Fall is upon us here in Kyrgyzstan. For the last two days, a southwest, mountain-snow-chilled wind has been blowing down into the valley. Clothes on the streets have gone from see-through blouses to long-sleeved sweaters. Leaves on the trees have started turning a pale yellow, and the trees are rustling as if a storm is coming. I hope one does. Bishkek is so dry; a film of dust covers everything. Since the day we arrived, we’ve had but one day of rain and clouds! All others have been filled with both clear skies and hot temps! It seems a bit rapid for the season to change in a matter of a day, but this is certainly the case if the temps continue to plummet. Winter could be here much faster than I am anticipating. Seeing as though the only clothes I brought were for the winter season, I don’t mind too much. My wardrobe could use a bit more variety. Not that a brown short-sleeve shirt and a Crown Alumni t-shirt can’t provide for all a summer wardrobe’s needs, but I do enjoy variety. At the same time though, the sooner I have to wear my bright blue winter jacket, the sooner I will no longer look even slightly Russian!
Well, this past Saturday was my first class session of the year! We chose 16 young ladies, all between 17 and 21 years old, to be in our university class. After posting the list of those who had qualified to be in the class, I was approached by one of the very few guys that had tried to take the test. He asked me if we were discriminating against guys! “Konyeshna nyet (of course not),” I said! It just so happened that the girls who tested had higher English skills than the guys. I think it will actually be to our benefit, and I look forward to the conversations I can have in my class of all girls. The class session went very well and I look forward to Friday when I will teach them again. We also test a group of community students on Thursday this week, so hopefully from that we will gain another class or two to fill our schedule with!
An interesting event of the day/week to tell about... Today the trolley that I was on blew up. No, not by a bomb, or anything physical, but there sure was a lot of old, Russian babushkas yelling! I felt like I was in the Moscow metro again! They were all yelling at the trolley driver, who was either just learning how to drive, or something was actually wrong with the trolley. Let's just say that when he left a trolley stop and/or arrived at one, it wasn't the smoothest ride I've ever had. Old ladies were falling everywhere! Literally! Before I knew it, the driver had pulled over and ordered everyone off the trolley. So there we were, all standing alongside the road with people yelling in Russian, probably words that I shouldn't repeat even if I did know them! And then... off he went. He just drove away and left us there, stranded. A police officer was on the trolley, but he didn't seem as though he felt a need to intervene. He walked away as if nothing were taking place! So, we all walked our different ways, most heading towards the next trolley stop to catch a new, hopefully smoother, ride.
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