Sooo, I guess it has been about a month since I’ve posted. Sorry about that. Weather getting warmer and school wrapping up sorta kept me from sitting down and writing anything. That and I just didn’t really want to write anything; that usually corresponds with times when I just don’t read anything too. I didn’t pick up a book for about a month but now I’m reading again. I read Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris the other night – interesting quick read. Now I’m reading The Stillborn God by Mark Lilla. It’s a very interesting look at political theology and how the west is still affected by it, but I assume it is about a lot more than that the more one reads into it.
As I said before, school is wrapping up. I’ve got until the 25th and then it’s summer time. The school will be open until around June 25th for the 9th and 11th formers exams that they have to take. I plan on fixing up all the computers in our school during that time. They need a lot of work but I never had a solid chunk of time to motivate myself to do something about it. Also, I my counterpart and I need to finish up the project we wrote for the English resources. There’s still some small stuff we haven’t gotten around to. So that’s my June plan. As for the rest of summer I’m not sure what is ahead. I know I’ll be playing plenty of soccer and hanging out with other PCVs. I wanted to visit the south but now that Jalalabad is out of the question and there are travel restrictions to Osh for PCVs it might not happen. I assume there will be a few camps I can go to, but I haven’t heard too much yet. The new K-18s will be coming to site in a few weeks. It will be nice for Jonathan and me to have a few other neighbors for once; if they stay this year and don’t leave a month after getting to site!
We had our Close of Service conference the other week. We got to stay at a sweet resort which is somewhat of a gift/thank you from PC for making it through the two years. It was great to see everyone still here. We had a pretty high percentage for people who made it to COS Conference which is something to be proud of, I think. We stayed up late, drinking, hanging out and talking. We had sessions during the day about a variety of things concerning finishing our service and also what it’s like to go back to America. As I was sitting through some of those sessions the immensity of what we have all been through began to sink in, just a little bit. But it was enough to realize that I’ll be trying to figure out what this experience meant to me for years and right now it’s very hard to internalize any of it. I had to say some teary goodbyes that were very, very hard. The Jalalabad volunteers had to leave right after COS (for safety issues) if they even decided to wait until then to leave. Some left even before that. But really, the friends I’ve made here will always, always be friends. The bond from going through this together is pretty strong; we’re the only ones that understand each other and what it was/is like. On a lighter note, and most importantly, Issyk-Kul PCVs won the Kyrgyz Cup, which is a competition based on Kyrgyz/Russian language and culture with a Jeopardy game at the end with a variety of topics. This is the second year in a row that the Lake volunteers get to bring the cup back to the lake!
As for the country, the new constitution is going to be ready in a few weeks. It will be interesting to see what they come up with. There’s a real chance to really put this country in a good direction. You can almost feel the enthusiasm for it in the air with some people; reminds me of the atmosphere before the April 7th revolution also. It has been peaceful here on the lake and safety really isn’t more of a concern than it normally has been. The south had some problems recently but things are under control it seems. Hopefully nothing else happens in the future. It has been eye-opening, to say the least, living through what is happening to this country in its young political life. Here’s a country that has been independent for not even 20 years and has had two revolutions in the past 5 years! But I guess now all I can do is hope for the best.
It’s kind of doubtful now that I’ll be able to stay here to work after my PC contract ends. One of my options probably won’t work out now and the other one I’m not too excited about. I’ve come to terms with being ok about coming home. I kept telling myself I should stay if I have the opportunity but I can always come back if the desire returns. If something else worthwhile comes up or I find something else I’ll definitely consider it, but as of now it looks like I’ll be home at the end of August. Time will tell I guess.
How is everyone doing back home? I haven’t heard from many people. Hope everything is good. Write me!
Pat
Say goodbyes
Bonfire beer!
A view to the north...
A view to the south...
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