January 7, 2013

I enjoyed another beautiful, sunny day at the flat until it was time to meet Gulnara and Michael to buy the refreshments for the workshops. On the way there, I stopped at the Food Boutique and found they’d finished stocking the shelves and were now selling Pringle potato chips, tortilla chips and salsa and the shocker: a can of chili beans for almost ten dollars. Balsamic vinegar went for over ten dollars too, so the only thing I thought I could splurge on was the spinach fettuccine noodles. I looked for spaghetti sauce and found none.

A few buildings down the same road, I found one of the two German bakeries Douglas had mentioned, but this was only a hole-in-the wall type of operation with a few pieces of pastry on display and some chocolate and cookies from Germany on the shelves. Apparently, its attendant and perhaps owner, smokes inside and the place just reeked of cigarette smoke. I left as quickly as I could.

Beta Stores was the usual jammed packed place I’ve come to expect no matter what time of the day or day of the week. After exchanging some money, I looked around for a small saucepan where I can cook polenta, cream of wheat or just a small portion of rice, but all of them cost over $20.00 or were being sold as part of an expensive set.

When Gulnara and Michael arrived, we proceeded to buy the tea, coffee, sugar, cream, napkins and biscuits for the event in the process irritating the hell out of the clerk in the biscuits section who didn’t understand our budget limitations and the need to buy pretty much six kilos of the same type of cookie.

We took everything back to the school and locked it in one of the classrooms. Michael and I went straight to Sierra Coffee where we could find no table available except for one in the smoking room. Michael, who’s a smoker, headed there to use his computer and I started to chat with Christina, the woman from the Philippines I’ve met there several times. She invited me to visit her speaking club this Saturday and promised to cook adobo for me.

I asked the manager at Sierra Coffee if we could post an announcement about the book on her bulletin board, and she agreed as long as we make it half a page only. The woman behind immediately asked me about it and said she was interested in taking part in it. I gave her my card and agreed to be in touch.

Michael had agreed to stay with tonight to save himself the commute to his friend’s house in the suburbs. I reheated what I had cooked earlier in the day and we had dinner together. He also had a portable hard drive full of movies and offered to transfer some of them to my laptop. I’m always happy to have more movies.

I was unable to find the password to the Wi-Fi system and just went to bed to read “The Giver”, hoping to finish it, while Michael used my computer. I finished the book, but hated the inconclusive ending even after reading the author’s comments at the back of the book where she says it’s up to each individual reader to decide what the end should be. I simply don’t feel so comfortable doing that.

January 6, 2013

I’ll have to revise my characterization of my landlady as she did follow through on bringing two electricians at exactly ten in the morning. The two guys promptly set out to repair and/or install all the outlets needed while Mika went out again to buy other supplies including a doorbell, something I hadn’t even missed. She brought me back a piece of crunchy flat bread from the market. How sweet of her

!

As instructed, they located an outlet in the living room for the TV set, two others in the kitchen for all the appliances so that I finally don’t have any wires going across the floor and replaced the faulty light switches on various walls. Mika will have then come back tomorrow to repair all three vents, over the stove and in each side of the bathroom, as none of them work at the moment.

I was able to move the microwave from the table to the counter thus making more room for people to actually sit there. Mika promised she’s still looking for four chairs so I can do away with the stools and also promised to bring table knives to match the set she already has here. It never occurred to her buy those since she knows Kyrgyz people don’t use them.

I revised my PowerPoint presentation for the umpteenth time and then sent the handouts to Elvira so she can get them printed at the American University of Central Asia. She told she starts classes on Tuesday, as any university in the States would, as opposed to in early February as the Kyrgyz universities will be doing. I also did some work on the presentation for Friday at the American Pilot School.

In the evening, it was time to watch another classic of the silver screen, “His Girl Friday”, another one of the great films made by Cary Grant with Rosalind Russell as his sidekick. The rapid-fire dialogue had me in stitches and the actual events in the film could have been happening today despite the fact that the movie was filmed in 1940. Incredible! 

January 5, 2013

Ended up spending a gorgeous sunny day entirely at home working on a variety of projects for the upcoming sessions of professional development at both the Forum Association as well as the American Pilot School next Friday. While researching materials, I discovered that I already owned a digital copy of the book “Teach like a Champion”, so I didn’t need to take notes or scan copies of my favorite tips in it.

The landlady texted to indicate she’d be coming by later on with the skillet and saucepan I needed. When she showed up, there was no mention of the fact that that her brother hadn’t shown up all week and instead she said she’d found another electrician available to come by tomorrow at ten to run a couple of outlets for the kitchen.

I made an attempt to make compote, the homemade fruit-based drink so popular here, using the dried fruit I had purchased in the market and adding cinnamon sticks and whole cloves, but the end product still tasted insipid to me. I wondered what I might be doing wrong.

I took some photos of the entire apartment and uploaded them to Facebook for my family and friends to see. In the evening, I got to watch a classic screwball comedy that had eluded me for years, “Bringing up Baby”, with two of my favorite actors from the golden age of the silver screen, Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant, never in better form. They sure don’t make movies like that anymore.

January 4, 2013

It was snowing lightly when I got up. I got ready to attend the meeting at Forum and decided to walk up to the Kyrgyz National University as I had no idea what marshrutka could take me there. Willoughby had given me a program that could pinpoint the different bus routes on a city map, but I had forgotten to transfer it from my flashdrive to the laptop.

Just as Laira had mentioned, the fresh snow falling over the accumulated ice made for even more treacherous walking and I felt myself slip slightly on at least four occasions before reaching the university. I ran into Willoughby right in front of the building and we then spied Elvira coming up as well. Gulnara was already inside the building and Asel and Michael joined us a few minutes later. Matthew never showed up.

We got down to business with Gulnara outlining exactly what was needed for the refreshments part of the conference as well as the costs of the certificates so I’d have a final budget to summit to my RELO. Asel brought her laptop and we made changes to the schedule right there with the final decision being made that every presenter would only have one hour. I now need to rethink my presentation as the PowerPoint in itself could take one hour not to mention the four or five activities I was planning on carrying out.

Forum had purchased a new all-in-one printer that was still in its box as Gulnara indicated she didn’t know how to plug it into the computer. Having done mine so recently, I offered to do it and had it running in a just a few minutes. Gulnara congratulated me as if I had just invented the thing in itself.

Next on the agenda was a visit to Public School #2 where the workshops will take place to inspect the rooms and to determine if we could use their canteen for our coffee breaks. The two men guarding the school had no keys to any of the rooms and they called the principal who demanded a letter of appreciation from Forum for allowing us to use her facilities and said she’d be the one to open the rooms on Tuesday period. The canteen would be off limits to us.

Michael, Elvira and I repaired to a nearby canteen attached to the International University to have a bite for lunch only to find that everything had been cooked who knows when and the best they could do was to reheat it in the microwave. I had a lukewarm bowl of oily rasolnik soup and a roll along with a glass of compote. From there, Elvira said goodbye and Michael and I walked to the Seven Days store near my apartment so I could see what they offered, and he could withdraw money from his Peace Corps account. To think that the volunteers now have an ATM card and don’t need to spend half a day going to the bank do deal with the cashing of checks.

This store didn’t offer anything not found at the other ones and I couldn’t even find muesli, something I had easy access to at the store across the street from my old flat. I got some eggs, cream of wheat, juice, milk and water so as to make sure I would’t need to step out of my apartment over the weekend and just concentrate on the work I need to have done by this week.

I texted the landlady asking her for an update on the things she had meant to do, but she never replied. I really don’t have a good feeling about this.

Spent the rest of the evening reading a compelling book, “Teach like a Champion” by Doug Lemov that contained some really awesome ways to get students involved in learning. I’m definitely copying some of his ideas for my future observation feedback to Kyrgyz teachers.

January 3, 2013

Willoughby called from around the corner just as I was finishing my toast with Nutella. She couldn’t figure out the combination to the gate, so I hurried up and showed her how to do it for future reference. She was impressed with the apartment, and except for the lack of electrical outlets in the kitchen, found no fault at all with it. We headed to the Osh bazaar and ran into Brice, the Fulbrighter, on the way to boarding the marshrutka.

He claimed not to have read my email asking for his participation in the upcoming series of workshops, nothing new there, but said he’d be in Turkey meeting his girlfriend at that time. He happens to live just across the street from my building. Small world, indeed.

Willoughby had a long list of spices and seasonings she wanted to get along with table knives as most Kyrgyz use no knives when eating and thus her landlady hadn’t supplied any. When I thought of it, I realized I didn’t have any either, but hoped my landlady would buy me a set to match the silverware already in the apartment. I bought cumin seeds and the right variety of rice for the plov along with the shredded carrots and herbs for the Tajik salad to go with it. At one of the spice stalls, I spied what looked like cinnamon bark and couldn't believe my luck when the vendor confirmed it was cinnamon.

                             Unusually-shaped mushrooms just arriving at the Osh bazaar

I found a plastic pail to keep hot soapy water in the sink to soak the dishes, an oven mitten and a pot holder, but no small towel with a hook to hang from the small sink in the toilet room. Willoughby bought a towel and I found the felt purse I was looking for to use when I go out in the evenings and don’t want to carry my large handbag.

We found the right marshrutka to get back to my place and as both of us were hungry, we stopped at the Vanilla Sky coffeehouse across the street marveling at its glass cases full of tempting desserts, the high polished wood of its floors, tables and chairs and luxuriating in the fact that they had a separate non-smoking room. The menu was entirely in Russian, but someone had been ingenious enough to offer photos of the different dishes to help those of us unable to read Cyrillic. I settled for a bowl of soup while Willoughby went for coffee and cake.

My soup came in a bowl not bigger than the coffee cup I have in my apartment and looked nothing like the item in the photo while having no discernible flavor at all. Willoughby’s cake had little dough but lots of layers filled with cream or something resembling it. I made a mental note to only go there for coffee and dessert in the future. On my way out, I noticed they still had their Christmas tree up and Willoughby commented that most likely it'd be up until January 7 when the Orthodox Christmas is celebrated here.

The plov preparations started immediately and I returned Douglass’ call to ask him to come around three. The Tajik salad was a bust because the cucumbers had frozen in the fridge and lost all of its crunchy texture and the tomatoes were beyond ripe. I had no salt or ground black pepper for the salad dressing either. I called Douglas and he agreed to bring a bit of each from his apartment.

I have to say this plov was the best one I’ve ever made. It might be because I made half of the recipe I usually cook since I don’t really have much room to store leftovers in the fridge. Both Douglas and Willoughby had seconds and I still had a small portion leftover for tomorrow. I hope to recreate this recipe exactly as I did today for it was beyond delicious.

My guests left together when it began to grow darker outside. Douglas reminded me to stop bellyaching about the minor flaws in the apartment as he felt the place was perfect and wished he could live in such a flat instead of sharing an apartment out in the boonies.

I spent the rest of the evening searching for additional listening activities I could incorporate into the workshop next week. I then read a bit more of the book “The Giver” but wasn’t able to finish it to return it to Forum tomorrow.

January 2, 2013

How perceptions change! After puttering around the apartment all day, I decided to go for an afternoon stroll since they day had been sunny and the temperature was relatively mild at 25 degree Fahrenheit. Had I been in the United States, that same temperature would have instilled in me a desire to stay home curled in my sofa with a good book and a pot of coffee.

Too bad the sidewalks are still covered with that dangerous mix of ice and craggy leftover snow for what should have been a pleasant walk turned into an obstacle course for many blocks while I searched for the indoor market Douglas had told me was located on the same side of the street as my apartment complex.

I did find it and he didn’t lie when he said I’d find fresh coconut, Hass avocados, limes, pineapples, broccoli, spinach and a myriad of other vegetables including fresh ginger. I got the garbanzo beans I was looking for to add to my plov and a few other provisions until the bag got too heavy to carry.

Going to this bazaar would definitely warrant the taking of a marshrutka during the winter as it’s just too dangerous to walk that far with the sidewalks in the conditions that they are now and will probably remain so for the next couple of months.

Matthew confirmed he’ll be attending the winter break session and asked to be included in the meeting on Friday. I invited Willoughby to come over for lunch or dinner tomorrow and she called to say she’d like to spend the day with me. We’ll go to the Osh bazaar together to get a few more things for lunch and wander through the neighborhood in search of a delicatessen and German bakery Douglas told us about.

January 1, 2013

I was delighted to have a full day to spend at home so I could finally organize all of my work materials so everything should be at hand when needed. I unpacked the printer, all of my books and training materials and threw away what I didn’t need any more.

While having breakfast, I tried to watch the dropping of the ball in New York City but Anderson Cooper and whatever-her-name is comedian made for a pair of dull entertainers, so I turned it off. Instead, I watched the movie “Zodiac”, which Yoomie had recommended long ago, and found it fascinating especially since Mark Ruffalo, one of my favorite actors, was in it.

I got the dishes done, marinated the beef to make plov tomorrow, did my hair and contemplated unpacking my clothes, but gave up the effort. There’s still tomorrow to get that task done. It snowed for a little while but not enough to add to what was already on the ground.

I completed the forms on what my presentations will be for the mid-year ELF conference in Almaty and sent them back to my RELO. Looking through my windows throughout the day, the city looked empty and eerily quiet as I guess the revelers must have been at home nursing their hangovers for the most part.