I recognize the fact that these updates have become fewer and fewer over the last couple months. The reason is a combination of a lack of time and a lack of internet availability. But I know how much many of you enjoy reading these and seeing pictures, so I¡¦ll do my best to keep up with it; and I¡¦ll try to put pictures on, but this is often quite difficult. I feel like my year here literally skipped a month! December seems to have come and gone so quickly as if it never happened at all! I have plenty of pictures to prove it did, but it definitely came and went like no other month before it! What this means though, is that it was a good month, filled with bustling activities of different sorts and great progress in other areas. I can¡¦t tell you everything that happened, and much of it was in my newsletter, but for now I want to tell you just a few quick ¡§hiking¡¨ stories from the past week!
On January 1st, my friends Jamie and Ryan, American teachers living in Kazakhstan, came down to visit us here in Bishkek for a week. They were here for about one week, but sadly, were welcomed to Bishkek with temperatures that ranged between ¡V 25 and ¡V 20 degrees Celsius, which is between ¡V 5 and ¡V 15 degrees Fahrenheit, a.k.a. cold! These temperatures are completely abnormal for Bishkek. The normal temperature is ¡V 5 C/+24 F and sometimes down to ¡V 10 C/+15 F. We couldn¡¦t do too much outside, but I resolved to have them see the majestic mountains at least once while they were here. So, I took them to the foothills where we could hike around for a while. Instead of hiking, however, we ran into a sheep herder who was bringing his sheep down from the mountain. He was a Kyrgyz man who, of course, spoke no English. We were able to communicate a bit in Russian, but not much. Eventually, he pulled Jamie and I across the mountain side to go see his sheep, which numbered 150! It was so much fun! At one point, he stopped the herd and caught a lamb for us to hold. It was so precious! For me, it was a great testimony and reminder of the Shepherd that I have with me always. Watching this man double check for any left sheep on the mountain, use different whistles to make the sheep do what he wanted, and watching the sheep respond with utmost obedience was a great reminder of how much my Shepherd cares for me. I only wish I responded with such obedience as these sheep did their shepherd. Despite the cold, it was a great adventure. By the end, we could not feel our feet, but it was worth the trip!
I sent Jamie and Ryan off on their 23 hour train ride on Saturday, then came home and rested for my big hike with my student, Denis, the following day. Really, it wasn¡¦t a BIG hike at all, but it was tiring. We caught a mashrutka (public transport mini bus) that took us about 30 minutes outside of Bishkek to the edge of the Tien Shan mountain range. It was so gorgeous! Neither Denis, nor I had ever been there before, so it was an adventure for both of us. We discovered that there was a series of four small places to ski at different elevations on this mountain, which meant that there was a road to follow! I was so thankful, because there is certainly no trail. So, we walked/hiked up this narrow, icy, snow-packed road for about 10-12 kilometers, which is between 6 and 7.5 miles, usually hiking on the road, but sometimes going cross-country. The view was absolutely gorgeous! Absolutely unexplainable in words, and of course, pictures do not do it any justice. I guess if you want to see this beauty, you will have to come here yourself! ƒº Any takers?
When we finally reached the top, we played around on a short tube run for a while, had a drunk ski instructor talk to me, and ate lunch. Now lunch was quite an experience for me¡Xprobably one of the most difficult meals for me yet! Denis gave me a sandwich to eat, which was great, until I figured out what was in it. It was two pieces of toasted bread with mayo, pickles, and fish in the middle. Strange combination, but even this wasn¡¦t too bad. The kicker came after taking a bite and looking at the sandwich and seeing clumps of hundreds of fish eggs. Now, I have eaten caviar before, but it was always ¡§prepared¡¨ in a sense, either in vinegar of some sort, or something was done to it. This was straight-up fish eggs, still in the little sack from the fish. And they were all over the sandwich, probably 1/8¡¨ thick. I could have puked. He sensed my discomfort right away, especially when I asked him what exactly I was eating, but simply told me to ¡§shoot my eyes¡¨ and keep eating. I didn¡¦t want to offend him, so I choked them down. It was so horrible though. I downed some water after it and switched to plain meat and cheese. Gosh it was horrible! But, as always, it made for a great memory, even if I was queasy the entire way down the mountain! All in all, it was a great day of hiking and hanging out with Denis! And, I doubt I will ever eat ¡§caviar¡¨ on the top of a mountain again!
Classes start again next week and I¡¦m teaching American Culture!!! I am very excited, but have not started preparing for it! Yikes!
|
