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.