A Response to Questions

I am currently working in an internet cafe called the Media Center. I believe it was started by UNESCO to be an information resource. So everyday that I work, I have access to the internet. It doesn't always work, but its there. Between my house and work is the bazaar, stores, restaurants, the post office, the White House, and the bank. I'm on the edge of the city, but its still a good location. I'm about a 15-20 minute walk from work, depending how fast I walk.

My buddies from Bolshevik all went in opposite directions. Mike & Brenda are living in Cholpon-Ata (on Lake Issyk Kul) and Andrew is in Jalalabat. I do have 5 other volunteers in the city with me. And in the state of Talas there are 8 of us new volunteers and 7 old volunteers (and by old I mean they've been here for a year).

My apartment is pretty big. There's 3 bedrooms, a room with the toilet, a room with a tub and sink, a large hallway that almost serves as a room, a kitchen and 2 living rooms. My host mom teaches at a medical school nearby (I think). My host sister works with me at the Media Center, and she's really nice. Her daughter is 7 and goes to school. She likes to have things just so, and is a very well-behaved little girl. And she studies every night when she comes home, which is refreshing in a country that doesn't seem to care too much about education. Everyone in my family seems to be educated. One of my host sisters, who lives in Bishkek, studied in Seattle about 10 years ago. That's rare for this country, because its very competitive to join the ACCELS program. Our apartment has an oven, but they use it to store things. I've never seen this type of oven used, everyone who has one stores kitchen wares in it. They use a hot plate or the range on the oven as a stove. At one of the stores in town I saw a large toaster oven for sale. It has a temperature dial and doubles as an oven. I'm debating buying that. And my no-bake cookies didn't happen. I thought I could buy peanut butter here, but I have to go to Bishkek for that. And yesterday I had bought milk as one of the cookie ingredients before I discovered the peanut butter dilemma. So last night I boiled the milk and added some Nesquik that someone gave me. This was the first time I've drank milk in Kyrgyzstan. It scares me. I have been drinking these shakeable yogurt cartons, but they don't sell them in the whole oblast of Talas. I'm trying to get myself used to the milk so I don't become lactose intolerant. I woke up so sick this morning. It took me 1.5 hours to get dressed, and it was only because my host sister told me I need to go to work. Otherwise I would have stayed in my bed. My stomach still hurts, but its getting better. I'll probably have some milk every night until my body adjusts to it. I've been avoiding it for 3 months, but I need to get over that. I just didn't want to get sick like everyone else in my training group.

The variety of foods in the winter is lacking. I went to the market yesterday, and had a hard time finding beans. Talas is known for its beans, and I don't know where they all went. There's plenty of rice, buckwheat, potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic and eggs. I can also get dairy products. The sour cream is very thick and delicious, almost the texture of cream cheese. The honey is made locally, and sometimes you find a jar that is out of this world. Other times its very solid, grainy and light colored. But its better than pure sugar in my tea. There are plenty of raisins, dried apricots, and cookies. Also, for the first time I saw a slaughtered pig at the bazaar. The Russians are the only ones that sell pork, because their religion does not have restrictions on the other white meat. I was so happy at this discovery, though I haven't bought any pork yet. But it looked like they had bacon on the counter. Mmmm.

I also haven't tried to buy clothes yet. At the bazaar I'm nervous about picking the wrong size. There isn't a place to try things on. There are stores in Bishkek that sell clothes, and I'm pretty sure you can try things on there. The quality of clothes is not good, but some of my friends have bought them and like them. I'm holding out until my clothes are worn through.