to sell or not to sell

I had somebody refuse to sell me something? Can you imagine??

I went on Thursday and bought paper with my friend from this little seller in the undergroud walkway to print my recital posters, and she kindly sold us ten pieces and we were on our way. The next day I had to reprint the posters cause there were some mistakes so I went back to the same lady (cause she was the only who sold the size paper I needed) and I asked her for some blue and purple, and she told, "no I won't sell it to you." I asked why, and she said that I would have to buy a lot, and so I asked how much I'd have to buy, and she said a lot, and then she said no I won't sell you any. And so I asked why would you sell me paper yesterday and not today, and she just said no I'm not selling today. So I finally walked off and thought, not wonder why you are poor and work in the underground...you could have made money off of me if you were willing to sell something to me....

Then I went to the design shop where I had the posters printed, and I was really afraid cause I was thinking if the woman in the underground wouldn't sell me paper, what might the design people going to say (plus with all the stress of my recital my Russian has gone out the window and I was all alone trying to do this) So I walked in and said I have to redo my posters because there are some mistakes. And they were so nice, the lady said of course and that the guy who did them would help me as soon as he got back, and three minutes later he came a listened patiently and said sure we'll redo them right away and didn't make me pay for the redesign, just for the printing, and so then I thought interesting...he doesn't work in the underground....I wonder why!?

That is the dicotomy of Central Asia, people who won't sell you something just cause they don't want to get up off their chair to pull the paper down, to people who really want to be professional and helpful. The problem is you just never know which day it will be and what kind of person you are going to face...just makes life more interesting here!!

pictures!

some pictures of the last month
friends, handing out Good Samaritan presents, me with my recorder student(who isn't looking at the camera:-( etc..

A nice calm Sunday in Bishkek

This morning my local friend told me I wasn’t American, I promptly disproved that by buying a hot water heater after church. The hot water was turned off a couple days ago and I’ve already had enough! So instead of having a quiet afternoon I’ve had men in my apartment all afternoon long. It started with my landlady’s sons who came to do some stuff around the apartment that needed to be done and then right after they got here the plumbers came so at one point there were five people working in my apartment around Nargiza and I....definitely too many in my small apartment!! Now I’m just waiting for the plumbers to leave so I can take a shower!!! Thank God for hot water heaters. Every year they turn the hot water off for a month to do repairs. A whole month without a shower!! I really am American I can’t imagine it. Actually it isn’t all that bad, you get used to heating up water and washing hair and doing sponge baths, but definitely now convenient. But besides getting hot water today we cleaned and organized the apartment and got new fixtures in the bathroom. We had ugly bright pink in the bathroom for the shelf towel holders, mirror etc...and since I moved I’ve said that I have to replace them cause they are just awful, so today I finally had time to go and pick out new ones. I’m feeling a lot better now:-)

Other things going on in life? I just got back from a few days in Narin helping my cousin settle in...I needed to get out of Bishkek for a few days, and she needed an excuse to relax for a few days after working hard to settle into her new house. So it worked out well, we relaxed watch movies, painted her kitchen and figured out where to hang pictures! And I enjoyed the quiet and peaceful pace of Narin.

Now I’m back in Bishkek trying not to get to stress out out about my recital that’s coming up!!! Saturday the 27th at 6:00PM. It’s weird to be doing a recital again, but so far everything is coming together, and I’m just trying not to think about the little details like dress, tickets, MC etc...have you ever heard of having an MC at a recital?? Here it’s required....but its sooo weird I don’t want to have one, but I guess I just do it!

After recital it two weeks and then conference and then 1 week and home to America!!! Life is going quickly!

Aubade...

...or a poem or piece of music pertaining to the dawn or the early morning

I guess I’m still learning English...this is my new English word of the week. It’s the title of the first movement of a trio that I’m playing with friends, now that I know what it means...the whole movement makes so much more sense! In general I’m not working on English too much this days, thus only one new English word since I got here:-) But Kyrgyz on the other hand I learn many new words! Today was exciting because I went to buy bread from my bread lady...I buy bread from her all the time, because she is so sweet, plus she died her hair blue, so she still has spunk. But anyways she asked me in Kyrgyz how work was going and it only took me a 1 second delay to understand and respond. I was proud of myself. I also went to the bazaar and bought carrots and potatoes in Kyrgyz. It’s so weird to be back where I was with Russian so long ago, but on the other hand its exciting to be able to understand and communicate and little bit in yet another language!

life in Bishkek or Spraznikom

I figured I better update soon before I get another e-mail from my grandmother:-)

is life always this crazy in the spring??

every day something happens, and I think "I should but this on my blog!" and every day, at the end of the day I don't have the energy or the right attitude to figure out how to write something, so another interesting day goes by...

what's been interesting lately?? Kafkaski dancing, double bass balalaikas, Cafe Mustafa, Sweet Pea Handcream, and pizza on the 1st of May

so pretty much the last couple weeks have been hard...feeling a little lonely and wondering just what I'm doing here etc...so a couple weeks ago I prayed that God would just help me get through the day and give me a miracle. I was kind of hoping that it would be that one of my American friends would be able to go out to dinner after my concert....but instead its been two weeks of my local friends loving me and listening to me and helping me.

Alena was the first miracle...she let me hang out with her all afternoon when I didn't want to go home between dress rehearsal and concert...that's when I saw Kafkaski dancing and a double bass balalaika..there is no way I can describe them so I won't!! But needless to say they were some of the coolest things I've ever seen! Plus I got to ride home after the concert in her boyfriend's car, which is a nice car, and a much needed break from the marshrutkas!!

Then comes Bayan and Cafe Mustafa. I was still pretty down the day after the concert and went to worship rehearsal and I ended up breaking down on my friend Bayan, and cried and cried. She just hugged me and told me to keep plugging away and that indeed I had a purpose here...and then this past week, she took me out to dinner. How humbling to have a national friend take you out to dinner and not let you pay. It's hard to explain as well, but its really a gift and an encouragement to me to have a friend like that who is willing to sacrifice like that to show her appreciation of our friendship, and to encourage me.

Then there's my other friend here, who came over today to learn how to make pizza and I mentioned one of my American friends here, and she looked at me and said, "You have an American girlfriend???!!! I thought you only had us!!!" (meaning the people at church:-) Sometimes I do feel like I only have local friends cause they are the ones I'm with all the time, but I do have a couple great ex-pat friends who have also been a great encouragement to me!! Like Tiffany making me hummus!!

So in all I've been shown how well God has provided for me here, and given me some great friendships, although in another language, and a different culture, and I'm humbled and overwhelmed by all that I'm learning through them!! So thank God for friendships!!

P.S. Spraznikom....or Happy May Day!

the marshrutka...

…whether or not I have a good day depends entirely on my marshrutka rides. What you ask is a marshrutka??? It’s public transportation. Imagine a 15 passenger van with a raised roof, the side sliding door closed shut, the passenger seat in the front removed so that the entrance is through the passenger side door, and then any where from 11-13 seats added in random formations in the back. That is public transportation here.

That in and of its self doesn’t sound that scary, but then you see some of the vans and they look and smell so bad you don’t want to know what happened in them. Or there are 40 people crammed in the back standing, with a driver who doesn’t know how to use the brakes gently…I’m sure you can just imagine all the people falling all over one another. Or its 100 degrees inside in the summer with lots of people who haven’t showered or use deodorant and you happen to be short…so your nose happens to be at the wrong level. Or there are drunk people falling all over you. Or when the driver smokes in the van…I think marshrutkas are one thing I’ll never love about Kyrgystan. I can wake up in the morning, and be so happy that I’m here, and feeling so proud at how I’ve adapted, and then I get on a marshrutka, and my attitude can do a 180 faster than I ever dreamed possible!

In America I prayed for good parking places….here I pray for a seat on the marshrutka so I don’t have to stand, or just for a good marshrutka in general. Now I’m thankful for little things. I’m thankful when I get on the marshrutka with my heavy bag and a guy notices and give me his seat. They don’t do it very often so when they do I’m am very thankful. I’m thankful for drivers who care about their vans and clean them and make sure they are in good working order. I’m thankful for uncrowded vans so everyone can sit down. I’m thankful for smooth quiet rides without people hoping on and off every second. They work so that you can get on and off where ever you want…just flag one down and hop on, and then tell the driver you want to get off. This is a good system sometimes, but its difficult when you can’t see out the window to know when to get off, or there are so many people you can’t make your way to the front in time to tell the driver to stop. Or people ask the driver to stop every hundred feet. But on the other hand it only cots .12 cents to ride so I guess I can’t ask for much!

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!