Dreams and a Той! (Party)

February 1, 2007

5:45 AM

I have dreams, a lot, not unlike any two-legged upright creature on this planet. The thing is, my dreams are nuts, and I love them. Grand worlds have been created in my dreams involving characters of my life that many times, I have not seen since my early youth. I love waking up in the morning with an incredibly vivid image of the past evening’s events and running through the story line like it was a movie I watched the night before.

I will cite one example, from last nights dream. This dream will either reaffirm my insanity or…whatever, you and I both know I am not sane.

The Dream:

The dream started with me hanging out in a hotel (which had the look and feel of the Issyk-Kul hotel that PC volunteers sometimes stay in when in Bishkek). Somewhere in the choppiness I had decided to head out to dinner with Eric Ryan (a shot from the past for all you DPers) and an unknown third person. While eating dinner with them I realized that I had forgotten my money at the hotel, which was apparently the next building over. So I hopped up and ran to get my money.

Time skipped here up to the moment that I was walking back into the restaurant. As I was walking up to our table, I saw that it was cleared and there was no one there. I looked around, and then someone in the background told me that they had left. As I was making my way to the door to leave, I saw them leaving the bathroom. They told me that we were going out to get coffee (which dispels the notion that this dream was entirely in the KG, since you really cannot go “out” for coffee here).

Again, another time skip (or just a lack of memory from what happened in the dream), and I found myself with Eric and the still unknown third person hanging out in a town square somewhere. The one odd thing with this scene: no one had any clothes on (still trying to figure this part out). While we were drinking coffee and talking nonchalantly about something, suddenly the sky started filling with thousands of satellites that oddly looked like the Hubble telescope. For some reason, everyone that was near me, including Eric and the third, knew that the arrival of these satellites was a bad thing and that we needed to hide.

Before I could find out what was going on, Eric ran to hide under a blanket that just happened to be one of a few others scattered across the ground. Not sure what was going on, I was hit with the feeling that these Hubbles were not a good thing, so I followed suit and got under a blanket. After getting under the blanket, the dream seemed determined to let me know that I passed out for an actual time lapse (rather than me just not being able to recall a part of the dream).

I woke up, apparently a good while later, in the back of a military truck under a large blanket with a group of people. When I awoke, I looked around me and heard the excitement of Eric and the third from my arrival back to consciousness. In the background I could hear “Star Wars” like weaponry being randomly shot around. Without much explanation, I knew that there had been a devastating attack on all humans, and that the majority of the human race was no longer living. The military truck arrived at our hotel and let us run back to our rooms to get dressed.

None of us had clothes on yet.

We all ran into the hotel and headed to our respective rooms. Before entering my room, I suddenly realized that everyone in the hotel had been killed, but peacefully. Before opening the door, I knew that my girlfriend was in there, and I knew that she was dead. I walked in to find her peacefully dead in the bed. I looked at her the first time and saw a face I didn’t know, but then every time after that that I glanced at her, she had a different face. People from my throughout my life would randomly appear as her face. To stop this from happening, I remember placing the room-service menu over her face. I proceeded to get dressed, being conscious of what I chose, since I knew what I put on would be the last new set of clothes I put on for a while.

I finished dressing, grabbed my fleece sweater, and walked out of the room, oddly at peace with wherever I was about to go…

The dream ended here when I randomly woke up at 5:15 AM.

Dreams are funky, I never really try and analyze them, I try and just let them be. Sometimes I think about them, but more so to try and remember some of the more obscure parts. I love dreams, and I love even more waking to a vivid memory of what happened in them.


February 1, 2007

7:00 AM

I love when I come across aspects to life that transcend cultural borders and bring to light the similarities of all humans. My latest example of this: party preparation.

Today and tomorrow my host family will be hosting our family’s annual post New Years gathering. Basically this is a time for all of the family in the area to gather and catch up on life, share stories, and have a cocktail or two. While I am sure I will have a few stories from the party that will be happening for the next two days, the preparations themselves have been the most interesting part so far.

Similarity number one: just like back home, sometimes the best cleaning the house and yard ever receives is in preparation of guests arriving. I can distinctly remember the annual cleaning of the Lemberg garage occurring every year the weekend before the infamous Memorial Day party. Yeah, sure, there are a few times throughout the year when things are organized up a bit and maybe even swept. But in preparation for the M.D. party, the garage was turned spotless, the driveway swept, the lawn mowed, flowers manicured, and even sliding doors were Windexed.

I would like to let the world know (well, at least the small part of the world that is reading this), that not thing changes on the other side of the planet (in regards to cleaning). The past few days have seen massive yard and driveway sweeping projects, the organizing and sweeping of every room in the house (to a shine), and even the cleaning of my host father’s car. I have to admit, it was infectious, I jumped in and helped out with the cleaning and eventually made my way to my room where I did some major organizing and sweeping.

Similarity number two: parents are nuts the day before a party trying to get everything prepared. I remember growing up and watching my parents the day before parties (the M.D. party specifically) move with machine-like efficiency and speed preparing food, drinks, games (volleyball), tents, grills, tables, and all else that was needed. They would drop a very sharp hint to us (me and my brothers), that would could help or get out of the way. Either way, we better not be seen by them sitting down (which basically meant help or feel the wrath later. So we helped).

At my house here in the KG, things have been exactly the same, with some small exceptions (we will not be playing volleyball in February and there will be no need for tents or grills). But just like back home, the parents are nuts running to the store (bazaar), preparing food, drinks, and the tables needed to feast and drink. And, just like back home, you have two options if you are a kid: help or get out of the way and feel the wrath later (So we all helped). It was nuts yesterday during preparations of borsook and chak-chak. Borsook is basically a fried dough made in a huge kazaan (see photo site) and chak-chak is a snack made out of baked dough and condensed sweetened milk. Add to these preparations the ceremonious killing of a sheep for today’s meal, and you can only imagine the craze that was happening yesterday at the house.

Overall, the actual party arrangements will come off slightly different than they would be back home. But that is expected, not everything will be the same, I didn’t come here for that. I am doing my best right now to prepare myself for the events of the next few evenings. I guarantee there will a ton of food, a ton of vodka (I am preparing my polite refusals as I type this right now), a ton of kids (there are always little kids at parties, everyone has kids; everyone), and a ton of fun.

Here’s to a good next few evenings, inshallah, kudai booyoursa.