New Kyrgystan Blog

Since the Kyrgyz Republic has neither Bamboo nor Typhoons. we thought it best to start another blog with more of a Central Asian theme. All future posts will be made at the new site, http://www.mountainsofheaven.blogspot.com

Destination: Kyrgyzstan

Malinda and I have been given a second chance with the Peace Corps, this time in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan (Kur-giss-stahn), officially called the Kyrgyz Republic. This country is high up in the mountains, on the western side of China, and the northeast side of Kazakhstan. This is horse country. The Kyrgyz are traditionally horse nomads, but under the collectivization programs of the Soviet Union, they now live a so-called "half nomadic" lifestyle, mostly because of the strict authoritarianism that unfortunately has never completely gone away.

Malinda is officially a Sustainable Economic and Organizational Development volunteer, which means that she'll be working with NGOs, economic planners, entrepreneurs, etc. to try to foster economic growth and prosperity there. A lofty goal certainly, but we'll try as best as we can. I will be teaching English (personally, I don't know why they would need it, but I'll provide the service).

So the timeline, as we know it to be at this moment is this:

• Leave for orientation (in the states) on September 14th.
• Leave for Kyrgyzstan on September 16th.
• Stay in the capital, Bishkek and its environs for 3 months, intensively learning Kyrgyz (probably Russian as well).
• The, off to our village for 2 years.

We will be changing our blog to a more appropriate theme, look for links here in the near future. That's it for tonight, I'm tired, and have to work early tomorrow. I'll be working on the new blog and assembling all sorts of goodies and info on Kyrgyzstan for you all, so come back every once in a while over the next week or so.

A New Invitation

It is official. We have another assignment. This time to Central Asia. The package will be Fed-Exed to us tomorrow morning, and it is likely that we will accept. Malinda will be working in business development, while I will be teaching English to kids. The only bad thing is that I will have to redesign this webpage, becasue its not so much about bamboo or typhoons anymore. More like horses and yurts. I am crossing my fingers for Kyrgystan, but anyone of them will be cool. My hope is to be in the mountains, with snow and meadows, horses and beautiful vistas. It is possible I know to be farther down on the steppe along the Caspian Sea, but who knows. They won't tell us- they force us to be surprised when we open the envelope.

Weeks until we leave: 9

New Assignment?

An update on the progress of our assignment: we have been told that it is possible that we will go to Central Asia. The Peace Corps serves in Kazakhstan, The Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan), Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. They also serve in the neighboring countries of Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and it is not clear if these countries count as Central Asian to the Peace Corps, as they lump both Eastern Europe and Central Asia into one big region for some reason. These countries are all on the old Silk Road, and were settled by Mongols during the reign of Ghengis Kahn. The Persian influence on these countries stretches into antiquity, as does Buddhism as conceived by converted Mongols and caravan traders. Contemporary Central Asia though is a mixture of traditional herdsman culture and old Soviet industry. In Kazakhstan, along the Caspian Sea, the petroleum industry is in full swing, but they still suffer under an authoritarian regime. The language of business and government is Russian, but over half of each countries' population are ethnic Central Asians (Kazakhs, Turkmen, Uzbeks, and Kyrgyz) and they speak their own languages (which are related to Turkish and Mongolian).

These possibilities are much more palatable to us than Bangladesh. Getting assigned to one of these countries depends on that country agreeing to allow another couple to be added to their volunteer list- they are currently full, but our contact in D.C. is trying to pull some strings and get us there. If we go there, we'd leave on Sept. 14th. We're crossing our fingers, but we're prepared to hear bad news.