“Concourse” is basically the Kyrgyz word for a fun competition. Periodically, the volunteers in Talas will put on a concourse for our students, and they are just a ton of fun for everyone involved. Last year, the K-12s put on a April Fools concourse, and this year, the K-13s took the lead on the Halloween concourse. It was an absolute blast!
First, you have to realize that they don’t celebrate Halloween in Kyrgyzstan, so for many students (including my own), this was their first exposure to the holiday. So it was a great opportunity for cultural exchange, one of the goals of Peace Corps. And who wouldn’t want to learn about a holiday where you get to dress up in a costume, carve pumpkins, and go trick-or-treating?? Halloween is so much fun! The first thing we did was divide the students up into groups with students from other schools so they could get to know new people. Then they went around to different stations including Bobbing for Apples, Mystery Box, Halloween Mad Lib, Scary Photo Contest, and Pin the Tail on the Cat. Afterwards, the students got back into their school groups and had a pumpkin carving contest. Each school had also prepared a Halloween-themed skit, which is really the highlight of every concourse. And the day was rounded out with a costume contest and disco (disco is the Kyrgyz word for any type of dance party; we don’t say that in the States, do we? Forgive me for my new Kyrg-English vocabulary).
I took my wonderful, amazing, beautiful 9th grade girls to the concourse and I was SOOO proud of them! I took them to the April Fools Concourse as 8th graders last year, and it was their first concourse (and mine), and they really didn’t know English very well compared to the other 10th and 11th grade students who had been working with volunteers longer. I was still so proud of them for going out and competing and giving their best, but we really weren’t any competition at all. Though everyone liked them and thought they were cute, we didn’t place in the top three.
But it was like night and day compared to the Halloween Concourse! You just can’t believe how much these girls have learned in just 6 months, how their English has just sky-rocketed. And not only that, but they’ve just grown up. They were so much more confident and free and energetic going into this concourse. The skit they prepared was absolutely hilarious, about a Kyrgyz woman who has been pregnant for 3 years and finally gives birth to a giant pumpkin. All I wanted was for them to place in the top three so they could get some recognition for how much they’d improved. I never dreamed that we would actually be competition for first place! We ended up getting second, but our skit was definitely the most entertaining, and all the laughter, not to mention the standing ovation we got in the middle, was definitely a reward for me. Many people thought we should have won. It came down to a hot debate amongst the judges, and we ended up placing second. But first or second, it doesn’t really matter. I mean, my girls went in 6 months from being no competition at all to almost winning the next concourse! That is pretty amazing. I am so proud of them, I can’t even express the pride I have for my girls! Jon-Aryk is now an established concourse competitor!
In addition to that highlight, I also had two of my girls win prizes for their costumes, one of which actually won for the best overall costume. I really hope I’m able to post pictures so you can see her amazing telephone! We also placed third in the pumpkin-carving contest, so it was an all-around success, not to mention just a whole lot of fun. Yay for my 9th graders, my joy and my crown. Any Happy Halloween to you all!
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Saturday, October 14, 2006
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