Some cultural moments

I (Jim) went for my first haircut in Kyrgyzstan last week. After 10 weeks here it had got a bit long, so, armed with my best Russian and some sign language I explained that I normally have a 'number 3' clipper setting on the back and at the sides. The hairdresser looked surprised and instead suggested a number 9, which I argued with (although it is hard to do this forcibly in my faltering Russian!) After some discussion we agreed to start with the 9 and if necessary work our way down...

I am happy to advise that it is worth taking the advice of local hairdressers; it turns out that a Russian '9' is equivalent to a UK '3'. Disaster and embarrassment were averted!

On Saturday night we had a cultural family outing - to the ballet! The beautiful ballet and opera house is about 8 minutes walk from our apartment and we had a wonderful evening watching Swan Lake. The two lead dancers were from Russia and were stunning and the rest of the company and the orchestra were local and also gave a magnificent performance. It has definitely whetted our appetite for the local arts!

We are enjoying the food; once a week we have a lady help with cleaning and she cooks a meal to a local recipe and often teaches Jane how to do it. As you can see from the picture, one local dish of metre long noodles (lagmann) can be a challenge to eat!






Finally, we are developing a little more confidence with our Russian ability and are trying to take opportunities to try it out. On leaving the team meeting last week, Jane confidently stood up and pronounced that she had to leave at which all the staff fell about laughing. Apparently she had announced that she needed to loose weight!

Winter is coming!

On Saturday we were in summer clothes, enjoying the autumn and leaves changing colour - as the picture shows. The city parks have been really beautiful. Today Jim cycled home in falling snow! According to weather forecasts it will be back to 15 degrees again in a couple of days, so we are certainly not settled in for winter yet, but it is a reminder that it is on it's way...







There are a few things to fill in from previous blog posts...

Baby Joshua (see posts on 19th and 24th September) is doing really well. In fact, the doctors are so satisfied with his progress that they don't want to see him again, and have given him authorisation to fly, so the family will be flying to America at the weekend. He and his family will have been in the UK for one day short of a month, and it has been an amazing time of healing, recovery and unexpected help and care.

Work-wise things are going well albeit with lots of challenges, not least with the sudden departure of a key member of staff (i.e. Baby Joshua's dad who was overseeing much of the finance and admin). To give an update on the challenges we mentioned earlier (17th September)... we are still looking for house parents for our girls transition home - the sort of person we were looking for proved very difficult to find, so we have slightly changed the role; we have found a property for the girls to move to and they are happily living there (we had tea with them yesterday and they won 2 of the 3 games of Uno we played with them!); and we are building good relationships with people (Jane's chocolate cake has helped with this a lot I think!)

There are a number of other challenges to add to the list; on the less interesting side picking up the finance and accounts without a proper handover, and implementing a number of short term (6 month) decisions whilst a longer term strategy is developed. More excitingly, we have loads of volunteers who have offered to help on our vulnerable youth programme, helping with homework, providing extra tuition in maths and other school subjects, teaching English, music and so on - and we need to manage and lead these people well.

One more issue we are working through is that sadly one of the girls who recently left the girls transitional home lost her baby last weekend; he was only 2 months old. She has been staying with one of our staff for the last few days and we need to help her to make good decisions about her future, where she lives (she had been at a hostel for young mothers and their children) and so on.

It is hard to remember that we have only been here for 8 weeks - it seems a lot longer and we are feeling very much at home! But as the seasons change we know that there is much to learn about this new home of ours...

Jane's Week.

Some of you have been asking what my week is like. Well, we are getting into a routine. Jim takes the children to school at 8am most days. It takes about 20 minutes to walk there. On Mondays however I take the children and stay in school to fulfill our 4 hour weekly commitment which every family with children at Hope Academy volunteers. As a teacher they are using me in that capacity and I am helping to streamline and create an English Curriculum for the primary end of the school from the many that have been used and left behind. I am really enjoying it- it's right up my street!

On Monday, Wednesday and Thursday lunchtimes I have Russian lessons and also try to do homework in 20 minute blocks throughout the day on each weekday. Somedays are more dedicated than others! On Friday mornings I go to the Oasis office for the weekly team meeting and love being there and getting to know the team better.

Much of the rest of the week is taken up with food shopping; trips along the road to a fruit and veg stall. Trips to various kiosque, markets or supermarkets to get provisions. It is a much bigger part of life here, a bit like going back to our Mum's in the 70's and how they had to do it. Actually I love the interactions and the practice it gives me for using Russian as well as trying new local foods for the first time. It also means I get to know the city and find my way around using various modes of transport. People are generally very friendly and helpful and it is not at all a threatening place to walk around in.

I collect the children at 3.45pm and am enjoying getting to know other parents as well as staff there. Then we are into homework, supper and so on. One thing I really like about the walk to and from school is the view of the mountains at one or two points along the way.

Once a month I go to the meeting of the International Women's Club at a smart hotel; great bunch. Yesterday we heard about the food security situation here from someone at the World Food Programme.

That's the general gist! Hope that gives you some idea.