Independence Day

August 31st is Kyrgyzstan’s Independence Day. Last year I was unable to experience the festivities as our team was in the mountains for the fore mentioned meeting, so I was looking forward to seeing them this year! They usually have a concert and parade in the Square, but this year, due to the recent plane crash, these festivities were called off. But Taligul and I still walked to the Square this morning, it was all decorated and there were many people selling balloons, toys, cotton candy, and many шоро stands!! Taligul said that people usually celebrate by being home and preparing plav, bishbamark- lots of food, seeing the parade and stuff, and watching fireworks. Not too much different than July 4th in the US.

3 Days Of…

YFC Central Asia held its annual team meeting here at the office. Staff and workers came from all over. We shared about our programs and plans for the up incoming year and some highlights of this past year. It was exciting to hear from so many who have a desire to work with youth and help change their lives for the better. I hope that our teams continue to grow, as does our materials and resources needed to effectively do the work that we so enjoy doing!

Story of the Tower

Ok, so you might be wondering about this Tower and the why of it all. Well, as told by Azamat, there once was a king who had a beautiful daughter and she fell in love. Unfortunately the man who won her affections was a peasant. So to stop this union from happening, her father built this tower and she was place on top of it. Only to succumb to her death by a poisonous spider bite. For other info and another version of the story go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burana_Tower

Adventure!

One week after my return, Ira, Uulkan, a few of our EC students and I, planned an outing to see the Burana Tower. So at 6:20am we caught the train to Tokmok. After arriving at our destination, we headed, on foot, to the Tower. None of us had been there before, and I think if anyone had, they would have suggested that walking may not be the best idea. The guys estimated that it was about 7km (one way) - which took us about 3hrs. It was a beautiful morning- clear sky, bright sun, and a nice breeze- perfect weather for a trek. We began walking along the road, but then decided to head straight to the Tower and cut through the fields. We detoured around a field of tall grass because we would not be able to see the snakes that may have been hiding and a poisonous snake bite would have definitely put an end to our day! But our new route led us through a field of clovers and then to a patch of strawberries! They were delicious- just what we needed! Crossing the fields led us to another road. We walked that a ways and it was getting closer to noon and the bright sun was becoming hotter! So we stopped to rest in the shade of some trees that were next to a creek. I was glad to be wearing my Tevas so that I could just stand right in the nice cold water! We continued on cutting through another hot and dust field. At the end was another road and another blessing- a water spicket! We filled our water bottles, drank what we could and cooled ourselves down! IT was just what we needed to renew our vigor to make it the rest of the way. As we followed the road, we turned the corner and there it was- the Burana Tower! With still another two miles of road between us and the Tower, just seeing it in front of us made us joyful! Even better were the apple trees that were along the road- another brief snack as we traveled on! When we finally made it we collapsed on a couple of benches and rested before attempting to climb to the top. Once at the top, it was a beautiful view, a stronger refreshing wind and a good place for a much longer rest!

Seasons of Change

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

It is good to rememeber that things in life change, nothing in this life is constant (except One). Things start and things end. Things are given and taken away. When these changes come our way, we should not be resistant towards them, though some maybe difficult, some we may not understand, and even those we forsee coming, for it is a refining and building of our charcter and in the end we are better for going through these times.

It’s Good To Be Back

Well, after two months of being back in the States, it is good to be back! I did have a nice time back home. Although my nephews, with whom I spent most of my time with, going to the pool, library, playground, ect.) would probably say that it was not as much time as they had hoped. Two months was a good amount of time for me. There were people and places I did not get a chance to see that I would have liked to, but one soon gets to feeling comfortable and at the same time restless to get back to normal life (that is, life in Kstan- which has become my norm). I arrived around 4am Sunday morning (17th) and greeted by my two friends Uulkan and Ira with flowers in hand! After loading my stuff in the car, we enjoyed some apple tarts and coffee (prepared by Ira) in the parking lot. It was a wonderful welcoming!!!