Sound of Music

We’re playing music from the Sound of Music in orchestra for the up coming concert. Of course no one here has seen the film, and so I decided I had to show it to a couple of my friends from the orchestra. It was just a blast; it seems their English was good enough to understand almost all of it which was good. But they were just so funny to listen too, as they analyzed every scene and tried to guess what would happen next and as they sang along to the songs since they already knew the music. It seems that it’s a cross-cultural film, and now two other people in the orchestra know how to play the music right, and two other people will have the same scenes running through their heads when we play!!

Rain in Bishkek

Well life has been busy here...I guess that's no excuse for not keeping in touch whether by e-mail, phone, blog, or snail mail...but that's why no one as heard from me:-) I knew it was time to update because my grandmother sent me an e-mail saying, "Well I guess you've been busy because you haven't updated your blog in a long time" That and my local friends here keep asking. "How are your parents?"....and I realized that to answer honestly, it's, "Well I haven't talked to them on the phone in over a month...but I think they are doing well!"

I guess a good question to ask is, have I really been all that busy...but the answer is yes. I've added 12 hours of rehearsals a week to my life this month with the Ala-too symphony orchestra-back to playing piccolo!!! As well as added 3 more hours more of teaching a week to my schedule, as well as trying to prep for a solo recital in 2 months!! so yes I've been busy....and plus it has been raining almost every day for the last month, so somedays its just hard to get myself to go outside and do the things I need to!!

But on the plus side, life isn't boring!! Things I've noticed over the last couple weeks...

...Bishkek is getting green and hot. So there has been a lot of rain, but I can practically watch the leaves grow, and today they were mowing lawns in the center of town!!! That's a good sign. Also I saw tulips blooming and lilacs blooming today. And it was about 75 degrees. So Bishkek is truly a nice place to live now!

...It's really weird to play American musical music in an orchestra in Central Asia. We're playing music form the Sound of Music and Oklahoma with the Ala-too symphony and it's just weird, because I know that no one else sitting there in the room with me has any of the same thoughts going through their heads that I do. They haven't ever seen the movie or the musical...there is no picture of Julie Andrews singing the Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music as she runs and dances through beautiful green hils!! I'm hoping to remedy that by showing some of my friends the movie...but its just weird all the same....there are so many cultural things that just don't transfer. But they like it all the same...

....Studing Russian novels is the same thing. I just finished War and Peace (which is the real reason I've been so busy....I've been trying to finish it quickly but 1400 pages only goes so quick, I think 3.5 weeks is good!) but some how, only here reading a Russian novel, and then going to class and discussing it with Russians in Russians does it make sense...its takes away most of the mystery that Russian novels always held for me, but I think I understand and appreciate them better!

...then there are always the little victories...I love teaching, even in Russian. I now I have three young students, one middle school student, and three adults...all in Russian except the middle school student. I's great fun and we manange to understand one another. Today the victory was teaching the fundamentals of tonal harmony to my adults students. It went great!! They understood, and enjoyed it!!! So now I can even explain harmony in Russian.

On a funny note, today at orchestra during break I was with one friend and a couple other people I didn't know and we decided to go outside and enjoy some local beverages...ie some sort of fermented milk drink....fizzy and sour, which last year I thought was gross, but today tasted great...anyway and one of the new girls made some comment on the side that my name was interesting. I didn't respond, but realized that she had no idea I was a foreigner...then we continued to walk and stuff and finally she asked, "So where are you from??? I thought you were Russian, but then when you spoke such great English I knew you weren't." So I managed to fool another person into thinking I was Russian. I thought now that everyone could tell I was an American, but obviously not!!! But it's encouraging that my accent and language on that limited basis is not too noticable!!

Okay that's all for now, about three posts rolled into one...for anyone who can get through it, I'll buy them some TAN to drink....that wonderful national Kyrgyz drink of fizzy sour milk!!

Lost people

Did you know that people get lost here? I never thought about people getting lost until I moved here. But here people just randomly get lost, one week you saw them every day, knew where to find them, how to get in contact with them, and then for a month they get lost. It's like you don't know where you put them, and no matter how much you look, you can't find them, and then they randomly show up again. How does that happen? They even say that in Russian, oh she got lost for a little bit...it's quite a weird feeling to loose someone like that. So currently I have one lost friend, and one formerly lost friend that I just found again, and I'm hoping she doesn't get lost again for a while! Meanwhile many of you might think that I've gotten lost with my lack of communication! But I'm here all the time, 4th floor apartment 17 building 80! So here are a few pictures of my new place...first before I rearranged and then an after, and the view from my window...it's pretty spectacular!

views from the 4th floor

I've moved.

I didn't realize how much you can learn about yourself when you move. I didn't realize how settled you feel in a foreign country depends on how at home you feel where you live. I didn't realize how much of a people person I can be, and I didn't realize how much the higher altitude of a fourth floor can really affect you.

I thought I was doing well with living in Kyrgyzstan, with culture, with feeling comfortable here, and then a I moved. It was more stress moving than I have ever experienced before. Questions of will I be able to make this new place feel like home, will I like it, will friends stop by here more often???

Thankfully God can speak to us even when we are worrying. He spoke to me softly this morning by showing me the mountains clearly for the first time, I have the most amazing view ever! Then he spoke to me a little louder be giving a sunny 70 degree day, and a nice walk to the grocery store, where He told me don't worry. If you worry and complain, you'll never like it there, but if you let me I'll help you like it there. Then he gave me friends. I moved partly to be closer to my local friends, and would you know they are the ones who helped me the most as I moved in. A couple of the guys came over and helped carry stuff up, and move furniture, and my cell group came over and unpacked with me, and my other friend came over tonight and helped me hang curtains. It's so cool that when I needed people the most, my local friends where the ones who could help me. I realized that when I'm tired and feeling a little misplaced and not at home, its good to have people around me, because it keeps me from drowning in my thoughts, but hopefully I don't offend anyone when I'm as tired as I'm now, cause when you are tired and unsettled it's really difficult to talk in another language:-)

So the altitude of the fourth floor really isn't any different, but the air out here is cleaner then where I lived before, and it is quieter, and my apartment is lighter, and I can already feel the difference. I feel like life will be a little simpler and more relaxed. I feel like this will be a pretty big change for me, but maybe not, and whatever happens I have a big God who takes care of me and guides me!

moving south

well I thought if I moved south it might be warmer, and since warmth is so important to me....I've decided to move...well only about 7 blocks south...but its still south and the apartment is warmer than my current apartment:-)

Yes I'm honestly moving...it came about kinda quickly, but it seems it is what I'm supposed to do. I hadn't been thinking about it until my landlady said we had to move out at the end of the contract which meant the end of April. So I prayed about it and it seemed if I moved out of the center to the area where my fellowship meets, and where all my local friends live, my life would be more accessible to them. so I was all set to move. Then my landlady said we didn't have to move and really wanted us to stay but I decided...no I really do want to move, but didn't tell her that. I just thought about what I wanted in an apartment and wrote it down, and then that same day a friend told me about an apartment in the exact location with just about all my requirements met. So I decided to go for it and worse come to worse I'd just pay rent on two places, but then today I went to my landlady's and said I had to move, and she was all happy because it turns out a former tenant is returning from America and wants to live here again...so I'm moving, and its all working out so much quicker and better than I planned!! Amazing, but not unexpected considering who I serve!! So there are a few more details to work through, but I expect them to all fall into place too...

so this week I move south, I can see the mountains from my new apartment, I'm five minutes from all my local friends, rent is less, and the conservatory is 10 minutes away. Life changes quickly here, and I know moving will bring even more changes in my life. What I don't know, but I'm sure I'll find out!

Victories

I have to write while I’m still on a high of how well God provides for us! Language victories are the best of all I think. When you can communicate and not necessarily feel at a loss for words in another language, its a great feeling. Tonight I had such a good time with a local friend, both of us were in kind of funny moods and when she invited me home after practice for Sunday morning, I said sure. We had a great conversation! It was the first conversation with her that I didn’t feel at a loss for words, and I felt like could express my heart. For me that’s a victory. I really like talking with her, because I feel like we understand each other’s hearts and what our Father is doing in our lives, she’s mature and also a leader and there is so much we can talk about. Usually I feel a strong lack of words to talk with her about what I want to, and usually I can’t exactly understand everything, and it leaves me very tired; but tonight it was all different praise God! We had such a good time, and we both left in better moods!

The other victory is that I can read in Russian now, like really read! A couple weeks ago on Sunday morning I realized that I actually understood what was written in the Bible rather than just guessing the meaning from what I remembered from English, and then for one of my classes I have to read Anna Karenina and I bought a copy in Russian, and I sat down and realized I could read that too, and not just pretend to read it!!! And on top of it all it isn’t tiring!! Of course I don’t understand everything, and sometimes its just gathering a general understanding of what’s going on, and a lot of words I look up in the dictionary, but all the same I can read rather comfortably!

So tonight I’m happy. Victories do come; it is possible to learn a new language and all the study time pays off eventually, and it gives me such motivation for continuing to study so that I can even more accurately express myself!

weekend of parties

nothing like a weekend full of eating!! Yesterday I finally had all the girls over from my fellowship group. For a long time some of my other ex-pat friends and I wanted to do this, and just let our friends how much we love them and appreciate their friendship. We didn't have time over Christmas, so went for Valentine's Day instead:-) So these are a couple pictures from that. I made lots of pizza and breadsticks, and the other girls brought dessert and salad and our Kyrgyz friends had a blast!

Then today I went with some of the girls to my friends parents house, and had a very Kyrgyz afternoon of being fed for four hours! It's quite the experience to go to a local's house because its a big deal for them, and they have so much food on the table. Many salads and stuff, and then a main dish, and then dessert, and it goes for 4 hours or more! But it was fun and now I'm home from all my parties and visiting, wondering how I'll ever get all my stuff done to start the week! But I guess it will all happen sometime!

schizophrenia of language learning

some thoughts on language learning since my lesson was cancelled this morning. I told my teacher I wasn’t feeling well, and she ran from my house like she was scared she was going to die. I don’t know if she’s that afraid of getting sick or if she just didn’t want to teach me today:-)
Anyway I pulled out a book on language learning and read a description that describes my life right now, and so I thought I’d share:

“Stages of Language Learning and Cultural Adjustment
Stage 1: Excitement and euphoria
Stage 2: Culture Shock: withdrawal, complaints regarding the local culture
Stage 3: Culture Stress: tentative adjustment and recovery, though with vacillation
Stage 4: Near or full recovery: assimilation or adaptation

It turns out that “Stage 3” is the key stage for language learning. It’s “when linguistically a person begins to ‘master’ the foreign language” that anomie is the strongest. It is here that one feels the most “uprooted,” homeless,” adrift. This is the first symptom of the 3rd stage, and one can be powerfully tempted to revert or regress back to one’s native language.
Interestingly, and perhaps frighteningly, passing through this stage has been likened by the second language learning observers to schizophrenia. In fact, some wonder if disequilibrium might not be “the key motivation for language acquisition: Language interacts with cognition to achieve equilibrium” (Brown 1994:60)
This is the most crucial period; it’s here we sink or swim. It’s here that we must also pay careful attention to the challenges and the payoffs, the sacrifices and the gains. There is a definite dying to self at this point, a losing of self, a letting go of who you have known yourself to be and a willingness to become someone else: as Jesus put it, he who seeks to save his life will lose it, while he who loses his life for my sake will find it. This may become much more real than you ever imagined possible. Do I say this to scare you? Maybe; regardless, you must count the cost and be prepared to pay it.” -from PLANTS language learning strategy

That is the best description of everything that I’ve been feeling for the last couple of weeks that I can find. (I'm at stage three if you didn't guess) I thought I was going crazy. Now I know its just part and parcel with learning a new language. I still don’t know who I’ll be when I come through this stage; but as long as I stay close in the arms of the father, I can rest assured that it will be someone better able to love my local friends.

Then this is just funny...for all of you who get a kick out of personality styes...it comes into play in language learning too, and when I read my assets and liabilities of my personality, I just laughed cause its so true! A good reminder that although I may feel a little schizophrenic right now...there are other people out there like me!

Assets
E:Willing to take conversational risks
N:Inferencing and guessing from context, structuring own training, conceptualizing and model-building
T: Analysis, self-discipline; instrumental motivation
J:Systematic work, get the job done (whatever it is)
Liabilities
E:Dependent on outside stimulation and interaction
N:Inaccuracy and missing important details, sought excessive complexity or discourse
T:Performance anxiety because self-esteem was attached to achievement, excessive need for control (language, process)
J:Rigidity, intolerance of ambiguous stimuli

this is just a good reminder it is only by the grace of God that I can make it through this process!

being sick in a post-soviet country...

I've discovered that there are some good things about being sick in a post-soviet country. First people here believe that the weather truly does affect your health. So if you are feeling a little weird one day...its just the weather, and people will tell you that and believe it if you tell them that. I love that 'cause I truly believe a lot of times it is just the weather...Second if you are sick here, you shouldn't do anything, and if you say you are sick people are immediately understanding and tell you to go home and rest and drink lots of water with lemon. Yesterday my Russian teacher told me to lie down for three days and do nothing, just because I told her I wasn't feeling great. Now all the understanding comes with downsides, like listening to people tell you all the things that you need to do to get better, or telling you its just cause I don't know how to dress for the weather, but it is really nice to not feel guilty about not wanting to do anything when I don't feel well, and having people tell me not to do anything!

P.S. I'm not really all that sick (at least by American standards) but according local advice I'm lying low today so that I can shake whatever has been bothering me the last couple of weeks

Spring is here!!!

Well I don't know if spring is really here, but today was a glorious spring day. It was about 60 degrees and sunny and the birds were singing and you could smell spring in the air. Its still early for winter to be over, or at least every one says that, so I'm not getting my hopes up yet but I'm still enjoying the glorious weather, epecially cause its been so cloudy here for so long. I love sunshine!

But God is good, and he gave me the opportunity to go sledding!!! And I think the hills here might even top the hill at the camp in New York. So I kind of don't want winter to be over cause I want to go sledding again:-) you can see some pictures! The only downside was that there were no sleds so it was on plastic bags with pillows inside. And somehow that doesn't give much padding, so the next day my backside hurt a lot!!! But the fun was worth the pain. The other downside was trying to avoid the horse poop, because there were lots of Kyrgyz ridding on horses there too, and so at the bottom of the hill the was a lot of stuff that I didn't want to be able to identify!! But the rush going down was worth it all! Oh notice in the picture we had a picnic half way through the afternoon, only in Kyrgyzstan do they have a picnic in winter at the top of a sledding hill....tea, bread, sausage, potates, cookies and all. Wow!!

Other than sledding, life is going on as normal here, just trying to keep up with music and language and church. Trying to figure out if I want to move, trying to figure out if I'll be a real student at the conservatory next year, trying to figure out how to best manage my time...the same old questions we all have. Life isn't so different here, and now I'm feeling very settled here, and it doesn't bother me that half my life is carried out in another language, sometimes I don't even notice what language I'm speaking in. So praise God that life half way around can eventually seem normal:-) Okay have to run and study Kyrgyz, which by the way is such a fun language...I love the way it feels running off my tonuge, even though I hardly know what I'm saying:-)