Last week supporters of former President Bakiev tried to take over government buildings in Kyrgyzstan, but were driven off by supporters of the current provisional government. I don’t want to spend a lot of time commenting on this, other than to say that I’m glad they were driven off. I have said enough about Bakiev being scum. On the other hand, what concerns me is that the police sat on the sidelines watching open violence take place between the various political factions and did absolutely nothing.
I fear that Kyrgyzstan could become another failed state – I hope I’m wrong.
I need to begin posting my journal entries again – I have departed from this for too long. So, without further ado…
9 October 2007
Just before I was about to write this entry, my mother called me from the United States. It costs my parents a fortune to call, because they’re dialing over a regular phone and not by Skype. But my mother said she badly needed to hear my voice (she’s been crying the past couple of days because she misses me so much), so she snuck out of the house this morning (morning for her, evening for me) to call me. It was good to talk to Mom, not only because I missed hearing my mother’s voice, but because she was able to update me on the Ravens’ season (they’re 2-2 now) – right now I’m in a complete news and sports blackout, so any news is good news to me. She told me my Uncle Angelo tried to call me a couple of times, but hasn’t been able to get through. I would really like to hear from him, too, so I asked Mom to make sure he knows exactly how to call me. I still remember what he said about putting Ravens games on DVD and shipping them to me, but I don’t know if he’s still serious about it. Mom told me the Ravens lost to the Cleveland Browns – I’m not sure if I’d want that game shipped to me, though. She said Nick got really depressed going downstairs at Uncle Angelo’s house and seeing my Ray Lewis jersey hanging up where I would be sitting to watch games. Yep, I miss home, but I know I have to stick this out – in two years I’ll be back in the USA watching another Ravens season at Uncle Angelo and Aunt Cheryl’s house (with maybe a Whopper in my hands, too).
This morning I was able to get up and go to school today, despite getting up at 1:30am in the morning to run to the outhouse. I had a little tea and a piece of bread for breakfast, and I ran out the door. I was a little late to school, but so was Temirlan (who was a good twenty to thirty minutes late). I taught the beginning of a class and stumbled over myself – I’m still not completely comfortable with teaching alone, especially when instructions need to be given in Kyrgyz. But Temirlan showed up and saved the rest of the class and was able to give homework. Right after the class was over I told Temirlan I still felt really bad, so I called the PCMO. According to the PCMO, I have bacterial diarrhea, so the PCMO said I should start taking Cipro (serious antibiotic). I don’t have it in my medical kit, so the warden (Peace Corps assigns one PCV in a particular region to be the warden for all the other PCV’s there – the warden gets a PC cell phone and an extra medical kit with serious drugs they don’t want anyone else to have) had to come to Darhan from Karakol and give it to me. I wasn’t able to take the Cipro until I got home (I had a hard time making it through the rest of my classes), but once I got it in me I started feeling a little bit better. Unfortunately, every time I take a sip of water I can hear it once it reaches my stomach – my stomach gurgles and moves, and then the water is digested.
Temirlan had a grammar question that stumped me and made us look stupid in front of the class. With possessive case, if you are asking a question about a particular item and who it belongs to, you would say “whose book is this?” That’s in reference to a person – when the question references a thing, what do you say? I had no clue – I have never used one word like “whose” to reference a thing, so I was dumbfounded answering Temirlan about it (unfortunately for us, it was during the middle of class). We said “what” could be used, but I’m sure that’s wrong.
This is Day 16 in the “I Haven’t Bathed Countdown”, but I might do the “bucket of warm water in the banya” thing today, after all the clothes are washed (clothes are normally washed in the banya). My host sister Aizat offered to wash my clothes for me, and I readily accepted – the thing I like least in Kyrgyzstan is washing my clothes. They have a machine, so it’s not so bad. Keep in mind, though, that washing machines in Kyrgyzstan are different than washing machines in America. In America, washing machines soak, wash, and then spin the detergent water out of them. In Kyrgyzstan, washing machines only turn the soapy water and clothes – rinsing out the detergent-filled water is done by hand in a big bucket. My host family was amazed at how many socks I have – I told them I have bad feet, so that’s why I need to change my socks every day (in America no-one would think twice when you say you change your socks every day – that’s just part of good hygiene). I tried to offer money to Aizat for washing my clothes (in accordance with the homestay agreement my host parents and I signed), but she wouldn’t accept it – she said I’m a part of this family, and they’ll wash my clothes along with their own clothes. I’m willing to put money on it, though, that her tone will change when my host mother gets home – she’s been following the homestay agreement by-the-book, and any deviance from that has duly been noted by her. I should pay them for the electricity I’ve been using (I’m thinking around 300 soms a month), so maybe I can factor washing clothes into that.
