Friendly fire?

I had an extremely useful day today, but I have just had an extremely unpleasant evening.

Pleasant day:new Kyrgyz colleague came down to see school get a flavour of issues there and to help me smooth things over re how to manage my affairs at the Ashu. Great.

Then my colleague who recruited me phoned. He has now left the Foundation, but has remained a friend and supporter trying to help us get things resolved so that everything works better for me and my other colleague and the Foundation and the students. However he spent the evening over several calls having a go at me, for the term he used at the end was an exceptionalist.  He explained before I put the phone down on him for the third time that was a soviet term for someone who did not support the grievances of others. He seemed to think that I should put into the public domain some of the problems we had been having and that I should keep him informed about this - which I was not entirely comfortable with.   So I am putting this in the public domain instead.  I still have real concerns about a lot of things, but I have as many concerns about the way a lot of educational organisations are run in the UK too.  I think that on one level the Foundation is trying to sort things, but given for example my poor colleague is still on a lilo they have a very long way to go.  If that makes me an exceptionalist then I am, but I have taken exception to being accused of that.

Shaslike on the rocks

One of the things I was told to try in Osh was the Shaslike, like Turkish kebabs.  I saw lots of them being made, and seeing people sitting out in areas that looked distinctly unhygienic reminded me of eating something similar and very tasty in Senegal   but I landed up eating cake from the Turkish semit shop instead.(All former weight lose probably made up on one week's access to cake)    However, last night having found that there were tourists in The Ashu I had dinner there, but was a bit surprised when told something that seemed to suggest I was not to receive all the courses.  Sitting muttering to myself over this, both the relief that I would not receive 4 courses that I would nevertheless feel obliged to consumer on account of their tastiness and the justice of this from the point of view of saving the Foundation money, I nevertheless also felt sadness because I was now clearly being treated differently to the other guests suddenly.    But as I left the restaurant I spotted the owner and his fishing mate hunched over hot coals on some raised bricks.  Immediately I was invited to join them eating Shaslike.  I went in search of but failed to find my vodka to make a contribution (my trunk is so full of belongings I cannot find anything) and headed back to the fire, where we sat and consumed the most wonderful meat and vodka under the stars.  So very yummy and a good reminder of all that is best here and perhaps why I had been stopped from over indulging earlier.

Today the internet worked briefly as 6 am but has now stopped again and so this is being written on the dongle which is also only working sporadically, and the power cable for my computer keeps failing and we have had a power cut but it is a beautiful hot and sunny day so I have abandoned trying to work, as I need the net or power for that, and have started reading another excellent book provided by my former colleague: called Eastern Aproaches by Fitroy Maclean. it is a depressing account of Soviet Russia in the 30's but also a fascinating account of what places like Kyrgyzstan and Kakhstan were like then. Made me wish I had got to Kazakhstan in fact. Some things very different now (freedom) some very similar (mud, vodka, food, traditional festival clothing, wonderful apples).

Everyone in the village seems busy today tidying up their plots(except for removing the actual rubbish) ready I guess for planting  and they are burning this garden rubbish which is mainly stubble and garden cuttings. Again I wonder whether this is the right thing to do whether the soil would benefit more from the stubble etc being turned into compost. But I am not a good enough gardener or well informed enough environmentalist to know. So can anyone out there tell me should things like stubble be burned or turned into compost? Also (is it just reading about the show trials of Bukharin et al that makes me so suspicious) I am just wondering where the truck load of debris from the re-building has fetched up. I know that the Ashu does seem to have a system for its rubbish disposal, but quite what it is that I do not know.

Back to the Ashu but still no wifi, maybe a first world problem in a third world location, but the locals use it lots too as some have smart phones unlike me.

Back to the country after a lovely break, but hopes that this will mean greater access to the net currently dashed. However I had a lovely second day in Osh mainly winding my way through the huge huge market, some of it pretty desolate and burned some lively and interesting.  I also happily just sat and watched the world go by it was so warm. Then the flight back which was fine.  I was denied my window seat for a second time which is why I do not have shots of the spectacular mountain view below, but definitely a reason to take the plane.  I then came back to Bishkek which now seems  very familiar for the farewell party of one of my American friends, and now after a last lovely visit to the cafe this very sunny morning (Bishkek is a very nice comfortable place to live) back to the realities of work, but without proper acess to the net lots of the things I want to do on hold still.  However, the valley has hints of green and there are more animals up the hill and the work extending the Ashu has progressed enormously whilst I have been away. The grounds have been tidied too, so it looks nice.

I still do not know if I will stay, things re finding work back home very difficult I know, but without access to the net and family and the extra income that would make possible things here maybe a bit too challenging too. Lovely though much of it is.

Proper tourist stuff.

I had a quick chat with my host this morning, which made me decide that pottering round Osh and not hurtling off to walnut forests was a better agenda for this visit. It is not a great tourist hub, but actually is quite a nice lively place.  This town was the hub of ethnic violence in the past and I had expected a town that seems more impoverished and conservative. Although there more young women are in Islamic head wear here than in Bishkek, most people are very fashionable whatever they are wearing. The whole vibe reminded me of Turkey, wide avenues, lots of nice parks and families out in the park just relaxing and enjoying the warmer evening.

There is however, one major tourist attraction here. Suleyman Mountain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulayman_Mountain

Osh is in a wide flat valley, today I could not get any sense of what the country around here is like, but then suddenly emerging out of the valley is this mountain. I guess it is a bit like Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh. Luckily climbing it was not too bad. Reminded me of my trek up to the church in Marseille, but no lovely cafe at the top, but I had sensibly had a coffee before I went up the mountain. Sadly lots of rubbish and the only petroglyphs I saw were modern ones as visitors had scrawled their details, but I was still glad to have treked up and looked down over the town. Legs in agony now and had to crash out this afternoon, but happily pottered about this evening and had a meal out. There are lots of green parks here and if they could only be cleaned up a bit Osh could be a very nice town.

The scourge of Kyrgyz taxi drivers

I have been using my dongle for the last few days so I have only dropped in on the computer. In theory I should be on wifi as my hotel in Osh has it, but yes I am still on the dongle.  But for tonight it is fine. It has taken longer to get here than expected, the buses that in theory run to the airport I could not get them to understand when I asked airport, so I got off in case they did not really go there. Even the taxi driver said airport as if I had asked for something strange and despite my flapping arms etc, was very dubious as to whether he was taking me to the right place. Then when we got there he did not have the change so had to sit whilst I scrabbled round in my bag, in the end rather than taking my £1 coin he took bits and pieces but it was either than or I pay 200 coms over the odd. The taxi here has also just regretted picking up this English person declaring it was plougher or something like that terrible that I could not speak Kyrgyz so in the end I explain that was the whole point that I could not speak so that the children had to speak English, but it is a nightmare when trying to get about being so pathetic at either Kyrgyz or Russian despite having been here 7 months.

We had a long works meeting on Tuesday and definitely the key person there was a 25 year old Kyrgyz lad with two degrees, who lived for a year when he was 16 in the States and knew my part of Kentish Town from when he lived there whilst doing his Masters at the Uni of London. He is the new International Relations including bloody minded English teachers at the Foundation. He is very very good at translating. Us remaining two teachers had a huge list of things we wanted to discuss to understand both what has happened and why this year and what next year might be like. We did discuss a lot and had even more discussion over a lovely meal, but some key players were missing and the director disappeared after lunch somewhat truncating the discussion.

Luckily he was also able to help me find a dentist when my healthy snack of dried strawberries aslo turned out to contain a cherry pip or two on which to crack my tooth. So far I have been to dentists in Senegal, Turkey and now Kyrgyzstan, and so far so good. But clearly my teeth do not travel well.

Anyway Osh looks bigger than expected, not sure what I will do here, try and go out to the largest Walnut forest in the world or just climb the local mountain, I will decide tomorrow. But for now bed.

I belong, then I so do not belong.

Yesterday more Norooz celebrations, both in the village - another picnicy get together and more dancing which was nice as I was greeted so warmly and as a local, then more horse riding battles at the Hippodrome. Sadly the day was soured by two requests for money - which has never happened here before and given that I am just earning a local "salary" but unlike the locals do not have land, cows, or horses, their insult was badly targetted. Then to Bishkek for their "tawdry" events in the square, which had obviously gone on all day which is amazing really, in a country of only 5 million half seemed to be on stage at some point in the day and even though I did not arrive till about 6.30 in the evening lots of people were out still enjoying themselves and a couple of the dance numbers were good and one of the pop acts - a bit like a BBC road show but much much longer (i watched some of the day time footage later on TV) And more dance today. I had a 3rd row seat which was great, I was able to see faces everything. for a ballet I have never heard of before, but which I really enjoyed called http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountain_of_Bakhchisarai_(ballet).  However so close up I spotted a bottom that did not seem to belong to a dancer, his thin legs did not seem capable of dance moves and I have not idea what was going on but if he was a dancer he had no idea of the steps so was having to follow the others and kept buggering it up. The look on his partner's face as he messed up the last bit was a real picture. Sadly I forgot my camera otherwise I would have captured it for posterity. He played characters after that on stage, and apart from that the standard of the production was good but it is funny how things can be so bad in a production.  Here because there is no room at the Ashu it is so popular this Norooz weekend.

Norooz Bilimkana style.

I either have a hang over or I am suffering from post end of term show exhaustion. Despite the two glasses of vodka afterwards I suspect it is more the stress of getting the kids all through their shows. I arrived nice and early this morning thinking I had to blow up 20 balloons before 10.  When my head said that the festivities were due to start at 1, I had a coffee finished the balloons fought of the many,many many requests for balloons from the kids and ignored everyone till about 12.30 to write my end of month reports so that was pretty good. I had almost finished them when called to have photos so I got back into the national dress I wore yesterday much to the delight of the kids.  I quite liked flouncing around in it too, so that was nice. The gym had been decorated by the year 1 teacher who has a good eye and lovely style in person, so it was mix of traditional carpets and the spring things she had been making back in February. They are intricate origami models, what their significance is to spring I do not know but they formed the back drop.

Today's event was mainly music. I set up this computer half an hour before kick off so that I could play the year one tune of The Balloon Song, they knew the colours and chorus rather than the words so hoped that the music would disguise a lot. Practicing the song with balloons has turned out to be quite a challenge as the kids just got so hooked on whether they had a balloon or not I had to give up the lesson, so perhaps I should have done it with older kids. When I checked back in the room just before kick off the computer had died. So I set it up elsewhere in case the plug used was faulty. I got one of my students to oversee it and to press the on button when it started.

Meanwhile I had the chance to go around and say some hellos. People are more famliar to me and they are more used to me too so it felt very friendly we also had a visitor just drop in by chance from the UK via Vancouver where she has lived most of her lift. She deals in the lovely wall hangings (Shardik) so comes over quite often.

Then we kicked off with the year one children all playing Komuz, then singing the balloon song.  The computer had accidentally started during the Head's welcome so had worked two minutes earlier but of course refused to work and all the balloons had become tangled so that was a bit disruptive so we had to sing without music, I hope that the effect was sweet if not fantastic.  Year two played the Komuz well and then were absolutely fantastic singing the four songs I had given them to learn. I was very proud. The only downside because the two classes performed together which was a good idea that I found out about this morning fitting them all in to do the dancing was difficult and in the end song they were supposed to be pointing at their families but were in a circle and pointing at each other!  But by far their best performance, and they were really responsible about it. For reasons best known to herself, whilst trying to video the year zero teacher kept asking whether her children were performing their song with me next, quite when else they would perform it I did not know as that was the scheme set out quite well this morning. So they did Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush and were very sweet with it.  There followed some more dancing by the older children including a rendition of the dance I danced yesterday at the staff get together, more of which later, and some great komuz and singing by music and dance teachers, before all the farewells were said.

I was honoured that the owners mum with whom as some of you will know I have a slightly challenging relationship was very kind, had her photo taken with me so that was really nice.  Then when her son arrived he was so chuffed to see my in my national dress he gave me a big hug and a kiss. He later dispensed kisses and hugs to all the ladies.  Men here kiss and hug a lot too, it can get quite emotional and really nice and chilled. Just on the cheek, nothing inappropriate, but just very lovely.  (He is married to a very nice woman, who I am hope I can call a friend) We all had a light tea, raised a glass or two and I pottered back to here to bed just to recover.

I hope so spend some of the holidays putting the video together of our festivities so only upload a short extract now. However as this computer is definitely beginning to give up the ghost hope I will manage.

Why I love Kyrgystan.

I had just the best time yesterday. Our  party, turned out to be a big event, that sort of combined Kyrgyzstan has got talent with an office party.  It even ended with one young man declaring over and over, Ellie I love you and rushing up and giving me a kiss on the cheek.  We both looked very sheepish this morning greeting each other and he has been ribbed, so the others obviously understood, but I think his love was not so much physical - I am old enough to be his mum, but cos he loved that I joined in in national costume, a dance, then singing and just having a great time. I will try and put some video pictures up, but think it is one of those events where you have to be there to really enjoy it and I will try and describe it in more detail but right now should be getting on blowing up balloons for the kids party

We got to the school where the event was being held about 12.  I thought we were going to a school in Shabdan but it turned out to be one near to the Ashu which was handy as in the morning I had popped into the dance rehearsal for the event. Of course I could not resist joining in. It was evident I could do the dance just about so a national costume was found for me, and being so close to the Ashu and my head's home I was able to pop back to the Ashu and get my hat and to her house for the sort of extended waistcoat made out of velvet (that reminds me of an outfit my friend got shortly after marrying her Turkish boyfriend.) It was nice to see where she lived. A nice traditional house, with lots of carpets on the wall, was what I briefly saw. 

Then it was back to the fesitivities. It was the sort of inter Chon Kemin schools Norooz get together. There were about 10 tables round the room each with a sort of picnic lunch on it provided by the each school. So we were able to eat through out the proceedings. We even had tea, I am not sure where but I am guessing outside, there was hot water in constant supply so every now and then someone went and filled the kettle and we were able to have fresh tea. Whilst everyone munched each school took it in turns to present something, maybe a song, or just a welcome. Some people had clearly spent ages preparing having skits, or perfecting their dances. We just did a brief poem, a welcome in Kyrgyz from me and a welcome from the head and a couple of songs.  In round two we got up and danced including me. I realised as the only foreigner I was really being watched but think I got away with it. Also people were just pleased so see me have a go. I found it very amusing when a young man, dressed in a very conventional suit, looking every bit like an English headmaster suddenly burst into a pop number. It turned out that he was one of our teacher's sons. But everyone seemed to be like that, they just had the spirit of performing. Kyrgyz music can be lovely as exampled by my colleagues, other times it sounds like caterwauling.  So on this basis I decided that although when I had offered to sing a song, I had assumed about 20 people round a table and not an whole room full, that even if I was crap I would be no worse than the worse heard so far and as I was singing a little bit from Happy (Phareell Williams), not easy I discovered with no rehearsal and no backing track -I just grabbed it off my desk en route to the event, as I have been teaching it to the after school classes, I just had to be happy and tried to keep calm as I walked round the whole hall calling on each table to be happy. Boy did I down the vodka after that.  There were some great moments when the guys dressed as women, but I especially loved the male dance, one guy I will try and upload that video just cracked me up. I think it is how man dance here, but he really went for it. But from my point of view the best bit was when most of the festivities were over we had a real get up and dance and everyone just enjoyed themselves. A bit like in Senegal people dance in a circle and people come into the middle for a bit and dance with someone, can be a man or a woman, and then off again.  Young old, fat, does not matter, just everyone up and enjoying themselves.  It was incredibly hot outside the sun streaming in I looked like a ripe tomato, but only exhaustion stopped me. At the end whilst people were clearing up there was a bit more music and as I know that my colleagues work in perfect harmony on things like that, whilst I am standing there like an idiot so I figured go dance some more and this time I got to dance with the guy who I had really enjoyed watching before. He was very tall taller than me and it made me really stand tall and we just really went for it, in fact later we had a second dance, and I think two tall people just totally relaxed totally enjoying themselves, it was so much fun, not quite as romantic as the dance described in Waiting in the book version of Mush, Gush and Trash as there was definitely no touching but had something of the same connectivity.  It was just a great day. 

Then in the evening I sat with the family and checked over some translations into English that they have done for the web site. 

Pochimo? And parties!

I got to work late today, just no energy for it. So was pleased when I arrived when my Head suggested coming with her and year 0 to a little exhibition at another school.  I mentioned that I looked a mess as I had not brushed my hair and the kids started singing This is the way I brush my hair, brush my hair, so that was funny.  We were only gone half an hour but it was fun to do something different.   The kids really enjoyed it, their little faces, lit up. And it was nice for me to be able to say hello to the Kruski kids who come from this school to class. I found I was still the object of interest despite having lived here so long, so me saying hello to some of them seems to have been okay in terms of street cred.

The exhibition itself was also

of interest.Here me and my English colleagues have found some challenging attitudes to disabilities. True in the UK sadly many people with disabilities find themselves the victims of crime and deceit from what I can tell in the press by so called healthy/normal people and I have recently found out from someone who works in the sector that a lot of children in special schools are victims of abuse at home, that social services are informed about it, but then do nothing because there is no where else for these children to live. So we are a long way from being an integrated society with positive attitudes towards disabilities, but we are infinitely more integrated and positive than when I was growing up say.  Kygyzstan is only just beginning to try and develop more positive approaches to people with disabilities, but according to the person I know who works in a Bishkek orphanage many children left in orphanages are left there because of a disability and the assumption is that they will not achieve anything so they are sort of just left to rot.  So I am pleased so say that by contrast I have come across some very positive models say within the family at The Ashu and at the school where difference has been very well tolerated by the parents and furthermore they have had faith that their child will survive and flourish, which is why they have sent them to the school  However, the exhibition took such positive attributes even further because it was work  by a little girl who is very sick and she has produced this exhibition of Plasticine models (something that a lot of the kids seem to do here)  to help bring in funds to help support her treatment.   Thus combining a great creative and dynamic solution to her own problem which is a good model here, where a lot of people seem to lack faith in their entrepreneurial ability,  and providing a positive model re ill health and disability.

So after that me moaning will seem all the more stupid But почему? почему? Something like Pochimo It is a great sounding word. Why, Why is what I think sometimes here, in fact often here. Why clean my room when you know I have to move out as there is no room for me on Friday?  Why clean the toilet and take out the toilet paper that I have had to search all over the hotel for as no one gives me any? Why do you always tidy up the dirty clothes I have deliberately separated from the clean ones? Dirty clothes it is getting harder and harder to clean as I have little access to the washing machine or iron.  Why clean my room but leave all the little flies that I have been unable to clean away as some time ago you removed the cloth I had bought to help keep my room clean and I do not want to use the toilet paper as it is so hard to come by.   Why take away the nice warm cover on my bed, when it is still so cold at night and every time you take it away it somehow reappears on my bed as soon as I can find one to filch. So почему?

Tomorrow we have it turns out yet another party, this time with the school which held the exhibition so I briefly helped prepare a bit of the food we are taking and then left the rest of the staff to it.  Others were practicing their party pieces so I am just going to check the lyrics to "What shall we do with the drunken sailor" as that seems so appropriate should I be called upon to sing.  So party tomorrow, on Thursday it is the last day of term so the kids will do their party pieces all day and we will probably have a meal together after and then Friday more partying in the village. I have also just been invited to a farewell party in Bishkek, (losing yet another friend) so I will try and get that. So for every почему? A glass of vodka to quell my puzzled mind.

A valuable commodity?

I have only just recovered from IWD but yet another holiday is on the way and this is a biggee. I was actually looking forward to celebrating Nooruz or the new year in the village, I think we will have several horse events for example at the hippodrome and singing and more beshbarmak, but apparently everyone wants to attend the event so there is no room at the Ashu for me so I am hoping  I can find somewhere to stay in Bishkek. I asked my students what they will do for Noruuz, and they said it was to do with being musulmen, but none of them are planning to go to the Mosque.  So it will be interesting to see if I can to see anything special.

As I never get to film the children doing their holiday performances I attach an extract from their rehearsals today.

I felt very tired today and down, demoralised really by some of the things going on here. My poor colleague in Talas, her host family wanted to move, so she was literally picked up taken to a house dumped there and left to cope with a new family none of whom spoke English and for a bed, just a lilo, not ideal. Given that one English staff member has left as a result of the Foundation not really delivering on its promises you would have thought they would make more effort. Things like that also contributed to the departure of the person who recruited us. Given what an expensive commodity we are you might have thought a bit more care and attention would be given.  I am still mad that having arranged for my flight home as early as possible to make it nice and cheap for the Foundation and having been told it had been booked the ticket when it arrived was for Gatwick rather than Stansted which is on my doorstep. So no chance of the family being able to meet and greet me easily and given I will have two large suitcases I have had to tell a very cash strapped Foundation (for example no money for the last two months to repair our colour printer) that they will now have to spend up to £100 for my taxi home.

However, I have just spoken with Nathan who was about to tuck into a pizza despite being in India and he is very relaxed and having a good time with Mooji and working in the ashram.  So that is good.

A crime in the Crimea?

Here all is quiet, but what is happening in the Crimea, all here in Kyrgyzstan listen with great interest.

Down comes the fog,

Yesterday it was unusually cloudy and foggy at the end of day and last night we had more snow and we are still in the cloud now, so a good excuse just to have a nice quiet day reading. The German guests have gone (another ngo), only the owner seems to be here so for the moment it feels blissfully quiet. When it is like this I feel I can potter to the kitchen sit there a while and feel at home.

One of the first books I read whilst here was called the Last Runaway or something like that about an English woman moving to America and finding herself involved in the underground railway to help slaves escape. Whilst back in the UK, I watched 12 years a slave, then listened to some of the adaptation on the radio. I am now reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  It is a Russian version that I found in the school, but is English (I wish, could you imagine if I could read it in Russian) some of the words are so time and place specific that I do not know what they mean.  But it is a very good book.  I had a film of it when Nathan was little reading it though I can see it is a very powerful exploration of America during the time of slavery.   So a slight theme in my reading.  I think that the description of leaving England and heading for very rural America in the first book and surviving winter there has parallels to life here.

At school for once the class 1 Kruski were not too bad, I realise part of the problem is the acoustics in the room, I helped by being quiet and resolute rather than getting cross when they were really annoying,but actually they worked well yesterday. The two girls helped again with year zero which was nice. I do not usually teach year zero on Fridays, but wanted them to have the lesson they missed on Monday - an hour a week is not much for them, but to my delight one of the boys who has not up to now wanted to speak in English suddenly piped up and asked the girls their names in perfect English. Quite a lot of them seem to know their colours too and their clothes words so they are suddenly really progressing and they really listened to when I told them the Elmer story. When I first camein they were doing a national dance, really well and it shows me how much ability they have when I see them working like that and that I am right to try and progress them a bit quicker. Meanwhile with year 1 on Fridays I have them for little individual sessions so I brought a couple in, they all had to play a little game to identify the right number, 15, 16, 16, 18, or 19. Then they had to see if they could spot patterns e.g. hop, mop, top and most of them did in the end, but the best bit was putting the nose on the clown. When I went to Bishkek recently I left their class teacher an activity to do, on a big circle,one side do a sad face, the other side a happy face (trying to get these two words to stick - they can do the gestures, but forget the words) . So when I got back I had all these beautiful pictures.  Yesterday I got them to write the words happy and sad on the right picture, then they got to choose a fluffy nose and stick it on the happy face, the pictures look great.  Then after school I took the cuzul gyp, (red thread) that I bought and was about to start threading the faces onto when the 16/17 year kruski class who had told me the word cuzul gyp spotted me and again in the correct English asked what I was doing.  LUckily they could see otherwise how would I say, I am threading happy and sad clown faces onto the cotton and have them understand, and bless them a number of them helped me, which was just as well as I kept getting the thread in a knot. The faces are now hung up in the corridor so I hope the kids will be pleased when they come in on Monday. We will have the big Norooz event at the end of next week the end of term three so I want lots of their work up.

So things feel not too bad, but when I rang to find out why I had the wrong plane ticket I was told by the travel agents that my employers had sanctioned it and it is non refundable. GRRRR if that is the case. My employers seem to do this just make decisions without consultation. Given that the new plane goes to Gatwick instead of STansted and is more expensive, I really want to know why!  I also feel a bit frustrated that at present we cannot make more of the opportunity we have here with Bilimkana I feel it has so much more potential to do things like running special events at the school e.g. youth clubs etc. I am hoping that all this will come up for discussion next week when I finally get to sit down with my colleagues and discuss how this year has gone.  Having looked up what other TEFL work is out there it is a very mixed picture. A lot of places e.g.Indonesia will not employ me, as I am too old, and a lot of places expect staff to teach for 30 hours a week and prepare I am not sure I could have done that when I was younger, but the amount of energy this type of teaching requires, no way so while things are not perfect here there is still a lot to be said for it.

Meanwhile Nathan is still off in India and it will be interesting to see if that has affected his plans and if so what that might also mean re next year.

The times they are a changin'!

My ticket has arrived, but not the one I arranged when I went to Bishkek!

I still do not know what is happening next September but the hope is that several relevant parties can sit and discuss everything, the good the bad and the ugly and that might help me and the one remaining English colleague decide whether we are staying on.

Meanwhile all is changing at The Ashu, it is expanding. Now if they could only build a nice little room for me with access to a self contained kitchen that might be an incentive to stay.

Phase one expand the restaurant.  (The efficient way that they work here, shows me that Kyrgyz people and organistions can be very well run, the Foundation is still working on that, but when I think of going back to the UK I know how disastrous some of those jobs were in terms of how they were organised)

The countryside is also changing as the snow melts.

2 women in the kitchen, 2 strangers at the school and 2 helpers in class.

Last night after our vodka and supper at school I quickly helped wash up a bit before the bus home. The cook, acknowledged this with a nice smile and a nod of the head as I left.

Today I tried to wash up the breakfast plates and was told how to use a sponge and washing up liquid. I pointed out that we do wash up in English as both of us were talking in our own language I hope she did not understand my comment, but I certainly got her point.

But I must admit as I washed up at the school I remembered my dad's words about how wasteful I was running the hot water to use as a rinser and I had one boyfriend who would wash his cup before accepting a drink at my house and there is one person's home in the UK where I wash up in fear of the criticism for how I do it!  So it is not just here but it took the shine of this morning.

I invite all ex tenants to lob in complaints about the many stupid things I have said to them whilst they have lived in my house. I now understand why my tenants were so happy when I went to Senegal.

By the time I got home however, today it was how lovely Kyrgyzstan is, it was so warm and sunny I just sat out for half an hour and just relaxed. I guessed we had tourists in as during one class today I suddenly spotted a very handsome European looking man go past and then a stunning woman with blond hair. We are not on the main road and the window was not near the road, so I guessed that they were tourists at the Ashu having a nosy, but no sign of them at the Ashu tonight, but other people are in, so I am feeling very full of yummy food.

I had a clever idea today. I wanted to teach the year zero kids some maths/how many and I have 10 green bottles (the habit of throwing everything onto the street has some uses) so wanted each of them to try and knock them down and see how many they got. Having done this once before it ended in the usual scrabble for the ball, while their teacher sat at her desk ignoring the situation, but grabbing two of the girls who had arrived early for their after school class solved the problem. With three of us it was just about manageable and then they helped me get all the kids to colour in a bit elephant, picture of Elmer.  (Took me back to Senegal as I did the same thing there) One little boy was sat their cuddling two girls through much of the lesson, so he was really enjoying my strategy for trying to cut down fights of having boy, girl, boy.  The kids really enjoyed the class and they are better at their colours some of them than year one. But I had to chuckle as at the end the two helpers were exhausted and commented on how noisy the 6 year olds were. These two girls come from my dreaded class one, who are so noisy I HATE TEACHING THEM.   I then had to teach the two girls and the rest of their class alongside another class today as my Head was in Bishkek,so we had four older students and the group of 10 year olds. One of the colleagues who has left memorably told the older students to Shut Up when I taught their class she found them so noisy, yet this class found the 10 year olds so noisy that they recalled this bit of language instruction and put it to good use!  So they all find each other noisy but do not actually shut up and listen to each other.  No wonder I feel like I have been physically assaulted by the end of the day, but the sun at the end and the nice walk home somehow made it all okay. That plus the fact that I managed to go into the local shop looking for some Guzel Gyp or something like that and actually came out with some red thread, which was exactly what I wanted. Yippee.

Women and vodka.

For reasons unknown to me I have been unable to access the blog for the last few days. Google have not bothered to tell me that they have sorted it, but it would seem  that they have.

The last few days have been days of women and vodka, which as per usual has quite surprised me

Actually the first day was champagne rather than vodka, which I managed to avoid. My head and in I caught the 8 o clock bus to Kant, which means sugar, near Bishkek, where one of our main schools. The plan was  get there to discuss some issues about what has been happening in the school, book my flight home, which for some reason they wanted to do with a travel agent, rather than online, which would be cheaper and then head of to do presentations in a new school in Bishkek. I spent the evening before sorting out realia to take with me and a handout. I figured that the person we were due to met for discussions would be late and that I could hone the hand out at the school, which is exactly what happened. She arrived at 11 in time to head for the travel agent, and suggested we discuss things in the car, so I said that it was not the appropriate place for such an important discussion. She then asked if I wanted to fly out later as we were having a summer school. Rumours about a summer school started circulating after I had already arranged for work in June.  They were sort of confirmed by the architect coming round to the school and apparently checking something for the summer school but nothing formal has been said or discussed, so now to ask me when sort of mentally going home on the 26th or 28th well I just said no. No you have to inform people so that they can make decisions.  So they went and booked my ticket and we headed to the new school Once we got there things began to make a bit more sense. At the opening of the school in Talas there was a woman who runs her own school in Bishkek, she reminded me of an Irish friend of mine, so when I saw her standing outside the new school I realised this is her school and the plan is that she will com ein with us. It was a nice school, all the people listening except one man, were women, they asked nice questions. We had a brilliant meal after, who knew that mashed potatoes and meat balls could just be so heavenly, but the potatoes here can be fabuous, and I was chatting to two of the women, both of whom said I need to find a man, (for some reason people are always saying this to me, I usually point out given that men die here so early, and show no interest in me that is highly unlikely.) They were very nice though and it was fun to be with me them so it is nice to think that they will be joining the Foundation. I just hope that the Foundation will deliver So that was day one.

Day two my head said as it was international women's day we were having a party. Normal stuff, nice salads, something hot, and everyone giving speeches, that is everyone but the women, which kind of pissed me off. We women had done the toasts on veterans day, but I wanted to give a toast to my fellow women.  Friday night I headed back to the Ashu and saw the son, who is getting married up in the restaurant. My understanding was that he was having another party on Saturday so I only went to the restaurant to say hello To my surprise the room was full, the party was in fact on Friday.  So far this is definitely the best party I have been to, as everyone really seemed to be enjoying themselves, this is partly the vodka and everyone specifying, but they seemed more relaxed and in the break between courses the women and a few men went down tot he disco and we all had a competitive dance. I have danced a polka with a woman who looked a tad older than me, she looked wonderful, like my mother did in the 50's or that sort of feel and she was much more sprightly on her feet than I am.  I just wished we could have danced for longer But it made for a real change and made me feel I had bonded more.  There was an accordion player to accompany the women who sang.

Saturday was a day of rest, I got to show the family who stayed over night, family who have two young boys 5 and about 2, both of whom speak some English, The Snowman, and it was really lovely seeing how capitavated they were by it.  To my surprise next morning by the day I emerged for lunch at one they had already left for Bishkj and rather than finding tourists tucking in to dinner, I found a whole bunch of village women, mostly I guess about my age and above all having beshbarkmak and vodka.One of their number was my head. I declined at first to join them, just asking for bread and jam as there did not seem to be any tourists after all, then I joined the women for a glass or two. And because my head was there it was very nice, maybe vodka fueled and I only stayed till just after two when the tourists turned up, but it did feel nice.  I had a brief walk and to my suprise my head was wondering around with one of the woman and both of them were humorously drunk so they came back in for a while.  My head exxplained that as she had had guests the day before she then had to ask all her neighbours to celebrate, it seemed unlikely and she then said that they would meet insomeone ='s house on Monday our day off for IWD. I wondered if as a result I would be dragged somewhere Monday instea I had a tedious day just doing some online training for one of the people I hope to work for on my return.

Today however, I felt quite jaundiced by the end of the day, year 2b's teacher is a way and they have been almost uncontrollable as a result for the last week so noisy it is like being assaulted. Anyway luckily year one were lovely, they are defnitely beginning to read things like, big, dig, fig.  And I gave each of htem a balloon, (thank you departing colleague for bequeathing them) to help with their colours and because we are doing something called The Balloon Song (thank you remaining colleague for suggesting it) for Norooz the spring festival which will take place on the21st.  Understanably they were excited but not impossibly so.  I was then trying but failing to do some printing in the computer room, when my head, who did not seem to have any hangover, deposited me in her room to print, when I came out who was there but the bunch of women I had met on Sunday, yes this time they were having the party at the school. Actually again it was really nice to have them come round and take an interest, it also meant I had one of our cooks lovely cakes and meals tonight so feeling better after a rather meat filled weekend and I stuck to just half a glass of vodka tonight, so that was a relief too. For some reason theheating is off so I have come to bed with a nice hot water bottle and will just relax now having written this.

Very drained.

Feeling very drained as my back continues to give grief. I had been really worried before coming here about the cold and having back problems as a result so it is ironic that it is because it was getting warmer that partly caused the problem.  Unfortunately although in theory I do have some muscle rub with me it looks like the last time the staff cleaned my room, that was the one thing they had the courage to throw out.  Apart from that though I am feeling more positive about life here, the owner is thinking of redeveloping the house next door so I have been fantasisng that I can have my own room in it and I could almost picture myself pottering along here so some time.  Anyway tomorrow I have to go with my head to Bishkek to another school that might join the Bilimkana brand, so a long day is in prospect so I think an early night now is what is required.

Note to self.

Note to self, go to sleep on Oscar night, as teaching with no sleep, when other teachers are off and inspectors are in does not make for a good combination.

The year 0 are so smart, they understand so much and boy will they stand their ground. All the kids came together whilst their teacher was in the room then she let presumably to get feed back and two girls were so preoccupied painting their nails with white out that they would not join in and I just did not have the energy to bring the class together so I just thought sod it tell them to get their books out and just work individually with them whilst they are working with their books. Took most of the time to make sure that each child had the right book, and the two girls refused to hand over the white out, which I wanted so that I could take old names out and give to the new students, but at least I was able to go through the language with them, but it makes one wonder why one bothers to plan and prepare materials. .So a totally shitty lesson in some ways, so thank goodness I was not observed.

Meanwhile 12 years a slave both  met and more than met my expectations as I had predicted the supporting actress role Oscar, but not the big one.

Meanwhile Ukraine a touch more important locally.

Win some lose some.

It has taken 37 minutes to log into blogger. It is because I have two google email addresses and everytime I have to log in to the second one, everything else on google seems to go pear shape.

Today apart from a lovely skype chat has been slightly abortive, I got a very bad back about 11 and have sort of just staggered about and rested since which is a shame as it was a lovely day. I rushed up to the school as I had left my computer cable there and wanted to try and log into Mooji's live Satsang from India and see if I could see Nathan. I was accompanied by two New Zealand doctors who are now living in Kyrgyzstan and learning the language before commencing work here and they wanted to see the school. They are both retired back home and had a wealth of knowledge about practical rural matters  relating to Kyrgyzstan eg. some houses do not have a in door toilet because of the relationship to concepts of dirt and the practical problems of piping for areas which can freeze, so a tap always has to be left dripping to stop the stand pipes freezing up.   They were with a nice Dutch couple and their delightful 2 year old. I suspect, learning down holding his hand whilst not wearing enough warm clothing to look at the tractors in the yard with him was what set my back off, my fault for thinking oh it is the weekend, it is really sunny, it is March.  it would be nice for the first time in 4 months to wear my jeans rather than useful warm winter trousers.

After all that the signal here was not strong enough for me to get the broadcast, but lying about much of the afternoon I did give it a good try.

Prior to my back going it was a great weekend. I hurtled out of school on Friday, whilst waiting for the late, 4 pm bus, a car pulled up going to Bishkek and offering the journey for the same price so I accepted. Got to Bishkek about 6.15 for a 6.30 start and then unintentionally cheated a taxi out of most of the fare I gave him when he tried charging me too much - a case of him making the mistake of thinking I had understood him! If I had I would have told him where to go as it was I did the journey and was feeling a bit uncomfortable with his questions, the route and his idea of how nice it would be too work in the UK, so when he tried to overcharge me I just gave him the tiny amount I had in my hand and rushed off to meet my friends to go to a brilliant piano concert, Beethoven, Chopin, Tchaikovsky. All by a top notch Russian pianist. One of the people who went with us, kindly bought me the programme and I thought great I will be able to say his name properly, only to realise Saturday morning that the programme and all the pianists details had vanished. I spent the night at the youth hostel, not a great loo, but a nice bunk bed, where I chatted to the guy who seems to live there and next morning the second film director I have met since getting here. We actually had a good conversation about the Kyrgyz film industry and his plans for his film so I hope he makes it. One day maybe a Kyrgyz will be on the red carpet waiting for Oscar news.

After that I did some practical things like getting my second pair of broken glasses put in new frames but that turned out not to be possible with this pair, then met a friend for coffee. She is returning to the States soon after two and a half years here working in one of the orphanages, so she will be missed and then went and spent the afternoon with my now ex colleague the guy who recruited me, we had a really nice Turkish meal followed by coffee and cake before I headed back to the Ashu, where an Australian woman I have met before was with the aforementioned doctors so really a great weekend. Just a shame about the end of it.