Fermented Mare's Milk

I know, nothing yesterday. Well, this is a tiring business moving nearly-mute through the world. Plus we had quite a bit of the getting-to-you-know-you-type meetings yesterday and today at the American University of Central Asia, all of which have been helpful and incredibly friendly. Yesterday we met with the Vice President of Academic Affairs, a remarkable man full of enthusiasm for Erin's project and what he referred to as my Writing about the inner soul of the Kyrgyz people. We'll have to see about that. He also volunteered his wife to us as a shopping and sight-seeing guide through the various historical sights and museums around the city. I'm certainly looking forward to that.

Today we met with the President of the University, an American woman with odd ties to virtually everything I've ever done: She has a daughter currently living in Providence; both of her children went to a boarding school more or less down the road from the one I attended and she recalled fond memories of Pomfret's campus; she's friends with the last three presidents of Skidmore and a number of faculty; she once spent a summer in Bloomington, Indiana, learning Russian; and she claims as her best friend on earth one Mr. Gerald Stern, a poet I've long loved. Plus, she offered me a job almost immediately, as the University's biggest problem right now is communication, among its faculty and staff and students as well as out to the rest of the world. She'll let me know early next week what position she has invented for me and what amount of the annual budget she's syphoned away for my salary (her words, not mine!). Needless to say, I'm digging the President right now.

Other things are moving along as well:

Yesterday we managed to go to the bazaar around the corner from our apartment and buy some bread and produce all by ourselves! You'd be amazed how easily performing that simple task successfully can enhance the quality of your entire day.

We also attended an Anthropology department meeting for the full faculty and student body of the department. Erin discusses it in her most recent blog post, so I won't go into too much detail. I would like to add this, however: While I am neither an Anthropologist nor do I speak Russian or Kyrgyz, I was completely swept up in the enthusiasm of everyone at that meeting. Honestly, sitting in that room one could very easily get the idea that anthropology in general and the anthro students at this university in particular will save the world. And that they're going to do so very soon, too. Plus they had snacks and people sang songs and recited poetry and played instruments. Amazing meeting. (America, you're on notice: get your departmental meetings in order before I get back...or else!)

Just a few minutes ago we hired a private Russian tutor who will come to our apartment three days a week and, at least initially, confuse us silly for an hour and a half. Hopefully not for too long, though.

Very soon we will be going to the Habitat for Humanity office here in Bishkek to volunteer with them. It'll be a good way to meet some people outside of the university and hopefully increase our Russian skills a bit (it may very well prove useful to know the Russian word for "roofing nail"). Plus, you know, it's nice and I've done a lot of bad things in my life that need to be balanced out at some point. Neither of us have been on a build since college (there was a deterrent to doing so in Bloomington...I'll leave it at that), so we're excited to get back into it.

That's about it for now. I realize I still haven't uploaded any pictures; the connection in our apartment is too slow to do it there and we only today got out computer access at the university. I'll have them up possibly later today, though more likely tomorrow. Promise. Now we're going to go wander around aimlessly in hopes of learning the city a little bit better before we head down to the Habitat office.