Chasing Kate: September 2006

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Snap, Crackle and Pop Culture

Being in Kyrgyzstan I have found that I’m pretty out of touch with American pop culture. Even though 50 cent and Shakira are ubiquitous here, I still miss out on quite a bit and I have already accepted the fact that I am going to be like a Martian when I get home. Maybe it’s just as well, I have seen the direction that music and movies are headed and I’m definitely not missing Reality TV. I cannot help but confer my thoughts on the current state of music. Well, maybe not current to you, but current to me. Without further ado, here is my 2006 Year-In-Music Review. If you’re not interested in music or know less than I do (highly unlikely) I suggest you skip this entry entirely.

Let’s start off with James Blunt. The only way I can describe listening to him is to compare it to watching a bad car accident: you know you should stop but you can’t seem to pull yourself away from the catastrophe. If his songs were travesties then he’d be a genius but I think he’s actually trying to be serious. Let’s review some lyrics from the song ‘Goodbye My Lover’- “I’ve kissed your lips I’ve held your hand, shared your dreams and shared your bed. I know you well, I know your smell, and I’m addicted to you.” I’m sorry- what? You know my smell? Is he kidding? I don’t know if it makes me want to laugh or cry but I find myself giggling uncontrollably when I listen to this song. Maybe because I know my smell and I can’t imagine anyone else would ever memorize it. Another good line is, “I’ve seen you cry, I’ve seen you smile, I’ve watched you sleeping for awhile, I’d be the father of your child.” Uh… creepy! Do people actually fall for this? Do girls actually think this is romantic? Am I the only one that finds this hilarious?? The only time I listen to his album is when I’m feeling down and I need a good laugh. It’s so unintentionally funny I almost think the joke is on us for taking him seriously.

I discovered my next selection on a Running Mix that my cousin sent me (thanks Linds!). Eminem’s new song ‘Shake That’ is misogynistic, derogatory, offensive, depreciating, and I absolutely love it. I can’t get enough of it. Besides having a good beat the lyrics are straight to the point. I can’t quote any lyrics here on my blog without some serious repercussions but I highly recommend this song. It not only sets a good pace when I run but I really do find it encouraging to “shake it”. This gem isn’t going anywhere for a while.

Moving on… the next song I heard over and over again at clubs in Turkey and it’s also very addicting- Madonna’s Hung Up. I was actually surprised to find out that’s she’s still alive but when I caught about 30 seconds of the video on Russian MTV it rendered me speechless. She looks younger than ever and she rocked that leotard like no one’s business! The video also teaches a very important lesson: Spandex is a privilege, not a right.

My brother sent me "Where'd you go" by Fort Minor. The lyrics first start off with, “Where’d you go? I miss you so. Seems like it’s been forever since you’ve been gone, please come back home.” When I first heard it, I almost teared up when I listened to how appropriate the words were. I thought it was so thoughtful until I remembered the source… my brother. I had guessed correctly that it was a complete accident and that he hadn’t intended to send it and he hadn’t even considered the lyrics. Coming from anyone else, it would have been the sweetest gesture but now the song is ruined for me. Too bad, it’s a pretty good song.

Lastly, Stadium Arcadium, the latest album by none other than Red Hot Chili Peppers, is seriously life changing. I have not one critique of any of the songs on either album. If anyone needs a good example of perfection, this is it. It’s unlike anything I’ve heard in a really long time and I can’t imagine hearing anything better in my lifetime. I know, I know, these are pretty strong words but I’ll stand by them. This is one of the most innovative, heartfelt, inspiring albums that I’ve ever heard. Brilliant.

The amount of bad music certainly outnumbers the good and I find it sad that most of America’s exports are from the former category. I am embarrassed for American culture when the radio here plays songs like “My Humps,” especially when my students ask me to translate the lyrics for them. I try to explain that it’s slang but they still want a literal translation. The other day my sister and I were listening to one of the European stations that gets broadcast here, I wasn’t really paying attention to the music but all of a sudden my sister got a quizzical look on her face and goes, “what’s a sex crime?” I cry for the future of pop music.

The future.

One of the favorite conversation topics among the volunteers here is what we’re going to do with our lives once we get back home. Where we’re going to live, what we’re going to do, how many kids we want, etc. etc. You’d think being a teacher would deter me from wanting kids but in fact is has the opposite effect, I want a whole litter of ‘em. I was thinking 10 or 12 would be a good number. Some skeptics will say it’s logistically impossible unless I want to be pregnant for over a decade but I’m optimistic about popping them out in rapid succession. However, the fact that I am not married, close to being married or in the vicinity of wanting to be married and don’t even see it as part of my future until waaaayyy down the line poses a bit of an obstacle. One friend pointed out that I’m going to be pregnant until I’m 40 which, let’s be honest, sounds pretty grim. Alternatively, I said that I would be willing to have 3 of my own then adopt 7 other children- one from every continent. We weren’t sure if children could really be born in Antartica, seeing as how it’s comprised of chunks of floating ice, so I compromised and said I’d take a penguin instead. So my future’s settled: 9 kids and a penguin.

I’ll just have to tell the other kids to knock before opening the freezer.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

It's all about the pheremones...

I'm always surprised to discover how contrary my opinions are to those of my sisters. This applies to a wide array of topics but I'll hone in one one specific one: attractiveness.

It was a Saturday morning and I was on my way to Bishkek so I put on the same outfit I wore all week (which is acceptable here and it really cuts down on laundry so I'll file this under a win-win situation) I hadn't showered all week, my hair was dirty and my smell was noticeable (not in a good way). I walked into their room to say goodbye and that I'd be back before dinner and they all coo'ed in Russian: ooo beautiful girl, beautiful girl, you must be meeting a boy today! You look great!

I gave them my best "are-you-crazy?" look and told them that I'm dirty, my hair's greasy and I smell.

Their response? "No, no.... that look suits you!"

I sighed and thought about all those countless hours wasted getting ready when I used to care about how I look. I can't help but wonder if guys at home will be attracted to "that look" as well....

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Job titles.

Today in my 11th form class the topic was called "my summer holiday". One of my brighter students never likes to be helped and if he can't think of a word, he'll try to do a round about explanation. Today he was introducing his partner and this is what he said:

"His name is Azia and this summer he was a... a... a master of sheeps."

I'm not positive, but I'm guessing that he wanted to say that his friend was a shepherd.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Transitions

As my one-year anniversary approaches, David Bowie is running tape-loop in my mind belting out, “Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes”. How is this year different? I can actually communicate, for one. It’s hard to notice any progress in language acquisition until you’re put in a similar situation in which you knew previously knew nothing. In my case it’s school and now my students actually understand what I’m talking about rather than me flailing my arms wildly about hoping they get the picture from context clues and/or charades.

I’m teaching an entire school year, whereas last year I just started in December. The first week seemed daunting at first, just getting into the swing of things again but then I remembered that I have 6 months of experience and lesson plans that I can incorporate into this year.

Everything in general just seems easier; my sisters are now used to my kooky habits like eating dinner at 6 pm instead of 11 pm and me reading for hours at a time instead of watching television. They’re not offended if I don’t drink tea with them and they know when I just need to have my “alone time” and aren’t alarmed if my door doesn’t open for an entire day. Sometimes there are those days.

The K-14s are coming to site near the end of September and the K-12s have already started filing out. It’s weird that I don’t know my service without the K-12s- they don’t really effect my life on a daily basis but it’s odd knowing that we met in Kyrgyzstan and it’s highly likely that I’ll never see most of them ever again. It’s hard to believe that the K-13s are the so-called experts now, it seems like I just started figuring out everything for myself.

(Side note: luckily I am in on the K-14 gossip and I have NOT been nicknamed as the “diarrhea girl”- Phew, what a relief! Unfortunately, I don’t know if my new moniker is any better as “the girl who almost died.” Then again, at least it’s not as bad as on of the K-12s we named as “that guy who ate pigeon hearts”. True story.)

Our official attrition rate is 30%. I think we lost around 10 volunteers this summer alone and 19 in total. We’ve lost volunteers to an assortment of reasons, medical and personal mostly but we really suffered a blow when we lost 4 to administrative reasons. We came here as a group expecting to stay as a group and I think we all felt a blow in morale when we lost these particularly dedicated volunteers. Hopefully we can retain the 48 of us who are left for the next 15 months.

I don’t think it’s feasible that this year could possibly get any worse than my last year, let’s to a quick year-in-review with some of the highlights: I.Vs, a herniated disc, parasites, being detained at the Kazak border, worms, my wallet stolen- twice, torn ligaments, almost dying (according to the K-14s) on top of all the standard struggles that go along with being integrated into another culture. Knock on wood. To all the nonbelievers who said I wouldn’t make it past a month, I have one question for you (a la Ben Affleck from Good Will Hunting): how do you like me now?

Quick Shout Outs- Thanks for my birthday packages!

Otter and Susie- I wanted to read the book before I watched Pride and Prejudice but I couldn’t contain myself and I loved it. The goodies were perfect but who knew Lip Smackers would make me miss home… oh well, at least my lips are moisturized and shiny now!

Pam and Jill- The wedding pictures made it this time! I don’t know why postal office workers love stealing photographs (kind of creepy) but they were a good reminder of great memories. My host sister looked at the pictures for 30 minutes and said you’re the most beautiful girl she’s ever seen. My reply: Ya soglacna. I agree.

With a bang.

If you’re confused about my title, it’s the answer to the question: How did your summer go out? There was no other way I would have rather spent the last two weeks of my summer than doing Habitat for Humanity in Barskoon with the 14 other volunteers. In fact, it was probably the most rewarding thing I’ve done in country thus far because the results were immediate and visible. It’s difficult to track day-to-day progress as a teacher so it was a nice change of pace for us. The work was physically demanding and by the 10th day my body was definitely feeling it since I was using muscles that I forgot existed.

Over the course of 10 days I stomped in mud that was used for bricks, I made mud that was used for the mortar, I planed floors, I painted, I hauled the mud bricks and I helped put up the walls for the last two rooms in the house. At first the men working there were trying to make the girls lighten their workloads but by the last day they saw that we were just as capable of doing the laborious work. I thought we would be working from the ground up but previous groups had helped so the main structure was already there but there were still lots of projects. One guy was in charge of making over 400 mud bricks in two days.

For the entire 10 days, I think I was alone for a total of 45 minutes, not including bathroom time. Things get really interesting when you have 15 volunteers crowded into 3 rooms but luckily we had a great group of people who meshed well together. I think by the end everyone was pretty cracked out from the physical exhaustion.

Barskoon is an awesome site, I think it is probably my favorite place in Kyrgyzstan so far. It’s gorgeous, it’s close to the lake and the people there are so accommodating. Every night we put 2 people in charge of dinner and thing get interesting when there is a limited amount of produce available in a small village. Two girls wanted to make french-fries but the stores didn’t have any potatoes so they finally got the idea to go door-to-door to the neighbors to ask them if they had any. They lucked out, and they found a family who had potatoes- still in the garden… they just had to dig them up first. Kind of like borrowing a cup of sugar.

The family we worked with was great and I think they got a kick out of us because Peace Corps and Habitat for Humanity just started working in conjunction with another; usually the groups come America that don’t know the language or about the country. I think the family and workers were thrown off by volunteers who have lived here for a year and could speak Russian and Kyrgyz. I got the homeowner to laugh when he told me to take 3 bricks instead of 4, I just looked at him and said in Russian, “I’m like a man.”

Chasing Kate