March Madness!

It snowed today...So I am not too pleased. It was really starting to get warm but it snowed today and is supposed to snow all week! I guess I can't take out my spring shoes just yet.

During the last Peace Corps training, we discussed "Student Friendly Schools" and how we can create a safe environment for students in our schools. I loved this! Bullying and fighting in schools is far too common in Kyrgyzstan, and is just tolerated by the teachers. It's usually a "boys will be boys" mentality. But as a crazy feminist, I have no tolerance for this behavior. My Counterpart has been supporting me in making sure our classroom is a safe environment from bullying, fighting, wrestling, hitting, pinching, yelling, distracting and just not participating.

I believe 100% of children have the right to an education and that means 100% of children have the responsibility to learn. We created a contract that the students and parents sign. Because the grading system holds less weight than in America (if you have a few hours we could talk about it later), you have to get pretty creative as to how to motivate students into doing well and for those who aren't, how to find proportional punishments. Sometimes I feel like a drill sergeant (which kills me a little) but it's been worth it. We also set up a star chart for attendance, so if you ever feel inclined to send a care package, please let it include stickers! Just good old plain star stickers. The ones here are pretty bad.

Spring break, can you hear me?

Picture updates!

Phoebe and I spent some time with AUCA students discussing PCVs involvement in promoting gender equality. Wahoo!

The mountains I live near. I can't get over it.

It's a boy! 

My cow had a baby! 

(The calf in previous blog posts died during the winter :( poor thing) 

But this one is cute as well!

English club at my school can be pretty intense

Battle of the sexes

Normal traffic jam in the KG.

I traveled to Issyk Kul to visit a friend and to get a change of scenery. Check out those petroglyphs. 

Lake Issyk Kul

We went to a bazaar for some Ashlamfu. 

A bunch of women just set up shop and yell at your to sit down in their station.

So we did.

And it was glorious.

Also: I'm now a gross millennial and feel like I need a larger audience to see all the things I have to offer this big wide world (mostly food pictures). I have an Instagram account. "sarjandan". yuck.

Spring is in sight!

The end of January was bitter cold with harsh winds and lots of potatoes. I think we have gotten through the worst of it. It may only be the beginning of February, but the weeks are getting warmer and the days longer. I am thrilled. For the past few weeks I have been away from my site quite a bit. Either visiting friends on the weekends or going into the city for Peace Corps training, I have been a busy volunteer. And I found myself missing my village and my family.

Before joining the Peace Corps, I had not lived in the same place for more than 9 months straight since graduating high school. I learned how to condense my belongings into two suitcases and a carry-on. I don't collect keepsakes, I rarely buy new clothes and refuse to buy books when a library is available. I changed my "wants" so they would fit my nomadic and unstable lifestyle. It was great. I think it was exactly what I needed at the time. Demanding me independence and forcing myself into being responsible as well as compulsive. Now I am hitting that 9 month mark in Kyrgyzstan (though I've only been living with this family for 6 of them) and it's not as strange as I anticipated. I enjoy it. This is my first day back home for a week and it feels so nice to be with my loving family and in my extremely warm room. As uncomfortable I may feel in Kyrgyzstan, I have a little sanctuary with my home.

When my intake group came in, we were warned that Kyrgyzstan will teach you what real winter is like. The ice covers the streets, cars get into accidents more often than in the summer and the food is rough - just a steady diet of sheep, potatoes, onions and as much bread as you need to fill up. The group before ours lost a string of volunteers over the winter. One right after the other, they just left. So we were prepared for our experience to be similar. But it hasn't been. I'm happy to say that our group has only lost one volunteer. I don't want to put a stigma on Early Termination, I understand Peace Corps is not for everyone, and may not even be for me in a few months. But It's pretty exciting that we are (almost) all still here. Each of us have hard months and challenges with family or counter parts, but we all seem to be supporting each other enough that we have really stuck it out. At least through the winter.

Updates/Pictures:

Beautiful hike just around the corner!

For my birthday I got two packages in one day! It was amazing!!

And my family made me signs in English!

During a Training of Trainers, we discussed the stereotypes we put on girls. Here are the words the Counterparts used to describe our fictional girl, Jibek. Pretty eye opening. 

Also, the flies are coming back. Maybe the winter wasn't so bad?

Happy New Year!

December was one of the hardest months I have had in country so far. Sorry to start on such a hard note. The combination of work stress, winter blues and being away from the holidays really got to me. The kids in class were really disengaged because it was almost break (I can't blame them) and my counterparts felt less motivated than ever.

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!

Busy busy

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I have posted anything. And quite a bit has happened but just expect a loooong post this week. 

To give you an idea of New Years preparations, here is a short video of my host brother and I putting up decorations and goofing around. Huzzah!

Fly Files

This blog will be dedicated to flies. I feel comfortable discussing this with you all, now that it is winter and most of them are dead. The flies in Kyrgyzstan are freaks of nature. I kid you not, they are mini dragons sent from the gates of hell to torture us. You may think I am exaggerating, but I cannot stress enough how awful they are.

Not only are they HUGE, but also the loudest bugs I have ever heard in real life. During the summers, they at least have the decency to stay outside. However, we also eat outside. So during meal prep and eating, the flies fly around all fly like and touch your hands, face and food. Spreading diseases and bacteria, and giving every PCV diarrhea.  

During fall, as the outside becomes colder, they begin to invade your house! They come in and breed like crazy. I must say, living on a farm you see a lot of animal sex, but the grossest is fly sex. It's depressing and brief, and there is nothing you can do about it. You can only sit and watch it happen to you, and then later try to suppress the memory.

For two months, there was a upsetting consistency in my room. I constantly had a single fly in my room. Always one fly. I would wake up, find a few on my window, quickly kill them and then - like a taunting ghost - I would hear a faint buzz somewhere. The next morning I would find that fly and kill it. A few minutes later, the buzz would start again. I quickly felt like I was slowly going insane. I mean you would too if there was always a single fly in your room. Without fail, the fly was there.

So now that its winter, they are more or less dead. I finally have some peace.

Also, here are some pictures from the past few weeks:

Went to a Wedding! 

The Bride and Groom looking awkward 

For some reason this photo won't rotate. But this is my family!

THANKSGIVING HAPPENED!

I was pretty happy about the food.

These are the ladies. Remember their faces.

At the American Corner in Kant, they had a Thanksgiving celebration

Pin the Tail on the Donkey. You know, a classic Thanksgiving game.

My grandma tried to make me make her food - she doesn't quite realize I am not a kalyen - so my brother helped out. He's the best!

The mountains near my house. Pretty beautiful, huh?

Elections

As I'm sure most of you can assume, I am not the most thrilled about the election results recently. But, being in another country, I know they results do not directly affect me. And this blog post will be brief and will not be regard my concerns for the US, but instead, I think it's important to reflect on the rights and freedoms we have in America.

In Kyrgyzstan (the most democratic country in Central Asia) voting and elections are a right. It's incredibly important to the citizens here to have their political voice and accessibility to political movements. This might be the reason revolutions/protests happen so frequently. However, there is still a great deal of corruption and bribing in this country, which doesn't occur in the States. No matter your political views, we should all be appreciative and aware of our privileges. American may have its faults, but we should still be mindful of our liberties.

That's my two cents, I really have little to say in this blog. Life is about the same. Here are some pictures to prove it :)

My family has a horse (it has been in the mountains all summer) and we are in love! 

Karema watching WALL-E in my room 

1st snow! Winter is coming...

Dancing Kyrgyz style!

Simple pleasures

Updates!

Hello friends, family and onlookers!

The past month has been pretty uneventful in regards to the big important things but I have a lot of little updates. And since Those little things have now become my life, I will share them with you.

Work: I have finally settled in with my new counterpart, Aida. We work pretty well together, considering I have never sat and had tea with her or guested at her home. We don't really have a relationship outside of work, which is not really encouraged by Peace Corps, but it seems to be working for us. I'm just going to hope we get closer as we continue to work together. She is really busy, working with me and the secondary school, as well as the primary school. Plus she is a wife and mother and lives in a different village. So we just meet at school and work. She has been picking up my methodology of games and internation pretty quickly, which is lovely. And she's just a really nice lady all together.

Chinada still doesn't really need my help. Most of the time I feel like an assistant to her or a prop. I work less in her classes, which is far less fun. I have reduced my hours working with her by a lot. But all and all, this month has been pretty ok, work wise.


Home:

Our cow had a baby!! Her name is Betsy (that's right) and she's so stinkin cute! I didn't get to see the birth, which is a bummer. My new goal: see a cow or horse birth before I COS. I don't care to see a sheep birth...weird eyes, right?

My family took me to a Toi (feast) for some relatives 75th birthday. I went, and was completely underdressed but tried to have fun anyway. I took some wine shots with some random Eje's (my family still thinks I don't really drink. They're too cute). Here are some pictures from that awkward event.

My mom and dad dancing (aw)

Some drunk baike's dancing to Gangnam 

The dreaded Besh Barmak!

The kids at my house have now found my computer's Photobooth and will take over my room every once and a while.

My cousin, showing off his Kyrgyz smile. (For some reason in the country, they don't really smile for pictures. Something I don't know if I will get used to)

PCV Life:...is pretty boring. I spend most of my time reading or watching movies when I'm not at work. My family always jokes that I'm always in my room, but when I try to spend time with them, they are just watching Russian tv (which isn't as interesting as it sounds). So I wanted to document the usual night for Sarah Daniels. Eating fried potatoes, bread and tea by candlelight whilst watching a 90s sitcom. Pretty stellar. 

In Bishkek this fall there was a honey festival, bring the best part of the oblasts to me! The honey being held below changed my life and how I perceive this country as a whole. My family and I ate it within the month.   

And lastly, I went on a very short hike with a few friends around my village. It's pretty awesome to be living in an area with so much beauty. I know it sounds cheesy, but come on. 

So that's about it. Coming up: Baking at a really nice apartment and Chui welcome weekend for Halloween!