Life has a feeling of steady busy-ness and an unspectacular contentment about it for the time being. It is strange to realize that I will be out of Kyrgyzstan in only six short weeks. Right now, things feel very unremarkable. But there may be a couple reasons for that. I am already eagerly wading into planning my mountaineer trip for the summer (destination, unknown but remote; duration, between 30-45 days on trail). And after all the excitement and strain of setting into to Kyrgyzstan having a relatively comfy routine is quite unremarkable. This will definitely be a good time to store up thoughts and energy before the whirlwind that is spring and summer in the states.
Teaching at a snails paces adds to the mental molasses. The kids at Osh Bazaar mean well but it took us an hour and a half to review "this/that is" and learn posessive adjectives (my, your, his...). These things all translate directly into Kyrgyz so the tough going is a little odd to me. I keep telling myself that it will be more fun once we get a vocab base.
And languages... Kyrgyz is really funny right now because I can finally string some thoughts together. It always suprises me when my teacher understands. Unfortunately the magic is gone as soon as a walk out the door. I feel like a baby that needs my teacher to translate my gibberish into real Kyrgyz. The Russian is a little better but I also have more luck with those that know me well than new aquaintances.
A funny exception was at the funny bar a friend and I go to after playing football (soccer) on Fridays. The place is great because it was decorated by a schitzofrenic. One room is hunter themed, the next is mountaineering themed (and has a tacky fountain next to an even tackier fake fireplace). The piece-de-resistance of the joint is a room with a cieling tilework of toilet paper rolls. The walls have pictures of windows. One window looks out to the sea, the next onto the Sarangetti and the last onto a forest. A Russian fellow had just "broken up" with his girlfriend of five years. I up it in quotes because it often means they are in a fight. He was out on the town with his brother, the greco-roman wrestling champion of Central Asia. After a long conversation about how the heartbroken gentleman had just gotten back from a week in London ("After 3 days I had taken all the pictures, seen everything and was homesick") my thin friend challenged his brother (wrestling champion) to arm wrestling. Having had luck with usual alcoholics and scruffy kids that strike up conversations and arm wrestles in bars in the past, my friend's self-respect was utterly shattered. After graciously but firmly refusing to go "meet up with special prostitutes" I went home. But, now that we are best friends for life, I get 20% off at a local retail clothing store.
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The calm (no longer the eye?) has settled among your activities there, eh? Hooray for routine and excitement about the coming months of remote travel. My traveling companion might not be a sad sot but she smell of 20% deet. Count your blessings.
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