Thanksgiving, Debrief number two, last country in Asia and team changes. This month is ushering in some huge changes so stay tuned for next months blog.
Crossing the border from Kazakstan to Kyrgyzstan was fantastic. We drove to the border
showed our passports twice and walked on over. We made our way to Bishkek and got hooked
up with our ministry partner for the month(our first official one since Mongolia) and found out
we were assigned to travel within the country to several cities. After the capital of Bishkek we
found ourselves staring at some beautiful mountains in a town called Karakol. Here we taught
some English and experienced our teams first snow on the race. From Karakol we stopped at
Bishkek for the night, and continued on a 14 hour drive through the mountains to Jalal-Abad.
Here we taught English and got to build relationships with lots of students. We worked with an
awesome team of ladies who are on fire for Jesus and living out the great commission every
day in tough circumstances. Its been my favorite month so far and I love traveling as much as
we did. Going in, wreaking havoc then leaving. Wreaking havoc might not be the best way to
describe it, Id say its more like when you were little, your room was a mess and your mom
would say what happened?? It looks like a tornado come through here! Ok, maybe that’s not
the best way to describe what we do either. We give what we can and love with reckless
abandon, knowing we are here for a reason wether it be for a day or a week. Thanks for
reading!
In honor of this being our last asian country here is a recap of random things Ive learned from
each country.
Mongolia- Cleanliness-Every business is exceptionally clean, when we were on the train
headed to UB they wiped everything down at least once, walls, doors, floors, everything. Light
switches- Coming from the western side of civilization, I’m used to light switches being on the
right side of the room as soon as I enter. Not so in Mongolia. All the light switches are on the
outside of the room you want to go into. So my process to get into our bathroom usually went
as follows- open bathroom door, smack the wall to my right, get really confused when I can’t
find the switch, smack the other side of the wall making sure Im not just dumb and can’t find
the switch, growl in frustration, back out of the bathroom, close the door, flip on the light switch
on the left side of the door, reopen the bathroom door and finally enter a lighted room. Fact is It
takes 21 days to make (or break)a habit……so your girl proceeded to smack the outside of any
room trying to turn on the light for another month in china.
China- squatty potties- all my training had prepared me for this moment. Peeing in fields
growing up helped out a lot, however better bring your own toilet paper because there was
never any in the stalls. To-go boxes were clear plastic bags, if you wanted a door to close you
had to use your toes and stick them under the door to keep it that way.
Kazakhstan- 9th largest country and largest landlocked country in the world. Every man has to
serve in the military, however if you pay a bribe, you don’t have to. Kazakh people were
traditionally nomads and to this day a lot of them still live that lifestyle. Johnny appleseed has
nothing on Kazakhstan, according to legend apples were first cultivated here and in the city of
Almaty(which literally means apple) there are apple trees everywhere.
Kyrgyzstan- McDonalds doesn’t exist here, tea and bread at every meal, the mountain ranges
here take up 70% of the land mass, the drives here are beautifu
