Over the Hills and Far Away

The time has come! I have finally learned where, exactly, I will be living for my Peace Corps experience. After almost two months of days filled with rigorous language and teacher training, seemingly endless lectures, and group projects, I have found the light at the end of the tunnel. In less than one month I will be at my permanent site and will have started my work as an English teacher. I will be teaching English to 5th through 11th forms which means I’ll be teaching 11 through 17 year-olds (Kyrgyzstan still uses the old Soviet grade level system). Class size ranges from 25 to 35 kids and I’ll be teaching at school Monday through Friday. School in Kyrgyzstan goes till Saturday however Peace Corps volunteers don’t have to work Saturdays. Hopefully, I will have a counterpart to work with while I teach. It’s now required that schools that Peace Corps serve have a counterpart, or co-teacher, to work with the volunteer. I’m also required to start English clubs for students. This gives students opportunity to expand on their English skills outside the classroom and learn more conversational English. I am not limited to only teaching English during my service here in Peace Corps. Secondary projects are highly encouraged. With my background in sports I hope to coach. In the summer months in Kyrgyzstan School is out. TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) volunteers use this time to travel or work at summer camps for youth around the country. I could even start a summer camp of my own. This next year that lies ahead of me should be VERY interesting. A week ago we had or site placement ceremony. Outside the training facility on the blacktop was a giant map of Kyrgyzstan drawn in chalk. All 60 volunteers stood around this map and waited for their name to be called. Volunteers were then directed to stand at their site location on the giant map. When my name was called at the placement ceremony I was directed to the center of Kyrgyzstan. I found myself standing in the Naryn Oblast. The Naryn Oblast is big: bigger than Switzerland. The land is 70% mountain range and 30% mountain valley and is claimed to be the most beautiful Oblast in all of Kyrgyzstan. With hills and lakes it is the “Silk Road” country. With a population of 250,000, Naryn (pronounced Nar-in) is the most Kyrgyz area of Kyrgyzstan. Oblasts like Jalal-Abad and Osh border Uzbekistan and have an Uzbek cultural influence. In the North you have Talas, Chui, and Issk-Kul. Talas borders Kazakhstan and has a bit of a Kazakh population. Chui and the northern region of Issyk-Kul have a Russian influence and are frequented by tourists. However Naryn is pure Kyrgyz. During my site interview a month ago Peace Corps staff asked me if I can handle isolation well. I told them I could probably handle it. Well the village I’ll be living is one of the two most isolated in Kyrgyzstan that the Peace Corps volunteers serve. I’m not a fan of the city here so I asked to live in a small village. A small village is what I got. The village has a population of approximately 850 (Smaller than my high school graduating class). Being the only white guy in this village I should expect to make 850 new friends. “Sorry but what was your name again?” Lucky for me I have another volunteer in a village 20 kilometers away in another village. The closest volunteer after that is almost three hours away by Marshrutka as opposed to other volunteers who are usually 45 minutes apart. Unfortunately there is no interent in my village. I'm going to have to take the marshrutka into Naryn City which is three hours away. Hopefull I'll have a blog update every month. From what I hear Naryn living is not going to be easy. I’ve talked to some neighbors and new friends here in Kyrgyzstan about living in this particular area in Naryn. I’ll get reactions from them similar to that of friends and co-workers in the states after telling them I was going to Kyrgyzstan to live for two years. Some of their reactions have not been so encouraging. My host brother makes fun of me saying that I’ll become an Indian living mountains and hunting game with a spear. He also claims that the women in Naryn can carry cows and have hair on their chests but have the most beautiful faces in all of Asia= NICE. Okaaayeee... so Naryn is the coldest Oblast in Kyrgyzstan with temperatures getting as low as -50 degrees Celsius. Electricity frequently goes out and classrooms are unheated. Meals with my host family will be cooked by fire (not stove). I need to buy heavy duty winter boots to walk around in the snow. I also need an enormous winter coat to stay warm outside. Finding variety in foods is gonna be a problem. The temperatures in this part of the world get so low that only root vegetables like carrots can be grown. I’ll be getting used to eating a lot of sheep, potatoes, and cabbage during these harsh winter months. As cold as the winters may be it still doesn’t change the Kyrgyz way of life. The Kyrgyz are some of the most welcoming people I’ve ever met. There’s no place more rich with Kyrgyz culture than Naryn. Volunteers here say that village living in Naryn is the quintessential Peace Corps experience. This weekend the Peace Corps has arranged a site visit. I get the opportunity to visit my site where I will be working, meet my new host family, and meet my class on the first day of school. Meeting a brand new host family is going to be a trip. It’s a pretty far drive but a very scenic one. The fist day of school is this Monday (September 2nd). I'm supposed to give a speech in front of all the staff telling my background and such. I also get to meet my students that I'll be teaching this year. I'll also get a day to hang out with all the volunteers who are currently serving in Naryn. Alright that's it for today. By the way I haven't had a bucket bath in two and half weeks and I smell like a champion. Until Next Time, Mike