valerie
June 12, 2025 - English teacher club in another village. A teacher in that village brought small cakes and pizza that she and her daughter made. She asked me to take the last piece of pizza home, but we had no bags, so she wrapped it in a piece of paper that she didn’t need, and then it was hidden
June 11, 2025 - strange but beautiful sunset with brick fences in front of our house and the neighbors’ house across the street
June 10, 2025 - dog standing next to a rail outside of a Spar
the dog was tied to a different fence further away from the entrance before we went into the store, but when we came back, it had gotten loose and seemed to be looking for its owner to return
June 9, 2025 - Zaya standing by a piece of wood
(yes, my family has started calling Zoya’s sister Zaya 😁)
June 8, 2025 - two days ago (Friday), I traveled 5km down the road to my colleague’s village because his coteacher invited us for Kurman Ait (Ait maarek bolsun!). I went with two English teachers from my school, and we had a nice time 🙂
June 7, 2025 - if I turn on the light switch in my room, a white light turns on (the unlit circle in the middle). If I turn off the light, and turn it on quickly again, I get this blue light setting. I think these lights are cool…don’t think I’ve ever seen any like this in America?
June 4, 2025 - Two weeks ago, I gave my weekend taxi driver a Buc-ee car scent hanger as a gift from the US (and a Hershey’s bar). Last weekend, I saw that he had put Buc-ee on his mirror. Bit of nostalgia for the US, but mostly pride that now there is a Kyrgyz driver with Buc-ee in his car
June 2, 2025 - clocks seem to be a popular gift this year! From the teachers at my school. The text inside says “to the volunteer Valerie” in Kyrgyz
and because it’s in the shape of a yurt, it has curves 🙂
June 1, 2025 - a local teacher invited me to lunch this past week to thank me for how I’ve helped her over the past two years 🥺 she ordered so much food for just two of us (it’s not all pictured) and then of course wouldn’t let me pay
May 29, 2025 - we have a new baby calf! Our cow gave birth on Tuesday. It was my first time seeing the whole process. The calf is sisters with another young cow of ours, Zoya, but since Zoya isn’t home now, my family has been calling this new calf Zoya, too 😂
May 28, 2025 - so what happened at the Last Bell ceremony? When the 11B class walked in (we had two graduating classes, 11A and 11B), some 11B boys set off and carried in three smoke bombs. Because we were in a room, things got hazy…the ceremony had to move outside, though there was a risk of rain
May 27, 2025 - yesterday’s Last Bell ceremony (graduation) before the big scandal. Stay tuned for what happened next tomorrow! Predictions are welcome. (Nothing terrible, everyone is still alive)
(also, my last Last Bell in my village 😥 and my most advanced English student graduated 🥹)
May 25, 2025 - host brother and two host cousins started repairing the roof of our underground storage room/cellar. The roof had caved in in some places when one of our young cows got loose and walked on it.
Almost every village family has a cellar like this for veggies and preserved food
May 24, 2025 - dining room of a guesthouse we stayed at in Kochkor after an emergency consolidation drill (so just a practice run). Volunteers do one every year
May 23, 2025 - last day of school! Spent the day chilling, talking to students, giving them stickers and candy (Starburst!), taking selfies, and playing Connect 4 (which was a hit!). Took this picture after one of my 5th class girls accidentally left her backpack in my classroom 😅
May 22, 2025 - The last week of school. Tomorrow is the last official day of school. One of my 6th grade boys gave me two notes today 😭 I have no idea where he found these words, but it was very sweet. Even with that & writing my own notes for students, I managed not to cry at school!
