"Kush Keldy"

“Winter came.” These were the words of my host father when it really snowed for the first time last week. When I first arrived at site, I had a few days of warm fall weather. And then it snowed. Yes, winter has come.

I had been trying to put off wearing all my really warm clothes for as long as possible. I didn’t want to go too warm too soon, you know? But the day after it snowed, I decided it was time to go to the mattresses. Everything came out: long underwear, wool socks, hat, down jacket, gloves, scarf. It wasn’t time to mess around anymore. I find that even though it is VERY cold outside (particularly, of course, at night and in the mornings), I can stay warm enough with all my “equipment.” I’ve been particularly impressed with my down jacket. I’ve never had anything down before, and I can’t believe how warm it can keep me (at least my upper body) in such cold weather! It’s definitely my prized possession at the moment.

Since it’s so cold, I sleep on some rugs in the main house where there is heating. In my separate apartment, all I have is my Peace Corps-supplied electric heather, and while it is much better than nothing, it doesn’t quite give the room that toasty-warm feeling. But all my stuff is in there still, so I move back and forth between the two places quite regularly. My morning routine consists of the following:

Is it really 7:30 already? How can it be 7:30 and still be so dark outside? (Kyrgyzstan does not participate in daylight savings time…) It’s going to be cold when I get up. Okay, but I’ve gotta do it. 1, 2, 3, go! I turn on the light (when we have electricity), try to make my “bed”, put on my down jacket and hat, and make the trek to my other room (ok, so it’s not really a trek). It’s COLD outside! Do I really have to go to the bathroom? Oh, I wish I didn’t, but there’s no getting around it—I’ve gotta go out there. 1, 2, 3, go! Ok, back into the semi-warm room. Now for getting dressed. One at a time, I place each article of clothing over my electric heater for a minute or so before putting it on, usually starting with the bottom half. Long underwear—check. Okay, now the pants. Wool socks? Yeah, I haven’t taken those off in a few days, so no problems there. Now for the top half. Long underwear—check. Dress shirt—check. Sweater—check. It does feel great putting on warm clothes in the mornings!

Then, of course, on go the jacket, hat (doubling as a dirty-hair cover), scarf, gloves, and knee-high black snow boots. Fashion has almost completely gone out the window. Last week I wore a knee-length skirt with my black long underwear underneath. They kind of look like tights, don’t they? I wear the same thing to work 3-4 days in a row. I’m grateful it’s common in Kyrgyzstan to do so, because that’s one less thing for me to think about in the mornings. What I wore yesterday was plenty warm—why should I have to think of another warm outfit??

So yeah, after a month or so of threatening to be winter, now it really is. It’s cold, but it’s also beautiful. So here goes my first winter in Kyrgyzstan!