The Quaint Village of Tasma

I'm glad I brought my cowboy boots

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Just over a week ago I returned from a visit to my permenant site.  The whole thing was quite an ordeal. All the volunteers went back to the Issyk-Kul Hotel in Bishkek (where we had our 3 day orientation) and met up with our new host families. It felt very similar to our first matching ceremony 2 months ago.  Anticipation and nerves were high but everyone was very excited dispite. 

We walked in and immediately were handed a stack of paperwork and information, with family names addresses and lease information. We began by dividing up into groups by Oblast (kind of like states). The host mothers of each Oblast formed a small circle facing outward and we formed a larger circle facing in toward them. We were to ask their names and if it matched the name on our information sheet we had found our new Appa! Twice I asked "Sizden atonus kim?" before I found my Appa, who rushed up and gave me a big hug!  After our matching icebreaker (Peace Corps LOVES their icebreakers) we sat down and started filling out our paperwork.  About 30 minutes after we met our new host mothers we were once again thrust into taxis and sent on our way.

The drive was just over 6 hours, I rode with a volunteer Maddie, who until recently, was placed in a neighboring village. By neighboring I mean about 20 km away, as far as I can tell, I am one of the more isolated volunteers, but more on that later.  Maddie is one of 3 Russian speaking volunteers, and was conveniently placed in a pure Kyrgyz village with a Kyrgyz speaking host site. Bad news bears (BNB hereafter) for her. We stopped for some produce in Tokmok about an hour out from Bishkek and again at a roadside cafe for lunch, where we bumped into some fellow PCTs on their way to Naryn (Oblast south of Issyk-kul).  I ended up sleeping most of the way. We stretched our legs a couple of times once we got to the lake and again when we dropped Maddie off, by which time about 6 hours had passed. Apparently we were quite late. My new and very angry Atta called yelling at my Appa, after which he proceeded to yell at the taxi driver as well. Fast forward to my arrival, my first impression of Atta is that of a very angry Kyrgyz man running out of the gate and verbally assaulting everyone and their livestock for our lateness. But first impression aside, he is a very nice and actually quite funny man with whom I had several good conversations. Keep in mind a good conversation is anything more than, 'What is your name?' 'Where are you from?' and 'Do you like Plov?'.  My new host family is Appa, Atta, a Karandash, and an Inni (thats mom, dad, little sister, and little brother) My host bother and sister are 6 and 10 and very helpful. Generally anyone between 5 and 10 are very patient and at about the same average level of education, i.e., what good is a college degree if you can't speak to anyone?

The next day my Appa took me around my village, Tasma, and introduced me to my NGO, a wool and handicraft organization, the village mayor, the local post office (I can finally get mail safely!!), and even had the sheriff over for tea!  Even though I'm very close to Karakol, which is a major resort destination for Russians, getting in and out of my village is actually quite difficult.  I'm 15 kilometers off the main through road to Bishkek, and another 15 kilometers down a dirt road. Taxis only leave the village between 7:30 and 8:00 am, and arrive again between 1:00 and 2:00 pm. So if I miss my window of opportunity to leave or come back, I'll be stuck overnight in Karakol.  The village its self is super small, with 4 main 'roads' and 2000 people, the only other person who speaks a little English is actually a Japanese volunteer who works next door to my NGO.  It's situated near some small hills and has a beautiful view of the mountains that form the border with Kazakhstan.

My NGO, Ak Shoola, is a handicraft organization and consists of 8 women and 2 men who work 6, 8 hour days a week. They have been fairly well established and have already received a grant for a wool separator (major accomplishment) and are currently exporting handicrafts to Japan, I think with help from the Japanese volunteer.  So far as I can tell, my counterpart has told me that my primary project will be figuring out how to export to the United States. (Any help here would be HUGE!) The NGO buys the wool from all the villagers and sells the handicrafts to tourists in Karakol and to importers in Japan.

Most volunteers are excited about their sites and are looking forward to moving to permanent site and living like adults again.  There is also a huge sense of separation anxiety among everyone. After spending everyday with fellow volunteers and families, many people are saddened to see each other go.

The Fam

My PST host family! My atta and inni (host father and little brother), are the 2 on the far left, my AJ and karandash (older sister and younger sister), are the two sitting on the floor, and my appa (host mother) is the second from the right.

Permanent site placement!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Exactly one week after the announcement of our permanent sites we are disembarking for a visit to our homes for the next two years! Yikes! Last Wednesday, our permanent sites were announced in a draft style fashion. Program Managers (PMs) announced names and handed out envelopes and we were to stand on a large map of Kyrgyzstan according to our placements. After weeks of anticipation I was placed in ..... ISSYK-KUL OBLAST!!!!

Tasma village, northeast of Karakol is a village with 3 or 4 stores and a post office, will be my home for the next 2 years! I actually couldn't ask for more. I am in a village about 45 minutes away from a major city, in the mountains and close to the lake, there are 3 other volunteers within 30 minutes and a good friend from my language group within an hour from my site. Sounds perfect to me! I will be working with a handicrafts organization who produces scarves, gloves, purses, and other felted souvenirs (taking orders soon!). My PM has told me they need help with accounting but I'll find out more as soon as I visit the site, permanent sites are rarely that straight forward. A volunteer from the previous year also working in handicrafts was able to create a web site and has been selling bulk handicrafts back to the states.

Everyone is pretty nervous and excited about meeting families and visiting the our new homes. It will be a similar event to the matching ceremony in March. Gathering together, matched and sent off by taxi or other public transportation to far ends of Kyrgyzstan. Mine is a 6 hour drive, to the other side of the country. We are visiting for a few days, staying with our new host families and visiting our permanent sites, to see what we are in for for the next 2 years!

PST

May 2, 2011

Since our arrival in country, just over a month ago we have been going through PST, Pre-Service Training. Typically a three month training in language, culture, logistics, medical, and other topic relating to our 24 month service, ours has unfortunately been cut to two months. Although I generally go home with a headache from over use, it has been wonderful! As of right now, our job is to do no more than learn the language and culture, living expenses are covered by Peace Corps and food is taken care of by host families. Rough life, let me tell you! My language group is amazing and we have all gotten to be good friends. We will often hang out after class and on our one free day, Sunday.

However, learning the language has been, ah, challenging. Although its generally accepted that Kyrgyz is easier than Russian, I still speak like a 2 year old, when, on the off hand that I say something intelligible. The Kyrgyz language has a case system and a different verb conjugation for just about every imaginable situation. Which I imagine will be easy enough as soon as I can remember the 30 different word endings. We have been having language every day except Wednesday (and there are rumors of cutting our Saturday classes too) and Sunday. Language class usually goes from 8:30 to 5:00, like I said after the sponge is full, the headache usually ensues.

Wednesdays are our hub day, all 42 of us get together at an orphanage in a nearby village to do culture, medical, other trainings, and hand out paperwork, passports, etc. The pictures on Seth's picassa page entitled 'culture day' (link of my FB) are all at the orphanage. Tuesday and Thursday are split between language and technical sessions. Tyler, myself, and the rest of the SOCD (sustainable organization and community development) volunteers have been meeting at the First School, (not to be confused with either the second or third schools- gotta love those soviets!) for instruction on basic business principals, economic situations, facilitation trainings, training trainings, and other plans to make plans. We have taken several trips into Bishkek to meet NGOs and even a visit to the embassy to discuss other grant opportunities offered.

This is the start of the famed week 7, the week in which we find out our permanent sites as well! It has been a huge mystery for all of us. Until last Friday not even the Country Director knew where we were going to be placed. We had a site placement interview in week 4 to discuss where we wanted to live for the duration of service. Not that we really know anything about the any of the oblasts (states) here, we still had a little say in what climate and what kind of organization we want to work with. Which ever site we have been given, we will make it work, I have been much more concerned with who I will be living with, family and other volunteers. I have seriously been having nightmares about the permanent site placement. During my site placement I had requested a smaller village, near a city, and preferably in the Naryn or Issyk-Kul oblasts. My thoughts were, that as long as I'm in the 'Switzerland of Central Asia' I want to be right in the middle of the mountains! Well only 2 days until the unveiling I'll keep you posted!