Yesterday: Durdoy and Swimming

Yesterday was quite a full day, especially for a weekday! In the morning, we had a big meeting: the second and final meeting to review my draft of the MIS module descriptions. It was a good meeting, and I left with some clear direction for the next set of changes. After that, I will email the doc to everyone at the meeting to ensure it looks good, and then I think we're ready for translation into Russian so the coder can take it to the MIS company and begin coordinating to ensure the modules are built as written for use on both computers and PDAs.


Unfortunately, after the meeting dad called to say that he is home sick; his body is acclimating to the food. I experienced the same thing, and it can be rough. So the group that had gathered to have lunch w/ my dad went to lunch without him. :( But there will be a next time. After lunch a team from Tajikistan came to the office. Three of the four had never been to Bishkek, and they all wanted to go to Durdoy Bazaar and look for items they can't find or can't find at these prices in Tajikistan. I was so lucky; I got to go with them! We went all over the bazaar, but I am feeling pretty cheap and didn't buy anything except a pair of cheap sandals to wear with some skirts that I brought from home. It will be nice to wear some new shoes tomorrow on my b'day! I also bought a small bottle of this very delicious cola drink that I was told is the national Russian drink (after vodka, I assume). It is called "kvas," and Karina, the employee from the Bishkek office who came to show us around, said that I can remember it b/c what does a frog say? "Kva, kva." So it's just like that with an "s" on the end. On the way home, we were all asking each other what does a duck say? What does a dog say? Etc, etc. The human version of animal sounds differs from country to country: for example, ribbit versus kva. (...although sheep must make the same sound worldwide b/c they say baaaaa like us in Russia, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.) It was a lot of fun.

As soon as I got back to the office, it was time to join a couple of other people for swimming. Yay! There is a very nice local pool where our organization has a membership, and every employee gets a certain number of passes. It is a big rectangular lap pool, too deep for me to touch anywhere in the pool. I swam back and forth slowly but not resting for the whole hour we were there. It was so cool and wonderful after my sweaty visit to Durdoy, and when we were done, I was beat. I rode a marshootka from the pool back to the office, and Stas (one of the guys who went swimming) stopped the marshootka and put me on it, telling the driver my stop. Still, it was my first time to ride a marshootka alone, and it went fine! I was so happy.

Well, it's afternoon now, and I'm hoping for a lazy evening. Dad was feeling well enough to walk up to my work and meet me for lunch. We went to my favorite restaurant for lunch and had vareenegee (little noodles stuffed with mashed potatoes), salad of tomatoes and cucumers, and shashleek gahvyadeenah (beef cubes on a metal stick, cooked outside over a fire like shishkabob). It was delicious, and dad ate well and said that he felt much better than yesterday although he was exhausted by the end of lunch and ready for a shower and nap. Tonight maybe he will feel well enough to come over for dinner. I'm planning to sautee some veggies and just hang at the house. I will try to take some more pics soon and get them posted. Love you guys!

Dad is here

Dad arrived here safely early Saturday morning, and he got a little bit of sleep before I showed up at his doorstep. His place is very, very nice: two twin beds, a TV, an air conditioner(!), a little refridgerator, and a private bathroom with an indoor toilet and shower. It's all in very good repair and is clean, clean. The price is outstanding, and although we'd prefer that it were a little closer, it's still a very good location. It's about a 40-minute walk from the guest house, where I stay, and about 35-minute walk from where I work. It's probably quite a bit less than that (20 minutes?) to church though we don't know how to walk there yet. The especially nice thing is that dad and I live right next to the same major road through the city, so walking to each other is a cinch.

The first day he was here, we walked our legs off all day, and he was such a good sport. It was so much fun! I walked to his place in the morning, then we walked to Tsoom (a big department store) and looked at the national handicrafts on the top floor, then we walked to change money, then to a delicious Turkish place for a big lunch, then to my guest house, then to the market for some fresh veggies and yogurt, then to his place, and I walked back to the guest house. Whew. Many of these places are 20-40 minutes apart if you're walking, so our little errands took all day. I was totally impressed that he was going and doing all day on his first day in the country. I knew he was smart, but I was impressed w/ dad all over again as he quickly picked up on the layout and locations in the city. Today (his third day here) he walked from his place to my work by himself with no problem. I feel such jealously of people with that great sense of direction....

Sunday we went to church with Nargiz. I walked to dad's place in the morning, and then she picked us up near his place, which is much closer to the church than the guest house. Church was incredible, and though we couldn't understand the sermon (and Nargiz was teaching the children so she couldn't whisper translations), I could figure out the passage based on the overhead screen, so we read the passage in English in our own Bibles and enjoyed the singing. Everyone greeted us and shook our hands, and it was a great experience. After church we went back to the guest house and made lunch and ate with John, the other intern. I sauteed veggies with garlic and pepper and boiled some rotini to go with it. Dad made a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, cilantro, carrots, bell pepper, vinegar, oil, and spices. And John pitched in washing and chopping and boiling fresh corn on the cob. It was a really good meal. Then we just took it easy, and dad and I chatted in the living room til I walked him home and then came up to the office to Skype w/ Heidi. It was a great weekend. I'm off work now and gonna head to the market w/ dad and pick up something to make for dinner... if we don't wuss out and go to a restaurant. Love you guys!

Back in Bishkek

Hey, all, I'm back in the city again. Actually, Osh is as much a city as Bishkek; it just has a different feel to it. Whereas Bishkek is the most European of the places I've been in Kyrgyzstan, Osh feels much more traditional, a much stronger Muslim influence. Walking on the street in Osh, maybe 80 percent of the women I saw wore long, loose dresses and covered their hair. People are more likely to be Uzbek than Kyrgyz, I was told. Osh had really great salads with delicious local veggies and the best shashleek I've had in Kyrgyzstan. Yum....

I had such a nice time in Osh; the branch manager and her staff were so gracious to me. But I'm happy to be back in Bishkek, since I can submit the second deliverable today and get some feedback on it. This morning the country director came in to talk about the old database being replaced and some data she wants in the new database. I was able to show her the module descriptions I'd finished and show her that that they include the info she was requesting. We spoke about some of what I learned in Osh from the group loan officers there, and she decided to call a round table meeting early next week to discuss my module descriptions with people who will be using the new database for analysis and decisionmaking, people who will be gathering and entering data, people who will be providing the necessary equipment to enable database use, and the people building the database off my module descriptions. I think it will be really really useful.

I've already met with almost everyone who will attend the meeting, but it was to get input for creating the descriptions in the first place. Now we'll be meeting to review the descriptions and ensure that a database built from them would meet everyone's needs and that people will have the necessary equipment to use it. I don't expect a quick, smooth meeting, but I do think we'll hash out a good plan, and I expect to leave with some specific next steps in optimizing the descriptions or in building the next set of descriptions.

Okay, enough work talk, right? Well, then let me tell you what I'm looking forward to next: dad's visit!!! He will be here early tomorrow morning, and I'm so excited! I still need to figure out how to get to where he's staying, but I will.... I have his address and a very very basic map w/ about 4 streets on it. But I think that combined with another small map I have, it will be sufficient.

I just realized earlier that I never posted some photos I took in Karakol outside a beautiful local church, so I'm posting them below. That day was incredibly bright with harsh sunlight, so the color is not the best, but I think you can still enjoy the pics and get a sense of how pretty the church and grounds are.

Day 2 in Osh

It's just after lunch here, and I've been able to interview both the Jalalabad and Batken branch managers. I am so pleased. One of the senior loan officers interpreted for me and did a great job. I was so grateful and apologized to him after the interviews for taking so much of his morning. He replied that he loves to learn new things and to interact with people of other cultures, so there was no need to apologize. It was very gracious.

I went to lunch with the branch manager of Osh, who is such a clever and thoughtful woman. She speaks English beautifully and somehow manages to take good care of me (remember that I haven't eaten, see that I have a translater, ensure that I have afternoon activities when the interviews are over, etc.) while running her whole branch office.

Well! I just came back from the Osh Bazaar, and wow! It was huge, and I am thoroughly boiled. Hot, hot. But I had such a good time. The driver who took me around was young and gracious. He didn't speak much English, and I speak hardly any Russian, so we did a lot of pointing and smiling and nodding, which worked fine. I am soooooooo pleased with the gifts I bought!!! Woo hoo! I found something really cute for Liberty and Myra; can't wait to get home! In fact, I have gifts for many family members now, even Tony, who can be hard to buy for if you're not looking in Best Buy or GameStop. Still need to get mom's, Randy's, and grandpa's, but I know what I want to get each of them. I'll have to ask people in the Bishkek office to help me locate their--oops!--their surprises. :) It's Heidi who has me completely stumped. Feel free to post suggestions...

Oh, it is hard to keep typing without listing all the great things I got, but I do want the gifts to be surprises, and I have it from reliable sources that many family members are reading this blog. :)

It's about 4:30 p.m. here now, and the branch manager said that she will be mine at 5 p.m. Not sure what we will do, if she means for an interview or if she means for dinner, but either way, I'm game. I will be here all day tomorrow, so we can interview then if necessary. I'd also like to speak with one of the senior loan officers about my MIS modules when he has a moment. I've completed almost all of them now and am feeling good about it. I'll be curious whether management is pleased with them. Hope so! I've tried to send drafts and have meetings enough that there shouldn't be any big surprises... Okay, enough rambling. I don't think I'm saying anything interesting now, so I'll sign off and write more tomorrow.

Hello from Osh

Well, what a surprise! I can log into my blog here from the Osh branch office! Yay! We flew into Osh this morning; it's a one-hour flight or 12-hour drive, I'm told, so we flew. The flight was uneventful and quick on a small plane with about 15 rows of seats, 2 on each side of the aisle, and I was soooooo lucky: the seat beside me was empty. Ah, the space I enjoyed!

A car from the microfinance program picked us up at the airport and took us to the Osh branch office. I flew with 2 accountants from the Bishkek office and the Jalalabad branch manager. I'm hanging at the office now, waiting to interview the Jalalabad branch manager. Tomorrow morning I will interview the Batken branch manager and perhaps the Osh branch manager. If the Osh manager is too swamped tomorrow, I'll either go climbing/hiking or shopping at the Osh Bazaar with whoever can be spared from the office. If that's the case, then I'll interview the Osh manager Wednesday. I'm really hoping the shopping works out. I know it's cool to hike and enjoy God's beauty....but is there really anything more fun than buying gifts for your family? I mean, really.

So I'm here safely and working on the MIS module descriptions. I have high hopes of flying back to Bishkek with completed drafts of all the modules and being able to submit them to management Friday morning. Man, I would love that. And I'm starting to feel panicky that the MIS coder will start building without me if I don't get these descriptions to him soon. I hope not, of course. We just met on Friday to review my modules so far, and he had such good suggestions. He emailed after the meeting to say that he would build according to my specs if I'd send him the final drafts. I feel encouraged and happy to be begging the right people for meetings and input, and I'm feeling hopeful that this MIS will be easy to use and provide good info for decisionmakers. Wooo!

Well, I'll sign off now and maybe post again tomorrow morning. Love you guys!

Karakol: Such Beauty

Below are some of Karakol, which is the most beautiful place that I've ever seen, not just in Kyrgyzstan but period. When Meerim and I arrived in Karakol, we were pretty beat. We'd been in Balakchy for 4 days and had been on the road in a marshootka for 4+ hours. So we took our bags to the Karakol guest house (which we'd been told was not that great but was in actuality very clean and a good size for the two of us; we were very pleased with it) and then went to get something to eat. Karakol is known for delicious ahsh-lyahm-foo, which is a cold spicy noodle dish with veggies. It has become one of my favorite foods. So Meerim and I went to a restaurant and got leepairshka and ahsh-lyahm-foo and peeva (beer). Then we'd planned to go back to the guest house and rest b/c we were so tired. But while we were at the restaurant, the branch manager of Karakol called and said he would come pick us up and take us somewhere very beautiful. I was so tired and wasn't sure that I wanted to see something beautiful, but how can you say no? So we agreed, and he came and picked us up and drove up, up into the mountains. It was sooooooo beautiful; I forgot all about being tired. Then he parked the car up on the side of a mountain and took us up, up on a 40+ minute hike further into the mountains to see a waterfall. It was like nothing I'd seen outside of a movie or pictures. Truly breathtaking.

Once we hiked back, we got into the car, and Kunuzhbek (the branch manager) said that we would go see the yurts. (Yurts are traditional homes, which are round, one-room structures with a framework covered by animal skins. They can be taken down and reassembled like teepees b/c the Kyrgyz were traditionally nomadic people.) So we drove a little ways up in the mountains and stopped not far from a small group of yurts. Kunuzhbek's brother-in-law and his family lives in the yurts and rents yurts to hikers and tourists. The sister-in-law welcomed us into her yurt. We took off our shoes upon entering and went to sit at her table. The inside walls of the yurt were covered by colorful, beautiful handmade quilts (for insulation and decoration, I am guessing), and the table was very low to the ground and surrounded by flat, colorful embroidered cushions. We sat crossed-legged on the floor at the table. She served us delicious meat, which she said was wild goat that they had caught. It was cooked with cabbage and carrots and potatoes in a rich brown sauce. She also had made her own leepairshka in a clay oven, as well as vareenia, which is a thin, sweet jam with chunks of jellied fruit. She served both red currant and apricot vareenia. She had small dishes of sticky fresh cream as well. Everything was delicious. She also served kumas, the traditional Kyrgyz drink of fermented mare's milk and insisted that we drink a full glass of it for good health. It looked like fat free milk to me: milky but faintly bluish. It had a thin consistency and tasted very sour with a strong overtone of woodsmoke. I was so honored by her hospitality. It was cool that she would take us in and feed all three of us when we just showed up at her door.

Driving Near Balakchy: Okay, so these next 3 photos are not of Karakol, but there are so pretty that I'm posting them here w/ my favorite photos of Karakol. :)

Movie Poster: Valodia took this photo before we were ready. I was trying to get my hair out of my face, and Meerim was looking where she was stepping. But it turned out very romantic and movie-like. Yay!

Karakol: Here are all the Karakol photos from hiking. So beautiful!

Yurts: The white dots below among the juniper trees are yurts.

Me with Yurt: Um, see title.

Ditto: ditto.

Beautiful View: Here's a mountain we could see from where we were hiking. It was cloudy, so we have some brights spots and some shade on the mountain's face.

Waterfall: The next several shots are of the amazing waterfall where we hiked.

Me with Rocks: Mom, these are the rocks I got for you from the bottom of the waterfall. Also got one for Risa's mom!

Red Hills: Some beautiful red, craggy hills are on the drive up to the mountains.

River: A rushing white river snaked down from the mountain. It was very pretty.

Broken Heart: This is a famous natural landmark called the broken heart. Awww....

For you, Walton: For you, sweetie! Here's a little guy who tried to keep us company in the yurt at the table.

New Glasses: This is random, I know, but here I am in my new specs. I picked them up the night I returned to Bishkek.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. to go to Osh (southern Kyrgyzstan). I'll be back on Thursday with more pics and stories. Love you guys!

Driving Scenery

On our trip, the scenery was just amazing. Here are the best of the 1,294,564,284,654,754,987,248,439 photos I snapped out the windows of the various cars, taxis, and marshootkas that we rode in. Enjoy beautiful Kyrgyzstan...

I'm Back!

Well, we're back in town (Bishkek), and I'm so glad to be here. The trip was really great, and I saw so many amazing things. Kyrgyzstan is beautiful, with some of the best features of Colorado and West Texas. It has the snow-capped mountains, evergreens, and rushing rivers of Colorado and the steeply rolling hills; sharp, rocky cliffs; huge sky; and soil of red, apricot, and dusty violet like Texas. When I kept saying how beautiful it is, my coworkers told me a legend about how they came to live in Kyrgyzstan. When God was handing out land to all the people of the world, Kyrgyz people were asleep. When they woke, the earth was claimed, and they went to God and asked, "Where is our land? Where will we live?" And God said, "Well, I have given it all to other people. But there is one place left. I was saving it for myself because it is so beautiful, but I will give it you."

The first few days I was gone, we held customer conferences to tell current customers more about the microfinance services, the goals of the program, and the success stories of clients. We also gave awards to some of the women: roses and certificates and beautiful shawls or glassware. We held 2 conferences on Friday, 2 on Saturday, and one on Sunday in various villages 1-2 hours from Balakchy. At first conference on Saturday, the executives of the microfinance project were at a meeting and unable to attend and speak as they had at Friday's conferences. Meerim, Valodia (another of my coworkers in the communications dept.), and I walked in a little late; the conference had just started. The head of the Balakchy office walked up to Meerim and me and said something in Russian and my name and then walked to the podium. I asked Meerim what she said, and Meerim said, "She wants you to speak to the women." And I said, "What?!" Meerim said, "She wants you to speak to them, and I will interpret. Say your wishes for them, your message to them." Just then I hear the manager announcing from the stage in Russian and then my name. It's time to go! Yipe. So I spoke briefly and honored them for their hard work to better their families and provide more opportunities for their children. I thanked them for being an example to their communities and honored them for the skill and courage it takes to take a risk and approach business in a new way. It was a hit! The women were so gracious to me, and it was just wonderful. Below are a few pics of the conferences and of Meerim and me speaking.

The major hit at the conferences was the top three entertainers in Kyrgyzstan. The microcredit org had arranged for 2 singers and a comedian who are super famous and popular in Kyrgyzstan to perform at each customer conference. My favorite was Ipic, who sang more traditional music. He has a huge voice that makes the whole hall vibrate with sound, and his songs have a little of what reminds me of yodeling: not long sessions of yodeling but that same technique that breaks immediately into a higher note. It was so beautiful. I also really liked him because to me he looks a lot like Big Uncle John (John Earl). After the conferences, I hung out near him during lunch and afterwards, even though I don't speak Russian, and he doesn't speak English. I managed to convey that I had one of his songs in my head, and he wanted me to sing it. So I hummed it, and he started singing it, and I joined in. It was really cool, and then he wanted me to sing an American song, so I did. Everyone listened so carefully, and the woman, the manager, who headed the conferences said that if she'd known I could sing, she would have had me sing and speak.

Ipic Performing: Here is Ipic singing one of the songs. He is wearing a traditional coat and wool felt hat.

Ipic and Me: Here Ipic poses with me. We're in a school, where one of the conferences was held in the auditorium. See how he looks like John Earl?

Meerim and Comedian: This guy is the most famous comedian in Kyrgyzstan. People were absolutely howling; they thought he was so funny.

Local Cherries: I've been telling some of you how amazing the local fruits and vegetables are here. Yum... Look at these cherries: beautiful. The color is so bright, and skins are thinner than the darker cherries. They are super sweet and tart at the same time.

Outdoor Fountain: After the first conference, we all ate at this cafe, outdoors near this fountain. Afterwards, the manager of the Osh branch splashed me (just a little, like flicked her wet fingers on me), and I didn't know quite how to take that. But then she did it to herself and said, ah, how much cooler we are now, and I realized it was true. :)

Valodia, new driver, and me: The first night of our trip, we ate dinner at close to midnight, and we were sooooo beat! Valodia was only with us for the first 2 nights of our trip, and I must tell you what a hero he was the second evening. We three (Valodia, Meerim, and I) stayed at a rented apartment for the night because the guest house was full. At 1 a.m. Valodia woke to hear the front door lock being unlocked. He went to the door just as it was opened by the woman who rented to us. She was standing there with a drunk young couple who also wanted to stay in the apartment. Valodia is a very mild-mannered guy, but he said, "What are you doing?" And the woman said that she was renting the apartment to this young couple, and Valodia said no, that he'd already paid to rent it from her, and she said, yes, she rented to us and now to this couple, too. And he said absolutely not, he was not letting them in, that he is on a business trip and has two young ladies asleep in the other room and will not let this couple in. She said it would be fine, they just want to sleep, and he said no, he knows what they want to do and they will not do it here, so they should all leave! So. They all left. And I slept through the whole thing. When I awoke, Valodia and Meerim were talking about how we needed to move, how Meerim and I couldn't stay there alone the next night, and I was saying, oooh, it's not so bad. Yes. Yes, it was. I just didn't know it. So every night after that, Meerim and I stayed in the guest house, and we were very safe. :)

Fun Lunch

Today the microfinance CEO, Babur, took the three of us interns to lunch. He and I had been to lunch while the other interns were out of town, but this was the first time that we had all been out. It was such a nice time; I’m really impressed with Babur. He is well educated and well traveled and a real professional but is so friendly and welcoming, never intimidating. He wanted to know about our scopes of work, how things were going, if we needed any resources or information that we weren’t getting. It was great.

I have been really lucky in my work, since I am partnered with a full-time employee in the Communications Department and am working for a woman who likes to get things in writing and set deadlines. Things have been pretty smooth for me, though I have had to track down certain types of information that are important for my deliverables and which no one had thought to mention until I began asking. However, once I realized that I needed the info, people pointed me to the person who could provide it, and I got info within a day. That has been good. Meerim, my teammate, has been translating some forms for me, and that is really great. The forms will tell me what kinds of information is gathered now, so I can make recommendations for what information should be gathered in the future. So…back to lunch.

We all walked to an Italian restaurant for lunch, and it was so good. The three of us interns all got gnocchi, while the CEO got ravioli. Our gnocchi was great, but the sauce tasted like canned tomato sauce (like the kind on the aisle with tomato paste and stewed tomatoes). But Babur’s ravioli was stuffed with spinach and had an herbed cream sauce. Wow. We’re all ordering that next time! :) Walking back, we saw this little bitty girl (maybe 2 years old) standing on the sidewalk with her mom. She was in an incredibly frilly ruffled light yellow dress and little yellow hat….and bare bottom! Sarah and I cracked up. That little girl looked so adorable and her little bottom hanging out was so funny. I had told Sarah that my mama cannot abide when women wear shorts so short that their rear ends hang out. And so when we saw this little girl today, Sarah said, “I’ll bet your mom would make an exception in this case.” And I laughed and said that yes, it’s only after potty training (and puberty!) that bare bottoms are too shocking in public.

Heading Out of Town

I’ll be leaving Bishkek tomorrow (July 12) to go to Balykchy (near Lake Issyk-Kul, where we had the picnic) for several days. We’ll leave Thursday evening and attend/observe/help with a customer conference that the Balykchy microfinance branch is coordinating. The purpose is to tell people about the microloan process, about successful small businesses other people have started with microloans, about who qualifies for this kind of help, etc. We’ll be involved with that Friday-Sunday (July 13-15), and then Monday (July 16) I’ll interview the branch manager and some loan officers for my research and internship work. Tuesday we’ll drive to Karakol, which is another 4 hours from Balykchy. Wednesday I’ll interview the branch manager there and some loan officers, and then Thursday (July 19) we’ll drive home (all day….).

It will be good to have some interviews done for my research, and talking to these people is exactly what I need to complete my next deliverable for my internship, so I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be traveling with Meerim the whole time, which is great b/c she is super nice and great company and is also fluent in Russian and Kyrgyz. I’ll have a much smoother trip thanks to her, and she’s learning some things from me re: systems work, so it’s a fair trade. We’ll stay in the Mercy Corps guest houses in Balykchy and Karakol, and I’ve been told that they are nice, with running water and clean beds.

I’ll be back in Bishkek for the weekend, so I’ll be able to call Tony (thank goodness!) and the fam. Then Monday (July 23) we head to Osh. We’re driving there Monday, which will be a long day, as it’s about a 12-hour drive, but I am glad we’re driving b/c we’ll be going from the far north of the country to the far south. I’ll get to see so much of the country, and I’ve been told it’s a really pretty drive. Tuesday (July 24) I’ll interview the Osh branch manager and a few loan officers; Wednesday we’ll drive to Batken, and I’ll do the same there. Then Thursday (July 26) we’ll fly back to Bishkek, which will be nice and quick. I’ll be back in time for the weekend, which is very important since dad will be arriving on Saturday!!!

I don’t expect to have internet access much (if at all) when I’m traveling, but I will be back in Bishkek for all weekends except this coming one (July 13-15), so I can post on the weekends in Bishkek. While I’m gone, I will be good about typing up blog entries in Word and taking lots of photos, so when I’m back in Bishkek, I will have lots to share about what I’ve seen and heard! And, heck, for all I know, we’ll find an internet café sometime where I can do some posting….

Small Triumphs

Well, I am learning a little more every day here. I'm still not able to do all that much on my own, but I'm picking up some new skills. Here's a list of the things I can say in Russian now:

• hi
• bye
• yes
• no
• and
• very bad
• gift
• can I get this to go?
• hot
• beer
• hungry
• without meat
• without fat
• how much?
• may I?
• give me
• floor (like stories in a building)
• please
• thank you
• you're welcome
• this is my dad
• daughter
• one
• three
• seven
• I want to buy
• real butter
• Mobicard with 200 minutes
• check (the bill at a restaurant)
• half portion
• yesterday
• milk
• black tea
• noodle dish
• bread
• shishkabob

I think that's it for now, but I'm trying to add a couple of words or a sentence every day. I have a map of the city finally and can get around pretty well on foot in the main areas of the city, and I can buy things in markets and at street vendors. Yesterday I finally went to a restaurant by myself and ordered a meal and paid. Granted, it was a pretty easy place to start: I had been there before and already knew what I wanted, but hey, you have to start somewhere, and I have one more thing now that I've done on my own.

Beach Picnic... Kyrgyz Style!

Saturday was an all-day (and I do mean all day) picnic for all employees, and it was so much fun! We were supposed to be at the office Saturday morning at 6:45 a.m. sharp. But I've been dying to talk to my Heidi girl and my sweet Walton, so I was there by 6 a.m. so that I could Skype them. I had been soooo afraid of oversleeping that I woke at 4 a.m. and finally just got up at 4:40. So it was an early start. Well, I did not know that it's apparently perfectly fine--expected even--to be about 15 minutes late. So at 7 a.m. most of my coworkers are trickling in, and many still had not arrived. At 7:35 we piled into a big bus and hit the road....for about 2 mintues until we pulled into a gas station and filled up the bus. Then we hit the road...for less than 2 minutes and stopped at a small store for everyone to pile out and get snacks. Ah, ha. Another new thing to learn about this culture is that it's more laid back about timing and schedules (at least for trips) than what I'm used to. :) With stops about every hour for snacks and leg stretching, it was a 4-hour drive to Balakchy, about an hour longer than what I'd been told, but I think people prefer to estimate according to best-case scenarios.

When we arrived at Lake Issyk-Kul near Balakchy, guess what??? The picnic area was already set up and that Kyrgyz band that played in the folk music concert in Bishkek was there and playing for us!! Mercy Corps had hired them to be there for the first part of the day to play music, and it was so great!!

This picnic area was awesome: a looooong skinny area covered with plastic (like shower curtain liners) in the middle and all around the edge was rough blankets like saddle blankets and long thin quilted cushions on top of that. We pulled off our shoes and sat on the cushioned area with food on shared platters and shared bowls in the middle. We each had plastic forks and spoons (grabbed from piles in the center area) and plastic disposable shallow bowls into which we scooped food from the center platters. At first there were tiny, tart local apples; salad of delicious tomatoes, cucumbers, buttermilk, and dill; 2 kinds of bread; and little local fish from Lake Issyk-Kul. I ate lots of the salad and some apples but had to pass on the fish. They were cooked of course but whole, and you pinched off the head and tore them open along the back, pulled out the spine and bones and then peeled the skin away from the meat. I wasn't going to try it, but one of other picnickers encouraged me to and handed me one. I only got as far as pinching the head off... I can't eat sardines either, just not a big fan of the entire fish.

Our main dish for lunch was chicken with potatoes, and it was so delicious! For dinner we had plov, a national dish of fatty meat (for flavor), rice and carrots. The plov is pictured below.

They also slaughtered a sheep at the very beginning of the festivities. Sheep head and other parts are a Kyrgyz delicacy, and the last food that was served before we went home was platters of sheep cheek, heart, stomach, ear, esophagus, etc. garnished with big wedges of raw onion. It was not the most enticing meal to me, but it is a tradition that I was glad to see, and you could tell that everyone really enjoyed it.

Everyone had been telling me how beautiful Issyk-Kul is, that it is the pearl of Central Asia, and I wondered, “Can it really be that great?” Well, it can. It was so pretty where we were, and I was told that there are even more beautiful places around Issyk-Kul. The lake was enormous! It was so big that you couldn’t see the opposite shore or the shores on either side; it looked a little like the ocean in that you couldn’t see the end of it. It even lapped with the wind, but not with big waves like the ocean. For such a cool day, the water was surprisingly warm, and it was clean and clear and pretty.

All day we entertained ourselves with football (i.e., soccer), dancing to the folk music, talking in groups, swimming (yes! even in the cold!), singing, playing games, and much drinking of vodka. (Whew, it got to be a little hard to refuse some of the toasts and well wishers pushing the vodka, so I got to the point of sipping and spitting back, sipping and spitting back into my glass. I also surreptitiously poured it out sometimes). The whole day was really great though. I was welcomed over to the group who was singing, and they asked me to sing a song. Of course I went blank. Then I sang the first verse of “Iowa” by Dar Williams, and they were silent the whole time I sang and then cheered loudly when I was done. It was great. I also danced with the group encircling the folk singers, and that was fun, too. I even joined the circle of people bopping the volleyball to each other. Most of them were as bad as I, so I felt very comfortable. Of course, I swam in Lake Issyk-Kul, since it was my first time there. I didn’t get my hair wet because I pinned it up and swam with my head above the water the whole time. That was loads of fun.

At the end of the day, we piled back on the bus, completely exhausted. It was after midnight by the time we finally pulled up to the office, and all I wanted in life was a shower and clean bed. I didn’t go to church with Nargiz the next day but instead slept until 11:30! Wow, I was tired. When I got up Sunday, I just piddled around the apartment, reading a book, watching National Geographic (one of three English channels), and doing a few floor exercises. In the evening, I walked up to work and Skyped with Heidi and Tony. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend.