October 6, 2012

My day didn’t turn out as I had expected. To begin with, it rained again during the night and the temperature dropped even more, so I had to scramble to find suitable clothes to wear. I was glad I had grabbed a pair of low-heel pumps at the last minute when packing so that now I had something to cover my feet and keep them warm.

The air felt nippy and people scurried around trying to get places fast. At last, the sun came through the clouds and warmed up the air a bit.  I made my way to Lingua where I was under the impression that a seminar was going to take place for me to observe its delivery.

Instead, Zarina told me a writing seminar was taking place and the teacher I had agree to see was taking part in it. I made a beeline for the computer room to at least get one task done: to print, sign, scan and email the letter authorizing my tax preparer to file on my behalf now that I’m a contractor for Georgetown University.

Nargila had offered to take me to the Ala-Too Square today to show me the most important area in the capital city, and after getting some pages laminated for my presentation on Monday, we proceeded to this area just a couple of blocks away from Lingua. I was hoping to be able to buy some postcards there, but there none to be found. I took some photos in the now blinding sunlight and hoped for the best outcome.

My colleague filled me in as to the names of the different heroes, and one heroine, whose statues graced the different areas of the plaza. Nargila had some other commitment after one hour and made sure I was on the right marshrutka before saying goodbye.

I sent a text message to Ron Hernandez, a former Peace Corps volunteer who had chosen to stay and live here, and whom I had contacted through my Couch Surfing organization. He had invited me for drinks on Thursday, but I wasn’t interested in going out at night yet. I asked him to come over for a cup of coffee, which he accepted and then cancelled.

I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening working on a PowerPoint presentation on classroom management for college professors. In addition to that, I have another presentation Monday morning on Columbus Day which I plan on turning into why we shouldn’t celebrate such infamous date.

October 5, 2012

I had a fantastic day from beginning to end. I was able to figure out  the taking of a marshrutka that would go directly to the American Pilot School bypassing having to go to the Lingua School in the process. I got there too early and was able to finish my breakfast while Tatjana and Zeinep practiced their lines for the opening ceremony. Natalia and Johanna showed up just as about eight teachers had gathered instead of the twenty they had expected. They explained that the Ministry of Education had ordered the rest of the teachers to attend another training session at their facilities and that was that.

After Johanna said a few words and distributed some educational materials to those present, we repaired to the Resource Center so Zeinep could begin her teacher training session on the topic of money. Natalia stuck around to see how it went while I took notes to eventually provide feedback on the presentation. She then got a call from Gulnara, from Lingua, informing her that Zarina would be coming by to get some documents signed. I was able to get a ride back to Lingua with Zarina stopping first at the stationery store to buy some supplies to prepare my first batch of teaching materials.

                        These cute little girls were at the stationery store and followed me around.

The teachers at Lingua were busy preparing for the luncheon to honor all of them and their director. They had pooled their resources and bought a handbag for Gulnara while the director bought containers full of biscuits for all of us. We were treated to delicious Chinese food in sufficient quantity to feed an army and I certainly pigged out on the spicy fish and vegetable medley.

       A snapshot with a few of the teachers and its director, in the blue sweater, at Lingua School.

Zarina got a call from Gulnara, from the teacher association, indicating I was supposed to have been there at 1:00pm when according to my schedule, it was supposed to be at 2:00pm. I had to rush through my meal and jump on another marshrutka to make it to the Kyrgyz National University where Gulnara led me to a tiny classroom with twelve students. They had received new textbooks just that day and seemed befuddled by the material contained in it. I had a chance to speak to the teacher, Bazilat, afterward and she told the students can’t afford to buy the book and only make copies of the corresponding page for the day. What a shame!

Gulnara and Bazilat took me to the Oxford University Press store, not too far from my place, where I was able to buy the English/Russian dictionary I needed two weeks ago. It cost me 650 som or about $14.00 and it was about the right size so I can carry it in my handbag all the time.

Walking home, I found the cobbler shop across the street finally open and mimed to the guy that I had a couple of shoes in need of repairs. I came back with my sandals, in need of sewing, and my pumps in need of new heels, and he told me to return in an hour with 180 som or about $3.85 by writing it in a  piece of paper. I was delighted with the deal and came back an hour later to find both properly repaired and even cleaned in the process.

I went next door to the small supermarket to stock my fridge with juice and milk and be done for the day. Totally exhausted, but immensely happy.

October 4, 2012

I got a chance this morning to rearrange my books on the new desk, go through all the pieces of paper I’ve been given so far and try to file them in some sort of logical order. Unfortunately, the desk didn’t come with any drawers and that leaves me with only the surface area to work with. Weather continues to be mild and I hope it holds that way for at least another week so I can get my winter clothes when Ryan flies in. He had indicated he visa was still pending even though Gulnara issued him the letter of invitation needed for his visa more than a week ago.

Got an email from Zarina stating that in celebration of the Teacher’s Day on Saturday, the staff would gather at noon on Friday for refreshments at the office. It’s going to be a tight squeeze as I have function in the morning and an observation in the afternoon. Gulnara provided me yesterday with a really good map where my apartment building is even labeled, so I have no excuses for getting lost anywhere.

I was overdue for a dental cleaning and called the clinic the embassy recommended, but the receptionist spoke no English. Zarina called on my behalf and confirmed that the dentist himself does speak English and we set up an appointment for next Tuesday. That should be quite the adventure.

I accompanied Zarina to make the shopping trip needed to buy refreshments for the gathering on Friday. We started out at the Beta store near my house, where we purchased samsis and other baked good for our lunch, and what was needed for the office. Next stop was the bank, Demir Bank, the only one that is willing to exchanged dollars that contain any kind of marks on the bill. I had to agreed to pay 1% or $1.00 for the exchange and sign two forms after providing my passport and visa paperwork. I told Zarina afterward that the bank spent more money on paperwork than they could possibly make on the exchange.

She then took me to a five-story shopping dedicated exclusively to household good where I could find a lamp and bath mats. We had only visited a couple of stores when Zarina was ordered back to the school as Gulnara needed to leave. We made one more stop for her to buy wine and then headed to the school. I helped bring in the packages and then went on to my house as I had also purchased a flower vase and some groceries at Beta.

According to Zarina there were no repercussions from the demonstration yesterday as government officials simply ignored the crowd of around 500 despite a few fisticups between supporters and opponents of the Kyrgyz president. She didn’t take sides and feel those at the square just wanted to get attention from the press.

I’ve come to the conclusion that there is a stark contrast between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan when it comes to their relationship to Russia. Kyrgyz still worship anything Russian even ignoring the new names for streets and avenues and clinging to the Russian ones. The majority of them feel they were better off during the Soviet years and are proud to be able to speak Russian. Even the squat, ugly four or five-story apartment complexes, such as mine, were considered a step up for those moving into them.

Very few signs, and only all government buildings, can be seen in the Kyrgyz language which is still only spoken by a minority here in the capital. As such, Kyrgyzstan appears to me as much more forward thinking, even more liberal, than Tajikistan as shown by the fact that its women don’t wear any traditional garb except for the older women at the bazaar and some older men walking around with the traditional hat and beard. I asked Zarina if there’s much intermarriage between those Russian who insisted on staying in the country after the fall of the Soviet Union and the local Kyrgyz and she said no. Instead of an arranged marriage, as in Tajikistan, she’s marrying someone she met online just a few months ago.

I was doing the dishes a little while ago and heard some thumping noises coming from the courtyard and looked down to a guy with an ax chopping down one of the trees that provide shade over the walkway. Later on, he proceeded to chopped down another tree and all the shrubs in front of my building. A woman stood over him the whole time directing the operation. How sad that trees are not valued in this neighborhood as I didn’t see anyone approach the woman to ask about what was going on.

I had the most pleasant surprise of having Ryan call me from Tajikistan to tell he was staying at one of my former students’ house in Khulob for the night. He then proceeded to hand the telephone to Eraj so we could catch up on the latest news. Eraj was in Khulob to help out with his brother’s wedding preparation and relayed the message that the entire family felt sad I’d not be attending the event as I had promised I would if I had stayed there. He hasn’t found a job in Dushanbe and is considering leaving the country, most likely headed for Russia as many other Tajik men do. It’s pretty sad to realize that many professionals have no outlet in their own country.

October 3, 2012

My neighbors on the fifth floor must have been doing some furniture moving or what not early this morning for they certainly sounded like elephants dancing on the ceiling. I groggily got out of bed, it was only 5:45am, and made coffee trying to remember that up to now, the apartment had been very quiet.

I got to enjoy most of the morning at the flat catching up with the news and emails since I didn’t need to be at Lingua until eleven. The previous tenant in the apartment had left a few grocery items in the cupboards and to my utter delight Zarina confirmed that one of them was a bag of semolina, as the Russians call it, or cream of wheat, my all time favorite hot cereal. I cooked some this morning adding a handful of the dried fruit I had bought yesterday. I have to say the texture is slightly different from the one in the States, but it was quite tasty nonetheless.

I got to Lingua just in time for my meeting with Gulnara to discuss the lengthy list of books she had requested while I was still in the States. I informed her that my allowance for teaching supplies, books and travel-related expenses for the entire fellowship was only $2200.00 and that buying all the books and shipping them overseas would eat a huge chunk of such allowance. She replied that there was no need to order the books now and that perhaps I could set aside at least $500.0 for that endeavor and order them toward the end of my assignment when I’d have a better idea as to the extent of my expenses. She in fact indicated that the school would be willing to foot some of the bills for my expenses to travel in country for additional teacher training. How sweet of them!

I asked if any of the teachers had reply to my request for time slots for observations, but the teachers don’t have individual mailboxes where to receive the memo, so it had just been posted on the bulletin board. Gulnara had never thought of having individual cubbyholes for them, but now considered that a good idea. While I was checking on my email, one of the young teachers did approach me about it and said she’d be signing up later on today.

I bought two meat turnovers from the vendor who comes in daily and had lunch with other teachers who were surprised to hear that I wasn’t a vegetarian for every other ELF posted there had been one. Kyrgyz love to eat meat and I feel they consider it practically an insult to say you don’t eat meat at all.

I had mentioned to Zarina that I needed a desk since working at my computer at the dining room table was becoming painful since it sat way too high for my arms. She recommended looking at a website where people post merchandise for sale, the same place where she had found her wedding dress. Apparently, the site has been modeled after our own Craig’s list so people post their stuff for free including photos of the item. She immediately searched for desks and came up with a simple one that looked pretty new and was selling for the equivalent of $42.00. I gave her the go ahead to call for availability as the person selling it indicated he was willing to deliver the piece of furniture.

The transaction was concluded in five minutes, and the seller promised to deliver the desk by 5:00pm that same afternoon. I didn't have enough local money to pay and needed to go to the bank. Zarina advised me not to do it in the center of town as a demonstration had just started in front of their White House and it could get ugly. She told me to go straight to my apartment and do it later on.

It appeared as if other people were heeding the same advice for I had to wait for a third minibus before I could find one with any room for me. The traffic was snarled all around the Ala-Too Square where the demonstrators could be seen congregating in front of the gates surrounded by a sea of policemen in their dark-gray uniforms.

                                     Demonstrators in Ala-Too Square

I took a nap when I got home and then got a call from Natalia who was trying to verify I was safely at home and who asked me not to go for a walk that evening, something I’d never do anyway. Shortly thereafter, Zarina called to say the desk seller was on his way and that fortunately he spoke English. I informed Zarina I hadn't had a chance to exchange money and would like to pay the guy in dollars if possible. She called him and called back confirming he was happy to take dollars instead of som.

I got my desk and it was a perfect fit between the radiator and the door of the guest bedroom. Now I can spread my books, have a surface to write on and my right arm doesn't hurt form keeping it at an unnatural elevation. I was simply ecstatic.

It was time to do laundry and there was another reason to be happy. Although this washer has a smaller capacity than the one in Dushanbe, it doesn't try to run away as it goes into the wring cycle or convulses to the point of shaking the entire room. I didn't even notice when the cycle came to an end.

                                                  Laundry day

October 2, 2012

More beautiful weather greeted me this morning, and I simply couldn't believe that it was 43 degrees outside as my Google page stated. Since all my winter clothing is still in Dushanbe and Ryan might not arrive until next week, I had to put on my jeans, a shirt, the heavy sweatshirt Matilde had given me and socks to walk to the Osh Bazaar to buy produce. It didn't feel cold at all even when people around me strolled around wearing fancy coats and even boots.

It was pleasant three block walk to the market and I had no trouble buying everything I wanted: eggplant, carrots, cilantro, potatoes, bananas, pears, mixed dried fruit, raisins, tomatoes, dill, pickled mushrooms, cabbage and even plov seasoning, something Zarina had indicated was not sold here and she never used when cooking her own version of plov. Just as in Dushanbe, most vendors had a calculator with them to show me the prices of the items purchased and the one who didn’t, used my cell phone to punch in the prices for me. And just as usual, I bought way too many items and had a difficult time making it back to the apartment with my purchases.

I ate my muesli and took a long shower before departing for Lingua School where Zarina told me she needed additional information from me on the lineup of channels I wanted to contact the other cable supplier. The guy who comes in daily with his meat freshly cooked turnovers showed up and I bought two of them. Gulnara, Larissa and I retired to the teachers’ lounge where Larissa prodded us to eat her combination of eggplant fritters with layers of tomatoes and mayonnaise.

I had to rush to take the marshrutka that would get me to the American Pilot School and found Zeinep, another English teacher, tutoring two students of Russian descent. Tatyana showed up a few minutes later and took me to the main building where I was given a tour of a relatively upscale school, or gymnasium as they like to call it here. Although it’s a public school, the parents have to pay 5,400 som a year or a little over $100.00 to get their kids into this school. The halls were spotless, there were flowers on the front entrance, and a snack-vending counter at the front in addition to a gym and cafeteria where even the parents are allowed to come and have lunch with their children.

                                   One of many posters on display honoring teachers

On the occasion of Saturday being the day of the teacher in Kyrgyzstan, the halls were decorated with numerous posters made by the students to honor their teachers. I was taken to a biology classroom containing a smart board and tons of plants as the teacher here had won the right to be the first one in the country to have a smart board.

I got to observe an older female student teach an eighth grader class for 45 minutes and subsequently observed Tatyana’s class. I told both teachers that I’d need to summarize my notes and meet with them individually to discuss what I had observed and my suggestions, if any, for improvement.

                                    With Tatjana at the American Pilot School

As I walking to the bus stop, I was approached by a young man who wanted to confirm I was the fellow that would be making future presentations at his university. He was currently doing his internship at the pilot school and was happy to know that I’d be doing some teacher training for members of his class. I gave him my card and asked him to call me if he needed any help.

I didn’t return to Lingua School as I decided to find my way home on my own. I managed to make it back to the Beta store where I got the dish rack I needed and bought some additional grocery items such cinnamon, which I had forgotten to pack, rice, beans and butter. I think I’m pretty stocked up with everything I need now.

I was able to cook the beef and lamb brought from the Chinese place with lots of eggplant, but it was still way too spicy. I ate it with some Turkish bread and turned to face the long list of topics provided by both the Forum Association and the Kyrgyz National University. I have a lot of work ahead of me.

October 1, 2012

Brilliant sunshine was streaming through the windows when I got up this morning. While making my coffee, I peered into the courtyard and saw people walking around all bundled up in jackets and coats as if winter had arrived overnight. I cautiously opened the window, but didn't feel the blast of cold air I was expecting and turned to admiring the view of the mountains while sipping my coffee slowly. Not having access to the Internet meant I had no idea what the temperature was outside.

Natalia was picking me up at 9:15, so there was not time to waste as did the dishes and picked up my bedroom in anticipation of her coming up to see the apartment and also to deliver a box of books for my teaching assignments. She gave the flat her seal of approval, and we quickly went back to the car so we could get to our meeting with the people at the American Councils where I met Daniel, from Colorado, who’s filling temporarily until Rebecca gets here in November, and another Gulnara, the coordinator for the Tot (Training of the Teachers) and responsible for the Access programs in the outskirts of Bishkek.

We basically agreed to my participation in any teacher training taking place in the southern part of the country, where the need is most dire) and to collaborate with the summer camps when that time rolls around.

Daniel sounded skeptical about my work with the Forum association as they have been known to waste lots of resources and produce very little results. I told him I was going in with an open mind and hopeful that we could see some improvements by the end of next year.

As we were on our way to the American Pilot School for our next meeting, I mentioned to Natalia that I wanted to start my Russian lessons and the London School was the place everybody had recommended. By coincidence, those two places were very close to each other and she offered to take me to the London School first where I was told they don’t hold any group classes and that the individual classes were already full for the month of October. I offered to join another student’s class if possible just so I could start right away. The coordinator took my name and telephone number and promised to call in case something turned up.

The American Pilot School operates out of a 1950s building that must have been remodeled at some point and now sported a light green aluminum skin over its former concrete walls. We met Tatyana in the American Resource Center, a room full of computers, books and teaching materials that is available to all English teachers at the gymnasium. I was invited to take part, as an observer, in the first training session for teachers from the suburbs of Bishkek most of whom don’t speak English at all. Natalia and Johanna, the PAO, will also be present. I agreed to return on Monday to do a lesson on Columbus Day for a combined class of about 40 students.

I took a marshrutka to go Lingua School and got Zarina to call the Internet provider and find out what went wrong on Sunday. She was told I still had money on the account and should just turn the router on and off to reconnect, something I had done numerous times on Sunday to no avail. I also asked her to contact another cable provider to see if I could get a better lineup of English channels to watch. When I spoke to Mat about these issues, he told me he didn't bother with cable TV as he watched everything he wanted on his laptop and has lightning fast Internet access with a different company.

Zarina and I went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant, or so referred to by her and other customers, where we were served the vegetable fried rice with only green peas and fried egg before they even brought us any eating utensils. The spicy fried beef I ordered was tough and spicy to the point of being inedible as they had added tons of red peppers to the dish, but nothing else. Her sweet and sour lamb was just chunks of breaded meat in a sauce tasting only of ketchup. Zarina ordered bread, something I found unusual in a Chinese place, but what we got was the sweet bun I’m used to eating as a street snack. I told Zarina I’d take the leftover meat back home to make a decent sauce for it and add vegetables to rescue it.

I went back to the house, tried the suggested remedy for the Internet connection and it worked like a charm. I spent the rest of my evening happily typing away while catching up on all the messages I had missed since Saturday. Natalia sent me message notifying me I was expected for my first observation at the American Pilot School tomorrow at two. I was also expected at the Kyrgyz National University for another observation on Friday at the same time. I’m going to be one busy person this week.

September 30, 2012

Rain, or more exactly a drizzle, fell all day long. The courtyard remained vacant until the late afternoon when a few kids ventured out of their flats to play outside. The temperature dropped quite a bit and I had to close the kitchen window, which I normally keep open to ventilate the place.

I had planned to stay home all day catching up on my correspondence and putting the finishing touches on the apartment, but to my day started out on a sour note when I noticed that there was no Internet access no matter how many different ways I tried to log in and restart my laptop. I finally gave up and decided to watch a bit of TV only to find that CNN recycles the same news and programs about every four hours and I had seen everything they were presenting on Saturday evening. I definitely need to switch cable companies as the lack of variety when it comes to television programming will drive me up the wall.

I started working on a couple of PowerPoint presentations as I realize now that I’ll be presenting at four or five different venues and don’t want to repeat myself ad nauseum. I do hope that the surveys provided by both Lingua and Forum will help pinpoint what exactly the teachers need in terms of professional development so I can tailor my presentations to their needs.

I got a phone call late in the evening from Chinara, a friend of my former classmate, Yorka, who lives here and to whom I had sent a message last week. She’d been in Korea and would like to invite to her house in the near future.