Happy

So much is happening I cannot catch up with myself especially with no internet at the Ashu, but today has just been so good. If I can get the internet to work well enough, I will show you why.

As a parent I know that the first day Nathan read was magic, Abil has been reading the English text book since day one, but to hear him just pick up this book and read it straight away, just blew me away.

I was supposed to be teaching the children, when their teacher asked me to cancel the class as they had not finished their drawings. Normally I would not have been impressed with such a request, but I have been waiting for a chance to give each child a book to colour in.   We are able to print books under licence,  but have had so many printer problems that we have not done many and those we have done are in black and white, but knowing how much the children here love colouring we figured actually that is a nice way to give the children ownership of the books get them to colour them in. With this particular class I have been away that at least 5 of them reading chunks of work so knew I wanted to start with them but was not sure how to introduce it, but when she said the kids needed to finish drawings I figured, good I can come in just chat with them about the colours they are using and their drawings (of spring for the spring festival at the end of term.) then as they finish I will give them their book to colour.  After this boy (aged 9) read his book several others were able to read theirs with more help and even those who do not usually read could begin to see the patterns in sentences like the cats are in, the dogs are in. So magic. I then just wondered round the room monitoring them as they finished their colouring in, but as I did so I started humming one of the songs we are learning together, as if from a movie they started jiggling as they coloured, then I do not know we just spontaneously Fame style started singing the song. It was a really lovely moment.   It is one of the nice things here that the texts we are following has a lot of music and that I am happy to burst into song and dance and so are they.

I then went into the class next door, where they are not yet so ready to read, but getting there and did a quiz with tricky words such as what letter is this till we made the word and again even those children who struggle were identifying letters and words so very exciting. This group have been typing letters for International Women's Day- the idea was to ask their mum's and grandma's to a special day with us, I think that idea sadly has now been shelved (for the second term running) but I think using the keyboard which is a real challenge if you are still learning your alphabet has helped them and their happy faces when their letter rolled off the printer despite being very pale grey owing to the lack of printer ink. Based on this they will be needing their books to colour printed out pretty soon.

For some time I have been thinking that I want to introduce some of the better after school clases to another song ( We did Can't Buy me Love last term as it is referenced in the reading material.) So I had been thinking of the song Happy, both cos I love it and cos I figured they would too. It turned out that the first colleague to leave had already done some work on it so she bequeathed me the video to use with the students and today I played it to two groups so they went away very happy to know that they are going to learn it.

I will send a copy of the video of the boy reading to my other colleague who has left recently. He was the person who got the licence for the printing, did the first lot and who has set up this whole English programme.  Hopefully he will be thrilled to see the fruits of his labour.   It is a sad blow that for the moment he has left the Foundation.

Postscript to lovely pictures - update.

I put up some lovely pictures yesterday, meant to write lots alongside and put more pictures up, but the internet went again. This is worrying as the whole system was re-wired and renewed on Saturday.

Now I am due to go to school so will have to leave yesterdays comments and hope to catch up with myself later.


So slights and delights updates.

Slights vary from amusing to slightly more worrying.

Slights, the school bus driving past me as I walked to school - clearly I look more like a local than I thought.

Here I have more time to observe people cos I cannot talk with them, so I sat at my desk and watched as my colleague answered a phone and looking for somewhere to write a phone number just used one of the many tri - lingual teaching cards and wrote not on the back, but on the laminated front of it!  But then the other day I could not find my timetable till I realised that a piece of torn paper on my desk was half of it, someone had torn in in half and used the back to write their notes and when I found the second half of it, someone else had written on the back of that.  Perhaps Mn, Ts, Wd, did not signify or times that it might actually be my timetable despite it being on my desk.

Anyway just amusing things really but more worrying is the situation at the Ashu, not very serious, but two nights ago when I got home I wondered what will happen tonight about food, normally the hotel staff leave food out for me or the daughter in law cooks, but now she is back in Bishkek and just the owner's mum is here. So come 7.30 the owners grandma (85) and I had been sitting around together on and off since 4, I decided to look for her and found her working away in the restaurant kitchen, so I  figured I would make myself some pasta back in the kitchen in South House where I live. I had no sooner started (I must look up cooking at High Altitude) as the water never seems to boil)  than all the family came in and wanted to eat. First they were a bit puzzled maybe insulted that for some reason I had not wanted to eat the beshbarmak that had sat out for several hours in the warmth, then they had to wait till I finished so I rushed and ate half cooked  pasta, which was not much fun. Then last night similar thing by 7.30 I was getting really hungry and this time they were all just sitting around, so I know the imperative for eat, but not the verb so tried it, and they just nodded but did not do anything about getting anything so I gestured can I cook some eggs. Yes so made an onion omelette, ate it quickly so that they could eat, and then she cooked yes onion omelette for her, her husband and her mum. Tonight I came back from school quite late and realised that the owner and his wife were back and therefore she would cook, but that it might be a bit late therefore, so I was lying in bed, almost dozing off, when I jumped up in the air as my door was thumped. I was not even sure if someone was actually knocking it was so loud so I thought there might be another cause, it was because the owners mother was holding the baby and trying to thwack the door at the same time and she gestured towards the restaurant and motioned that I had to eat there. It is as if I have to know by osmosis that guests are here. I am sure she finds me very annoying too, but ...  But the compensation was that one of the guests turned out to be a very nice Kyrgyz woman who has been studying for her Phd in Exeter.  Ashu's delights restored And hopefully if the internet can be restored properly I can start using google translate and have some conversations with this woman and we can both enjoy each other's company a bit more as a result.

Then there is the problem with the washing, in summer I would wait till the hotel was less full, then in the evening use the laundry and hang my clothes on a small plastic dryer and it would dry quickly in the sun. At first I was very worried about what to do in winter, but as it was just me and grandad in my bit of the hotel most of the time brought the rack in and by the end of the night it had dried in front of the radiator. But when the whole family came back they used the washing machine constantly and the radiator in my room had stopped working for a couple of days, so my larger than normal hand washing made rather unpleasant smells that they understandably objected to I have now been able to re-negotiate using the washing machine and dried the last lot of washing in my room near the now fixed radiator and again it was dry next morning, but the family think my washing has caused the mould in the room, not the fact that it is the coldest room in the hotel and a very terse grandma sent me out into the snow this morning, to hang my washing on the line!

The delights are the children, sometimes they are just so lovely. The little girl in the first picture below when I did the review with her she did not have her book with her, so we looked at someone else's work, then stupidly I got her to fill something in and we both suddenly realised what she had done and had a lovely little giggle together.    There are a couple of the boys too, I cannot really explain it they are just so lovely,  when I was in primary school one of my teachers said she would have wanted to adopt me if I needed adopting, I did not take this as anything creepy just an appreciation of the 9 year old me.  I hope it is the same with me and these children One reminds me of my nephew so it is easy to explain and another reminds me of someone else I know but I think it is just that they are so passionate about learning and you have seen the photos, they are all so beautiful.     I know having taught for 20 years that when working with people learning, one invests so much in the people one is teaching and so want them to succeed that the idea of not seeing them through the process is almost impossible - it is why I stayed so long teaching in Hertfordshire and why I felt so sad to leave Senegal without seeing them progress.  But what I have realised recently with the departure of 3 children in year 0 and the arrival of 5 children in year 0, I could easily return next year and find some of the children I most want to work with again have disappeared.  And the truth is though at times I can be great fun as a teacher, there are lots of other good teachers out there.

It was funny yesterday with year 0 when I first walked in they told me to leave,  finger pointed to the door, rather than English, they were too busy colouring and so quiet and calm no wonder they did not want me to come in as with my chaos, noise, energy etc.  Anyway I went away pretending to be sad and they came to get me, and we started class. They still fought to get some of the items and to touch the letter box I have made into which they post letters of the alphabet (pinched idea as is so much of teaching) but they are better than before, they then laid out some clothes I had brought it which they found great fun, and then did some work in groups with flashcards. When I went to leave one girl would not give them back, these kids are strong, if small so taking things back from them can be a challenge, and when she hid it under her bum, clearly I could not go there so iIpicked her and the chair up to see if I could shake it free and amuse her sufficiently into releasing the cards (her teacher who is supposed to help me has sat so busy that she has not seen strangling, a result of teasing - bullying? going on or my frustration with the kids fiddling with my things, or me picking the girl up) After that the girl did give up the cards, laughing with pleasure, but of course after that several kids wanted to be picked up, by the time I got out of class, I literally had about 4 children physically hanging on to me that I could not get off me! I struggled up the hall with them clinging to me and in the end,  yes they all got a swing around.  I am not sure this is how teachers are supposed to behave, but it is nice if somewhat knackering to have such fun.

The other delight is the sun on my face, as I sit in the garden on the swing and listen to the birds and just relax.  So on that note as I am the last one out and the caretaker wants to lock up I had better go home. Off to Bishkek after work tomorrow hopefully to go to a piano concert.

Slights and delights.

Another night on the toilet.

About 8 last night I started feeling quite ill, sharp pains, nausea, very cold when I had been hot the rest of the day and it was like oh, no here we go again.  So last night a large proportion of the night was spent in the toilet, so I was very relieved if you excuse the expression when my after school class was cancelled today. It is veterans day and most other schools are closed.  It meant I could get home by 3.30, However, I stupidly popped into what I thought would be the end of today's partying and got caught for the next hour or so. But today's party was for locals so I recognised some faces, which was good, and I actually realised I wanted to eat, but just bread and jam, nothing too fancy. So in many ways it was nice to be there, but by the time I got to my room I was desperate to sleep and will go to bed early tonight and hopefully be recovered in the morning.  I am not quite sure why I have had so many stomach upsets since getting here, but a lot of tourists in Kyrgyzstan do seem to have similar problems.  Much more here than in Senegal.

For reasons I do not understand I cannot upload the video of me reading to the children, but today I showed it to them at the end of class. Given that they rave over things like balls, bottles or eggs, I thought that they would be transfixed by the sight of themselves, but once they had looked carried on colouring in the worksheet I had given them. Their passion for colouring is enormous. We have another new student in year 0 so 17 children without any assistance, and the new poor just looked at me in complete disbelief, but the old hands got on with the worksheet and understood it straight away, so that was good so I was able to sit with the new kids. however, 7 children were away so not sure how I am supposed to manage when they are all there.

Good news texted to me though, despite having no car to practice on in between lessons, Nathan has passed his test.  Yippee, well done. And tomorrow he heads off to Rishkish to help at a satsang. Let's hope he does not spend it all on the toilet!

A day pottering.

As it was the relatives party today, I said I felt I should not attend and that they should just focus on their family today, so I have been able to have a nice time pottering indoors, and catching up with my friends and family on Skype. But I nipped over to the restaurant just now to see if there was any food left and found them preparing yet more food, I had forgotten they are partying again tomorrow this time for the whole village. I am of course at work, but may just see if it is still happening when I get back.

Not hungry, I've eaten the horse.

On Friday in effect forced to stay on for the party for men teachers, it was actually nice to sit in a classroom, listen to a bit of radio (which I really miss when the internet goes off) and do some administrative tasks.  I was really hungry by the time it started. The heating goes off about 4 so it was cold at first but the atmosphere soon warmed up with everyone in the room.  I genuinely enjoy having the chance to say my thanks or comments to everyone and while I never understand what others say, my comments are translated. The new maths guy for instance I hear the students laughing and enjoying it, so much so wanted to know his secret and the guys who drive the bus and build the school we could not do without them so I wanted them to know that, and the guy who does the printing loves music so much I get to hear it all the time, which I love.  The men were presented with a present and to my surprise and delight I was too, so it turned out that the party was also my birthday party!.

So I started Saturday already stuffed. but Saturday was the party to end all parties here in Kyrgyzstan. Starting at 12 we had the most fantastic salads to start, I do not know why or how a broccoli and mushroom salad was so good (apart from the rarity of both here) but I could not stop eating it.    My colleague who lived in the south and had hard bread and samos most days understandably said that the the food at the Ashu is fantastic, she would have run out of superlatives over their salads yesterday ; fresh salmon, chicken, cheese, and mounds of lovely fresh bread, nuts and apricots.   I tried to go easy on the soup, then retreated to my room and crashed out for a bit before heading back for a sort of chicken strogonoff.  Another shorter break,(while the men smoke)  during which again I was thankful for the chance to escape to my room, and then the piece de resistance, horse beshbarmak.

The whole meal was topped off with wedding cake.   I am ashamed to say I burst out laughing when a huge(I am talking the length of my forearm) piece of meat was thwacked onto the plate of one of the guests.  It was such a wonderful flamboyant gesture, I couldn't help I know now that no one is expected to eat it there and then, as confirmed by the plastic bags distributed at the same time,  but I couldn't help myself.   Some bits of the horse do not look appetizing so I was very thankful that no one just chucked some meat at me, instead I was presented with a nice small plate and was happy to try some.  I am a meat eater, so really a cannibal, and do not get why we eat one meat but not another and I am guessing that rearing horses is more ecological than beef say, but European guests at the Ashu have been known to check that they are not eating it, however, they are missing a treat, very like very tender beef, while I did not eat much (too stuffed already) I can recommend it.

But what was it all about. The actual wedding will be in June and this is one of a number of precursor get togethers. This was for friends of the grooms parents,so is as much about them as the bride, who poor thing seemed to want to shrink away at times. Reminded me of myself just before I got married (2nd time) I sat frozen in the best frock I had with me on holiday, then was about to run away, when the groom arrived and I gave into my fate.  Luckily for the bride yesterday her fate is to be part of a large, very happy family.  So although it was demanding at times once she had received copious numbers of white scarfs, to send her on her way, most of the attention was lavished on the matriarch, who received several colourful scarves and patriarch, who received two stunning felt coats and a fur hat. Discrete envelopes of money were also handed over.(not knowing protocol,  I had brought some apricots as a contribution - which I left for the family to munch in the kitchen)  Each person gave thanks, and I am guessing as it was all in Kyrgyz maybe remembered something about the groom, then he or the head of the family replied a midst much laughter. One of the good things, is that although it is in many ways a male society, in these forums both men and women get to speak and it is the women who sing. (and receive money for their efforts.)  I was hoping I could join in, but I was what I thought was stuck in a corner, which was fine, expecting to just sit there, but because so many of the family sat there, with me it was a great place to be able to both watch the general hubbub and the more intimate subtleties of the family. Such as water replacing vodka at times, and the gentle and affectionate way that they support each other.   I was sat next to the manager's sister in law and her lovely family of twin boys and a 14 year old daughter who is learning English in Bishkek. She explained she has 6 lessons  a week: much more than our kids.  At the end of the meal, everyone immediately left the restaurant and went outside, they had one more drink for the road, and one of the guests suddenly started speaking with me so the young girl stepped in and did the translating, which was great for me and a very positive experience for her.   Luckily I knew a couple of people at the event, one the mother in law of a missing family son, explained some of the above, so that was kind of her,so although it was sort of tiring to sit for 6 hours, it was also a very positive experience however they are about to do it all over again as today it is a party for relatives.

Yesterday all through the celebrations there were two men not just repairing the internet they were replacing the whole system.  I was just finishing a new video when I realised I had the internet, so could not access it till the movie was finished. It only takes 30 mins, but suddenly outside I could hear the wind pick up violently. More snow.  It was brilliant, the hotel crashed into darkness,  the internet went off, the snow whirled around,  just as the movie started to play out (I hope to upload Adbou Diop video shortly.)   Today it is still softly falling, so I am hoping that I can just chill in my room and enjoy the luxury of a restored internet service.

Hurtling horses and cosy evenings.

Yesterday as I went home a different spirit seemed to be in the air, the gang of men on horses, galloping up and down, was almost threatening and I could imagine them sweeping a young woman up and carting her off. Then I turned the corner into my street and a stir in the air said snow was on the way again.   When it falls, it falls like little pellets of silicon hard and fast.  So I could not be bothered to trek across to the kitchen and restaurant to see if they had an internet signal, but despite it all being repaired two days ago nothing worked in my room.    In the evening it felt nice and cosy to help the daughter in law of the family look after her baby and then make samos, a bit like samosas and all from fresh ingredients. It is one of the things a lot of educated young women here, understandably find a bit of a challenge, that they do all the cooking for the family. Today however a chef is supposed to be coming to help do some cooking for the party.

Mush, gush, and slush.

For the last three days I have been able to walk to work almost normally. The snow is still on the ground, but the temperature is now sufficiently high to melt it most days and it is not so slippery.  There are a few clouds about so more snow could come now it is warmer, but more animals are out and about, if not in the field, out of their pens and having freer access to the hay stacks in the yard and you can tell everyone feels a little more free.

I have had to come over to the restaurant to access the internet and have forgotten my camera, but hopefully the internet may function later in my room so I can put up some pics as it has been another nice teaching day. I finally got to do my food project. In my meeting with my head last week she agreed so today the cook made more bread, my cheese had disappeared so I had to buy more and I bought two sausages too yesterday ready for today.Then today at lunch I joined the group I had taught food words to yesterday and they remembered the word soup so that was a good sign and my head came in with me for the class. She got them all silent!  I then went over the words from yesterday, sad, happy, thirsty, hungry and then showed them the huge bread, the cheese, the sausages and butter.  I realised we needed knives, but here they do not really use just ordinary knives (they use spoons to butter the bread quite often) just sharp knives for the meat, so that meant we needed more help, so in came the cook and the actual class teacher, that way we could each have a group, help them cut up the bread and make cheese and sausage sandwiches. I also had some tinned sardines from the UK which I shared with some of them, one of them did not like the chilli in it at all,but they all enjoyed the activity and it is great for language, how many sausages, (which they understood more than the year 2 did for a long time) cut, bread, cheese, fish and loved eating their sandwiches.  I only got one piece of cheese it was all woofed down so quickly and no sausage at all. I just cut my quarter of bread into four big bits, but the teacher serving 6 children with the same amount of bread managed a sandwich for them all and bread left over to go with the fish.   The nice thing is that I think all the staff enjoyed it too, I did not get as many pictures as I would like, but I will print them out to help the children remember.

The next activity was more risky. I asked my head to come and watch the year 0 perform their Christmas play, but they have not rehearsed it so it was about what they could remember. As it happened trying to film them,  steer them and support them I forgot key chunks and the scart, but hopefully you can see when I have sorted it out and uploaded it that they remembered quite a bit and then they were able to sit down and watch the original  again on their big TV.  The only downside was it cut across the activity I had started with them showing them clothes for clothes word, which they were really enjoying.   We have four new children in this class, but have lost one too, one of the boys who was the lead in The Snowman, so it was good that I cast two of them.  They seem to have fitted in quickly, and enjoyed the lesson.

I hope to also upload me pretending to be Joyce Grenfell as I read the story to the children that we did together, you might be able to spot the panic as I speed up and forget stuff.   They are quite a bigclass and my colleague was filming and their actual teacher rarely actively helps so I am at times worried things will fall apart before I get to the end, but now it has been filmed they will be able to watch it and start to learn the words more. See if you can hear the one little boy who does a great imitation of me. He is reticent to speak English to me directly but is a great mimic.

For the few days I have had the internet again I have been listening to the Last Asylum, very interesting. When I was having therapy I often thought of writing about the process as a book,  as I found it so intriguing. This writer sort of does do some of this and I recognise some of her emotions about it, and then some of her responses are completely new. I also lived near the last Asylum and it was famous in the area at the time and my grandmother was admitted to its smaller sister hospital for a time where I visited her. Not the most joyful experience, but I know when they were closing such hospitals I really was not sure that care in the community would work not because it was not a good idea, but because the support did not really seem to be there.  As someone who has struggled with mental health quite a bit it is a relief to realise I have never been as "ill" as the writer and it is interesting to hear her ideas about the history of therapy and mental health and have them contextualized.

I got a goody bag from my colleague when she left, it has a number of old newspapers in it, so I am happily ploughing through accounts of Nelson Mandela and what was on over Christmas.  Having been very good for months, I immediately scoffed the Russian chocolate she bought me and the nibbles she left me.    We are due to have a party at school on Friday and apparently there will be a wedding party all this weekend at the Ashu, so I think all the weight I have lost will shortly have been regained.

A good teaching day.

I was about to write the ideal day apart from saying goodbye to my colleague, but another colleague has just rung to say they may be leaving!.

But let's work on the basis that they will not. But from a teaching point of view it has been good, because both in 2A and B the kids remembered enough of their alphabet to work out the tricky words for and from, get, go and got and when they were singing a new song I realised it has lots of other words that they have met before so things are beginning to make more sense to them, e.g. teddy bear, four.

Same with year one, the teacher was there which helped and the kids used their books to support their learning and to work out how to draw pictures of the words that I gave them so nice.

Feeling the blues.

Having my colleague stay with me, who told me I can access BBC News online and suddenly and finally after weeks getting the internet sorted at the Ashu, I have been able to see a bit of British TV.  I know it sounds silly but perhaps it will help me feel a little less lonely here.

Loneliness is a funny thing, I get it in the UK, a lot, here I get it even more..Here I have met such kindness, made nice friends, have a good life, but still the loneliness is intense, sometimes being able to phone home means I miss people so much, sometimes it makes a lot of difference. Yesterday it was my step dad's 85 birthday, I waited in the restaurant as that was the only place till about 11 last night where I had the internet,  sadly when I finally got through the restaurant was busy and noisy with people,  so I could not hear people and then after a few minutes, the signal died for several hours.   So I was sad not to have been able to be with the rest of the family and him for a bit longer.

Anyway congrats to Chiwetel Ejiofor, I suspect that the BAFTAS may be the best he gets and even the BAFTAs did not give12 years a slave much, but it was lovely to be able to turn on my computer just now and see some of the footage, love to all the people I know at the ROH who were working last there last night.

Winter ride

My nag was a bit of a pain! But how lovely to get out horse riding today.

A really nice end to her time in Kyrgyzstan my colleague has had a chance to talk to lots of people and get out and about in the country.

natter natter

There has been a lot of nattering since my colleague got here, but partly because suddenly the Ashu has been full, of German ex pastors, one of the guides I know over for her birthday and a Valentine's night of pleasure, and now there is a women's conference and more visitors from Germany some of whom I have met before. But mostly it has been me and my colleague chatting, yesterday she suggested we go to Bishkek today so she can say farewell to our other colleagues so we set off at 8 this morning, had lunch together at our favourite Japanese, coffee and cake at another restaurant popped into a market, got my internet dongle topped up so I could write this and then were back in time for plov and great salad.

I was hoping whilst in Bishkek to get some proper advice on how to get a Kazakh visa with a view to trying to fly onto Delhi and meet Nathan, but even finding out where the embassy is, its opening times, seems problematic, I have a form, which is better than nothing, so it may be possible, but now getting back to Bishkek in order to submit the application  seems impossible - I had hoped to be able to ask my colleague to take my classes so I could get back up to Bishkek for a day looks unlikely as she really is off home and sooner than expected. we will all be sorry to see her go

Snippets.

I enjoyed a nice quiet day finally getting some printing done, had almost finished, but then of course things started going wrong with the printer and I had to get to class, so just dropped everything went to class, no students. Finally found them having lunch at 11.15. To my embarrasment I am saying Engliski and everyone bursts into Happy Birthday. They must have thought I was being very churlish, cos I just walked out again, thinking class hello Then thought twit, you knew it would be different this week, and that was really nice, but of course I had walked out by then.

So eventually I gathered the kids together and took class. One group really are not getting it, no signs of them reading, but the other group is really suddenly taking off. There is a little girl in this group, I was quite worried about her pre Christmas she is so quiet, and her paper work was behind. Then in the winter festival I realised how much she loves singing and dancing. This term i am revising a lot of the songs, and everytime she is up and dancing really putting her all in, and today she came up and asked in lovely clear English can I go to the toilet. True my mania for singing and dancing is a nightmare for the one kid who is really shy about himself, but her suddenly speaking with me like that blew me away.

On the way home I got a lift from the grandfather at Ashu, it was about 4 in the afternoon and very warm, his temperature guage showed it was -4 outside, when his son gave me a lift yesterday morning it was -22 outside.  Shows at -4 it can be very balmy, but if it was -22 at 9.30 and felt cold, can you imagine the temperature at 6.30 in the morning. !!!!. When I got in I found that the family had totally moved the lounge around, gone the wardrobe, gone my box with clothes in it, and in more carpets and even a TV, as extra members of the family are here, it suddenly as if I am in an home stay within a hotel.

My colleague who is thinking of leaving has been sent to Shabdan to work with me for a bit, so a sudden nice and unexpected outcome. I think she probably will still leave, but it will be lovely to have her company and benefit from her knowledge until she does.

Sad farewells.

The second death of someone famous,  that I have actually met,  in the last few days is very sad. Stuart Hall is someone I studied in my degree, he is such a significant academic (not long after the death of Jock YOung) and I was once very pleased to have met him once when out for  a meal with my Dad. The death of Roger Lloyd Pack was more personal as he used to be on the PPA of my son's school and I used to occasional see him at yoga.

Not a death, but it seeems that I am not the only English teacher struggling at times here, one of my colleagues, perhaps not surprisingly fed up living somewhere with no water, and maybe being a vegetarian in a meat eating culture, but someone who in every sense has embraced life here, may be heading home.   I wait to hear more.And it turns out one of the male staff has left whilst I have been away, he has workin Moscow, I will miss him as though we could not speak together we always said hi and I liked him and felt comfortable with him, so this apparently static place changes again

A long awaited week.

Got a lift to work which was useful. In theory I thought I was teaching till 4.30 today, but finished at 3.30. This is the week I have in theory been looking forward to, one because year zero and year one are off, so there is slightly less teaching and two as a result I wanted to get on with just practical things like making resources, but to be honest felt too tired today and had to catch up with schemes of work updates and marking instead.  Also no sign of our head, so no chance to have our long planned meeting for this term and colour printer still being repaired so limited what resources I want to make.

I realise that we have had snow for 4 months now, but compared with the floods, that seem to be bedevilling more and more of England I am very well off.

I have to laugh on Saturday, when because it was my birthday I was quite looking forward to eating with the family. I could hear everyone in the family eating next door, so thought they usually call me, so I waited, then when I came out they had finished and the owner's mum challenged me as to why I had not gone and eaten in the restaurant with the other guests. Maybe because I did not know that there were guests and that I have suddenly become a guest again rather than a family member. Luckily all I fancied was bread and jam so was just stayed in the family quarters instead, only eating as a guest in the evening and Sunday, now today I am having to be a family member again so I am waiting for everyone to eat, but again cos still not really right, really just want bread and jam and to go to bed.  Tomorrow there are guests, so again my status will change, more of the food merry go round, that is life here.

(I did have dinner with the family, but I do not know why, but again the owner's mum picking up a wodge of meat and trying to put it on my plate, just completely put me off - I am used to sharing a plate of food e.g plov, but that is just a touch too familiar.  Understandably as she is used to organising things here she keeps telling me how to do things such as locking doors or turning off lights, forgetting that I have lived here for several months and on my own at times.

My birthday walk.

Not fully functioning.

Neither me nor the internet have been fully functioning the last few days.  Either of us could go off again any second, but despite having felt like I was 159 the last few days, I am feeling happy to be 59.  It is Saturday  here, not Friday as stated on the blog.  I know compared with my fathers who will be 85 and 88 this year 59 is nothing, but it still feels amazing to have been on the earth this long, to have experienced so much history, to have experienced and thankfully forgotten many stupid and painful things done over the years but sadly not to be able to remember as clearly as I would like the many brilliant and astonishing things I have done.

Three days ago, suddenly throwing up in the middle of the night I was not so happy. The spectre of a doctor, next day, a very square woman, with a huge dollop of egg on her front chest, inspecting for what was probably last week's bout of sickness and not what has laid me out this week, was the soul entertainment the first day.  I slept, got two tantalizing minutes of a radio programme on teaching maths, then read bits of Conrad complaining about his health, till on Thursday he suddenly died. So he was right to complain.  But as compensation, the whole Ashu family is here at present, so I have been emerging from my room more and more to have more and more bits of food and it is very peaceful just sitting with everyone, they really enjoy laughing together.  On Friday we had some fresh trout from their fish farm, just what someone who is still feeling queasy needs, rather than their usual very fatty soups, which I usually loved, but could not stomach at present.  So I have told them I am celebrating my birthday today and they have all wished me a good day, so that is nice.

It seems strange to me, when I first got here, the matriach of the family seemed a lot older than me, but the truth is we are virtually the same generation, however, since her trip to America, she is dressing very trendily and I realise I have more wrinkles than she does.   But she has this large amazing family, whereas I have a small amazing family.  I told them on Thursday that we were the same generation and she immediately piped up, "Are you retired?", there was something about the way it came that made me pleased to be able to say in the UK we have to work till we are 66, but of course I am not really thrilled about it, especially when I feel as tired as I have this week, but it turns out several of my colleagues have been off ill too and they are all younger than me, so that is a relief, that it is not just me.   It is perhaps connected to the weather, it has been down to -30 at night and apparently my school has been closed this week, and I have felt cold at night. But I think it is probably still better than in all the rain that has been falling in the UK.

If I can get the internet to work long enough I will load pictures from my short birthday walk.

me resisting making angels in the snow but look how deep my footsteps are.

A cosy evening.

Very tired at school today, I only do three lessons on Tuesday and usually stay and work after, but today just came home, enjoying some sunshine at last, but still cold and just wanted to rest on return. Internet off most of the time and skype so no chance to catch up with the news or friends and family. Got up about 7 and have been sitting and chatting with the owners wife and playing with her son ever since, the best part of life here, having just a nice cosy evening in the warm.

Mixed Blessings.

I did not sleep well this weekend, I think it is having so many people in the building suddenly and even less pattern that usual. This morning as I nipped into the kitchen, hoping not to disturb anyone there was grandma and the baby and she tried to get me all organised, when I just wanted a lemon and when I came back for breakfast she insisted on learning some English - definitely not what I want.

But this evening when I came back, her daughter in law was the only person around, she  speaks a bit of English so we talked a bit, then I rested, I thought I know let's be bold come out of my room half an hour before dinner and join everyone, in the lounge area - which I did. It turned out that they had already eaten, and were now watching pictures of their wedding. So that was a nice way to spend an hour or so.  Then I just grabbed what food I wanted, from the meal, their daughter in law had prepared. Apparently the whole family is here for a fortnight.

 It is still very cold here, no sun to lighten the day, my head did not know what had hit it, if felt so frozen at times, even with all my clothes on, thermals, warm winter trousers, muffler and hat (both found at school I am pleased to say)

A bit of a non day.

I actually got up earlier than originally planned today as I thought it would give me a chance to chat to the Chinese (Taiwanese and Korean) guests who arrived yesterday, for Chinese New Year.  They live in Bishkek where they work as teachers, so speak Russian, but also speak great English.  However,   I was too early at 9, but when I went to lunch there was no sign of them either. Perhaps they left early as the weather is still bad.    So I resumed my plan of just having a quiet day still recovering, so have been reading more Conrad, who really struggled to write and editing the last winter festival video. For some reason the movie file is not working properly, though so I am not sure whether to upload it and I feel sad that so little of the English contribution is there, e.g. no dance or song. And the puppet play that is there fell apart for the  the kids are wearing costumes for another show, and they forgot their words.  (an hour spent trying to upload the video, also came to nothing.) Skype and the internet have been down most of the day, my computer keeps freezing and I seem to have another cold coming. So not completely abortive, but not exactly an exiting day. either.


Feb 8th spent another hour not uploading video. will try again.