Mike, Evan and I spent the night in the Turkish high school in Jalal-Abad our first day out of Bishkek. Our Turkish student used to work there, and he put us in contact with his friends, who would let us stay for free. Mike and Evan stayed in the boys' dorm, and I stayed in the girls'. There were about 300 Kyrgyz girls living at this high school, and they all wanted a chance to talk to me. I was tired, but I stayed up til midnight talking to different groups of girls who came in wanting to practice their English or listen to my Russian. They were all super sweet and nice, and in the morning a Turkish student helped Mike and I get a cheap taxi to Arslanbob. We said goodbye to Evan, who headed off for 3 months in China. We're going to miss him!
We had an amazing time in Arslanbob, an amazing village of Uzbeks a few hours north of Osh. My dream came true to ride a donkey in Kyrgyzstan! The hospitality was unbelievable, and it's likely that we'll come back in a few years to volunteer and teach English. Our homestay dad offered us a room in his house and free food if we come back and teach at the local school- he's a math teacher and he'd arrange everything for us. It was the highlight of our months and months in Kyrgyzstan. I can't wait to go back!
We spent a few days in Osh just waiting for a car to fill up for Tajikistan... we found 2 Swedes to split the $175 taxi to Murghab. This morning I chipped my front tooth mysteriously, either brushing my teeth or eating a plum. It's the same one I chipped when I was 7 playing animal circus, and then re-chipped playing volleyball in high school. I decided I had to visit a Kyrgyz dentist, because it'd be no good to have problems in the middle of the Pamirs. Luckily there was a dentist right next to our guesthouse, so I went in and checked it out. There was a nice old Kyrgyz woman dentist, and she gave me enough reassurance to go ahead with it. She fixed it in exactly the same way I'd gotten it fixed in America, it was quick, it was painless, and my tooth is NOT gold. It was only 300 som (less than $10)! In America it would have cost over $150. Hopefully the glue/filling will last atleast until I get to Turkey. There were 4 dentist chairs in one big room, old, hefty Soviet chairs. At the chair in front of me, the dentist was drilling a girl's cavity and talking on his mobile phone at the same time. My dentist's drill was run by a long rope that spun quickly around when she pressed the foot pedal. It was definitely an experience (how many people can say that they visited a Kyrgyz dentist and lived to tell the tale??) :)
Tomorrow morning we're off to drive the Pamir Highway, with a driver our friend Chris Rickleton had when he went to Tajikistan. (Check out his article about his trip here). We'll spend about 20 days in Tajikistan, and then 15 days in Uzbekistan. I'm sure it will be a great time! I'll post an update and pictures sometime when we find internet again, probably not for atleast a week. In the meantime, check out www.pamirs.org for information and photos of where we'll be for the next few weeks.
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