New Jobs, New Music, and New People

Salut,

Despite being solitarily at home, things still find their way to be interesting, even if it’s not always happening to me.

My host father got a new job flipping cars. He and Daniel had been working on fixing a red car back in December. They bought an old one for cheap and recently sold it in Osh and made a 100,000-som profit (1123$) (100,000-som is 3-4 months total wage). They are now working on fixing up a new black car. 

I’ve been trying to get into new music, mostly because after comparing my Apple Replays (yes, I don’t have Spotify and only use Apple Music so don’t have a Spotify Wrapped), I noticed my music from the past year or two all looks the same, lots of retreaded old pop music. I’ve grown to like lots of alternate music, and I am currently listening to Besomorph, Nathan Wagner, Saysh, amongst other music (lots of UNSECRET and remixes, too).

So last week there was an earthquake around the Bishkek area which I’m unsure where its center was. But there also was one in western China, which we border and it also was felt in Almaty. I didn’t feel anything because I’m far south, but it was late into the night (around midnight). Peace Corps called all the volunteers, as there were several in Bishkek and around the north, and they called me at 2 in the morning.

I didn’t know Kyrgyzstan was prone to earthquakes, but there have been several around the country since I got here (very mild shaking on my end, never big enough to register as a full earthquake though). 

There’s a new cohort of RPCVs. RPCV- Response Peace Corps Volunteers, unlike regular PCVs, only serve for one year and here in Kyrgyzstan, their project is different. RPCVs usually are more specialized, work professionals in their industry, in this case, eco-tourism. They’re working in major cities in Kyrgyzstan to do eco-tourism stuff, though I’m not entirely sure what that means. They arrived two or so weeks ago and have been training in Bishkek since. One recently arrived to our oblast (Jalal Abad) after training was completed.

Baktygul currently is applying to a master's degree program for teaching at the American University of Central Asia. I’ve no idea why she needs one, as masters are not that common here, I’ve known a few who have done them. I’m writing her a reference letter. 

I also started watching some recent movies. It’s difficult to watch movies here mostly because of inconsistent internet and also because it involves hiding in my room to watch them, whereas when I read, I can sit alongside Adelya and Alihan. I recently watched Saltburn, Priscilla, and May December. I watched Elvis and I think Priscilla is a great film to watch after it. I had heard of May December and the story it is based on, but the film itself was brilliant. 

This past week, the school had a student-wide meeting. These meetings are frequent, from what I’ve been told. I finally decided to attend one as I had time. It was a large meeting inside the sports ground, where the teachers (the zavuches in particular- the vice principals) lectured the students for being late. I was able to understand portions of it, and they rewarded students with awards for studying hard. They publicly called out students who are chronically late to class, shaming them and herding them in a walk-of-shame. While this was happening, one zavuch was walking around with a large stick, threatening to beat students. 

In addition, my host brother, Merder (Aidana’s husband and the father of Adelya, Alihan, and Emir) came back from Russia. He’s been missing his kids, and he brought numerous toys for them, most notably Nerf guns. Luckily, you have to load it and pull on it, which requires enough strength (which the 2, 4, and 5-year-olds don’t have) to pull, so the kids have to have one of us do it for them, which prevents any shenanigans. On the day he arrived, my family and I made borsok and they cut off a turkey’s head and we ate turkey.

Just a week later, Daniel, the teen, finally went back to Russia. I’d been told before he had first left Russia due to the war a year ago and asked him if he’d be conscripted if he went back. He laughed and said no. For the last few days, my family has been chopping and opening walnuts with large hammers on the floor to pack away for him (3 kg worth) to bring back. Such labor was long and ended up getting broken walnuts all over the floor. The night before he left, after dinner was well over, my family brought in frozen skinned and decapitated chickens that they wrapped in bags to stuff into his suitcase. Unfortunately, I loaned them my luggage scale, and the 3 chickens with his stuff went over the designated 23 kg limit. I wasn’t sure why exactly they decided to send frozen chickens in his bag; you can buy chicken in Moscow? 

One of the teachers at our school, Gullia eje, is competing in a local teacher competition. Teachers write and submit and present/perform lessons to judges, and if she does well, we may go watch her in Suzak. As preparation, I observed one of her lessons. She is an informatics teacher, and her class takes place in the school computer lab. (Brief tangent, but one recurring problem at my school is that it’s like a hot potato with school classroom keys, as rather than leaving them at school, teachers take them home. So I have to hunt down teachers/hope they’re at school. The informatics room is one of them and it houses one of the 2 printers in the school). Despite the lesson being in Kyrgyz, I was somewhat able to understand, as she was mostly teaching 6th graders how to use a computer. It’s interesting because back in school we had computer classes around 1st to 3rd grade and minimally in 4th and maybe even to 5th grade, but after that, we used computers for homework and occasionally for projects. Everyone here in the village has a phone, but computers are much less used. I often forget how convenient and useful computers are and the vast array of uses I get out of them. My host family doesn’t have any, but my counterpart does. But consequentially, not having computers I’ve realized means the 1 or 2 times students have the informatics lesson a week is probably their only exposure to one. It means more of a reliance on phones obviously, but like, typing is not a particularly coveted skill here I guess, and my laptop was my lifeline in college. Their computers are also sort of in English, like their keyboard is Latin and Cyrillic alphabet, but a lot of the coding when you turn it on is all in English. As such, a few times I’ve been summoned to help them figure it out. Unfortunately, their computers are all very mid-2000s early 2010s, very boxy and old, so I’m not helpful. The lesson was about using the keyboard buttons and how to use Word to perform tasks. 

Rahima eje, my Kyrgyz language teacher, brought me Lagman again, which was incredibly kind of her. Her daughter makes Lagman often, and she, knowing my family never makes it and that I love it, has brought it to me before. I ask the cafeteria lady to heat it for me, and I share it with Baktygul. 

I’ve been kind of a hermit at home a lot, which is to be expected because of the winter. Naryn has lots of ice-skating rinks, which I am very jealous of, because Jalal Abad- according to Baktygul, has none. 

Winter weather comes and goes; it snows every few weeks and then warms until the snow melts and then repeats that. Since vacation, I’ve been trying not to spend as much money. In addition, I am trying new English clubs soon (I currently have three). I’ve been on a reading spree, which has been nice. Lots of ash to eat, as always. Despite it being winter, and what was told would be the hardest time of my service, I find it to be rather enjoyable, and if not enjoyable then middling. I don’t feel lonely or very often bored (only sometimes), but rather wish I was outside more and had more opportunities to socialize or go to tois. Perhaps it’s the hermit in me that wants nothing more than now to cuddle with my books under a blanket while the snow falls outside. 

À Bientôt,

Grace

PS. 2024, new music! I’m also really into remixes

1. Nightmare- Nathan wagner

2. Innocence- Nathan Wagner

3. Promises - Sam Smith, Calvin Harris

4. Unrecognizable- Saysh

5. Dreams- Saysh

6. Murder on the Dance Floor- Sophie Ellis-Bextor

7. Hear Me Now- Saysh

8. The Champion- The Score

9. Can’t Tame Her- Zara Larsson

10. Trapped- Once Monsters

11. Alive Again- UNSECRET and Chuck Adams

12. Origin- Besomorph and Neoni

13. The Rising- UNSECRET and Hannah Parrot