Joys of living here

I love having the chance to travel and meet people from all over the world. In the States, I know mostly people my own age, who are married, Christians, conservative....basically, just like me. In the past 10 years, I've befriended Kyrgyz, Turkish, Uzbek, Tatar, Russian, Uighur, Kazakh, Korean, and other people. I've enjoyed fellow Americans who are totally different from those I know in the States. I've especially valued friendships with other young women. Tomorrow I get to go visit a Turkish friend, who made a special dish called ashure today...depending on what you read, this commemorates Noah landing on Mt. Ararat, God giving Moses the 10 Commandments, the martyrdom of a grandson of Muhammad, and other occasions. I'm excited that my friend has invited me and to get to taste this "soup" made from dried fruits, grains, legumes, and nuts. An added bonus to these friendships is tasting so many delicious new foods and learning to make some of them!

Electric frustrations

A year-and-a-half or so ago, I was walking toward our house from across the street where there is a little shop. I saw four Kyrgyz men standing outside our house, which always makes me nervous, and when I approached, they started telling me they were going to disconnect our electricity because we hadn't paid our bill. Well, we'd just gotten our bill only a day or two before, so it wasn't due yet, but as I tried to explain it to them, all they did was laugh and smirk like idiots, and then went ahead and turned off our power. I was SOO mad at them! Steve had to go to the electric company the next day and get it all straightened out; it was a mistake, of course. So...2 days ago, when I looked out the window and saw another group of 4 men from the electric company, I opted NOT to go out and be humiliated by them again, and watched one of them climb up our power pole and, again, disconnect the power to our house! This was t 3:30 p.m. I texted Steve to let him know what was going on, and started getting candles ready and psyching the kids up for a candlelight evening of playing games. The house was warm, thanks to our lovely coal heat, and all went well. Yesterday morning, Steve made another trip to the electric company, and once again, it was "a mistake." The guys were back by 9:30, rehooking our power. What a waste of time! We enjoyed the electriity for about 4 hours, until it was switched off for the usual power cuts, along with our water, which was turned off for who-knows-why all afternoon. Like I always say, "If it's not one thing, it's another!"

Finally back on here

After a friendly nudge from my old college roomie, and realizing I've not been on here in over 2 months, I'm going to attempt to blog again. With frequent power outages, trying to do Christmas baking, and my kids needing the computer for school when the power IS on, I've not been online nearly as much as usual!

We had our first Christmas party of the season yesterday. 10 3rd-year university students came over...our living room was like a museum! The girls (9 of them and 1 guy) were taking pictures of our tree with their cell phone cameras, and oohing and ahhing over my measly little decorations. I just have a little 3-D Christmas village puzzle and a few other knick-knacks on top of our entertainment center, and our Fontanini nativity set. But I guess in a land where no one decorates for Christmas, it was impressive!

In fitting with the title of my blog, we've struggled with a variety of challenges in the past couple of months, including perpetual car issues that are still not resolved, a burnt-out water heater in the kitchen, constant power outages, several afternoons where our water was turned off for unknown reasons, and almost-daily puffs of smoke and coal dust coming into our house from our lovely, rustic coal heating "system." Since electric heat has been banned for the winter, the air is filled with coal dust and smoke. Our neighbors had their electric water heaters turned off by the electric company...I'm afraid we'll be next! It's unbelieveable how the government runs itself here! Of course, none of the "bigwigs" ever have their power turned off or limited in any way!

End of Ramadan

For those of you in the non-Muslim world, today was the celebration of the end of Ramadan. Lots of food is prepared in celebration of the end of fasting, and people visit their friends and enjoy eating in the daylight hours once again. We went to some friends, enjoyed some good food, and then chuckled at the absurdity as a bottle of wine was pulled out. Kyrgyzstan's Muslims are not generally very strict.

Our weather has been bi-polar; it's gone from pouring rain, to sun, and back to thunderstorms the past couple of days. I'm hoping it won't rain tomorrow, as I'm going to help a friend can tomatoes, and I need to bring my huge canning pot to her apartment....on foot, since our car still isn't working. I don't think I can manage an umbrella AND the pot at the same time! Last night was our Beth Moore study, as the same friend's apartment, and the electricity, which normally has been coming on at 6, didn't come on until 7, so we sat in the increasing darkness, filling out the viewing guide (which is supposed to be done while watching the DVD lesson) on our own, and then we watched the DVD when the power finally came on. Then I had a walk home in the pitch dark...we've been so happy that our street lights have actually been working for the past several months, but they sure weren't last night!! I was glad I had a friend to walk with! We hung on to each other's arms and laughed and screamed as we stumbled along the bumpy, puddle-filled sidewalk. I'm bringing a flashlight next week!

Sunday

We had a repeat today of last Sunday: go to church, go out to eat, and the car won't start afterwards. Actually, last week, the car wouldn't start after church; today it was after dinner. Apparently the expensive "high-quality, maintenance-free" battery we bought a year ago (and have only used for about 9 months because of our trip to the States), because we were having the same problem with our cheap Chinese one, is not working. Guess who gets to go buy ANOTHER new battery this week? :-(

I did have the pleasure of seeing a former student of mine this afternoon--a 15-year-old girl who I taught English to when she was 11. Now she's in the process of applying for a scholarship program to study next year in the States, and she called me the yesterday to ask if I'd proofread her application for her. I said, "Sure!" She came today, with an entire cake as thanks, and it was lovely to see how she's matured...and her English is great!

Water and Electricity

Well, not only are we having the usual power cuts, but this week the city's also been turning off the water for some unknown reason. Our was off for several hours this afternoon and early evening, and now that it's come back, it is completely brown and muddy! The kids were supposed to have baths/showers tonight, but we decided to wait; I think they'd come out dirtier than they went in!

Getting out of the house

I actually got out TWO times today...met two friends for lunch, sifted thru some second-hand clothes shops, wandered through the bazaar, bought a cute, dangly pair of earrings for less than $1, and walked all the way home, and THEN the whole family got treated to dinner out by two of our Turkish friends. That was so nice; it's a rare thing for someone to take us out to dinner!

I need to get started on my Beth Moore homework. We had our first meeting last week, doing the Jesus: the One and Only study. I am so excited! We're going to meet on Tuesday evenings and have dinner together, so that's going to be fun, especially for us moms who rarely get out. That's one of the reasons I was pushing for someone besides me to host the study this time--so I could get out!

Well, the power should be going off in about an hour, and I need to get ready for bed and have some time to read before then, so I'm off for now!