More news and Banya fun

 

Hey everyone,

So I have been instructed that I must write some stories on my blog. Being that I can't write about the most exciting stories I guess I will just share a funny one.

I had my first banya (shower) last Sunday. Since most Kyrgyz people only Banya once a week, banya's are actually a pretty big production. So it's this room that is heated with coals like a sauna, it's really warm and relaxing. Then there is a huge bathtub of cold water and a big pot of hot water on the coals as well as an empty bucket. The idea is that you mix the hot and cold water in the bucket and then bath yourself. Simple enough. The thing that wasn't explained to me was each banya has a drain on the floor so you literally just bath yourself in this room. I however, didn't know that and didn't want to be the American who flooded the banya so I spent the first 5 min or so trying to figure out how to bath myself. I didn't want to stand in the tub and get my dirty water in with the clean water, that just didn't seem sanitary. So finally I decided to stand in this small bucket that was suppose to be used for mixing the temperatures of water and bath myself carefully to ensure that the bucket caught all of the water and I spilled very minimal amounts on the floor. When I was done I brought the bucket outside and asked my host mom where to throw the water, she just laughed at me, brought it back in the banya and threw it down the clearly visible drain that I had just missed. Opps. Also, I found out the next day in class that the average banya lasts about an hour, cause it's a relaxing sauna duh. I was in mine for ten min tops confused and not relaxed. Needless to say I'm excited for next attempt at a Krygyzstan banya.

I guess general stuff, my host family is great and my host parents are younger then me which is kind of odd but cool. I'm learning Kyrgyz faster than I've ever learned another language but I am deff years from being fluent.

I hope all is well in the states, and I'm kind of glad that CNN has forced you all to know exactly where Kyrgyzstan is located on a map!