Bishkek Journal—Cal Preece 7-3-12

July 3, 2012

Yesterday was my 70^th Birthday. The movement through the decades seems swifter on this side of the 5^th one than it did during the first four of my life. It is interesting to be in a foreign country, far from some friends of 40 or more years standing, and from younger people whose lives have touched mine in the past 15 to 20 years. They are who I would normally try to gather for a celebration of food, drink,  and music to mark such an occasion. But this is actually the 5^th year I have marked my birthday in Kyrgyzstan.

In 2008, my young Kyrgyz friend Emil and I climbed aboard a British Airlines jumbo in Houston on my birthday and flew to London. After nine and a quarter hours we were in London, on the third of July. Four hours later we boarded a British Midlands International (BMI) flight to Bishkek. And we landed here on the early morning of the Fourth of July. I watched the sun come up and had some breakfast with Emil's family and then went down for a nap. A little later our adventure began. I was always a little off balance. I learned how to say yes and no in Kyrgyz. I learned how to say “Min atim Calvin. Sin atim?” to learn an other's name. I learned to say “Raxmat,” to thank people. To say “Salam Aliekum” or “Salamatsysby,” as hello. And then discovered that I needed Russian to do business in Bishkek.

A Bishkek Mini-Bazaar below street level

But we soon were traveling to the countryside and I began to fall in love with the place, the people, and the culture of hospitality that marks this remarkable country. Every direction that your eyes turn the mountains are there encircling the places where people have carved out villages and cities. Five million people call it home, about one million live in the capital city of Bishkek, where I am located. At any given time about one million are also out of the country working as migrant laborers in Russia, Kazakhstan, or places like America.

I came here to stay when we created Fund Orozbay after a long visit in the summer of 2009. It took almost a year. There was a revolution that deposed the then president Bakiev in April of 2010, then in June there was an inter-ethnic problem that caused lots of problems in the South of the country around Osh and Jalalabad. I finally was able to come to start work with the fund in September. By October we managed to sign all the documents and get registered as a public charity fund.

Dried apricots at Osh Bazaar

Since then we have been learning more about the place, teaching a little English to earn funds for the charity, traveling around, writing some feature stories for local publications, and supporting efforts to improve education, efforts to solve the challenges of being a burgeoning democracy through voluntary action, and providing some direct aid to those who are homeless, or who are elderly and poor.

We now are moving forward on a project that we envisioned originally in 2009. It is a pilot that will provide funds to the villages in the area of Kulatov in the Nu-kaat region of the province of Osh to improve educational performance by students and teachers. As usual we are starting small, providing $100 per month during the school year for the project to award prizes to deserving students and teachers. Decisions about how the funds will be distributed will be handled by our representative in the area who was a teacher and supervisor of schools for 45 years.

Near Kulatov

We are actively raising funds at Help Fund Orozbay in Kyrgyzstan where you can make a donation on-line safely through PayPal. I need your help to do the work we have to do here. The country will celebrate its 21^st Independence Day this August. We are hoping to raise $1000 dollars before then to help implement our projects.

Please consider and then make a donation of $10, $25, $50 or whatever you can afford to help us reach our goal.

In addition to the Kulatov project we have these other activities underway:

• A project that will translate Kyrgyz Folk Tales into English for use in English classes. We will provide teachers with downloadable pdf documents that they can use in their classrooms. The Folk Tale project helps to preserve Kyrgyz Folk Tales and to help communicate the values of the culture. Using indigineous materials in translation will be a continuing project.

• Continuing support for the American Studies Association of Kyrgyzstan's Annual Symposium. We have provided scholarship funding to pay for students and teachers who can not afford the registration fee and we are providing some consulting services about the use of social media to advance the groups agenda of improving the quality of teaching about American Studies and the teaching of English in the country.

• We are continuing our support of and consultation with individuals and groups on voluntary action as a solution to the challenges facing this small country. The government cannot do everything to address the issues of homelessness, orphans and widows. People in Kyrgyzstan are beginning to understand the need for creating voluntary action groups, not just to protest, but to offer solutions to these challenges. Fund Orozbay offers small grants to such groups and consulting services on local fundraising and the use of marketing and social networks to raise awareness.

• We are also working on English as a Foreign Language resources that will provide English teachers throughout the country with free lessons and lesson plans in English, Russian, and Kyrgyz for use with their students. The first of these lessons will be available in August from our website. We will use various means of communications to let teachers know about their availability.

I am teaching three times a week for an NGO that offers EFL classes where I get to test the new learning, teaching materials. I began my first class there on my 70^th birthday as a way to improve my productivity in this new decade.

I sincerely hope you will join with me in this endeavor. Click this link and donate the cost of lunch for two, that small amount can do a wonder of good here.

Help Fund Orozbay in Kyrgyzstan

Bishkek Journal-Life in Kyrgyzstan Cal Preece

Catching up on Spring Activities

I have been a bit hampered in my blogging schedule by the unfortunate demise of my 2008 MacBook Air a few weeks ago. My trusty companion had seen me through three trips to Kyrgyzstan and back to the US, accompanied me to Film Festivals in Los Angeles, New York, and Venice. Survived a fall early in its career in the security line at LAX as I tried to put it back in its case and numerous trips around Kyrgyzstan in snow, rain, and heat. I will miss its convenience and lightweight portability. I have been an Apple computer user since 1983 when I first used an Apple IIc and then in my work life at Rice University in Houston, I was appled up for the last 16 years of my time there. I am not sure I would be able at my age to switch back to Windows Operating Systems. But that issue has now been solved. My Kyrgyz friend lugged a MacBook Pro through IAH (Houston Intercontinental), IAD (Dulles in Washington), LHR (London Heathrow) and FRU (Bishkek Frunze) over a 72 hour trip, to give me top computing power again. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

It's been quite some time since I wrote, so I will just try to hit the highlights and will abandon the day by day approach I had been using. There have been some great experiences over the last couple of months and some new developments in older stories.

Spring is here, warm days, cool nights

First, Spring has come in Bishkek and we are enjoying warm days and cool nights these days. Indeed, sometimes the days seem hot to us for Spring. Indeed, by the end of this week the metrologist are predicting a high in the low 90's F, or about 34 degrees Celsius. We have had more thunderstorms than I can remember from the other years I have been here this season. The heat of the day seems to cause a buildup that gets trapped by the Ala-Too mountains to the south and then it comes back in the late afternoon and evening as rain, wind, thunder and lightening.

But that has been good for the flowers and the trees, of course. The roses have bloomed now, we have seen the fruit trees blossom, irises and daffodils were showy for awhile, and the migratory birds have returned from their winter visits to India, Pakistan, Turkey, and Africa, to sing their songs and find new mates. 

Bolgu Bolgu is a Hafazi Nightengale

The nightengale likes to wake me at 5:05 each day singing a strong song. And later in the morning around six another returning visitor adds his call to the wakeup routine.

The common Eurasian Cukoo

With the disappearance of the winter weather the kindergarten children are back again playing outside my windows as I write today. A burbling stream of constant excitement travels up from their school playground to keep in alert to what is going on outside. I have to schedule my naps when they take theirs.

I have been able to go to a number of cultural events recently. I attended a ballet performance at the Kyrgyz State Theater for Opera and Ballet that featured principal dancers from Moscow in “Giselle”. The house was packed and the dancing was good, especially from the Russian artists. And the local corps de ballet was enchanting as always. I also have been attending some interesting concerts.

A special night at the Philharmonic Hall at Manas and Chuy on May 10^th featuring 35 years of Woman Power was great. Outstanding female singers and girl groups, sextets, triple trios, and others performed wonderful pop music in Kyrgyz to a full house. My favorite singer, Dunara Akulova, performed and it was really good to hear her sing again. The concert, in a most un-Kyrgyz fashion, started exactly on time at 6:30 pm and went non-stop until its finale with all performers on stage at 9:30 pm. We probably could have used an intermission, but it was great. Afterwards my friend Marat Zhaparkulov and a friend of his who works for the state television channel set off to find shashlik (shishkabab) dinner. After not being able to e served at Restaurant Jalalabad, we found a no table cloth restaurant on Gorky street near the Vefa Center and had a combo plate of chicken and mutton shashlik and a tomato and cucumber salad. It was very good.

I also attended an outdoor rock concert at the Russia Kinotheatre on Chuy to see my friend Farrell Styers' band Plov 4 2 perform. It was a strange concert. It was a fundraising occasion for good cause. I went with some friends, but delays in the start of the program (more typical than the Woman Power concert) meant that it would be about an hour late in beginning. My friends decided to go get a drink elsewhere. I thought getting a seat somewhere might be a better idea for me, so I waded into the crowded seating area, found two girls alone at a table for four and asked if I could sit. So I had a nice place to wait for the concert. It finally began with some sort of choreographed martial arts group wearing fatigues, carrying mock weapons, and real knives began to attach one another. Lots of judo, karate, and sambo moves set to heavy rock music. It was well received by the crowd, especially the younger ones (under 12's). I thought it was boring and that it went on for way too long. Nearly 20 minutes or more of it. But finally, the bands began to play and the break dancers provided some time for stage shifting. Best band of the the night, the Rolls Rock Band, who are a Beatles tribute group, but who also do 80's rock covers. Plov 4 2 brought its slamming sound onto the stage at around 10 pm. Concert was over at 10:30 to 10:45. I never saw my friends again. They said they came back but got bored and left. I had room at the table for them since the girls had left. I did meet a new friend though. Victoria. A beautiful auburn haired woman who brought me an ice cream as part of her introduction. She was with Ruslan who was a great dancer and we talked. I left and encountered a camel on the streets of Bishkek who I think had been entertaining kids at the nearby amusement park. He was on his way back to his yard with his trainer-keeper. He gives rides and photo ops at the park. Fun night with surprising conclusion.

That was on Wednesday night, May 9th. I had taught some private lessons that day and by the time I got home, I was really tired. Thursday was a very slow day and I woke up late. I mostly stayed home and read and wrote some things. I prepared some lesson materials for my EFL students for my Friday classes. Friday, I taught the two groups of students at 11 am and at 2:30 pm. And ended the day quietly at home.

Saturday morning I was able to go to the Fatboy's Breakfast group and say final goodbye to my friend Songbae Lee, who is leaving Bishkek after 2 years to return to the USA. He was one of the prime movers in creating the Fatboy's fun and I will miss him greatly. He had a nice going away party earlier in the week at a restaurant with a great 4^th floor patio at Vefa Center for his co-workers and his friends. One of the recurring issues for me in Bishkek is that those who come to work for NGO's and Universities are usually only here for a year or two. I am always sad to see them go.

Songbae Lee with Photographer Andrew Chin

Sunday, May 13^th, Mother's Day for the USA. Not really observed in Kyrgyzstan. I sent email greetings to all the mothers I know and gave flowers to women I know here. They were surprised but thrilled when I explained that it was a day in the US reserved for treating your mother nicely.

Monday, May 14, I was recruited to help raise awareness of a new language center in Bishkek. There are a growing number of facilities teaching English as a Foreign Language. I met the owner of the British Language School at an InterNations meeting in April. Monday we went to two schools to sell her programs to the students. I hope it worked. I had a great time meeting all the students and promoting English learning for the summer to them. I may teach conversational English part-time for her center.

Tuesday, May 15, I was interviewed by a professor at Manas University's Radio Manas for her program called Kyrgyzstan Through the Eyes of our Visitors. I visited the new campus of Manas University that is being created in Jal, a Western suburb of Bishkek. They have a very large piece of land and are creating a beautiful, modern new campus there. The school of communications is located there, along with their radio station. They are available on the internet at http://radio.manas.kg/

The audio file of my interview with Professor Saltanat Mambaeva is available here.

file upload

It is about 20 minutes long. And is an mp3 file.

A U.S. Air Force Rock-Country Band, NightWing, came to town and gave a free concert as a part of Night at the Museum in the State Historical Museum on Ala-Too Square on Wednesday. As time for the concert arrived we had a little sprinkle and ominous clouds, but the rain did not last long and there was a full rainbow to the East just before the group performed. Great music from a great band. I ran into Victoria again and her friends from the Rock Concert at Russia KinoTheatre. We talked and listened to the music. She is a really interesting young woman. She is a metrologist at Manas Airport and has impeccable English skills. It was a great concert. I am really glad my friend Seth Fearey send me a reminder email about it. Lots of fun.

Victoria at NightWing Concert 

On Thursday, I used the day to work on new lessons for my students and read some more of my current Kindle Book, “Catching Fire, How Cooking Made us Human” by Richard Wrangham.

And Friday, it was the beginning of the American Studies Association of Kyrgyzstan's 9^th Annual Symposium where I moderated panels through two days of events. More about that in a subsequent blog.

And here are some flora images and a rainbow from Spring in Bishkek.

And a few images of the flora of Bishkek for you.

American Studies Association Kyrgyzstan 9th Annual Symposium

The 9th Annual American Studies Symposium in Central Asia 20th Anniversary of Kyrgyz-American Diplomatic Relations: Evolution and Current State of American Studies May 18-20, 2012 Diplomatic academy, Bishkek The American Studies Symposium gathers hundreds of experts working in the field of American Studies in Central Asian higher educational institutions. American studies are the interdisciplinary field: it covers issues of politics, culture, economics, language, and ethnicity studies. As evidenced by the steadily growing number of American Studies programs and organizations, alongside the growing number of local scholars and students in the field, there seems to be an increasing interest in American Studies. The American Studies Association of Kyrgyzstan in collaboration with Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs invites those concerned with American Studies, such as teachers, researchers and students associated with American Studies programs in universities, colleges and secondary schools; museum directors and librarians interested in all segments of American life; public officials and administrators concerned with the broadest aspects of education and those interested in the field to enhance such dialogue and discourse through its annual symposium. The Symposium also serves as a platform for experts to share their experiences in curriculum and syllabus development, critical thinking, teaching methodologies as related to American Studies as well as to discuss genesis, current development and prospects of American Studies as a new academic discipline in Central Asia. The goal of this year’s Symposium is: 1) to enhance educational, cultural and diplomatic relations between Kyrgyzstan and U.S 2) to analyze challenges and perspectives of teaching American Studies in Central Asia; 3) to exchange ideas and cultural experiences pertaining to the said program or discipline 4) to discuss effective strategies and new methods of teaching in the field of American Studies. Registration Fee is 200 KGS.