I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane...

Hey All! Most of you probably know that I’m leaving Kyrgyzstan on December 20th to meet my mom in Norway for Christmas!! For those of you who didn’t know, now you do! I just wanted to let everyone know that I probably won’t be spending much time on the Internet for the next few weeks, sending emails or posting things on my blog. I also won’t be able to receive phone calls on my cell, so you’ll just have to get in your Christmas wishes before the 20th :-). I’ll return to Kyrgyzstan on January 4th, and I’ll be sure to tell you all about my trip once I get back! A very Merry Christmas to everyone, and a Happy New Year! Talk to you all again in 2007!

Pizza Party!

The first day of December! Today my 9th grade girls and I had a pizza party, so to speak. Of course, they hear me talking about pizza all the time, so we decided today would be the day we would finally make it together. So we all gathered at Baktigul’s house after school and embarked on our cooking adventure! All in all, it was a great success, marked, most importantly, by my students’ discovery of and subsequent fascination with Garlic Powder! They just couldn’t believe it—garlic in a bottle! They liked it so much, they were eating it straight from the shaker and adding it to their pizza after it was cooked. I told them when I go home, I’ll send them packages full of garlic powder since they like it so much :-). As for the rest, I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking…

As a side note, today, December 2 (the day I'm posting this) marks one year in Talas!

Preparing the pizza. From left to right (around the table): Ainura (Moon Shine), Aizada (Moon Queen), Baktigul (Happy Flower), Aigerim (Moon), Altynai (Golden Moon), and Nazira (Delicate One). I love Kyrgyz names!

The discovery of Garlic Powder!

Baktigul enjoying her first taste of pizza! She later announced that pizza is her favorite American food (though she admits it's the only American food she's ever had!)

My silly girls being silly.

Still playing in the snow...

Me & my girls at the end of our snowy picture taking adventure.