BUT - now it's January! Hurray!!
So let's talk New Years. In Kyrgyzstan, New Years is the BIG holiday. Family comes over, we eat until we are stuffed and then wait until midnight. Everyone looks forward to this holiday, similar to how most people in the States look forward to Thanksgiving or Christmas. It's a big one.
I spent most of my time during Christmas with other PCVs but made sure to be back with my family before the holiday. The second I got home, I started working on decorations, chains and cottonball streamers! We started setting up the table for guesting, and made sure to make oliviea (a potato, egg, carrot, pea and mayo salad - yum), which is the most important food for the holiday. They had fireworks, food and family. They were ready
One custom (so far only found in my family) was to write down your wish for the year on a piece of paper. Simple enough. After you have written the wish down, you burn the piece of paper, put it in the champagne glass and drink it. That way the wish will definitely come true. Of course.
Once midnight has come and gone, we all go outside and light unregulated fireworks! As many of you know, fireworks are not my favorite and my experiences here have not helped. All around our neighborhood HUGE fireworks were being set off. One of ours was not done correctly and blew up in front of us. My fear of fireworks has escalated.
After fireworks we all go inside and give gifts. Because I am such an old lady I went to bed immediately, while my family raged on until 4 am. The Kyrgyz know how to party!
Updates:
I am now running...kind of. I will run a 10k in April in Kazakhstan, so I need to get used to, you know, running. One really nice thing about running in Kyrgyzstan is the view. My village is very close to the mountains and it is beautiful! It's an excuse to get out of the house for a while, be productive and check out the rad view.
I mean, come on! ^^
A couple kids joined me for a run, which was pretty validating.
A mob of sheep joined me during another run. I just have to look out for their poops...
Kerema and I made cookies for my mom's birthday. Cookies without measurements or brown sugar is a challenge
But I think it worked out!
Guesting for my mom's birthday took all day. We started preparing and cooking around 9 am, guests started guesting around 1 pm and went on for hours. I spent quite some time with the guests, helped with food and serving, tried out my Kyrgyz as much as I could. But I tend to spend most of my time with children 8 years old and under. I speak Kyrgyz, they laugh, we dance. It's a great time.
I ended up leaving the festivities around 7 pm that night, and as usual, they raged on until the wee hours of the night. I can't keep up.
Next up in the life of a PCV: lots of potatoes, mutton and my birthday!
