One Year.

Horses!
Sheep!
Lake!
View from the other side of the village's river looking towards the mountains
View from my side of the village looking towards the lake.

The pictures are from yesterday when I went out to our fields with my brother Joomart. Was a nice day!

So a little over one year has passed since I was sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I thought it might be useful to try to do some sort of reflection (apologies in advance for the train of thought writing that I’m about to begin) on the past year as a PCV. I’ve been in country for over 15 months now, getting close to the 16th month but the first 3 months we weren’t PCVs yet since it was still training. But anyway, back to the point.

I’ve become pretty comfortable in my village and the country in general by this point. Everyone is more than nice and hospitable to me in my village and my language has gotten to the point where I can understand a lot and explain many more things than I could even 3 or 4 months ago. Summer really helped my language for some reason, probably because I was around more of the K15s in their last few months working at camps etc. It’s really easy to pick stuff up from people who are further along in their language. I really enjoy Kyrgyz, but I’m pretty lazy about studying. However, I have to use it everyday at school with teachers, at home with my family, and with students and peers when we play soccer. Some of my best conversations with people are in the long taxi rides to camps or to nearby cities or even the capital.

I definitely feel like a different person – a better person – after one year here. It’s hard for me to think back to how I lived before at this point since I’ve become used to everything here. It’s hard for me to even put into words. This whole experience is the first thing I’ve done without support close by. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve gotten plenty of support from family and friends back home and my friends and PC staff here (which I am wholeheartedly thankful for). But I think what I’m trying to say is that in my village I am alone. Yes, I have a host family here which supports me and which I love but I can only connect with them to a certain extent. There are cultural, personal, and language barriers that make it hard to become as close to people who are coming from the same place I do, like the other PCVs. I’m the only white person, the only American, the only foreigner in a village of about 2000 or more people. While I don’t often think of my life here that way it does sometimes enter my thoughts. Sometimes I’m not even conscious of how unique and meaningful a Peace Corps experience is but when I do find myself thinking about it, I realize that I’m very happy doing this. It’s the first thing I’ve done which challenges me in EVERY aspect of my life and self.

In some ways, Peace Corps (at least from my experience as a village volunteer) is like a new life. We’re born when we arrive in country, completely unaware of our surroundings, the language, social norms, culture, history, etc. We go through a 3 month training which I guess would be like the first 20 or so years of a life. Then we go off to work, to live our “own” lives away from the parents (Peace Corps) in our respective sites. We have to re-learn all of the things that we learned in the states most of the time subconsciously or inertly – culture, language, how to act around elders, how to act around young people, what to talk about with people, how to be entertaining, how to give and receive criticism, where to look when talking to people, who deserves respect and who doesn’t, work behaviors, how to compliment people, how to be a good host or guest, and all sorts of different etiquette. And so far, I’m still in this process and I can’t say how the next year will turn out, but I’m hoping I get some sort of “old age wisdom” near the end of my service.

I’ve learned a lot the last year. I have more confidence than I think I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve realized that there are some things here I will never be able to understand or approve of. At the same time I can respect our differences. I’ve learned a lot of meaningful and human aspects of life from this culture that are unfortunately missing in American life. I’ve learned that negativity is an evil thing and once it gets hold of people it’s just a downward spiral. I’ve learned to see the good things, the useful things in actions or beliefs I am initially and culturally put-off to. I’ve gained a much greater respect for the collective knowledge of the Kyrgyz people and the strength of their culture. Respect for elders and simply even older people than oneself, deserved or not (there goes the American in me), is something I have learned to appreciate and admire. Having always considered myself a patient person back home, I realize here that I’ve gained more patience than I thought possible. I’ve learned to pick my battles and know when expressing my ideas or opinions will be beneficial or simply ignored or met with hostility. I’ve learned that people are essentially the same everywhere. We have a lot of difference but our similarities outweigh those differences. It’s a comforting thought but also depressing in a way because most people fail to see this. We’ve been on this planet for who knows how many years and suffer from the same problems we always have, just in different forms or manifestations. I’m certainly not saying I have the answers but I just don’t understand our ability to divide ourselves from one another. I’m getting a little idealistic and “out there” though, so I’ll move on.

In other news, school started and has been going relatively well. The schedule for classes still isn’t quite finished, which is pretty damn frustrating since I want to start my clubs and other work without having to rearrange everything if the schedule changes again. But like I said earlier, patience! I forgot how much students forget over summer vacations (especially languages) and basically decided the first two months will be review. My counterpart and I are getting along fine. I’m hoping to teach English to some of the teachers at school who are interested in addition to my normal English clubs. I think everyone is finally used to me being here and they have been more talkative and interested in me, America, and English. I’m also hoping to try to teach American football with one of the younger gym teachers that just started working at the school this year.

Weather was terrible the first week or so of September but then it warmed up again. I got a little sick from my flu shot the other week but that’s finally going away. Played soccer yesterday for 2 or 3 hours and it felt really great since I haven’t played in a week or two. I’ll be going to the capital next week to finally pick up the books for my project. I’ll be sure to take pictures when we get everything set up. Thanks to everyone who donated!


Miss you all!

Pat