Tuesday was the big day when we met our host families. Everyone met at a bigrestraunt and the host families were already there waiting for us when we arrived. Talk about nervous! Each host family had a name of a volunteer so it was sort of a who's-who game as soon as we unloaded. My Apa found me, gave me a big hug and kiss and a dozen roses....not too shabby. After theinitial greetings though neither of us could really talk to eachother...we made a few feeble attempts to find out info. but it usually ended in both of us just shrugging.The Kyrgyz people are really big on being good hosts. I think that during our45 minutes together she offered me tea 12 times and twice as often with all the food! All during this lunch, though, I'm freaking out that she doesnt realize how much stuff I actually have. Not only do I have my two huge bags, but PC gave us a duffel full of medical stuff as well as a space heater. We were both pretty shocked when the time came to load up becausenot only was the car the size of a small toyota, but that was the transportaion for not one,but two volunteers and all of our crap! It was such a sight when we got everything sorted out, I felt that I had just stepped into a cartoon. there were suitcases, heaters, arms and legs sticking out all over the place. But we did manage to get all the luggage and people crammed in. but didall the people and luggage stop the driver from getting to where he needed to be in a timely manner....certainlynot. The Kyrgyz roads are interesting. they havent been worked on since the soviet timeso they are just falling apart...there's an urban legend among the PC crew that a volunteer fell into a pothole and was never seen again! there's also no lines to guide traffic. everyone more or less stays to their sides, but the middle is fair game, you just haveto be quick!
my new house is simple...and i mean really simple, but it's clean. it is divided among two seperate buildings. one is the bedrooms and the formal living room. my room isnt bad. plenty of space, a dresser, twotwin beds, a table and a big window with lace curtains. its not the Hilton, but i can't complain.
to get to the rest of the house you have to do a hop, skip and a jump outside to the next building.there's a makeshiftkitchen with a small burner and a small fridge. there's no running water at all, but they do have a sort of bucket with a stopper that you can control for washing up. the dining room table is about a foot off the ground and yes they have a tv. UsuallyRussian soap operas are on, but they do have a version of MTV...thank goodness forpop culture!
attached to the kitchen house are the stables, and yes the smell is unpleasant. they have a lot of sheep, a couple of cows, a horse, a dog (who i think is always caged and this is not a big cage) and a little kitten. every morning all of the sheep in the village are herded up by a couple of boys on horses and taken to graze. Then every evening the oldest son meets the herd at the end of the driveway and calls his sheep. it was the strangest thing that I've ever seen. out of this ball of cotton a stream of about a dozen sheep went down the driveway and right into their stalls.
oh, yes ive saved the best for last. the toilet is way out behind the stalls in the back-40. Now everone imagine an outhouse, take away the entire seat, add a hole in the floor and that what ive got. its not the best situation, but my aim has gotten really good!
so now the family. as soon as i arrived they all greeted me with a big hug and a kiss. there are three kids, two boys-ages 2 and 13, and a girl who's 15. then mom and dad (whoi have not actually met yet...he's around but sort of allusive) and then grandmawho is just adorable and a lot of fun. they have been nothing but nice and justseem like really good people. the first day they just showed methe ropes then the daughter (Iziza) and I played frisbee for awhile.
and that's when it all went down hill....right before dinner i just got hit with this wave of nausea and knew that i was going tohurl. so i had to decide pretty quick whether i was just going to let it go right outsidewhich is also the walkway between houses or try to make it way out to the toilet. i decided that the embarrassment of having to watch my host mom clean up after me wasenough motivation to get me out into the fields. i will spare you the details, but i didmake it and spent some quality time out there. when i got back in i tried to explainthat i was sick, and i think that they got it, but they insisted that i eat some potatoes andhave some tea. i was back out in the field in no time. so the first day was a bit tough.
The next day all the volunteers met up in a bigger city for some safely/culture lessons. i wasfeeling sorry for myself the whole ride there, but when we reached the school there were atleast a dozen people in worse shape than me. apparantly, we contracted food poison atlunch and about 20 people were up all night with the runs and nausea. they had to bring inIVs for some folks. we were a sorry sight! our topic for that day's lesson was what all about diarreaha...fitting.
One girl, who is my closest friend here, decided today that she was going to go home. she hasa boy at home that she has missed a lot and she was one who got really, really sick. i think that today was just the final straw. there's another volunteer, Christian, who hasalso become a good friend, who is thinking about going home. his experience with the host familywas really bad and tonight he is staying in a hotel and trying to get in with another
family....i guess we'll see.
so all in all things are good. i 'm going to have to take it just one day at a time;when i start thinking about staying here for two years i really question whether this is something that I want. It's really just a different world out here and its notcomfortable yet....obviously I just got here and I figure that the first months, at least,will be the hardest. I think the big test will be when i have to go to the toilet inthe middle of winter brrrrrr!

Saturday september 24
Ive been in my village for a few days now and each day I feel more and more comfortable...oh and im feeling a lot better. hopefully, the worst is over! My family is so great. they are so good to me and are just a happy and loving family. sometimes i feel just like an infant, not really able to do much on my own or even say anything. Erland, thetwo year old, and I are buds. I think that we have an understanding.
Iziza is the 15 yr. girl. She is at school during the day, but they finish up at 1:00, then she'shome and doing chores. they work so hard around here it's ridiculous, but i think that theyare preparing for the long winter. they have been canning a lot and drying corn (maybe for the animals) and shearing the sheep etc. Iziza is so sweet and really happy...and she helps me with my homework!
Dustan is 12 and the oldest son. He's really the man around the house. as soon as he get's homefrom school he's grazing the sheep, fixing the saddle...ya know the man stuff.
did i mention that all the kids are ridiculously cute?
the dad drives a water truck and i've never actually met him. he leaves before I wake up and comes backin the evening for an hour or so, then he's gone again and gets back after im asleep. i dontknow how to ask yet what's up.
mom is great. she does it all and takes really good care of her family and tries to teach me kyrgyz.every morning she packs me a lunch and walks me to class...it's cute.
grandma is my favorite. she is so friendly and affectionate and really animated. if any of youhave met my grandpa, she reminds me a lot of him!
the gender roles are really defined here. girls take care of the house and the kids and the boyswork outside. it's not just habit though, but in seems strictly enforced. the other nightDustan was going to take his bowl to the kitchen and the mom told him not to and Iziza picked it up.
My village is about 20 minutes away from the nearest town and most folks dont have cars here. the public transportation is called a marshuka, its really just a glorified mini van, and it's parkedit one of my neighbors yard. I dont know yet if they run whenever, or if you ask him to take you places.there really arent bus stops, so whenever you go somewhere you just pick up folks along the way. the marshuka drivers are all about making that extra dollar and they will use any extra space for anotherbody. it get's a little cozy!
today I had my first shower (or banya). Yah, it's been a few days, but this was so worththe wait, it was awesome! the banya is another building all it's own and it a big concretebox thats divided into a dressing room and then the bathing room. it's just like walkinginto a sauna except that theres a tank that dispenses hot water which you mix with cold water in a big pot. then you just pour water over yourself, wash up, and rinse off. simpleenough. the best part though is that this big kettle sits on a bed of rocks so it'seasy to make a lot of steam. so there ya go, you can bathe, then sit down and relax for a bit. this whole thing is heated by a little stove imbedded in the wall thatsits underneath the kettle. looks like im only going to be getting one about once a week, but my Apa said that if i wanted to wash up with just some hot water from the stovemore often that would be ok.
I finally had dinner with the dad today. we didnt talk at all. it's not that he's mean, but i guess just not interested. not a big deal though, since he's really never here....
alright, this nonsense has gone on long enough!
mac

ps. sorry about the combined words...there's been some formatting issues

also, i have not been able to access my email yet so this is the best way to get ahold of me