I just thought I would let you know that after heated debates with my counterpart Dinara (the local teacher I work with) I’ve decided Kyrgyzstan would be easier to pronounce if spelled “Kur-giz-stan,” with that last “a” pronounced almost like an “o”. This infuriates Dinara because the Cyrillic letter “ы” (as in Кыргызстан) should be transcribed as “y” leaving Americans to think there aren’t enough vowels in the word to pronounce. And transcribing “ы” as “i” is the way the Russians handle things and is therefore not preferred. Besides it’s really not Keer-giz-stan, as it might seem if spelled Kirgizstan. So it really is just unfortunate that the Latin alphabet can’t properly accommodate the name of this tiny country and that Americans will forever be intimidated by its unwieldy collection of letters. I guess I’ll just leave it at that.
In other news, a very Happy International Women’s Day to you! March 8th is Women’s Day, celebrated a lot like Mother’s Day, but in honor of all women and girls. February 23rd was Men’s Day, a bit like Veteran’s Day, but for non-veterans and boys too (sorry, I said I wasn’t going to keep making holiday comparisons, didn’t I?) These were both big holidays at school with lots of class parties and skits planned by one gender for the other. We also had talent competitions for the older students in 10th and 11th grade (there is no 12th grade here). Each class group chose a representative, so there were 8 contestants in each competition, all of whom took competing very seriously. Most of the school gathered in the auditorium, classes cancelled for the afternoon. There were far too few chairs and the students that had claimed some eventually had to give them up with a half-concealed sigh to the late-coming teachers. Age is power here, and always gives you the right to a seat.
For the boys’ competition on Men’s Day, contests answered trivia questions, showed their strength by doing reps with barbells, performed a song, raced in a goofy rely and did funny dances, all while decked out in nice suits. For the girls’ competition yesterday, contests recited poems, performed songs, styled the hair of a younger sister/cousin, cut paper into doilies and presented the judges with pillows they had quilted. One of the girls played a traditional Kyrgyz guitar called a “komoz” while she sang. (The black dresses with lacey white aprons that they’re wearing are their school uniforms.)
hairstyling competition
komoz player
Another sign of spring: the electric company (owned by the government) has decided it’s warm enough to turn off people’s electricity without causing them to freeze to death. This seems to be the communal punishment for the village because almost no one pays for all of their electricity. This was news to me, but apparently the vast majority of houses have special outlets rigged up that aren’t connected to their electric meters and people can therefore get most of their electricity for free. Villagers feel entitled to do this because their salaries are low and electricity is priced higher for domestic use than it is exported for. Well, the electric company’s response is to shut off the village’s electricity every morning and evening, disrupting a life revolved around electric teakettles, heaters and TV. It hasn’t been fun. The best part is that my new host mother actually pays for all of her electricity honestly, but hasn’t been given a bill in months! There are some kinks that need to be worked out here and in the meantime people are starting to think about buying generators.
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