Baby Love

I have found a wonderful volunteer opportunity with a German Non Governmental Organization (NGO) Uplift-Aufwind. I will be going to the local orphanage to do massage on a baby and also will be working with their Mother/Child project to prevent child abandonment. Children in orphanages do not get a lot of bonding time with adults because of the high child to worker ratio. It is reported that many of these children are behind developmentally and some will not even maintain eye contact. The idea is to massage the child at least twice a week to help them bond with adults and experience touch and affection. I will be assigned one specific child so that I will always work with the same one. In this way, the child will learn to anticipate my visit and gain benefit from a routine schedule.

I am also sponsoring a mother through the Mother/Child project. She is a single 19 year old who has a baby about 3 months old. She was considering giving the child up for adoption but Uplift-Aufwind visited her and offered financial support and advice on bonding with her baby. I will sponsor this mother by giving her a certain amount of money each month along with other donations. I followed the Program Manager for a visit to this mother and had the opportunity to see how she struggled with the decision to give her child up for adoption. She seemed very hesitant to bond with her child because she wasn’t sure she wanted or could keep the baby. Even though there was a language barrier, the Program Manager was translating for me. I cannot imagine the weight that was on this girl’s shoulders and what was going through her mind. The Mother/Child project seeks to give these mothers another choice by offering them both financial support and guidance on bonding with their babies. Over here there is not much of a child welfare program so many poor, young, single mothers are left on their own. This particular mother was staying in a home that takes in poor women who are living on the street. When I heard about this project I knew I had to be involved. I am sure that it will be challenging at times but will also carry many rewards. I will keep you updated and will post pictures if possible.

Russian Snack - by Irene

Dan and I went out for drinks the other night and stopped at an interesting bar next to the Russian Embassy. The place had a post modern feel with blue neon lights shining. Almost like an American diner renovated with a 1950s vibe. The waitresses were in sky blue outfits that made them look like old fashioned stewardesses, complete with the pillbox hat (although minus the friendly skies attitude).

The item on the menu that caught Dan’s eye was the “Russian Snack”. It was described as salted fish, potato, salted cucumber and mushroom. What we got was about five small pieces of a very salty fish, probably herring, with the skin, slices of boiled potato, pickles and a pile of soft slimy mushrooms. Now, while it may not sound very appetizing, it was actually not that bad. The fish had a strong ocean taste that cut the salt and it went quite well with Dan’s light pilsner beer. Also, I love seafood and have been going through withdrawal while over here, so I welcomed the fishy ocean taste. The boiled potatoes were what you might expect, but the mushrooms were actually what surprised me the most. I normally love mushrooms (the white button kind and portabella). However, these had a slime so thick it mixed with the fish juice which then seeped over to the potatoes. The mushrooms gave off a long snail-like trail when you would put one on your fork. Further, they were impossible to chew, almost like a piece of squid. That was probably the least appetizing part of the whole snack. That being said, the “Russian Snack” seemed pretty popular there. The bar was full of mostly men drinking either shots of vodka or light beer and sharing these snacks. While I can’t say it was my favorite, it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever put in my mouth – that title goes to liver pate.

Happy New Year

The photos don't really do justice to the scale of the celebration.

Many cities around the world have their unique New Year's Eve traditions. New York has Times Square, Paris fireworks at the Eiffel Tower, and in Milwaukee idiots fire guns in the air and pretend that bullets disappear into the ether. I have to say, however, that I think the coolest New Year's Eve celebration I have witnessed has been here in Bishkek. Yes, Bishkek.

In the past few weeks all over town there have been card tables set out on street corners with Kyrgyz gentlemen selling large colorful sticks about a foot or two in length. I really didn't pay too much attention to it at the time. Come New Year's Eve it became readily apparent that these colorful sticks were in-fact high grade fireworks.

At midnight, all over the city there were extremely loud and colorful fireworks displays. I'm not talking about a few people shooting off bottle rockets and firecrackers in a their neighborhoods. I am talking about industrial grade, professional type fireworks exploding all over the city, everywhere. Whether looking out the front, side, or back windows, it did not matter. They were even going off up by the mountains. If you shot one of these things off in the U.S., or even had one in your possession without an ATF license, you would be arrested on the spot. They are apparently not concerned with burning down the city (given the concrete Soviet style buildings it is probably not a high concern). I watched as some partiers piled out of the nightclub outside the gates of our apartment building, went out into the street filled with cars, and shot off these monsters. Multiply that by about a hundred or two hundred times and that was what Irene and I saw as we hung our heads out the window in amazement. I guess this is a benefit of having a porous border with China. The fireworks went on throughout the early morning and even the next day. I understand we will have another display tonight, which is Russian Orthodox Christmas Eve. I suspect that even though only 20% of the population is Russian Orthodox, the Kyrgyz won't let the opportunity to shoot off some fireworks pass them by.