Independence Day

Well I got an unexpected holiday today! It's independence day here, and I forgot about it!! So it means that I have the apartment to myself since my roommates left, and I have generally enjoyed a slower paced day!!
It has now been 2 weeks since I arrived. It's hard to imagine that a short three weeks ago I was still in America!!! What a different world. So I thought that I should share all the wonderful things that I love about Bishkek....somehow I was reminded of many of them today when I was walking around.

The heat!! I complained a lot this summer about the cold in Massachusetts and then when I got back to Bishkek it was pretty cool too, but the heat has returned and I'm loving it!!! The only probably is that it has turned the marshrutkas (public transport) into public saunas. The description would not be that nice so I'll spare you, just remember there is no air conditioning. The best thing about the heat is that it is a dry heat...so my hair does whatever I want it to, and you don't feel so gross like when it's hot in Massachusetts, and at night you can still sleep....although it does make for a lot of dust, and I've learned to appreciate stories from the Bible about feet washing....it is definitely a must everyday in a hot dusty climate!!

Shoro!!! When I was home I also talked a lot about the national drinks that I love, and shoro has been a welcome addition back into my diet. I swear it's really healthy...and makes you feel a lot better on a hot day!

Turkish sesame bread. The Turks make the best sesame rolls, and sesame cheese bread. It's really just delicious. I forgot how much I enjoy it till I bought it again...it almost makes up for the lack of bagels (but not quite:-)

Russian: I wasn't sure how it would go getting back into daily Russian, but it has been fine...I've forgotten a few words but they come back really quickly, and it seems I have gained the ability to type better in Russian this summer. My lastest accomplishment is IMing in Russian with Cyrillic script. That is a feat I never thought I'd accomplish!! So thanks Natasha for letting me IM you in Russian!!! And thanks to all my friends who help me and have patience with me as I continue to learn!!

Weddings: weddings are great where ever in the world you are, and I got to go to one of my good friend's wedding just after I got back. I'm so glad that I was able to be here for it! For some pictures you can go to this link.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47341&l=af9a3&id=905265240

So although there has been a lot of adjusting getting back into life here. I'm thankful for all the things that I love about this place!!

Back in Central Asia

I fully intended to update my blog spot periodically through out the summer, but obviously it never happened! In the midst of the summer I think it was all too much for me to make sense of. I live in two different worlds with two different sets of values and views on life. Two different standards of livings. I feel comfortable in both worlds but the crossing between the two can leave you a little disoriented.

So now I'm back in my second home. They say that it takes one day for every hour of time difference. That makes 10 days for me, meaning that today I should have fully adjusted. Have I fully adjusted yet?

I noticed many things as I left one world for the other. The fact that I was leaving America not entering became apearant at JFK. Security was fairly lax, they didn't even ask me to take out my lotions and liquids! They just moved us all on through. When we landed in Moscow it became even more noticable. People started clapping when the plan landed...people never clap in America when a plan lands! In the airport the airconditioning wasn't working, the air was stale and full of cigarette smoke. People had all staked out their spots on the floor to wait out the long layovers, putting newspaper or blankets on the floor to sleep on. (I even slept on the hard marble floor with a just a little travel blanket, I had a ten hour layover, and that was the only way to sleep....I don't think I have ever been more uncomfortable!) The coca-cola I bought to keep me awake cost $5.00, and there was pretty much no security to get on the plane to Bishkek. I guess they figure they don't have to worry about terroist going there!

Then I arrived in Bishkek. The city seemed to look dingier than I remembered it, and everything looked smaller...I think being tired makes everything look different, because now the city looks like I remembered it, but in the moment it was an overwhelming thought of, where am I? The only other thing I noticed was that they had replaced all the old soviet style trash dumpsters with new shiny steel ones on wheels, that look like they come from the space age! My first marshrutka ride was so awful, I think I almost started crying while I was still in the van. They seemed hotter and more crowded than I remembered. I was quickly reminded why I want to buy a car! The bazaars seemed full of over priced Chinese junk, and everything seemed dirty.

So I could go on and on about my first week and how stressful it was, but then everything clicked. (my friend said it would, one day after you get back it's like you blink and everything seems normal again and nothing bothers you) So everything clicked for me on Friday night. I was catching a marshrutka late, when they are really full, and I got on an extra full one. There must have been at least 35 people in a 15 passenger van. I was pressed in on all sides by Kyrgyz men (remember that there is no rule in Kyrgyz culture that you should try not to touch the person next you on public transportation) it was very tight! Anyways at that moment fortunately I didn't start crying, instead I thought about all the complaining I heard in America regarding public transportation, and I almost burst out laughing. If anyone had seen me there or been in my place they probably would never complain again. (please don't interpret this wrong, I'm not condemning anyone for complaing about public transportation in America, it can be a pain anywhere, but remember it can always be worse!) So at that moment something clicked everything was about as awful as it could get, but that's what I'm here for right? Not because life is easier here, but because I can offer something, hope, where there might not normally be any. Just for the record. I got off that marshrutka a half a block early and almost started crying as I walked back to my apartment because it was so awful, but for the moment as I was trapped there between all those Kyrgyz I was able to reconcile being back in a place that is deffinitely not a first world nation.

My time in America seems like a dream. Everything is so clean and pretty, you have infinte choices for everything to suit every single diffferent type of person. The standard of living is miles above anything here, and I'm reminded why America is the place everyone dreams of coming too, and I'm reminded that I'm blessed to be from that country, and as I live here in my second home may I live sensitively to the poverty and may I live a simple life with compassion on those around me, and never take for granted all that God has given me. So have I fully adjusted yet? As much as I ever will. I don't know if you can ever fully adjust back to either place. The other one will leave it's mark on you forever; but you learn to live where you are at and enjoy the adventure of adjusting!

Culture Shock Part 2

Shortly after I got back to New Salem, I had a big reminder that I'm not living in the city anymore. I was sitting at the kithen counter and heard a lot of noise and heard the chimes clanking around, not just ringing. I looked up to see a bear on our back deck. Needless to say it was a little shocking and scary. Apparently this bear just shows himself when I'm around. He has been around the last three years stealing bird feeders and tearing things up in the yard, but the last time anyone physically saw him was also on the back deck when I was home....hmmmm, I find that a little disturbing, and now I don't even like to sit on the back deck. Every time I hear noise out in the woods, I'm sure that the bear is coming back for a visit. So here are a few photos of the bear. I'm not in the city anymore, and it's a little weird for me. I guess I've gotten more use to the city than I realized.

Culture Shock Part 1

In general there has been little culture shock as I return to the states but there have a been a few things and I'm sure there will be a few more things over the course of the summer....

answering machines...who would have thought that answering machines would be a problem. Fortunately I haven't yet forgotten what they do, but they sure do scare my friends in Kyrgyzstan who call! We don't really have answering machines in Kyrgyzstan, so when I finally called my friends, a couple of them said that they had tried to call me and then this answering machine came on and they didn't know what to do. So I don't know if they thought they got the wrong number when they heard the answering machine or if the English kind of threw them off or what, but I've been having to explain how to call and leave a message if I'm not home!! And what was even more funny was coming home to a message on the machine saying, "hello, Rebecca? Hello? Hello?, it's me "..." Hellloooo???? click. I guess one more person to explain the wonders of an answering machine too!

Russian language. The other funny thing is watching my parents respond to my phone calls in Russian. Very few of my friends speak English over there, but it happens to be very cheap to call from Kyrgyzstan to America through the internet at internet cafes so all my friends said they'd call me. That made me happy, I love talking to my friends, I just didn't really think about the fact that no one here speaks Russian! So the first time someone called they asked for me and my mom handed me the phone and I immediately launched into Russian and my mom sat there the whole time with her jaw on the floor listening to my conversation. When I hung she just looked at me and said, "The girl who couldn't even say 'si' in Spanish in highschool, just carried on a whole conversation in Russian without even stopping to think or anything...!!" I think she finally understands that I can speak a foreign language....maybe that's why I've tried to learn Russian so well...to prove to my mother after my miserable failures in highschool that I do have the ability to learn another language!!!
So the second time I got a phone call was funny too, because this time I was in the shower. When my friend called (a different friend) I guess she thought I answered the phone, because apparently she said several sentences, while my mom started to panic. She came racing up the stairs and knocked frantically on the door....someone is talking in Russian you got to take the phone!!!! It's weird to realize that I don't even know what it feels like to not understand Russian anymore. And it's weird how quickly my brain just reverts to Russian when I hear my friends voices on the phone. I don't even think about what language to speak in, it just comes out in Russian....I guess that's a good sign!!

leaving Kyrgyzstan

Home Sweet Home

It's been a long time since I updated, but I'm finally back on US soil!!! The last month went by so quickly, getting ready to leave and then traveling and finally, yesterday was my first day back at my home in New Salem. I'm very thankful to be home, and enjoying all the wonderful things about America, like friends and family, bagels, coffee shops, stores where you can buy quality clothes, ice cream, not being in a city....and much more, but also missing the good fruits and vegetables of Kyrgyzstan, the wonderful view of the mountains I have, the new grocery store they just built down the street from me, seeing the strange sights of random things done in Kyrgyzstan, like repairing the cracks in the road by pouring hot tar out of a tea kettle! And of course missing my friends in KG. It can be hard to live in two very different worlds, but I'm praising God that he has allowed me to be part of both worlds, that I can experience the world he has created and share back and forth between them!

first recital

We had our first recital at Ayan art! I'm so proud of everyone, and it went well. The first recital can be a little nerve racking for the teachers, because we don't know how our students will respond to the pressure of performing in front of people, and how well they are prepared reflects on us, and our teaching (even if in the long run 99% of a student's ability play is based on natural talent and drive) So we were all nervous and expecting it to be a pretty painful hour of something, but in the end every one played really well, and it all sounded and came off nice. So for us it was really encouraging that our students are doing well, and they are able to play well in front of an audience and in general was a big encouragement to everyone! Praise God!

Spring

Well I thought I should add an update after my last depressing one:-), so my faithful readers don't think I feel like that all the time. Spring is here!! I can't tell you how much this city changes with the come of spring. It seems like it comes over night. All those miserable days of rain and no heat have turned in the city into a bright green beautiful sight! The lilacs are blooming, cherry trees are blooming, all the bushes of in full leaf andd the trees are almost in full leaf. The mountains are beautiful, and they have cleaned up all the trash, and in my apartment building they even respackled and painted it so it's very clean! It's warm now too, mid-70's everyday, so no more cold, praise God! So in general life is all good again:-)!!

So my only other news is that I'm coming home for three months in May and I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family again! Looking forward to NYC and time with Peter, and Hampton and time with Molly at her school and time with the rest of my friends and family, and looking forward to coffee shops and bagels, and pizza (that I didn't make:-)) Looking forward to a yard that I can sit outside in, and a quiet town without lots and lots and lots of people always making noise. Looking forward to driving a car again, Yipee!!! And in short looking forward to being back in my родная страна (the land of my birth)!!!

P.S. Blogger went Russian on me again...I can't figure out why at random times it comes up in Russian....

April showers bring May flowers

It’s April 1st and it’s raining, and it’s been grey and cloudy for a week here now. So I’m trying to convince myself that it is starting to look greener outside, and trying to convince myself that rain isn’t all that bad, but it’s hard. I love Kyrgyzstan but honestly the last month has been really heavy in all ways. The city is grey, the trees are bare and the ground is covered with trash that has been litered all winter long. There are rats running all over in the gutters and they have shut off the heat when it is still freezing outside and there is no sun so it is freezing inside. Word on the street is that they are turning off the hot water for 2 months sometime this week.

But unfortunately not just the outside is so miserable, the government here is in turmoil, the Prime Minister has stepped down along with many other members of the government, and there are demonstrations planned. Who knows what will happen with all that.

Then there are the very rich and every one else. There are tons of new apartment buildings going up around the city, and the apartments are all sold out before they even build the building, but they cost 150,000-250,000 dollars in cash up front. Who has that kind of money here? Not my friends. Everyone I talk to says that to make 100 or 150 dollars a month is good money. My musician friends make even less. The premier orchestra in the country makes 40 dollars a month. Teachers in the music schools make 40 dollars a month. Hardly enough to pay for transportation there and back. It’s hard to make an honest living here, and I feel for my friends who have no prospect of ever making enough to move out of home, or to find a place they can call their own.

It often seems there is no hope in Kyrgyzstan, that things will never be better, but I’m reminded that my hope is in God and that he can prosper Kyrgyzstan if he wants to. He can give hope to the hopeless situations and he provides for the needs of his children. So through the heaviness of this month and life here in Kyrgyzstan, I’m reminded of where my hope needs to come from and reminded of his faithfulness by the love I have for my friends here, their smiles and hugs and laughter are sunshine. He gives hope and keeps us going even when we are tired. So even though March has been hard...I know spring is coming and sunshine and warm weather and that my hope will be renewed.

All is well in Bishkek

Yesterday was a happy day. Shoro is back on the streets of Bishkek!! That means spring is here, it means there will be flowers soon, it means that the lovely days of summer are coming, and it means there is always a wonderful drink available to one on any corner of any street in the city for all of 4 com! I love shoro, much to the amazment of other Americans and my family back home who have tried it. It is sort of an acquired taste, but once acquired very addicting, maybe even more so than coffee; and in the summer, even better than ice coffee. (for those of you who don't know, shoro is a national drink of Kyrgyzstan, and it is a mix of wheat and barely and other grains, that are roasted and ground into a fizzy drink. In the mountains it is fermented, thus fizzy, in the city a company called shoro has mastered the art of mass producing it and rather than fermented it is just carbonated.) Unfortunately it is not sold in America:-( So not many of you will have the opportunity to acquire the taste!!

P.S. I just finished reading Lord of the Rings today, and much to my surprise I loved it! So to those of you whom I always said it wasn't to my taste and I'd never be able to get through all three books, it took me less than a month!