Note: I’m back! Sorry for the hiatus, and sorry in advance for the ensuing DELUGE of posts and pretty pictures that are about to come your way!
Summer was supposed to be a quiet time for me. It had been implied to me that I needed to not leave site this summer, so I cancelled my plans to work at a variety of camps and things, instead planning to bide my time a bit, focus on my blog, and maybe hit a few touristy weekends while work slowed to a crawl for July and August. Well, by the first week of August, it was clear that wasn’t how things were going to play out, and that actually turned out to be a good thing.
At the end of July, I had to say goodbye to a good friend here who was returning to the US after a year here doing really interesting research about the development and modern history of Osh. In addition to teaching me a lot about the place I call home, she also introduced me to a bunch of expats that somehow I had never met before. As it so happened, she connected me to every last Swiss person in Osh… just in time for August 1st, Swiss National Day! My new acquaintances were kind enough to invite me over to one of their houses for a celebratory dinner. One of them had managed to sneak two packages of Swiss fondue mix to Osh from Switzerland, and so we fired up an amazing traditional Swiss dinner that managed to fulfill every single one of my homesick dreams. Thank you to them for making what is normally a very quiet day for me so wonderfully special!
That weekend, just a day after welcoming a Congressional Delegation to the Osh AIDS Centre, a few of us banded together for a weekend jaunt to the spectacularly beautiful Sary-Chelek lake, which I wrote about in this post. It was a LONG marshrutka ride, but our wonderful hosts made it a really memorable day spent swimming in the clearest, cleanest water in all of Kyrgyzstan (which is saying something, since crystal clean water is one of our biggest natural resources here!).
Then on Wednesday it was off to Bishkek, where I had to sprint to pick up my visa for Uzbekistan before the Embassy closed for the day, then out to the village where I got to represent Osh Oblast at the Site Announcement ceremony for the new group of volunteers (the K-24’s). They’ve been working so hard in training, and it’s been great getting to know them more. I also gave a training about the health program (which is closing at the end of my service).
That same day, voting opened up for Blog It Home, so after a meeting on Friday, I spent most of the following few days holed up in my friend’s apartment (thanks, guys!!!) sending messages to friends and family asking them to vote for me. I must have sent a couple hundred messages at least – it was a real effort! Several other friends also helped me in my outreach too. And the following Wednesday, after a nail-biting finish to the voting, I was announced as a winner! I couldn’t believe it. I’ve been working so hard on this blog over the past year and a half, and it means a lot to have my work recognized in such a way.
But I couldn’t stop working – I had a 200-page lesson manual’s translation to proofread, some lesson plans to prepare, and a couple of good friends coming in off the Pamir Highway to visit for the weekend. I got to show them all my favorite places, and of course we ate like kings for the whole weekend (although, given how amazing the food is here in Osh, that’s not difficult to do!).
One other project that I worked on all summer that was a big part of my August was my health club. Every week, a group of local students and I met twice a week for two hours each time to do lessons on a variety of health topics focused on healthy lifestyles. It was a lot of work, and a lot of time, but we were really happy with the outcomes, so we’re going to continue it (with a few modifications) this fall.
Finally, after a quick yoga seminar for doctors and pregnant women, my parents flew into Osh in the wee hours of the morning of the 25th. Having my parents in Osh was amazing. I’ve been talking their ears off about how much I love this place and how happy I am here that it was so awesome to be able to show them this place first-hand.
We ate SO much food. My host family invited us over to a “quiet dinner” that turned out to be a full-blown guesting, which means that we drank about a liter of really nice cognac and some of my host mother’s amazing plov. It completely blew my mind to see my two families sitting at one table, but I couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off my face the entire time. The following night, we took them out to dinner at one of the nicest restaurants in Osh, and I still couldn’t stop smiling. It was all too wonderful.
On Sunday, I packed us into a taxi and we headed up to Uzgen, which is a great day trip from Osh thanks to its proximity, easy public transportation access, the historical complex there, and a decidedly more Central Asian character than Osh, with a teeming bazaar and streets overflowing with people. My parents loved it, and in particular they got a funny surprise when some Uzbek ladies, impressed by my Uzbek language skills, decided to dress me up as an Uzbek wedding guest (which is good, because a friend of mine is getting married soon).
Finally, it was up to Bishkek to show my parents Kyrgyzstan’s capital city. But before we could explore too much, sadly on the 30th (the day before Kyrgyzstan’s 25th Independence Day), there was a car bombing at the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek. That meant that we were placed under some movement restrictions by the US Embassy and Peace Corps for our safety. We still were able to enjoy some of the more famous sights, and even took a spin through the art museum, which I’ll write about separately from this.
Finally, on the last day of August, the 25th anniversary of Kyrgyzstani independence, we piled into a car to go to the most Kyrgyz place in Kyrgyzstan: Song Kul. But that’s in another month, and I’ll save it for another post!
As always, thanks for reading and following along! Stay tuned for more from my parents’ visit and our adventures together, including Song Kul, the World Nomad Games, and a whole feature on Uzbekistan!