So this week was the big week… The ACCELS test in Bishkek! For those of you whom I may not have told yet, the ACCELS test is actually 3 rounds of testing that take place throughout Kyrgyzstan whereby approximately 60-70 students who pass all 3 rounds get to study in America for a year (for free). It’s very competitive, and the past 2 years, only one student from Talas has qualified (each year), but my students and I have been preparing and looking forward to giving it our best shot! The timing of the test was impeccable—just 2 weeks before I leave the country—so almost more important than the test to me was the opportunity to spend quality time with my girls and make this a special way to say goodbye. And despite all my planning, it was more perfect than I could have imagined.
We set out on Sunday morning, along with a few other volunteers who were also taking students to the test. One of my girls (Ainura) had never before been to Bishkek, and several of them hadn’t been in nearly 10 years, so the trip began in great excitement!
The first round of testing was Monday morning, and it turned out to be much more difficult than we had anticipated. We’d all heard that the first round was easy, just a way to filter out the students who don’t speak English well at all, but the girls had some trouble with it, and most of them weren’t able to finish. So that was a little disappointing for all of us, but I think it prepared us for the worst and enabled us to focus more on just having fun. And my girls knew I was proud of them no matter what. As it turned out, two of my students—Ainura and Altynai—passed to Round 2. All three of my friend Will’s students passed as well (he was on cloud nine), and so that meant 5 of the only 7 passing students from Talas were Peace Corps Volunteers’ students—not bad! There were some tears from my other girls, but I assured them that I was so proud of them for all their hard work, and soon we were able to be happy for Ainura and Altynai and wish them luck on Round 2! That took place Wednesday and we won’t find out the results for another 3 or 4 more weeks.
My biggest disappointment was that Aizada, my best student, didn’t pass. She was the one I thought actually had a chance to make it all the way, so for her chances to end so early on was completely unexpected. The good news is that she’s young enough to try again next year, and I just know that familiarity with the test and another year of study under her belt will make her a shoe-in for next year (at least past Round 1!). She was disappointed as well, of course, but her attitude was amazing. Within 15 minutes of finding out the results and some well-deserved tears, she pulled herself together and said, “It’s ok. I won’t give up. I’ll try again next year and show America who is Aizada!” That’s my girl! The next evening she told me she had learned a good lesson. She’s used to always being first, so she thinks it’s been good for her to know what it feels like not to win. I was almost more proud of her for that than had she passed. I hope that this year, that lesson will be more valuable to her than passing would have been.
So that was the test, but the time we spent together is what I will really remember about this week. Thanks to the generosity of several friends and family, we were able to rent an apartment in Bishkek and go out to eat at places they probably never would have been able to afford otherwise. It was a blast! There were many firsts for my girls (and even some for me!). They ate Chinese food for the first time, real pizza for the first time, and real American hamburgers for the first time! As for me, when Will offered to buy me a drink in celebration of our students passing the test, I actually accepted (probably the last thing he, or anyone, expected), so for better or worse, this week marked the consumption of my first alcoholic beverage (I guess I can thank Peace Corps for loosening me up a bit).
The rest of the week was a build up to the Super Special Secret Surprise I had promised my girls. We did bazaar shopping (fun for them, but I will never again go bazaar shopping with 4 teenaged girls), visited the Peace Corps Office, went to the mini-Bishkek amusement park, and bought tickets to the Mirbek Atabekov concert! Mirbek Atabekov is my favorite Kyrgyz singer, just happens to be from Jon-Aryk, and I’d had no idea he was doing a concert in Bishkek until we got there and saw the advertisements! My girls and I couldn’t have been more excited. Then Wednesday was the day we’d all been waiting for. After Ainura’s Round 2 test, we met up with Will and Jon (K-14 PCVs) and their students and made everyone stand in a line, eyes closed, with one had on the shoulder of the person in front of them as we led them to the venue for the Super Special Secret Surprise. When we arrived, we let them open their eyes to see the Hyatt standing in front of them, where we all had High Tea. It’s possible that Will, Jon and I were more excited than our students, but not by much. After dinner, I gave my students their goodbye presents—books of pictures from the last 2 years. I’d been working on them for a while and thought it was the best way to commemorate our time together, and to let them know that I will never, ever forget them.
And then, the concert. It was SO much fun, and while I was sitting there, I couldn’t help but think that while I’d been planning and preparing this week for my girls, God had been going over my head, planning His own Super Special Secret Surprise for me! :-) The timing was perfect—our last night in Bishkek (not to mention that we were originally going to be leaving Bishkek on Tuesday, but the tests were pushed back a day at the last minute; Wednesday was the first day of the concert), a great way to end on a very high note! I’d never been to a concert in Kyrgyzstan before, and I had a blast. But it got even better! After the concert, I decided we should try to meet Mirbek. I usually hate being stared at and treated differently because I’m an American, but I decided to use it to my advantage this time. We talked to a couple of his handlers, who told us to go around back and wait. After a few minutes, a guy came out who my girls said was Mirbkek’s cousin (Jon-Aryk is really small, if you hadn’t caught on to that yet!), so I saw my opportunity and went for it. I approached him, introduced myself and explained that I am a volunteer from America and I’ve lived in Jon-Aryk for two years. I told him that I live with such and such family and I work with so-and-so (name dropping—the best way to get what you want in Kyrgyzstan!), and that my girls and I had come all the way from Talas to see Mirbek, and was there any way we could meet him? Eventually he went back inside, came back a few minutes later, and told us that Mirbek wanted to meet us! So we went inside and then Mirbek Atabekov himself came walking down the hall. I introduced myself again and asked if I could take a picture with him, to which he replied, “Of course!” Later he told me, Kyrgyzcha jakshi suiloit ekensing! You speak Kyrgyz really well! My night was complete. That was by far the coolest thing I have ever done in Kyrgyzstan.
That night my girls and I were so hyped up from all the excitement of the concert and meeting Mirbek. After taking a taxi back to the apartment, they decided they wanted to have the concert advertisements that were up around the city, so at 11:30pm, we went running up and down the street taking posters off light posts, hoisting Baktigul up to get the high ones, until we had one for each of us. It was hilarious. The perfect way to end our trip. Like I said before, I couldn’t have imagined or asked for a better time.
Now I have less than two weeks left at my site, and I can hardly believe it, but I’m so thankful for this week of fun times and memories that will last forever with my girls. Everyone should COS just because the end is so much fun! Enjoy the pics!
We set out on Sunday morning, along with a few other volunteers who were also taking students to the test. One of my girls (Ainura) had never before been to Bishkek, and several of them hadn’t been in nearly 10 years, so the trip began in great excitement!
The first round of testing was Monday morning, and it turned out to be much more difficult than we had anticipated. We’d all heard that the first round was easy, just a way to filter out the students who don’t speak English well at all, but the girls had some trouble with it, and most of them weren’t able to finish. So that was a little disappointing for all of us, but I think it prepared us for the worst and enabled us to focus more on just having fun. And my girls knew I was proud of them no matter what. As it turned out, two of my students—Ainura and Altynai—passed to Round 2. All three of my friend Will’s students passed as well (he was on cloud nine), and so that meant 5 of the only 7 passing students from Talas were Peace Corps Volunteers’ students—not bad! There were some tears from my other girls, but I assured them that I was so proud of them for all their hard work, and soon we were able to be happy for Ainura and Altynai and wish them luck on Round 2! That took place Wednesday and we won’t find out the results for another 3 or 4 more weeks.
My biggest disappointment was that Aizada, my best student, didn’t pass. She was the one I thought actually had a chance to make it all the way, so for her chances to end so early on was completely unexpected. The good news is that she’s young enough to try again next year, and I just know that familiarity with the test and another year of study under her belt will make her a shoe-in for next year (at least past Round 1!). She was disappointed as well, of course, but her attitude was amazing. Within 15 minutes of finding out the results and some well-deserved tears, she pulled herself together and said, “It’s ok. I won’t give up. I’ll try again next year and show America who is Aizada!” That’s my girl! The next evening she told me she had learned a good lesson. She’s used to always being first, so she thinks it’s been good for her to know what it feels like not to win. I was almost more proud of her for that than had she passed. I hope that this year, that lesson will be more valuable to her than passing would have been.
So that was the test, but the time we spent together is what I will really remember about this week. Thanks to the generosity of several friends and family, we were able to rent an apartment in Bishkek and go out to eat at places they probably never would have been able to afford otherwise. It was a blast! There were many firsts for my girls (and even some for me!). They ate Chinese food for the first time, real pizza for the first time, and real American hamburgers for the first time! As for me, when Will offered to buy me a drink in celebration of our students passing the test, I actually accepted (probably the last thing he, or anyone, expected), so for better or worse, this week marked the consumption of my first alcoholic beverage (I guess I can thank Peace Corps for loosening me up a bit).
The rest of the week was a build up to the Super Special Secret Surprise I had promised my girls. We did bazaar shopping (fun for them, but I will never again go bazaar shopping with 4 teenaged girls), visited the Peace Corps Office, went to the mini-Bishkek amusement park, and bought tickets to the Mirbek Atabekov concert! Mirbek Atabekov is my favorite Kyrgyz singer, just happens to be from Jon-Aryk, and I’d had no idea he was doing a concert in Bishkek until we got there and saw the advertisements! My girls and I couldn’t have been more excited. Then Wednesday was the day we’d all been waiting for. After Ainura’s Round 2 test, we met up with Will and Jon (K-14 PCVs) and their students and made everyone stand in a line, eyes closed, with one had on the shoulder of the person in front of them as we led them to the venue for the Super Special Secret Surprise. When we arrived, we let them open their eyes to see the Hyatt standing in front of them, where we all had High Tea. It’s possible that Will, Jon and I were more excited than our students, but not by much. After dinner, I gave my students their goodbye presents—books of pictures from the last 2 years. I’d been working on them for a while and thought it was the best way to commemorate our time together, and to let them know that I will never, ever forget them.
And then, the concert. It was SO much fun, and while I was sitting there, I couldn’t help but think that while I’d been planning and preparing this week for my girls, God had been going over my head, planning His own Super Special Secret Surprise for me! :-) The timing was perfect—our last night in Bishkek (not to mention that we were originally going to be leaving Bishkek on Tuesday, but the tests were pushed back a day at the last minute; Wednesday was the first day of the concert), a great way to end on a very high note! I’d never been to a concert in Kyrgyzstan before, and I had a blast. But it got even better! After the concert, I decided we should try to meet Mirbek. I usually hate being stared at and treated differently because I’m an American, but I decided to use it to my advantage this time. We talked to a couple of his handlers, who told us to go around back and wait. After a few minutes, a guy came out who my girls said was Mirbkek’s cousin (Jon-Aryk is really small, if you hadn’t caught on to that yet!), so I saw my opportunity and went for it. I approached him, introduced myself and explained that I am a volunteer from America and I’ve lived in Jon-Aryk for two years. I told him that I live with such and such family and I work with so-and-so (name dropping—the best way to get what you want in Kyrgyzstan!), and that my girls and I had come all the way from Talas to see Mirbek, and was there any way we could meet him? Eventually he went back inside, came back a few minutes later, and told us that Mirbek wanted to meet us! So we went inside and then Mirbek Atabekov himself came walking down the hall. I introduced myself again and asked if I could take a picture with him, to which he replied, “Of course!” Later he told me, Kyrgyzcha jakshi suiloit ekensing! You speak Kyrgyz really well! My night was complete. That was by far the coolest thing I have ever done in Kyrgyzstan.
That night my girls and I were so hyped up from all the excitement of the concert and meeting Mirbek. After taking a taxi back to the apartment, they decided they wanted to have the concert advertisements that were up around the city, so at 11:30pm, we went running up and down the street taking posters off light posts, hoisting Baktigul up to get the high ones, until we had one for each of us. It was hilarious. The perfect way to end our trip. Like I said before, I couldn’t have imagined or asked for a better time.
Now I have less than two weeks left at my site, and I can hardly believe it, but I’m so thankful for this week of fun times and memories that will last forever with my girls. Everyone should COS just because the end is so much fun! Enjoy the pics!
