case you haven't yet Googled where I am, that's our capitol city) and thought of you both:

I hope this blog gives all of you some degree of connection to me, but please remember that a blog is somewhat one-sided, and I do not internet often- so I am lacking a connection to you guys. If you have the time to get incredibly old school, please contact my family for my mailing address and become a pen pal. I already sent out a few letters but, from phone calls with my parents, I'm learning to not rely too heavily on my village post office, so they may never get to you. My family now has a more reliable address, so if you already started being a pen pal (particularly Brandon and Cody- I hope what I sent finds its way to you guys), I appreciate it a lot- please start again with my new address.

For mail to get across the world, then to me once it gets here, takes about a month (or more, as you see in an earlier paragraph), so rest assured that you won't have to write me more than once every couple months. If you start now, that will only be about a dozen letters you'll have to write before I get home and it's once again cheaper to just call. If you're a little rusty at writing to someone detached from your monkey sphere, here's what I want to read about: your personal thoughts, feelings, and updates; what is going on in the local, national, and/or world news and how this affects your thoughts and feelings; new information you learned or a new place you discovered; something that has been weighing on your mind or a fleeting thought that comes as soon as you put pen to paper; I also accept doodles, which I tend to reciprocate (Brandon, you should have a rather awesome doodle coming your way.)

Once again, I hope everything is well on the home front. You are regularly in my thoughts.

I love you guys.