This Is For My Girls

When I joined Peace Corps, I was in the same boat as the majority of the K23 class. I did not know a single soul that I would be living and working with for the next two years. As someone who makes friends pretty easily, and has no problem with putting myself out there, I wasn’t really worried. My only concern was that I would seem too eager, and freak people out. I have the literal coolest and most amazing group of friends back home. Shout out to my goons. The bar was set pretty freaking high for any new friends. Let me just say, my PC friends are unbelievable. The family I have built here with my friends is something I cherish. The friends I have here are the kind that you want to have. They are supportive, funny, give you confidence just by being around them, and will call you out on your bull.

And while the friendships I have with my bros are great and I need them, the real champions in the group are the amazing female friendships I have here. Being a woman in Kyrgyzstan is difficult. Like, I mean there is some issue EVERY SINGLE DAY that occurs, and it occurs because I am a female. I feel like I deal with the attention fairly well (note: I receive far less negative attention than many volunteers). But, y’all, sometimes it just gets to you. In times like this I turn to my girls. They get it. Don’t get me wrong, I now I can call Andy or John and they will listen and care, but they can’t fully understand.

The girls GET IT.

However, this post is not about being a female in Kyrgyzstan. This post is about the amazing women that I get to call my friends. So, here’s to you guys. You are all badasses, and I love you. Thanks for always building me up, going shopping with me, and just making everything fun, whether it’s dancing at Coyote or going get breakfast after we spent too long at Coyote the night before. You’re all my fam in and out of da clurb.

Sports Camp

Welcome back! Since I last posted some pretty cool things have happened, but this post is focusing on Talas sports camp. Sports camp is by far one of my favorite things. Last year I was able to assist every day, and even lead basketball day. It was a great way to get to know the youth of Talas and my fellow volunteers, 22s and 23s alike. It made me kind of sad that the timing didn’t work out this year for the 24s to get to participate, but I’m sure we’ll have lots of other projects they’ll get roped into. This year Andy and I headed up camp. The coolest part of this camp, in my opinion, is that it is designed to be smaller. We had an average of 7 to 8 students a day (some days we had more, some days we had fewer) with 4 out of 5 days being all girls. Don’t let the group size fool you, though. This was a successful project! When the numbers are small like this it is so much easier to forge personal connections and really give each participant personalized attention. These girls were so committed to learning these sports. They never stopped playing, never said a drill was too difficult, and just never complained. I can’t put into word how proud I am of these awesome girls. Also, we definitely saw some raw athletic ability that I hope they keep developing.

The camp was Monday though Friday. The sports covered were soccer, volleyball, basketball, kickball, and Frisbee. Due to meetings I had scheduled, I was only able to attend camp MWF. Fortunately, Andy and I had a great group of PCVs who helped us out. Shout out to Chris who came every single day, and helped in anyway we asked. We also had a PCV come all the was from Issyk Kul oblast to help the middle three days. It is always great to have friends visit our little oblast, and even better when they can help with a project. Thank you, Sarah. LeAnne, Leah, and Hännah were also huge parts of making this camp possible. I can’t leave out our great translator either. Bektersun came every single day and help us translate for the participants.

Things like this camp are the reason I joined Peace Corps. I really hope that next year the 24s keep this little camp alive. Maybe even grow it.