This collects my posts about my time in Kyrgyzstan
This year, some website somewhere decided to spy on us all to check and see which of our photos were our most liked on Instagram this past year. But, since the number of likes doesn’t always correlate to the best photos, I’ve decided to curate a list of what I think were by best shots that went up on my Instagram this year. Continue reading “My Favorite Photos Of 2015”
So, as you probably deduced by the combination of my absence, the holidays, and my most recent post, The Way Home, I went on a bit of a winter vacation! I planned this just under a year ago when my Peace Corps assignment became finalized in order to give myself something to look forward to over the first eight months of my service, and it was a great way to stay positive and motivated. I saw a fair bit more than I can cover in just a single post, so I’ll be breaking this up across a couple of days. Part 1: Getting To Prague Continue reading “Winter Trip Part 1: Getting To Prague”
The plane sits on the tarmac in Istanbul airport, and as soon as the doors close, the passengers redistribute so that most people have a row to themselves. I see blue passports and hear Kyrgyz chatter, and I know I’m on my way home.
Takeoff is in the darkness of the evening, and landing is in the middle of the night. The passengers applaud the landing in dense fog, stand before we’ve left the runway, and descend the stairs to the misty tarmac into the Cobus. We make way for women, elders, and a woman with a baby, and I know I’m on my way home.
People smile and chatter jovially in the passport control line. A few scoot bags made of plastic bags and duct tape forward as we wait our turn to enter. I am spoken to in Russian. My passport is stamped by an officer in a large fur hat. I walk into the next room, where I unload my checked luggage myself from the back of the baggage truck amidst a crowd of other people. I step outside, to the tune of “taxi, taxi, taxi,” and I know I’m on my way home.
I see Cyrillic everywhere, families reuniting, and my airport here in Osh. I see my family waiting for me. They shake my hand, and we touch our temples to one another on each side. We walk to the car, and share our holiday experiences in Kyrgyz. We get in the car, and it’s right-hand drive. There are beautiful seat covers, and traditional Uzbek music is playing on the radio, and I know I’m on my way home.
We pull up to the house, and I slip my shoes off before going inside. I retrieve my old fashioned key from my pocket and unlock my room. I plug in my heaters, and tidy things a little bit, and make up my floor bed of tyshyks. I go outside to brush my teeth. And finally, after three weeks away from site, I stoop down and slide under my covers and pull out my phone to send a message to my mother.
“I’m home.”
Well, it’s finally happening. I’m gonna brag to you about helping the children (or in this case, the health care workers).
A few months ago, my counterpart and I discussed the possibility of conducting some sort of training around World AIDS Day (1 December). What started as a round (EARTHQUAKE JUST HIT WHILE I WAS TYPING THIS BRB OK THINGS ARE FINE) table slash panel discussion morphed over the course of several plans and months into a half-day HIV/AIDS Stigma Reduction training funded with PEPFAR money. Continue reading “A Successful HIV/AIDS Stigma Reduction Training”
People told me when I came here that you’ll feel like nothing is happening, then at about 6 months, you’ll hit a massive wave of work and you’ll also get kind of depressed at the same time. It’s called the six-month-slump, and it’s kind of like the collegiate sophomore slump. You’ve been here long enough to miss some things about home, like friends and food, and suddenly you’ve got work. Luckily for me, I’ve got a lot of really exciting work to look forward to, and was kept on my feet by a series of literal disasters in the past few weeks.
tl;dr: There was an earthquake a series of earthquakes and aftershocks in Osh! I’m fine, no damage.
So, you probably heard about the massive 7.5 earthquake a few weeks ago in Afghanistan that also triggered some building evacuations here in Osh. What you almost definitely DIDN’T hear about is the 5.9 earthquake that hit Osh (literally, Osh was the nearest city) late Tuesday night, the 4.8 magnitude aftershock ten minutes later, the 4.1 aftershock three hours later, or the 4.9 magnitude aftershock three days later (which ironically happened during an earthquake preparedness training for volunteers).
Well I missed a month in there of my monthly summaries. Oops. Probably because there hasn’t been much in the way of excitement here that I thought fit well with this grouping of posts, and that which warranted inclusion also warranted its own post (namely, my hiking misadventures). But, in the spirit, let me catch you up on what I’ve been up to these past two months. Continue reading “Miles 5-6: Getting Started Again”
I’ve lived in Kyrgyzstan for over five months at this point, which means that I’ve managed to gather enough language fails to put two into a full-length blog. Luckily, rather than being embarrassing, these are all moments that led to raucous laughter, and some of which my host family recounts lovingly to every guest who comes to visit us at our house. Let’s take a look. Continue reading “Language Lessons: A Few Foibles”
Hi everyone!
Some exciting news, my blog on the Nomad Horse Games got reposted on the Peace Corps Passport official Peace Corps blog today! Check it out!
For those readers new to my blog who’ve followed the link in my bio, hello and welcome! My blog contains stories from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, some travel tips, some cultural notes, a bunch of recipes, and lots and lots of pretty pictures both here and at my Instagram! Take some time, explore it all, and hopefully learn something new!
And for those of you who’ve stumbled here because you’ve been invited to serve in Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz Republic officially), you’re being considered for service in Kyrgyzstan, or who are thinking about applying to join our wonderful band of yurt-loving capacity-builders, please feel free to send me an e-mail with any questions you have or post comments below or on other posts! I love making this blog a dialogue, and you might even get a full post dedicated to answering your question! There’s DEFINITELY a packing list post in the works!
With all that in mind, stick around, thanks for reading, and talk to you soon!
-Mark
One thing I’ve noticed about a lot of Central Asian houses is just how sparsely furnished they are. A family usually owns a dining room table, a table for the topchan outside, a bunch of chairs, some couches in the guesting rooms, maybe a wall cabinet unit for memories, and possibly a few desks and wardrobes in the bedrooms. You probably have noticed that beds are not on that list. In fact, my room is the only room in my house that actually has a bed in it. Continue reading “Sleeping On The Floor”
