Happy New Year from New York!

Running off to a party now... hopefully see you in the year 2007!

Going to Europe Tomorrow

So...I am finally leaving tomorrow. First I will get a minibus to Almaty airpot, then take the plane to Frankfurt, then get a ride to Brussels. I am excited to see my whole family. And later I am planning to go to New York for a couple of weeks.

I really NEED this break. I am hoping to go to Paris for a couple of days too, look at museums, walk around, shop for books, be an annonymous human being in the world...

But before all this stuff happens I still need to grade exams, give grades, shop for dogfood, and pack.

Overall though I am happy for the opportunity "to be a Kyrgyz in Kyrgyzstan." Although no one really treats me as such. I am still a Kyrgyz who's mostly lived abroad. And people let me know that I am mostly clueless about Kyrgyz ways which is fine by me.

I am beginning to accept that I am to hang out with students and not adults. These kids whom I have befriended here are amazing and so incredibly smart. I am so blessed to have them as my students.

I found this poem I wrote this fall:

Wrong Door

A woman at the door, further another woman holds a child in the kitchen.
Unable to write – the truth was unwelcome. I turned to reading

instead. Finally I found my friend’s apartment, she stood in the kitchen frying
something. I tell myself, remember the light, the way it holds

its air between poplar branches. This autumn, in a dirty car,
I drive nervously in the city of my childhood. Don’t try to make sense, I tell myself.

Don’t look for acorns, they will fall and make a sound. Why this door,
when I was looking for a different one? So silent –

these unknown women. Dry leaves in the city of my childhood
move gust-filled, as if someone was walking by

or thru, not noticing my blue shoes, or the heavy bag, or the boys at the square.
I get out of the car and run for shelter as if rain was coming down heavy.

Nanooki in the Snow

When I came back from work Nanooki was alone and he hates being alone. I noticed paw prints on the window sill where he sat for hours and waited for people to come home. I let him out of the house and then he realized that while he was home alone it had snowed again outside. He was so happy that he ran outside and frolicked in the snow. He also ate snow and shook himself in his dog coat. S. likes to call it his fireman's coat. Hehehe...

Otherwise, I've been busy with work since it's nearly the end of the semester.

I don't know whether my students suspec that I am a little nutty, but recently I've received short stories about apartment ghosts and presentations on the night crusher dream.

I am looking forward to winter break and am hoping to travel to Europe for Christmas with the family and then go to spend New Year's with Sang. I really need a break!

The reason the dog looks dirty in these pictures is because he is dirty. He needs a bath.