Well, the south has come north bringing with it sunshine and happiness, ‘The Oshi/I-bad crowd is lenjoying the joys of hot water and satellite tv... and doing a little work on the most grammatically and stylistically lcorfect English language periodical in the ‘stan, We've been here a year. We're tougher, and scruffier, and smarter We've teamed a lot. We've leamed that mumbling is okay, whether you're sitting| Jat home in a cold’ dark apartment, or addressing a large group of people We've leamed to eat things that Hannibal Lector migit decline. One can only fantasize what lessons the next year will bring. Uf-Da!_ Enough of this obligatory small tatk... as Jed Clampett woud say,"Let’s commence to newsletterin.” AaB Beyond and Back by Ken Peavler “Froih can be stranger than fiction.” 1 don't know who said that first But 1 have seen, things which make me believe it, things that sake me doubt my own sanity, “What could estroy the mental balance of one so well grounded as Ken", you may ask. Let me tell you... I have seen 2 parallel world, T have been to another “STAN. I was not alone on this incredivie voyage, others went with me, Larry had long postulated the exiftence of another ‘stan that was alongside ours, yet different. Larry, Mark, Robert, and I had shared a brief vision of a fantastic city of soft serve ice cream and subways las) November, but as time went on it seemed as if we had dreamt the whole thing, For our own peace of mind we had to see if we could return. Debbie listened to our tales and came with as. Let me tell you about this other ‘stan. this Urbekistan, Ik comes to me in bits and pieces. There are other volunteers there, like us, ut strangely different, They'e a rien, hardy, bunch. There are English speakers of other types. too. We attended one of their surange and other-worldly rituals, called the ushers hash” ‘This mirtor universe athletic aD contiued on 2056 6 (Saban babe S07 page Sede) In this issue: -Five who dared Uzbekistan -Naryn Tales of Survival -Gut-bustin' Hijinks in Kara-K The Last TEFL Lesson You'll Ever Need -Drop Dead One Liners from Those Wacky Volunteers -And Much More! (oot too much mors)Hangman by Erie Eversmann Oh nol Please don't tell me that what 1 think just happened actually did. I'm sitting in class with my 24, 14 year olds and T think that class just took a tum for the worse Please don't tell me that what [think Just happened actually did. I's been a long day already ang so instead of my usually pacing and preaching about the classroom, Tim siting at my desk trying 10 pay as litle attention as possible 10 the game that the students are laying at the board. My eyes peer wearily out through the interstices of the fingers covering sce only to find rat what T thought just happened... actually did. Altinay has drawn 2 penis on the hangman. 1 was inadvertent, I think. Maybe. she dido't realize that the hangman already had wo legs, but she staried to draw a third. Right down the middle, She only got a third of the way down before realizing what she was doing and stopped. But the damage was done and now I'm left with @ well-endowed stick figure on my board So now she stands there, alone, in front of the class morlified and petsfied with fear The chalk which was in her hand now Wes at her feet, shatiered. I fell in the instant that she gained consciousness of her faux-pas and her hands immediately flew to her face. Tm not sure if she's crying or 01 It seems that this happens to me a lot here. I ty 10 go alone and not interfere, keep a low profile and do my job. One thing I can say bout my life here, though, is that its never normal And my reaction to it always seems to be the same. (squint, scrunch up my eyes. try to re-focus and make sure that what I think just happened actually did, And it usually did There's always someone drawing a penis on my hangman, it seems The problem which follows for me is, “What do I do now?" That man just blew his nose on my shoe. I've squinted, scrunched and refocused and, yup, that's what happened. This problem is more easily solved in the States. 1 spend hours daydreaming about ways to verhally assault people should just a situation arise. If someone blew their nose on my shoes at home 1 ve ecstatic. But here I'm handcuffed. Foreign language insulis aren't my forte vo \ told the woman upstairs who likes to come in uninvited and insult me that she was (in English), "a fat. old, ugly hap.” She looked at me like Td just tol6 her she was 2 fine bottle of wine and continued to harangue me ‘over my lying about not knowing Russian (I don't, really) and asserting that my distiller was actually a vodka still and I was a lush, “What do I do now?" There stands Altinay (I've ascertained that she isn't crying) and I ask myself this question again, I have pre-adolescents sprawled out over desks and some look like they're going to hurt themselves: from laughing so hard. If I overtly acknowledye the situation I'm sure I'l lose some of them permanently. Class is already shot for the day. J stand up reluctantly and walk over to Altinay, pat her on the shoulder and tell her to sit down. I take a piece of chalk and change my stick figure into something resembling the Stay-Pulf Marshmallow Man, accidentally covering up his appendage with his new found dolk. I call Aida to the front of the class and ask her to continue the game, Thank God there are only two more classes today. WELCOMES: Great big ‘stan welcomes go out to the following -The Boyles! (What else could they ldo to top all that mail?) ~The new PCVKMVCL! (Peace Corps Volunteer-Kyrghyzstan Multiple Volume Classics Library) -The trainees! (What books did you bbring?... and tapes, what tapes?) Welcome back Elizabeth! (A lnealthy appetite for central Asia.)Surviving a Winter in Naryn by laura’ horton The leaves are on the wees again and sweat trickles down from my armpit, and winter seems long gone, I have never experienced how a mere change of season can affect peoples’ lives s0 drastically, and I've even lived in Minnesota. ‘This is what T hate about winter 1. THERE IS NO FOOD. Fruit makes its last stand in September and then it's potatoes, meat, and onions. If you didn’t can, then the only variety of food is when you can mooch by teing 2 guest, and they open their jars. 1 found myself eating a lot of candy bors, anything with sugar just to wake up my taste buds. 2. PEOPLE ARE SAD. Weather is certsinly mocd-affecting, from Seasonal Affective Syndrome to just not wanting to do anything. My students didn't want to do anything. Other teachers didn't want to do anything. ‘The men Grink 2 lot more and ty to make everyone also drink a lot more, because ‘W's good for the cold. Tt helps you to not get “sick.” Any logic like, no, it will lower my resistance and make me get sick, is met with a scoff. This made me sad 3. IT GETS DARK AT 4 You eat dinner at Spm, you maybe work or read a ite until 7pm, you fidéle around because it’s only Zpm and you can’t go to bed yet, but then it has been dark for 4 hours already and it feels Tike it's midnight 0 you go to bed. 1 averaged maybe 11 hours & night 4, YOU CANT LEAVE, It gets dark early and the streets aren't safe, 4s 100 cold to really do anything, and everyone js sad anyways. You have another year of service. You're stuck 5. THE ELECTRICITY IS SPORADIC AT BEST. If you have an electic heater t0 Keep you warm, it won't work. There is no light, and candles and oil lamps just don't eut it. You might only have an electric stove, or maybe the gas shortage hot your town, and you can't cook Food or even make tea. So, you go to bed at 6pm. 6.7 IS COLD. Vhate tha. Actually the winter is quite beautiful, and there are high points, like skiing and the first magical covering of snow. I know how to prepare better and Tam hoping that it will go by quicker this nest year. I keep telling myself that Mongolia is the coldest Peace Corps Country, and this isn't so bad. Fd just recommend 10 you not to visit us from January to April The Importance of One's Own Space vy Michele Haugh ‘AL long last, Tve got the new place and I'm setthng in rather well. Thanks to my family Tm enjoying ® cappuccino and a Reese's peanut butier cup on my balcony/room just off the kitchen, As [ stare at it in my hand, the chocolate melts in little steeains that run interminably dows my fingers 10 she chocolate collecting pool in my palm. Ws éelicious- so ae my surroundings. 1 like to sit out here in the evening by an open window, reading or writing by candlelight, surrounded by photos, cards, and newsprint from family and friends Ws a basic useful room-wooden floors, tall windows, chilies and basil drying nearby, and a small pantry-type cupboard for dried goods and other extras. *As it grows darker outside and sight is labored, I prefer the candlelight- that way people can't see me and are unaware of my observations. Tonight is especially quiet WSs coo! and clear outside-the ead of @ Wet, crisp day-the result of a long shower last night. When the neighborhood has moved indoors ean sit at my window and sip my coffee as the distant traffic, the dogs, and the nightingales sound soft and unobtrusive Wariner weather, on the other hanc, keeps the children out longer, the dogs right below me, and the arguments and Isughter all within ese shot. ‘Three floors up I can bear their words as they linger in the shadows. I can't always see my neighbors, but from my observation deck 1 can still be an observer and, sometimes, a rather harsh critic. There are times, however, when I long to be a more intimate part of it all and, when Tm feeling up to it, T venture into that circle, Ws warm, welcoming, and curious, but, alas, my staying power is not that of my companions, I just cant sit for tha: long, At some point, conversation clogs. 1 lose the topic, my language fails me and I reweat 10 my third floor haven to continue my studies and contemplation’s. Life is a litle more predictable up there, It zejuvenates me, it restores me, it invigorates me for another atlempt at assimilation, Tm not. lonely-t'm alone-and T do that well. When I step into the street, however, I'm no longer alone and I can't function anonymously. I's moments Like these that give me the strengih and desire to live in and among these people. This is my home, after all, When people visit the spell of my litte “perch” is broken. For what they see and dont understand, they want, Alone-1 explain nothing and 1 do as 1 please: T heer the sounds Twrite the words, 1 sec the new days-ihe candle burns ow and hy cup i empty 22 3 GD v