Snow, Thanksgiving, and Home

November 24, 2006

7:00 AM

I just completed an hour morning phones session with the Thanksgiving family crowd back home.

It felt good to hear from all the family back home. I miss you all! Thank you for accompanying me with my morning coffee for a nice morning perk up!

So now on to yesterday, a wonderful day of all of the twists and turns of my life here:

I arrived at school yesterday around 9:00 AM, my usual arrival time for Thursday since I have a late start (10:00 AM). I stopped by the teachers lounge, said hello to a few teachers, and then made my way up to my classroom to grade a few tests from Wednesday’s classes. Then, around 10:00 AM, my students arrived for class and where we had a test. I ran my two classes with minimal effort (besides the usual reprimanding for cheating, but that is a different story entirely) and was prepared to head home for lunch around noon to get some food in before my 1:30 PM English club. As I was about to leave, I was nearly accosted by a group of students who wanted to know what my test for the Olympiad was going to be about.

It was then that I experienced the next step in my language learning. I understood everything they were asking me, but I had no idea what they were talking about.

Olympiad?

English Test?

Wait, this test is tomorrow?!?!?!

I quickly made my way down to 2nd floor to ask my director what the students were talking about. She nonchalantly explained to me that tomorrow at noon there was an Olympiad test scheduled for all subjects. Teachers of the 9th, 10th, and 11th grades (me included) should have a 12-15 question test prepared to give the students. The test should cover topics from previous lessons throughout the year and were intended to see who the two best students of the three grades are. The two best students would then go on to a Rayon (district) competition in December to compete for the right to go on to a national competition.

So I left the teacher’s lounge smiling at the excitement of finding out that in 24 hours I had to have an accumulative test ready for the Olympiad. Walking back to my room I then ran into the same students who had informed of this test. To my surprise, they were straight up asking me for the answers to my test. I have not confirmed this yet, but apparently many of the other teachers were just giving the students the answers to study, rather than the material that may be on the test. I told my students the test would have all of the topics we had covered in class so far (speculating, since I obviously did not have a test ready yet), and then told them that my class and test would be different.

I then found my counterpart to ask her what this was all about, and in the theme of nonchalance, she responded, “Oh, yeah, tomorrow is the Olympiad test, tonight just make up a test and give it to the students tomorrow.” Again, I had to smile. For such an important test, there was a very Kyrgyz-esque nonchalance to everything. So in response, I return to my house for a quick lunch, returned to school for English Club, and then went back home to start doing what else but prepare for Thanksgiving dinner!

My host mother and I had planned on making Pumpkin Pie on Thursday night in preparation for needed the over Friday afternoon for the Turkey (see the photo sight). So after making the dough for the pie crust, I used the hour the dough needed to cool to make my test. All in all, it turned out pretty damn good (the test and the pie!).

Hidden in all of this I had a great English club with my 8th grade students where we started writing letters to Vicki’s class (all in English). The students were incredible and really started to think beyond the boundaries of a lesson. They were attacking the dictionaries and teaching themselves new words left and right. By the end of club, this small group of 14 year-olds had all written two page letters in a language entirely foreign to their own. Granted, there are a good amount of simple errors within them, but overall the letters are readable and will be included in a package to be send to Vicki and her class in a week or so.


November 25, 2006

8:15 AM

It was inevitable, I am human.

I knew this time would come, I knew there would be moments where I would need to grow because of this.

I was sitting at our dinner table last night after an afternoon of fun with my host family preparing thanksgiving dinner. There was mashed potatoes, an oven baked turkey, gravy, fresh carrots and pumpkin pie. It was amazing and it all brought me back to home; a little more than I expected.

I am in my first real bouts of homesickness. The holidays are here; and as much as I make fun of them, I love them. I love them for the time with my family and friends; I love them for the warmth they bring to the hearts of all people. I was waiting for this and I knew it would come. Now comes the time to find ways to keep my mind focused.

It definitely didn’t help that yesterday I received a package from my dear friend Victoria Krusnis. Never mind the fact that this package made it to me in two weeks (!), it was incredible to get a package from home. But just like the Thanksgiving dinner, it reminded me of all the things I miss. She, in true Vicki fashion, included a photo album with a ton of recent photos in it that filled my body with some much needed warmth. But the icing on the cake was an envelope filled with Chicago post cards and notes from the majority of friends back home. I would be lying if I didn’t reveal that I read those letters with a large smile and a few tears

I will not dwell, I don’t have room to do so here. It is part of my twisted personality. I have too much to do for the people I am working with here. The one thing that keeps me going right now is my knowledge of the amount of people that are counting on me here. There are a lot of people that I have already have had an effect on. They show it in their eyes and their actions of gratitude. It is these people (students, teachers, and villagers alike) that in many ways have never had the options I’ve had during the holidays in the last twenty-two years of my life. My moments of homesickness are going to be inevitable, but at this point, they have not outweighed my newfound passion for my village.

Nothing will replace my family friends. And knowing this, they will spend every moment of the next month in my heart, where hopefully in two years time I will share the warmth with them again.


9:30 AM


Since being at site, the joys of Peace Corps life have revealed themselves in some funky, and oddly cliché ways for a PC volunteer. I list the following examples of my funky peculiarities:

· I have recently been teaching myself (poorly) the basics of a big-ass farming tractor. Why you ask? Well a fellow teacher at school was one of a few people in our village to receive this tractor as a gift from China (given to our local government). The problem with this gift: the manual is in English. Factor in my growing, but still poor, knowledge of Kyrgyz and my empty knowledge of motors and tractors and you can see where this has become quite a formidable task to accomplish. There have been moments when I could have really used Gladys and Stoltz here to explain to me what the hell that thing is next to that other thing connected to that hose that is wrapped round that, well, thing. Damn. I am trying. I may come home with knowledge of tractors (and motors, since I watched my host father completely take his apart the other day).
· Next step in the peculiarities list would have to be the request for knowledge and information about England from my students and fellow teachers. I am now doing a crash course on the geography, politics, and history of England. Sounds silly to say ‘crash course,’ but I barely possess much more than a basic knowledge of England. Martin and Chambers would both be kicking me in the ass right now for obvious reasons. My counterpart has asked if in one of our future weekly meetings we could discuss comparative politics of America and England. I told her yes, but asked for a few weeks to study up on England. She knows English politics and country facts because that was what they focused on at the University for her. I know American politics and country facts. So now we will have to mesh these. Plenty of students have also been asking for facts about English culture to be included with my American culture sessions during English club. Again, I told them yes, but give me a few weeks (unless they want English soccer information). Nonetheless, I may have to contact Martin for a few questions here soon!