I woke up sans alarm clock with plenty of time to finish an essay and baby wipe bathe before heading to school.
The cafeteria ladies prepared a special chai eech for me as a thank you for our clean water project, after which one of my counterparts gave me one of the best peaches I have ever eaten.
I had time for a power nap between the chai eech and my first lesson of the day.
This was my first time working with fifth form, and it promises to be a very active year.
The last class of the day was with my host sister. Her class is still awesome. We had a total physical response lesson for which everyone was stoked to participate, after which I realized that TPR lessons have become my main form of exercise - I have also forgotten how to spell "exercise."
After classes, I picked some things from our garden and made a fantastic mini-meal for my nephews. Amir, the older of the two, thought it deserving of a big sloppy kiss on the cheek. This is also when I realized that I am bothered enough by Temur trying to leave the table without Omeen-ing that I stop him from doing so.
While cleaning the dishes, Kasiette mistook me for her actual sister.
I changed into the most comfortable outfit imaginable, realized Faith and Mom and most folks with any amount of fashion sense would be embarrassed, then walked with Kasiette to a neighbor's house to take six buckets of tomatoes for canning this week (and during dinner, mom assured me I will play a critical role in this year's canning process). No one gave my attire a second glance.
I reconnected a cat with one of her kittens.
My host mother and grandmother wouldn't let me leave the dinner table until I had finished a quarter of a watermelon (after stuffing myself with soup and salad under the misconception that the melon was for a toi or mairam).
And I have no classes tomorrow, so I can finish my book tonight.
This is a rather typical, and absolutely wonderful, day.
cool post - i can imagine you wandering here and there and it feels good.
ReplyDeleteThanks for updating!! I know what Omeen (the final blessing) and eech (tea) mean.. right?? What about toi or mairam? Does that mean snack?
ReplyDeleteVery cool, guys! I'm glad Kyrgyzstan is more real to y'all. Mom, you're right about Omeen, but eech is actually 'drink' - chai is 'tea.' They're almost always said together (chai eech), though, so it's fair to mix those two up! Toi is 'party' and mairam is 'holiday' - for each, you host a guesting with waaaay too much food - kind of like the set up for your visit, hahh!
DeleteOh, also, another kitten got separated from her mama (who is proving harder to find this time), so to save her from my nephews, I've temporarily adopted her. She likes flannel and banjo, though, so I may just have to keep her!
Yes, knew that tea was chai but each was throwing me. Waaaay too much food is right- it just kept on coming-what great hospitality. Dad and I recently saw an Anthony Bourdain episode from Uzbekistan...some similarities there.
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