Jalal-abad

We arrived in Jalal-abad and were welcomed at Aisuluu’s place with a good dinner! She had a few young girls staying with her, they were from different villages outside of the city. They too were learning Russian! In the villages, well most everywhere outside of Bishkek, most people speak Kyrgyz, so, for much of the time Aisuluu translated Kyrgyz to Russian for Ira and Ira translated the Russian to English for me. Ira, Aisuluu, and Jonesh did a four day seminar training….meanwhile I helped Ira to translate a book. We were also able to look around see some of the city while we were there. One of the interesting things was that there are very few marshrukas. Instead you can take a taxi for only 5 com! The taxies are pretty much all the same kind of car- Daewoo Ticos. They are a small car!! It is funny to see them all lined up and buzzing around the city. We were invited to the village on Thursday, the home of one of the girls staying with Aisuluu. It was a good time! It was great to meet the family. The older couple, (grandparents), were amazing people, and he told a lot of stories about his life and it was really interesting, and amusing- he was often saying something funny. We ate a lot, as usual, and had a good time! Though after a while they had guests- some neighbor ladies had stopped by, probably to check out who the strange guests were. They came and sat down and also joined in the conversations. One lady had mentioned about the Samaritan’s Purse Christmas boxes. They had gotten them in that village and they were so glad, and the children really loved to receive the presents! I was happy. I know many of you back home put boxes together and send them off, not knowing where they go, or the response of those who receive them; but people receive them here, and they are very grateful and they bring much joy to the kids! The next day, Friday, was our last day before we would head back to Bishkek, and that evening there was planned an all-night event! It was a good thing that we had a 12hr ride ahead of us the next day! It didn’t seem so long being able to sleep on the way back! Though I hardly slept at all; the views were AMAZING! It is probably the most beautiful scenery I’ve seen on a 12 hr drive where most of the way I couldn’t help but look out the window in awe of my surroundings!