Добро пожаловать в Киргизию! Welcome to Kyrgyzstan!

The Kyrgyz flag flies atop the sentinel mound at the Manas Ordo Complex near Talas, Kyrgyzstan

In my last post, you got some insight to the mess that has been my Tinder experience around Istanbul. Update - it wasn't as overwhelming by the time I left. I suppose I got used to the bad pickup lines, broken English, and expectations of Turkish/Tinder men. I've met a few cool people, and had some shenanigan filled adventures, courtesy of Tinder, though. I may have even met a man or two that I wouldn't mind keeping in my life in some form or another while I was in Istanbul as well. Since I made my Instagram account public, that's been inundated with messages too. Apparently they think that social networking and dating are synonymous. So thank you, Istanbul, for trying to make me feel pretty and interesting. I miss you dearly.

Also since my last post - I have gone on adventures to France, Belgium, Germany and now the Czech Republic. I've had a lot of adventures in this short time, and certainly have a lot to write about to keep y'all entertained.

Anyway, it's time to rewind a bit... I'd go all the way back to my 1st visit to Istanbul, but I want to start sharing parts of this crazy ride I've been on more frequently, especially now that I've started traveling for real this time. So, we're gonna jump right into my time in Bishkek. The following few posts will be largely unedited, raw writings of my first few days there. If I were to edit them, you'd lose out on the fresh memories, some of which I'm happy to report I can now look back and laugh at. I think it's time to send you on the journey with me - through the struggle - with me. I thought that adjusting to Batumi last year was The Hardest Thing I Ever Had To Do... I was wrong. 

If you want a little background to establish my mental state at the beginning of these adventures, you can read my pre-departure post: One Year Later. The gist of it - I was in a state of fear and panic, as the path I had been intending to follow was swept out from under me, and I was left in the same position I was in when I finished my undergrad: unemployed and homeless, with no prospects in sight. All I knew was that it would be good for my soul, and career path, to go to Bishkek, even though it meant spending money I should have been saving. 

On June 12th, I took my final Master's Comprehensive Exam and walked out of the room confident that I had nailed it. I packed up my apartment over the following 2 days with the help of some amazing friends, moved all of my belongings into storage, and said goodbye to Tallahassee. On June 15th, I was leaving the USA, the entire time thinking: "I'm not coming back until you give me a reason. America, I dare you, give me a reason to come back!" Spoiler alert: I have no intention of going back any time soon.

Now, with all of that stress and uncertainty fresh in your mind, let's begin.

Bishkek- Day 1 – 21 June 2015

Boarding our delightfully under-booked flight with Atlas

Today has been a hard adjustment. For starters, my head just feels funny. I don’t know if it’s motion (well, land) sickness from the boat ride yesterday (we took the long Bosphorous cruise) followed by the plane, or if it’s altitude sickness. Yes, laugh as much as you want, but this Florida girl is used to an elevation of 0ft - Bishkek is about 2,600ft. Anyway, as we began our descent into Bishkek, Masha saw a few lights and a whole lot of darkness and said “I thought we were going to a city? All I see is some North Korea shit down there!” I laughed and reminded her that the airport was still about 30km away from the actual city center, so we probably still weren’t in a position to see it. Shortly after, we finally saw the lights of the city, but that reassurance I gave her will come back to bite me in the butt if you keep reading.

Cheap fares, good food & plenty of empty seats - fly Atlas!

So, after that we continued joking around about what we were supposed to tell customs officers if they asked us why we were there, and how long we planned to stay. I said (in a Christopher Walken-esque rhythm) “I’m here to sight-see, and I hear y’all have some sights to see! Show me the sights!” Mash chimed in with “The sooner you stamp that passport, the sooner I can see the sights!” and well, I’m sure everyone around us thought that the only 2 white girls on the plane (with the exception of our Turkish crew) were pretty special… Mind you, it was about 3am Bishkek time, 12am Istanbul time, and 4pm EST at this point. After spending 3 hours in the Istanbul airport (never arrive more than 2hours early for flights in this part of the world), and 5 hours on an under-booked flight that still managed to not have enough leg room, add on some nerves about the next 2 months, and you’ve got 2 delirious girls.

Masha and I in a slightly less delirious state as we prepared to take off for Bishkek.

Anyhow, right before all that joking began, the thought ran through both of our heads at the same time: “What the HELL did I get myself into?!” Last summer, she was in Kazan, Russia, a fairly large city, and well, IN RUSSIA. She fits in there. If y’all haven’t noticed from the photos I’ve posted on Facebook and Instagram, she kinda stuck out like a sore thumb in Istanbul. Now, I’m getting to enjoy that feeling for the 1^st time here in Bishkek. I never thought I’d miss my cultural ambiguity as much as I do right now.

In Russia last year, people didn’t think twice about whether I was Russian or not. In Batumi, people thought I was Russian, and once I got a tan, I started to fit in more with the Georgians. In Istanbul, an old man who reminded me a lot of my Italian Step-Grandfather assumed I was of Turkish descent even after I told him I was from America. Today, my new hostess asked about my ethnicity as well. She said I have Russian eyes. I’ve only met a few people here in Bishkek, but there’s a whole lot of “one of these things is not like the other” going on around here, and well… for once, it’s me. But enough about the whole diversity thing… I know y’all are wanting to know about life with a new family.

I know I didn’t post much about my time in Batumi last year. You can blame a hunk of that on where I was staying. A lovely flat just blocks away from the Black Sea, in one of the best locations in the city, with an incredibly outgoing, sweet, and caring, host mom and family. I didn’t really have much down time to reflect on my experiences between that, school, hanging out with friends, and harassing a certain person who became my rock and kept me smiling. So far, my new host family here is really nice. They’ve let me do my thing and fed me very well. I’ve got a harder time considering them as a host mom & dad, because, well… I’m pretty sure they’re about my age. They’ve got a beautiful little girl, I’d say about 9 years old (who’s room I also took over judging by the pink Disney princess curtains and dolphin sheets - last year when I took over my host brother’s room it was maturely decorated for a 15yr old boy), and a hellion of a toddler, hitting his terrible 2’s. Considering how most of the cultures of Eastern Europe/Eurasia that I’ve encountered marry young and have children young… I’m putting them at 35 max. I know my host mom last year was only about 13 years older than me, but she also had a college aged daughter, and treated me as her own daughter as well. I don’t think my new hosts will be able to wrap their heads around that anytime soon, and I can’t blame them. If you put someone in my house that was 7 years younger than me, well, they’d just be my friend, or a sibling figure. (Heck half of my friends are about 7 years younger than me nowadays anyway).

But I digress… I think I’ve begun rambling. Oh yes… back to our arrival in Bishkek...

We landed sometime after 3am, and Masha and I easily moved through customs, with no questions asked whatsoever. We were greeted by a pretty, young, Russian-looking girl from the school our program would be using. She led us to the creepy van that would take us to our host families, and gave us little welcome packs to help us settle in. The pack consisted of a tourist map of Bishkek, a bottle of water, "goldfish" crackers, a dinky local cell phone, and a roll of toilet paper... soon enough you'll see how that welcome pack wasn't very reassuring for my 1st day there...

For now, let's jump to how reassuring Masha that we weren’t going to North Korea came to bite me in the ass… ya know how suburbs are a pretty Western concept? Well, that concept has been spreading. The airport was already about 30min away from the center of the city, and the girl who welcomed us told us that we're both lucky and only have a short bus ride to school every day. We circled Masha's neighborhood a few times trying to find her house, once we did, we said goodbye, and set off to find my house... which is at least 10 minutes from Masha's house. A short ride to school you say? What do you think is short? Oh, and guess what we passed on our way out there? A YURT! THERE'S A FREAKING YURT IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD! HOW FAR OUT OF THE CITY ARE WE!? I’m at least 6km away from my school, and that’s only what I gathered from google maps today based on landmarks I saw as I was driven here at 4am this morning. I can’t see the Bishkek skyline from here, and at night, I can’t see much of anything. Street lights are not a thing out here… neither are buses… I’m gonna have to learn which marshrutka and which stop will get me home tomorrow.

Does THIS look like a capital city to you?

When I woke up after over-sleeping in order to avoid all the awkward "getting to know you" stuff a little bit, I heard the sounds of a child screaming. I'm not certain if it was joy or anger, all I know is I don't know how to handle children... great... anyway, in the afternoon, my host mom made me a late lunch, and showed me around a little bit, and had her daughter clear out some space in the hallway closet for me to unpack, turned on the computer, and went off to Mosque with the kids, giving me some time to gather myself and get situated before dinner. I unpacked my stuff, and started going through my welcome pack.

First I tried to figure out where we were on the map that was in my welcome pack only to realize that our neighborhood isn't on it at all... okay, so we are pretty far a way from school... the bottle of water was a nice touch, since it's best to assume that water from the tap in most countries isn't safe to drink. In Russia, the water tasted gross, and was likely to make you sick. Bottled water wasn't cheap either, so it led to us drinking a lot of soda and beer, since it only cost a little more when we weren't near our big jugs we bought for the dorm rooms. In Batumi, bottled water was cheap, and tasty too, but the water from the tap was AMAZING! It was some of the best water I've ever tasted! Quite a delightful surprise after we were initially told to not even brush our teeth with that water to avoid getting sick or catching a parasite of sorts. In Bishkek, bottled water is super cheap and the tap water isn't dangerous to drink, it just doesn't taste as good, and is really hard. My family has a specific tap for drinking water, but it's not nearly as cold as the water to come out of the normal tap. The pack of "goldfish" crackers was quite disappointing... they taste nothing like the real thing. They don't even taste like saltines, much more bready... the local phone they gave us didn't have any money on it, didn't even have what our own number is written on it, so we have to figure out how to find it somehow, and there's no list of who has what phone number, so... unlike last year, when I was given a list of student numbers so I could get in touch with them right away, I spent my 1st day wishing I could call Masha, but couldn't.

Essentials for adjusting to Bishkek

The last item in the welcome pack was, of course, the roll of toilet paper... when I saw this, I thought
"haha, cute joke by the administration" because last year in Batumi, the school we attended rarely ever had TP in the bathrooms... nope... not the reason at all... When I finally walked into our little bathroom, I understood why... it's not a universal thing around here to use TP... there was a damp rag sitting on top of the toilet... gross. So. Much. Gross. I remember talking with someone about how some people in the US are switching to using cloth rags instead, because they're hippies and don't want to waste paper, but they would have a bin to toss the used ones in and then just wash them in a machine... nope... pretty sure this one just gets washed as you go, and everyone in the family uses the same one... nuuuuuuuuuuupe! It was after this that I finally got on the computer to try to figure out where in the world I was, and see if anyone I knew was on Facebook for me to freak out to. That 10 hour time difference meant that sure enough, no one was online. I made a quick, stressed out, and slightly terrified, status update and went back to my room to try to settle in.

I was freaking out JUST a little..

So, I was expecting we would live in the city, like I did last year. Mash isn’t exactly close to it either, but I think normal buses go out to her area at least. This puts a damper on getting to live in a similar manner as I did last year: Have breakfast at home before I leave for school, hang out with friends all day after class, enjoy a few glasses (or liters) of wine, then go home, chat with my family a bit, watch some RuTV or whatever they were watching, get on the internet to finish up the day’s homework, catch up on some Facebook, and chat with the person who could relate so well to what I was going thru and really kept me from getting homesick, while kinda making me look forward to going home at the same time. That same person, who had become my rock, who had me excited to go to Bishkek, is no longer in my life. So, I’m not sure how things will work out this year, just yet. My host “dad” is going to find out the best way to go about getting my computer and phone hooked up to the internet so I don’t have to use his computer for everything. But that still leaves how far away from the city and school that I live, leaving nothing for me to do without navigating public transportation. Not to mention, my family is Muslim, and it is currently Ramadan. So… plans of going out clubbing and being young and stupid this summer may just be out of the question completely. I know staying in and studying and applying for jobs and learning more about Islam and what life is like in a Muslim family will make me a better person in the long run, but man I miss going out every night in Istanbul! I miss acting the way I should have acted when I was Masha’s age. I should have been going out and having fun. Stupid being too young to go out for most of my time at University...

Anyway, since Ramadan started a few days ago, I also feel a bit guilty that my host “mom” has to make me food, when she's fasting. My neighbor called her and his wife both models - they fast for 1 month and they’re skinny again. At least the people around me have a good sense of humor, and I’m sure we’ll get comfortable around each other eventually. 

For those of you who don’t know anything about Ramadan, here’s a quick intro: it takes place during the 9^th month of the Islamic calendar, which is considered to be the holiest month of the year. People fast from sunrise to sunset, and avoid impure thoughts and actions. Think that's not too hard? In the summer here, (Ramadan began in June this year) the sun rises at 4:30am, and doesn’t set until about 9pm. That is some serious dedication.

The food I’ve had so far is tasty though. I have NO CLUE what I’m eating most of the time… or drinking for that matter… I should have taken photos of my food today for you, but I’m sure there will be time for that later. Plus I didn’t want to seem TOO weird on day 1. I do know that for dinner, they made a dish called “5 fingers” or «пять палцев» (pyat paltsev) in Russian, or бешбармак (beshbarmak) in Kyrgyz, and they make it for special guests. It was noodles with meat pieces, a big hunk of meat on the side (which mainly the men and special guests ate directly from) and we drank bullion with it. Not too weird, for a totally different culture, right? My neighbor told that I needed to eat it the traditional way, with 5 fingers, but his wife informed me he was joking, and I could use utensils. Having them over for dinner tonight, certainly made things a little less awkward for me. It's nice to know the neighbors and feel welcome in the community.

When we were done eating there was a prayer that I’m not used to, and feel a little weird doing because I don’t want to come across as disrespectful, but trying to do it is me attempting to be respectful, and my neighbor did try to teach it to me, and I earnestly tried to learn it… anyway, we finished it off with some tea. Some damn good tea at that. Just like in Russia, every meal has tea. I don’t hate it. Maybe this time when I get back to the states I’ll actually learn to make it correctly and keep up with that habit. After dinner I took a stroll with the men folk, and their toddler boys. That was when I learned that this is basically going to turn into a suburb eventually. None of the houses here existed 5 years ago, it was just fields. The side streets aren’t paved, but there is an attempt at a sidewalk along the main road. I just have no clue how everyone manages to walk around here without any sort of flashlight.

End of Day 1. Stay tuned for Days 2 & 3, and plenty more tales of shenanigans and cultural experiences!

A view of the Government Flag Stock, which is supervised by a special guard all day, and the Aykol Manas (Magnanimous Manas) statue in front of the State Historical Museum from Ala-too Square, the main square (плошадь) in Bishkek.