ab Chasing Kate: April 2007

Friday, April 27, 2007

The Bitter Pill

Due to political instability that I’m not allowed to talk about I haven’t been allowed out of my village for over 3 weeks. This may not seem like a big deal, and I’m sure volunteers from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan would be aghast to hear me complain about not seeing another American for that amount of time, especially since those countries are more than twice as big as Kyrygzstan with half as many volunteers. But for me, this is the longest consecutive amount of time that I’ve been in my village without leaving and I’ve been going stir crazy. If I had read one more book or watched one more movie, I probably would have gone certifiably insane. I don’t even think it’s the fact that I was there so much as I didn’t even have the option to leave, the lack of choice.

So the travel ban has been lifted, I know I don’t blog that much anymore but that’s the reason I haven’t had any contact with anyone for that amount of time. I’ve been particularly frustrated because I have 4 simultaneous projects going on right now and I need the Internet for 3 of them so I felt like a lot of things just came to a halt. At least now I can get caught up.

I managed to finish seasons 4 and 5 of the show 24 within that time and I have to comment on how shameless the writers and producers have become. Saving a little girl’s life by having Jack Bauer give her his gas mask? Ridiculous. Look, we already know he’s a hero, let’s not get crazy here. We watch this show to see him break terrorists’ necks with his thighs while hanging from water pipes, not see him tuck children into bed and tell them bedtime stories. The producers don’t market the show to children, so why are they acting like that’s who their audience is?

And what’s with the new trend to spell out words in songs? It should have ended with Gwen’s song that drove me b-a-n-a-n-a-s. Save the spelling bees for those nerds whose mother’s life long goal is for their children to appear on ESPN for the national spelling bee championships. You don’t impress anybody with your ability to spell words. That’s why you’re a singer in the first place; we already know you’re not smart.

Hah. See? It’s in no one’s best interest to keep me isolated for that amount of time. We have seen winter’s wrath and it may not be bitterly cold but now I’m just bitter. Someone please send me season 6 of 24 and an e-hug.

posted by Katie P. at 12:53 AM 0 comments

The Black Sheep

Growing up, my family always made it abundantly clear that I was the black sheep. It was always obvious to everyone, including me, that I wasn’t one of them. My brother told the lie that all big brothers tell, that I was adopted. Except my family decided to play along with it long enough for me to question whether or not I actually was.

I know we’re not supposed to compare ourselves to other people but growing up it was hard not to since my brother was the son that every parent always dreamed of having. Even in pre-school, Mrs. Simmons called attention to my mother that I wasn’t enough like my big brother who always did what he was told, always sat quietly and always played nice with the other kids. She said that I was more interested in playing with the art supplies while I was supposed to be singing, or dancing when I was supposed to be building blocks. And I yelled at the girl who took away my Snow White book, all things my beloved big brother would never even dream of doing according to our pre-school teacher.

In middle school and high school I was of course the troublemaker, the one with the chip on her shoulder since I was forced to attend a school that I didn’t want to go to. For college, I had always wanted to go to William and Mary but of course that’s where my brother went because I always played a little harder than I worked.

Even now, my brother is on the fast-track to investment banking. He knows exactly what he wants to do with his life and which steps need to be taken to get there. Even after being here for two years, I still don’t have a clear idea about what I want to do with my life. It’s not that I don’t have any ideas, it’s that I have too many and each idea is more radically different than the next. Plus I’m still trying to figure out how to make “world-traveler” into a profession. Most people in my family (except for my mother) still don’t understand exactly what I’m doing in Krygyzstan, why I would join Peace Corps in the first place and how I’ve managed to stay here this long after everything I’ve been through.

So far, I’m happy with what I’ve done with my life and who I’ve become even though I had a hell of a time getting here and still have a lot of work that needs to be done before I get to where I ultimately want to be. Everyday I pass sheep on my way to school and every time I see them, I smile to myself and feel smart to know that being a black sheep isn’t always a bad thing.

posted by Katie P. at 12:50 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

I Got Nothing.

I think my sensitivity to my outside surroundings is numbing. You know that age-old saying “it was nothing to write home about” well I guess I have to say, “it was nothing to blog about”. It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to write interesting stories or experiences that may be unusual to my regular readers so if I’m boring you, I apologize. Hopefully these few stories are entertaining, if they aren’t I invite you to stop reading all together.

I was chased by two different cows twice this week, which is particularly scary since they don’t cut off the horns like they do in America. One was bucking it’s head up and down, closing the distance between us and my neighbors got a real kick out of me screaming and running away like a little girl. When I first got here, I felt like such an idiot when I asked where the all girl cows were. I got a few quizzical looks until someone informed me that bulls aren’t the only ones with horns. Haha. Whoops.

Last fall when tomatoes were still abundantly plentiful one of my student’s mothers invited me over to help can them. I felt like Betty Crocker herself learning how to preserve veggies and was exceptionally proud of myself. Too bad this skill will go entirely to waste since we can get tomatoes year round at home. Speaking of which, I haven’t eaten a fresh tomato since when I was in Thailand.

One volunteer found Oreos. OREOS! They were in a Chinese market in the very back on the bottom shelf (hiding them from us gluttonous Americans, no doubt). They packaging was in Chinese but Oreos were clearly written across the front in the classic Nabisco letters. Naturally I bought as many packages as I could carry (as gifts, people). I opened one when I got home enjoying the chocolaty goodness when I tested my abilities at reading Chinese. On one side of the package it was clearly marked, calories: 2,050KJ per 100 grams. I scanned the package in a panic to find out how many grams where in the entire package. 150. My mouth dropped open at the possibility that I just consumed over 2,000 calories in less than 5 minutes. And I wasn’t even finished. I was only done with half. Well I figured, what the hell, might as well finish them, what’s another 1,000 calories at that point, right? Luckily thanks to Google, I found out that Oreos are only 55 calories each and each package contained 7- 385 calories is still a lot, don’t get me wrong but not as bad as say, 3,000. For you health nuts, one Oreo can be burned off in 7 minutes of walking. If that’s not incentive, I don’t know what is.

So cows, tomatoes and Oreos, that’s all I got. For you avid readers, I’ll try harder next time.

posted by Katie P. at 10:52 PM 0 comments