Dear Mom, Sept 8 Back at the good old RC again after a pretty good weekend. Friday night we made a really tasty stir fry and bought two bottles of Kadarka red (we can't tell if that is the type of wine or brand name, but almost all bottles here have the word 'Kadarka' on them - the language is usually Bulgarian or some such). Much to our dismay, they were very high quality fakes. Someone had taken out the wine and replaced it with the worst sherry in the world or some sort of dark colored, slightly alcoholic liquid. The cork had been cut in half and popped back in the top, a whole new seal was put on it: plastic and paper - indistinguishable from a real one. I also had bought the bottles from two separate bazaar stands down at our mini-mart which meant that there are either a lot of these fake bottles floating around or some sort of KO conspiracy. Since the babushkas who sold us the wine probably were not the culprits - the seal job looked too good for the locals' level of ingenuity - we wrote it all down as an educational lesson. So after the wine was condemned to the toilet, we skulked down to buy a bottle of vodka and a big old bottle of Fanta. This probably has raised us their eyes as real party animals, unfortunately. So our Friday night consisted of sitting around playing a card game called Hand and Foot, although I like to call it Foot and Mouth after that lovely disease, laughing a great deal and killing mosquitoes. Saturday morning we lolled about reading, working and napping until three when we met Ahmad at the RC to walk to the gym. After a long twisty walk which I could not retrace on my own, we got to this little building set behind some apartment buildings. Inside was quite a nice gym, sort of in a 60's style and atmosphere. The equipment was old but in good working order; they are very careful about it. One of the men there hovered around Joan and I to make sure that we were using all the equipment properly. At one point, Paul left two dumbbells on a bench while he was working out. One of the beefy fellows quickly came over and carefully placed them on the floor. In this culture where there are no replacement parts or hardware stores, a wooden floor board (no rubber mats for these chaps!) broken by a dropped dumbbell would be catastrophic. Ahmad works out there regularly and is well known. He introduced us to the manager/owner (maybe) who is a trainer who gave us pointers and cautioned us against trying too hard on the first day in the gym, all in grandfatherly Russian. The cost is 300 tenge a month ($4) and may well be worth it once the weather turns foul. At the bazaar, there are people, mostly little ladies or little kids, who stand just inside the entrance holding stacks of round, soft, puffy loaves of breads that are heavenly. And at 10 tenge a pop, they are a cheap, tasty snack as well as compliment for a meal. But we went a step further... Yes, we used them a pizza crusts! Paul made a yummy pizza sauce with veggies and grated cheese was the finishing touch. I figure out how to light the oven and got it roaring. You should have seen those cockroaches run as their house got hot!. A game of chess ended the evening - I lost - and we hit the sack. Sunday morning we rolled up the carpets and took them out for a beating. There are metal structures out in the courtyard that our buildings huddle around that either designed at carpet hangers or just playground equipment gone bad. With a borrowed beater from our neighbor, Zena, Paul and Joan took out their frustrations on the poor carpets as local kids gathered and had a good laugh. I took some pictures that should capture the moment. That morning I also went around the apartment with a damp rag and cleaned off all the mosquito carcasses. There must have been 50 or 60 little spots of crumpled wing and leg. Then I played one of my best games of chess against Paul and won. For those of you who know chess, the interesting fact of the game is that I only moved my king and queen's pawns to do it. All the back row pieces came out to play, but all the rest of the pawns stayed on their row Ahmad came over without Kurt and Diane because he could not get in touch with them; they may still be out of town/country. We had a nice stir fry after Ahmad and Paul played a game of chess. We spent the rest of the evening talking and playing a card game called Euchre (spelling?). Today is a no teach day for me so I came in to the RC to finish off and print up my lesson plans for the week and to work on this letter. The big excitement of the morning came when the toilet was plugged. Either Joan or Ahmad are the guilty party. The damn thing won't drain! So Paul and I, in sheer desperation, resorted to using the toilet paper bucket. Nothing like squatting over a little metal bucket to start your day off right - who needs coffee? I hope it all has just gone away by the time I get home. Paul came busting in here a little while ago, severely late for class and all panicky because he could not find his keys and had to leave the apartment unlocked! So I was frantically trying to finish up my work and print it when Joan came in all hot and bothered from a rough day of teaching. So I told her my tale of woe, and she ran off to guard the homestead after she said that she had heard that Lady Diana had died in a car accident. It may just be rumor, so I am going to hold off on talking about that until it is confirmed. I think it is time to fire up the BBC/VOA shortwave; we have been far too long without current news. Getting Newsweek (what a crap magazine that is...) three to four weeks late doesn't hack it. Well, it's Thursday, the end of a slightly busier week of teaching. I have three classes on Tues/Thurs which at one and a half hours each makes for a four and a half hour long day! Tuesdays will be worst as it starts at 8:30 in the morning at a different building so I have to bust a move to get to the next class. That'll be fun when the weather turns bad. On Monday and Wednesday I will have an even longer 20 minute walk to school #2. That is the school that lost their volunteer when they sent the principal's daughter as the counterpart. They desperately need us as they are a specialized school where the kids have been studying English for awhile with a experimental curriculum. Well, I'm not sure if it is something in the water or the fact that they had a volunteer for two years, but their 11th formers' (12th grade) English is the best I've seen. They are almost like American kids in their ability to converse; I only had to explain the words 'erupt,' 'geyser,' and 'faithful.' Can you guess what I was teaching them about? Jeremy had the class doing research papers, plays, debates, and all kinds of advanced stuff. I plan on emphsizing oral communication as much as I can. They don't need more grammar and writing; they need authentic, contextual practice with speaking and listening. Luckily I have some books that cover all that excellently. I will meet with them twice a week for 80 minutes a pop and am looking forward to it. What else is new? Timur stopped by to visit on Tuesday and brought a plunger along, saving our lives! The toilet had become quite rank by that point, and we were fearing for our lives. Timur acted all in charge until he opened the door. At first whiff, he closed the door and said quite firmly, "You have quite a problem here." After a gallant struggle, I killed the beast, and we are all living happily after all. We want to make a movie/sitcom about it all and call it "Hanging with Mr. Pooper." Guess who gets to play Mr. Pooper? I hate being typecast - it's not fair! Joan cut quite a chunk out of her thumb carrying up the glass shelves for our new bookshelf. I've had to play doctor quite a bit, but Joan has been pretty tough about it. She is also sick with a great stuffed up voice and honking nose; she said she grossed out her class today with a blast. We got our Newsweek with the story about Lady Di. As Paul has had little connection with her, I think he is a bit bemused by our constant talking about it. I am still a little stunned about it all. I wish I was home to see some of the media frenzy that must be going on. England must be a very interesting place to be right now. It will be interesting to see what the ramifications will be. On VOA last night, I heard news about the driver's blood alcohol levels being three times higher than the limit and something about anti-depressant drugs. Talk about a convoluted issue-filled tragedy; I hope some good changes come from it. On scary/interesting thing that happened was that when I told Paul about it, and we were discussing it, I tried to come up with an example of someone else's death that might have the same impact. He said, "Yeah, like Mother Theresa." That night on VOA we heard that she had died - that really weirded us out. Of all my classes, all but one have relatively nice chalk boards. There were some real demons during summer school, and we had heard horror stories about crappy boards and even crappier chalk. Today I ran into one. Sort of rubbery, when the wet ran left it's trail, the chalk just sort of mushed across its surface. I'll have to make sure that the rag is not wet next time! Ah, an x-mas list! POPCORN, Sharpie permanent magic markers, chalk, a plastic spatula, a decent non-stick frying pan, a battery powered digital glow-in-the-dark snooze button alarm clock, seasonings like oregano, Italian, Indian, Mexican, Cajun, cinnamon, POPCORN, an antenna for the shortwave radio (John), magazine subscriptions sent to Peace Corps Almaty, decent writing pens, did I mention POPCORN? I'll have to ask Joan for her input. Joan input: Nyquil, cold medicine, multivitamins, nylons (No Nonsense No. 19 Nude Med to Tall B Sheer to waist pantyhose), Tampax (regular slender and super absorbent), panty liners (in pink individual wrappers - Dorothy should know them), big metal barrette/clip for Joan's hair, a money/passport pouch/wallet for both of us, little disposable cameras, Tupperware, maybe a decent razor and a bunch of razor blades and don't forget the POPCORN. One great idea here is powdered paint. I guess they mix it up with water and then apply it to the walls where it dries into a powder (who'd a thunk it?) where it then applies it to oneself when brushed against in some sort of defensive action, like a lionfish I think. Right, outta room and things to say. Write soon and tell people to write! Love, Rich