Last night I went to see a breakdancing performance. It was funded by the US Embassy, and they brought over a Christian breakdancing troupe called Havikoro from Houston, TX. They've been here all week and ran breakdancing workshops and had dance-offs against local Kyrgyz breakdancers. There were all sorts of people in the audience- Russians, many Kyrgyz children, some other foreigners, and our small group of London School Teachers. I went with Katy, Evan, Mike, a couchsurfer from Manhattan Jason, and some of their friends. It was 150 som (about 5 dollars) but it was WELL worth it. They rapped about religion ("I only sip wine when I'm taking communion" and some other equally ridiculous lyrics that I regret not recording). As dancers, they were mediocre at best, but they brought Kyrgyz children up on stage to show off their moves, and they were AMAZING. The Americans talked a LOT and spent the majority of the time cracking jokes, but they never gave enough space in the conversation for the translator to speak, so a lot of what they were saying wasn't understood. I sat with Katy from Oregon and Mike from England, and Mike felt very very proud NOT to be American. But they were entertaining and the Kyrgyz people really seemed to enjoy the show. I videotaped a Kyrgyz guy beatboxing, and I'm trying currently to upload it to facebook. I have only 40 minutes until I have to teach, so I'm not sure if it will finish in time. But someday I'll put all these pictures and videos on facebook!
Yesterday afternoon I went with Mike and Evan to the "fast" internet place, where supposedly uploading to facebook is a breeze. I couldn't get any pics to upload at all, and since they charged by the megabite instead of the hour, I paid 50 som for 5 minutes (rather than 40 som/hour). We won't be going back there again! But it was a beautiful, crisp fall afternoon, so it was a great walk. The leaves are changing here, but in Bishkek there aren't any red leaves yet- they go from green to yellow and then straight to brown.
My ankle is still bruised and tender from my fall into the rain gutter, but it doesn't hurt to walk anymore. It's just a nice battle wound to show off to my students, and to remind me to watch where I'm going.
Jane picked up ANOTHER cat off the street yesterday (she now has 5) and she can't take it back to the States with her next month. She offered it to me, and if I can convince my roommate that cats aren't so bad, I might have a cat of my own! She named her Minsk, and it would be so cozy to have a little furry body to snuggle up to all winter. Minsk had been bitten by a dog, so Jane took her to the vet this morning and got her sewed up and back to normal. It's crazy for me, as the #1 cat hater I know, to even be considering it, but all the cats I've met here are nice and cuddly and not psycho like our cat in Willington.
There apparently was an earthquake in Southern Kyrgyzstan yesterday night. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/10/06/kyrgyzstan.quake.ap/index.html I didn't feel even a tremor, but it sounded like it was mildly serious. Please pass on to everyone that I'm alright!
I just learned that the internet cafe costs 80 som (about $2.50) ALL night from 23:00-06:00. So some night I will have a marathon internet session where I'll upload pics, talk to people on Skype (it will be a normal hour in the States). So I'll keep you posted on when that will be. I'll come with other teachers and we'll bring food and alcohol and make a party out of it!
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