If I could rewind my life three months...

and watch it with subtitles, it would be hilarious! I think it would be a smash comedy hit. Life with my host family is a bizarre mix of Kyrgyz, English, Russian and charades. At the moment I have four younger host siblings and the fifth one is coming home for the summer tomorrow. They are very enthusiastic to learn English and are great about teaching me Kyrgyz – correcting my verb conjugations, pointing out new vocab, etc. So much gets lost in translation but we do okay. This morning we played badminton and volleyball and then assorted neighbors and relatives came over for an impromptu English/Kyrgyz language session. People keep cornering me in my community and trying to get me to personally tutor their kids in English for the summer. Needless to say, I can’t do that. But I guess I am sort of easy to find.

I started English clubs with Marcia, my counterpart (partner teacher) this week. It’s nice to be able to start teaching in a relaxed summer atmosphere so I can gauge my students’ levels and interests. For the most part they’re really excited about learning English, though I have to remember it’s only the first week.

Yesterday I tagged along with Marcia and her husband to a bazaar in a nearby city to buy some necessities. It’s nice to go with a local to get a sense of how much things should actually cost.

Here are some pictures – my village peninsula, a day at the beach with my siblings, and a hike in Jeti-Oguz (a gorgeous place three hours away on the other side of the lake) from last weekend.