Also, I work.

I am aware that this blog might perhaps create the impression that all I do in Kyrgyzstan is hike around and visit walnut forests. While I do not deny such activities, I also work.  I thought I’d attempt to straighten the record a bit. Things have really picked up for me recently, and I’m juggling several projects right now, all of which I’m very excited about.

One such endeavor is my work with Ratbu Satarova, whose NGO provides opportunities for disabled children in the Toktogul area. Read about it here: http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013310200003&nclick_check=1t

I’ve also devoted a lot of energy recently to my “Youth Health Educator” project. I work with a group of students—aka rockstars—who teach health lessons to their peers at school. They taught a successful round of anti-smoking lessons in and around Toktogul this October. In November, we’ll be working on HIV/AIDS awareness.

My English club has been going pretty well. I let my students pick out American names recently, which they thought was fun, and is really helping me keep track of them. My groups started out HUGE—thirty-five 8^th and 9^th graders, and twenty-five 10^th and 11^th graders—but the numbers have dropped off a bit. It’s been a lot easier to teach a smaller group, and they tend to be the more motivated students.

This past weekend, I went to Issyk-Kul with my counterpart, Tursunkan, to attend a training on creating women’s health clubs. The training provided a lot of useful information on topics including nutrition, reproductive health, pre-post natal health, as well as the logistics of running such a club. Tursunkan and I plan to start a club for young mothers in January. We’ll run it for at least six weeks, but longer if interest stays strong. We’ll be focusing a lot pre/post-natal health, and will have a weekly healthy cooking demo by yours truly.

I’m also looking towards spring and summer with some projects in mind. Max (my sitemate) and I would like to run a camp for Toktogul teens next summer. I am also investigating the possibility of having a feminism and gender conference in Toktogul this spring. We’ll see how all this plays out.

Otherwise, I fill my time not showering, inventing new uses for cabbage, watching sheep get slaughtered, eating recently-slaughtered sheep, fueling my newfound addiction to yoga podcasts, wearing woolen things, and going to sleep at 9:30pm. LIVING THE DREAM.

(but actually, life is great! I hope yours is, too!)

Youth Health Educators taking Toktogul by storm.

And I made cookies recently!