Update

For the last month or so, I have been focusing on a few things and neglecting the writing and research as a result. The projects are necessary but not much to talk about. First, I've been studying Kyrgyz pretty extensively. That is going pretty well except that I don't get to reinforce it on a daily basis as much as I should because my work has been in English. I've been working on a little promo film for the Alpine Fund. It’s been a great learning process, but if working efficiently tends to be repetitive then learning seems to be tedious. Every technical aspect of the production had to be learned by myself and my lovely partner, Christina. How to get the video off of the camera, which chord to use was the first problem. Then we discovered that the program and computer we had set up were not going to cut it. So then we had to struggle again to find a good program for my Mac. We got a deal on Final Cut through Christina's University connections back in Switzerland. Normally this program is around a thousand dollars... almost as much as the HD Canon video camera or the computer. Crazy. So we finally got that delivered via randomly traveling friend from Switzerland. Then we had to figure out how to work the very powerful/complicated program. Every solution we came to becomes old news as we used the tools and stuff constantly. But it was constant manual reading and delays. The final kink came in getting the program off of the computer as a self contained file. For some reason there are tons of settings, and no real guide to how to figure it out.

 

It looks like I can see the edge of the woods now though. I have learned a lot about making amateur films, perhaps never to use the skills again.

 

In addition I have been trying to get a visa from the Kyrgyz government. After running all over town trading letters of interest for letters of support and working my way up the university signature food chain I finally turned all of the paperwork in... Only to have it referred to a committee. I was supposed to find out on the 4th of December if I can be in Kyrgyzstan, instead I will maybe find out next week... officially a month since my visa expired. Normally I get a smug sense of satisfaction out of my frustrations in knowing that the US does it better. But when it comes to immigration and visas I know that is not the case.

 

The English classes are going well. The kids generally are lively and eager learners. I am running into a familiar problem at the street shelter/community center where I teach. The kids on random days pretty much just don't show up. Then there are like 15 of them the next time. We tried to implement a complicated but fair system where they would each pay the equivalent of US $2.50 for a month and then we would give them .25 or each time they showed up... thus incentivizing attendance with significant but not over the top fiscal constraints. The sublime plan ran into problems on day 2 when no one remembered to bring the money. So then just a couple of kids paid and it was hard to keep track of who paid... blah blah. The kids sort of amble around the place too and I immediately shied away from keeping kids out of class. Also my assistant, an intern from the Alpine Fund was to do the accounting but his attention to detail is underwhelming.

 

In other news, I found a bomb-shelter punk/folk/hip hop venue/bar that is pretty great. It’s full of lesbians and young people making out, which is a nice change of pace. Most of the bars here are either really cheap (plastic chairs and plastic tables) or really gaudy. The sorts of cozy but real places are tough to find. It is fun to find a place where people let their hair down, or stick it up in pointy shapes. The mosh pit or "slam" is not as friendly as back home, however