Posts

On the Well-worn Paths

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Salut, I didn’t expect the last few weeks to at once feel so busy but also so empty. I often have lamented at how much extra free time I have, as opposed to being out and about. I certainly didn’t have that problem this time around. I remember June of last year and feeling that sense of emptiness. A sort of nothingness creeping up due to the end of the school year. At the beginning of June last year, I was visited by Bhaavya and we went on a grand tour around Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. I haven’t embarked on something quite like that, but the house is always busy.  Immediately after school and graduation ended, the teachers and I were invited to a large wedding. Aldoberdi’s (the chemistry teacher) son was getting married. All the weddings I have been to have been because I know the groom’s family, which I find a bit of a coincidence. Baktygul was unable to come, as her husband hadn’t given her permission, which is point blank what I told the other teachers when they asked her wherea...

The Final Bell

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Salut,  Just like that, school is over. All the lessons and schedules and freakouts, chaotic messes, garden clean-ups, snow days, all is over. It feels strange and maybe not fully sunk in. 4 volunteers in our cohort are extending their service, and 19 are from K-30, last year's new cohort. I suppose I should just say it now, but Peace Corps Kyrgyzstan has canceled this year's cohort. No new volunteers will be arriving. As I implied in my last blog post, Peace Corps has been trying to cut and trim due to budget cuts from the top, and I heard from various staff members about the ways they were going to accommodate K31. Clearly, with difficulty.  Proposals to move our weekly Hub Days during training to the main Peace Corps office, and proposals to eliminate the Ashu House orientation, among other things. I discussed in the first few blog posts how these affected my service. It's like I said , my cohort seems to have been lucky to have the most normal and fluid service ...