A definite end to the apple project.

I have just got back from a very hot Bishkek,(partly cos I have too much winter clothing on)  as per usual got lost so in the end gave up and came back slightly earlier than expected. Did not bother to buy fruit in the market that I nevertheless stumbled upon which was quite nice and definitely worth a return visit as I have my own carefully preserved three boxes of apples don't I.  Except that none of the boxes are there!  Not sure why I bother to ask permission to do things and clearly label things only to find that there was no point. Suffice it to say both pissed off with myself for my inability to work out where I am in a grid city where the mountains are to the south and with whoever it is that just ignores the fact that someone living here has asked permission to do something for reasons that are designed to both benefit the guest house and me over winter.   I know that they were not my apples, wish they were, but...And yes I know it was nice of the family to give me permission to try these things in the first place and hopefully whoever found the boxes has in fact made good use of the contents.

Not the Dordoy Bazaar, despite the central sign,  which is supposed to be huge, but its smaller cousin.  

No red carpet but not a bad afternoon.

I am sitting in my Bishkek Guest House, very tired, so perhaps it is good that the TV does not work as I would probably sit and watch it longer than I should however, I often find I do the same with the internet, which does work so must try and be a bit disciplined. For some reason I have been sleeping very badly this week so really hope that coming away will be more relaxing.

Anyway my first visit to the cinema for ages and my first film here. All in Russian I guess with subtitles in Kyrgyz, but much of it sort of self explanatory. Having been told that it was going to be about Kyrgyz weddings and then that it was probably about bride kidnapping here, which apparently really does happen, it turned out to be about inspirational fairly young Kyrgyz success stories, inter cut with interviews with young students and absolutely stunning pictures of the country.   It started a bit late with an introduction in English by a Swiss guy as a Swiss organisation has supported the development of the film.   The cinema was packed with people who are in the film or friends and family members.  There were lots of pictures taken, but people were not as dressed up as I had anticipated, especially as many Bishkek residents really like nice and very fashionable clothes.I did however, see at least two people that I had met at Ashu.  Lots of people had bunches of flowers with them which presumably they were going to present to the hosts at the end, including my colleagues.  I had assumed they were going to make a day of it after, but apparently they planned to return to Chon Kemin when the film ended. As I wanted to catch my friend for her Thanksgiving do I planned to stay till about 4 and then get a taxi. I sat at the end of the row and checked that I could get out by the nearest exit. I also checked that the cinema was in the north and therefore the direction to head in at the end. About 20 to 4 my colleague stepped out so when she returned I decided to go out, but could I get out, no. I stood between two sets of doors, one back to the full cinema; the other in theory open for use in the pitch black,  rattling away at the door, but eventually had to give in and go back into the cinema then crouch down as I flitted past everyone and back up the other aisle and out.  So a complete failure in terms of subtle exit. However, I was very pleased with myself when I spotted a tram going back into town, which given I had been told that the cinema was north, seemed the right thing to do, however, when I got out, near to where my friend's home was supposed to be, I thought this is not right. At which point a taxi driver with an extensively bandaged hand leaned out his taxi window and asked in English if he could help me!.  Apparently the cinema had been relatively close to where I was trying to get to, so I had come away from it, luckily he was still able to drive so he took me back past the cinema and right to the outskirts of Bishkek to my friends. The driver, explained that he had learned his English in Afganistan, where he had worked as engineer, he is the second Kyrgyz civilian I have met who learned his English there, however, the injury was two drunks from the night before.

The flat where my friend lived could have been a modern flat almost anywhere in the world, but the guests were from the States, Kyrgyzstan, Europe and possibly the Middle East.  Most of the others had been there a lot longer and I stayed briefly after they all parted as it was just nice to catch up and the place was lovely.  Cheap in Bishkek terms, but more than the expenses that I receive for working here. Or do at times. Rather frustratingly I did not get a small wodge of cash from anyone today so I will probably have to wait for some one to bring it to Shabdan, but I could do with it now to pay for the guest house which turns out to be cash only. For the first time in my life I have a credit card - the only way I could book with the airline - and I had hoped to be able to use it here but obviously not.  I hope the cash I have with me is enough.  The taxi could not find it and had to turn round several times and ring the guest house at least twice to get here. We seemed to drive miles, past a surprisingly large number of restaurants, apart from their external lighting  it was pitch black.  I certainly did not feel like exploring the area when I got here.   I do not understand why Bishkek is so expensive both for living and staying in.  The hostel I stayed in first time round is closed for the winter so I thought I would splash out and try and find a cheap but pleasant guest house.  It will be interesting to see if this place seems more positive in the morning.  However, I have had a nice warming sauna and the host seems very nice but breakfast at nine seems a very long way away.

Anyway I am hoping I can find a way to get a copy of the film from today at some point as I think it would be very nice to share with others to show one how lovely some of the kids are and two how beautiful it can be here.

I have been hearing a lot about the problems with insulation in the UK, interesting here, they sort of staple big sheets on polystyrene to the outside of the property and then re-plaster it, it is very quick. Felt is available too and would be more ecological, but polystyrene seems to be the preferred way as it is cheaper. Is anyone doing anything similar in the UK?

The joy of skype

It has been a tough day just cos I am tired and the classes I teach today tend to be the noisiest. Kyrgyz children like to talk, but I have made life easier by with two groups making puppets. However, I was just checking my emails prior to going home in case there is no internet at the Ashu when the phone started ringing. I get skype calls even when not logged in. Once logged in Nathan was ringing to ask how to bleed the radiators as they are leaking water. Amazingly chatting about where an Allan key might be and whether that was the right thing, he worked out how to do it using a screwdriver and he and my nephew managed to remove the extractor fan that I was sold with the flat which does not and has never worked!!  I know where I would like to shove it, but think that the local gypsies who work as rag and bone men in the area will take it.  Anyway household chores done, I showed Nathan the school and was very cheeky and just interrupted a class so that he could say hello. This is the first time my students have been able to say hello to someone in the UK with me,   hopefully it will not be the last time as we want the students to speak with people Anyway so what started out as a bit of a yucky day has ended very well.

I saw this beautiful picture years ago but little did I know that one day I would live in such a scene. Grabar. 

Will Cinders go to the ball?

There are times living at the Ashu when I think my position is a little like Governesses in the days of yore.(Jane Austen rather than Ellie Austen)   I am both part of the fabric, but not part of the fabric. All this week I have thought I would be facing a cold night and preparing my own food instead of which the place is full again and I have been whisked into the kitchen to eat. This week as the owner is around and even my colleague has come over that makes it quite lively. There was even a disco the other night, but Cinders was not invited. However, I might be going to a film premiere on Saturday.  Having not gone to Bishkek last weekend, I planned to go this weekend, but the person I was going to stay with has so much work on she has had to cancel. So I was like, should I try and arrange something or should I let the usual Krygyz adventure happen instead. Nevertheless feeling in need of a break I thought  let's see if the other people I know are around. The bosses wife had also mentioned the premier of her sister in law's film  and I thought it was going to be in someone's house so I thought if I get to Bishkek perhaps I can pop in and see it. So I provisionally arranged to see an American woman I know for Thanksgiving and try and see the film but I have now found out that the school is running a bus up to Bishkek to see the premier and there is a meal after and probably lots of vodka. So at the this point I have no idea what will happen on Saturday but sometimes just sometimes I feel like I am in the midst of something extra-ordinary being involved with this school and this family and these people. I think that the family in Senegal would have liked it if  I had got more involved with their lives. They were very nice people, very business smart people and based on their beautiful houses pretty rich,  so I always felt inadequate around them, here although these guys have a lot more than me, somehow because I have my own little room here, and they also just have a little room here and I have my role as governess so to speak it seems more manageable.

Progress?

I have just been sitting with an ex colonel from Kyrgyzstan with excellent English who us an at the Ashu for a seminar on refugees. They seem a nice lot, lively but with no time for me except this man who was very interested in my work at the school.  He posed a question I have posed myself about whether I get through to the children and if so how.  At the end of the month I have to say how each class and how each child is doing, I think it is a very nice idea.  This month has its highs and lows (an as a friend noted having started the process to renew my work visa, the highs must be outweighing the lows). It takes me a huge amount of energy to teach the kids.  It is like taking a group of people all of whom want to go off in different directions, but are wearing blinkers so cannot see where they are going and the only way that they will get there is to follow my instructions and my instructions are in a foreign language.

With the little ones they are mostly happy to sing with me, they do a tiny interaction say show me a letter and I help indicate the letter, and they are happy to repeat almost everything I say, so if I cough in a song they cough. But they are not stupid at all in most of this, because they understand things like sit down, and can tell me to sit down, so some of the English phraseology of the class room rather than the specific English taught is being used by them. I found something similar in Senegal where the kids could say be quiet in English but not know other words!!!.  The class has recently been introduced to the letter I.  I got them all to decorate letters and then turned them into alphabet cards for them. I is for Izat and Islam for example, two of the children, which helps them relate to the material a bit we also dip into a book for the course, and the children enjoy the audio clips. The year 1 children also used the same book and most do not know their alphabet and I think that although I will know that all the children have been introduced to the letters most will have only grasped some of them. However, what really impresses me is that they can write so well with very little guidance. The children here like having books, maybe they feel safe with them, they just follow the guidelines and although if they rush ahead they can get things wrong really they just enjoy using the material and in some instances it supports what they are learning.

With year one and two  I try and make them actually do the activities in the books vaguely correctly but how do you do that when the children cannot read and do not understand what they are doing.  I find it very interesting that having tried to introduce year two to categories through games, through board work, through writing up the answers so that they know in principle what the activity involves so that they can transfer that to the next similar activity for the most part they cannot for example they can count to 10 no problem so can the year zero children, but ask them to put numbers in the right category and they do not have a clue. Similarly with making a sentence, even when I write the answers on the board so that the children have a model at least two will get the answers wrong, it is very hard to know how to help them. The only thing that helps me is knowing how bad I am at languages.  One little girl I know she feels in despair at times, so I keep saying you can do it, but whether then sense of what I am saying reaches I do not know, but yesterday she did suddenly realise that she could see and use what I had written on the board. It has taken 3 months, but maybe that will help her.

There are sudden breakthroughs. The children here learn a lot through rote and that helps with the English because they just copy what I say. So one child had to say one sausage during the Hungry Catepillar presentation. He had a picture of the sausage from the book, but I did not realise that that had not necessarily signified to him until the other day he pointed to one of the trilingual pictures that hang in the kitchen where we eat.  It was a picture of a sausage, he asked me what it was called in English so I said sausage and he immediately said One sausage (his line) and the boy next door said, "and one cupcake" his line, suddenly what they had said had more resonance.    So one sausage at a time they are getting there slightly more than not. At least I think they are.

Help!!!!!!!

So if you recall, I have been promised that there will always be a class teacher with me.

And today I was going to try something difficult, I wanted to go round to each child with their book and try and help them catch up on their work.

So finding a) no teacher and b) her youngest 4 year old child in the class instead was not the best start, but someone did pop in saw I was managing, which I was actually,  amazingly and she went.

The kids sung the song we have been practising beautifully, so that was nice as it was just as the owner of the Ashu, who has been building the school went past. And then onto the tricky business of giving the student a hand out expecting them to get on with it or play a card game whilst I went round class and hope all is well. Which is mostly was. I was just finishing up and just spending a few minutes with the child who finds everything difficult, when all of us realised that lots of men, with lots of cameras were passing by.   Not just passing by but taking a picture through the glass and into the class. Luckily most of the kids who were beginning to play up a bit sat and pretended to work while I just prayed as yes it was the deputy prime minister yet again on a return visit but this time with press entourage to witness my class and film it HHHHEEEELLLPP. (No hundreds of forms getting parents permission required here as far as I can see) I tried to keep the kids vaguely engaged for ages whilst the party moved on but remained within sight. A few of the kids went out and were filmed with their books. Then I finally escaped.

I wandered past year 2 and thought why isn't  there someone in there when I realised that I was supposed to be in there, I was 20 minutes late!  I had been so busy trying to preserve things with year 1 I had forgotten year 2.  The kids were most put out and did not want to work, but I knew behind the next door inspecting this fantastic school was the Deputy Prime Minster and his party.  So I soldiered on and made the kids accept that the class was now.

I had just finished and was writing up my class notes, when I realised that the Head who was due to be taking the after school class, was of course still with the Deputy Prime Minister so I thought I had better just start teaching the Head's class. Originally I thought it would be for a few minutes so just introduced them to animal snap and animal dominoes, which is what I had been doing with year 0,  but in the end I covered the whole class. I have just finished.  Time to go home and have a lie down I think heaven knows where the video of yours truly will end up, but hopefully not in the media. Or at least please edit it so I knew what I was doing.

All about the visas.

I could not write yesterday as the internet was so bad.

Having planned a quiet weekend, first my colleague came and went having got my passport to sort out my visa, then the owner of the Ashu, his wife, their baby and a friend came down, so that was pretty nice. I spent the afternoon chatting to them, then we had a traditional evening meal, sat low on the floor, round the long table in the house where I usually live, followed by a chance for some quiet reading.

On Sunday we had lunch in the same place, which I needed after having had an hour long walk.  Despite the snow it was really warm, then we tried going online to sort out their visas for America. You know there is something wrong when even the owner of the Ashu cannot get the internet to work.  Getting the visas was so important that last night after dinner they returned to Bishkek to sort things out

Most of the time things are very modern here, sitting with the family, their other guests having dinner sitting on the floor, being able to look at all the various Kyrgyz faces, was very good gave me a flavour of what it must have been like in the yurt days.

For reasons unknown by the time everyone had headed off I had a terrible headache so happily retreated to bed. Except for a surreptitious visit to give the dog some left overs. Poor creature, it has a swollen eye and sore foot, so I felt it needed some love. However, it also feels a bit cheeky giving it my food.

 Today it was a struggle to get up, but the day has passed relatively well. However, the music, come computer, come sports teacher turned up and of course so did the new sports teacher, but no Head teacher to decide whether the original teacher is still employed here!  Not a nice situation for anyone.

Anyway, time to go home and see if the owner and family have returned, but even if they have there are also guests tonight at the Ashu so it will be full again.