An Epic Post from Beyond the Moon!

Pictures are not working. I will abuse an internet cafe this weekend.

I've been struggling with how to approach absolutist worldviews as liberal or relativist in the classical sense. When I say liberal, I do not mean Ted Kennedy. I mean Thomas Paine.

Ulan says things that are a little hard to swallow sometimes. Like that Saudi Arabia is his favorite country. When I object he uses relativist jargon like 'there is no such thing as a bad nation, just bad people' or 'That's my perspective.' Exactly. But what Ulan doesn't know is that his perspective often claims to be the only correct perspective. Generally, I affect a passive interest in his studies and mosque attendence.

His mosque is teaching him arabic script. He wants to be able to read the Koran. He has not learned any words though, just how to read. It is more important to be read it correctly in complete ignorance of what is being read than to understand any part of it. That bothers me. At the end of the day I just think it's wrong. But live and let live. So even though Ulan wants to be a holy man, he has never read the Koran.

This sounds like I am being whiny but it is pretty found how the two outlooks are completely distinct and often fundamentally unreconsilable. The best I have found is to agree to disagree or to drop the subject. You pretty much have to because as soon as the conversation starts you are talking past one another or trying to alter an entire belief system. It's like trying to move an immaterial mountain. I also keep trying to have these conversations (I also had a counterproductive exchange with my 15 year old younger brother Stefan) with 15 and 16 year olds. Part of the reason is because you can have these conversations with kids that age without burning bridges. Often broach the topics with adults is to be arrogant and aggressive. But I think I am taking things a little too seriously. I got a good laugh out of that realization and re-realization when I repeated the process.

So this led me to the embrace of what I dubbed 'relative relativism.' It only makes sense. The false dichotomy implied would offer only 'absolute relativism' as an alternative. That just doesn't make sense. Not everything can be relative for that would be an absolute. Therefore only somethings need be relative. I love words, they can get you into and out of any contradiction. Necessarily so, for there could be no contradiction without diction.

Drunk man goes to sleep believing he has acheived sublime truth by cutting through complication to simplicity. The next day, Sober man has but disdain for Drunken works. They simply lack the nuance needed to arrive at Truth. Both seek, both find, neither may claim. Being defined, a thing escapes definition. That is the greatest source of wonder for me. The only thing I have stumbled across so far worthy of wonder and worship.

right...

Today is a Wednesday or as I have come to refer to them, Don't Lock the Dog in the Kennel and Everyone Leaveday. I leave late on Wednesdays because they are my morning off. I took my ice axe and quitely shuffled to the gate. The jingling of the keys always alerts 'EET' (dog in Kyrgyz) to my presence. I got the door unlocked quickly and I knew I was out of danger. The dog was regarding me curiously from the corner of the house. We stared. She gave a timidly assertive bark. I put the ice axe down and left. We may have turned a corner in our relationship. Probably not, I don't think she had a clear look at me.

The list of people I want to write postcards to is really long. I think I need to compensate for lack of quality intimate relationships on the ground with quanitity of distant relationships. As long as I am compensating, I may as well overcompensate and be sure.

This last weekend at the dacha I tested my bivy to the cold. It started out well and I caught up on my consistently inconsistent journaling. Then the heart-rate slowed as I attempted rest. The cooling of the body combined with the wetness generate by my breath made for a chilly night. The electricity/heat was out in the dacha. It took a while to warm up. I barely missed a cold, which is the best way to be. Ulan had it worse though. he slept in the dacha, but only with a sheet. That's cold.

The rest of the weekend was a success. We made potato dumplings... the girls most of the work despite my best efforts to rally the boys and lend a hand myself. Being unfamiliar with the exact routine, I would sometimes be slightly hesitant in the task at hand. Such weakness was not permitted and I struggled to salvage my self-respect as 13 and 14 year old girls tried to do my job (whatever job that was) all weekend.

Brown outs have been an uncommon presence in Bishkek. It is not easy to get out of bed before dawn when there is no heat. I have nothing but the most profound respect for the poorer folks on the edge of town that live without such conveniences as heat. The lows here get down around 0 degrees Fareignheit.

I had a surprising run in with the po-lice here. I was taking a picture of the 'I point at you then you bribe me game.' They didn't seem to notice, but 3 minutes later their tiny lada pulled up and they invited me over for a chat. I told them that we don't have Mashootkas in the USA and I wanted to show my friends at home as well as a cop in a fur hat. One seemed unconvinced but the other was more interested in being friendly. We took pictures. They offered to give me a ride. This is one of those moments when you have to make a split second decision and either option is full of potential pit-falls. I said yes, reasoning that hopefully I would stay on their good side and that I did not have very much money if they tried to get a bribe out of me. I did not want to offend and get them asking about my passport (at home to prevent seizure).

They never asked for my papers or anything. They did want my phone number. They also bemoaned the crazy drivers. I confirmed that things are different in the states. All were pleased with the encounter. So far, no phone call from my new friends(?).

I took videos from the last weekend. Maybe I can find a way to put them up. We pay per MG here, so part of the reason the pictures are slow coming is that it is expensive.

I am jealous of friends going home or having family visit for the holidays. Everyone I know abroad is doing one or the other (Ella, Pete, Pete, Greg and the crew in NZ). I plan to work straight through and pretend in a Scrooge-inspired performance. That or take the English class Caroling. We'll see. The thought that a plane ticket home could give a kid the training needed to be a professional (from a tech school) helps assauge the loneliness, and reaffirm my penchant for elitism.