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  Karakol, Kyrgyzstan
Wednesday, February 23, 2005

my first blog entry since the states. lotsa catching up to do, but i'll keep it brief. yes, i'm in kyrgyzstan. i've been here for 5 pretty amazing, totally blogless months. i live in kyzl- soo, a town of 15,000 on the south- eastern shore of lake issyk- kul. i felt gyped when i was first sent there, but it's actually exactly where i want to be. i teach 23 hours a week at lenin school, 7th through 11th grade. overall it's a fairly sweet gig. my host family is awesome and i have my own small house in a compound, complete with kitchen. so things are great, in a nutshell. this is the synopsis. a lot to cram into a little space, and i figure as i write more i'll be able to backtrack a bit and tell all the old stories that escape me at the moment.

so today is mens' day, which means no school, no western union, and a free hour of internet at the asia center in karakol. hurrah! this week has been something of a joke, vocationally. went home after one class monday, having succomb to some sort of sinus infection (it's making my teeth hurt. that's just wrong). tuesday i have three classes, one of which was cancelled to allow the students to prepare for mens' day. so i shot a bunch of vodka and ate plov with the other teachers. they made me play the komuz, then gave me a bright red hand towel with a crab embroidered on it. it's actually quite handsome. taught english club with my friend chong brian after that. one kid, Ulan, showed up, and we made him describe the perfect president. his answers had the force and simple grace of party lines: "when a leader demands more of the people, this is when there is success." impressive and a little scary.

last night i fired up the coal stove in my kitchen. i'm getting pretty good with that thing. it smoked a hell of a lot, though, and i wondered about the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning for a little while. looked it up in the health manual, but found nothing. so for the moment i'll assume i'm safe from that particular ridiculous death, but there's always the wiring. the dangers of home. anyway, burned a giant globe of dried dung in the stove and was transported back to my training host family's kitchen. it doesn't sound particularly appealing, but you'd be surprised how homey the smell of burning cow feces can be. i'll leave it at that.

tomorrow evening! bishkek! hanging out with sean, elise, and the dobes. eating too much, getting medication for my snot problem, and doing a bunch of paperwork. and then chong and i are bringing thousands of books back to the south shore for his school. oh, i kind of love you, bishkek.

that is all for now.

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