Meeting my host family

It has been an exciting and exhausting week in Kyrgyzstan.  Trying to learn Kyrgyz is tough!  There are so many things about the language that just don't make any sense to me; like, why do they need 12 different endings for plural nouns?  (Boggle here would not be nearly as fun)  And why is there no word that just means sister?

We arrived in Kant last week and met our host families at a ceremony where they also showcased local music and dances.  It was exciting and a bit scary to meet our 'appa's' for the first time (mother in Kyrgyz).  We barely knew how to say hello in Kyrgyz (I like to think I know a bit more now) and they couldn't speak any English.



Tim and I with our appas

Since our group is so large they've split us up between several villages.  I was lucky enough to be placed in Kant, a larger town, which has been especially great this week because we're not supposed to leave our village during training and Kant has everything I could need, including an American Corner with wifi and a sports complex with an outdoor track (a bit run down but there are always people there playing basketball or soccer or just enjoying the cool evenings).  It's also only a short mashrutka ride from Kant to the hub site where all of the volunteers meet for training a few times a week.

I'm staying with a pretty large family; my appa and atta (father), two sons, a daughter in law, two grand children, and a niece.  There's also another daughter who lives in Bishkek with her husband and 6 month old and they visit often.  We're definitely being spoiled with our training host families.  My family has a two story home with indoor plumbing (including hot water, a shower, and a washing machine!).

My host family has been really great about helping me with my Kyrgyz, and just taking care of me in general.  I guess they were told ahead of time that I'm vegetarian so we've had plenty of salads and veggie meals.  It feels like they feed me constantly.  My first day I wasn't really sure when dinner was and ended up eating three.  Yesterday I stopped by after class just to pick up my computer and my appa insisted that I chai eech (translates to drink tea, usually accompanied by bread, or in my house and entire meal), she then gave me a bag full of salad, cookies and jam to bring when I met up with my friends.  My singdee (younger sister) and I run every evening at the track, and my eenees (younger brothers) are finally starting to accept me and now love to play with their toy cars in my room, ask me to help them cut up their food, and will chatter to me in Kyrgyz (I don't think they realize that I don't understand them).

The next month and a half will be filled with trainings on language, safety, and technical training.  I'm looking forward to being able to communicate in the language (better) and finding out my assignment.