Beginning to End

After some Job-interview induced paranoia, I’m pleased to report that my blog is back as a public website. I guess I have slacked off a bit lately--a lot has been happening that I haven’t been writing about. I guess the reason for my reluctance to write (reticence) has to do with internal calibration and preparing myself to say goodbye to the friends and faces, streets and places that have made this such a rich year in my life. Up until a couple weeks ago I didn’t even want to begin to think about it ending, but I’m starting to accept the idea. And the change in the wind has made me restless, so that’s why I haven’t felt like writing anything…

I guess the most startling revelation I had was teaching my last week of classes last week! In typical Tuva-fashion, I didn’t realize it was the last days of classes until late Wednesday or even Thursday of the week--when suddenly people asked me when I was going to give my pass-fail exam. “When’s it due?” I asked… “Tomorrow!” They answered. “Well, I’ll give the exams tomorrow…” I said with an internal shrug. Even after eight months, the logic of logistics and communication at Tuva State University continues to elude me. I suppose if I had really wanted to know when the exam was in advance, I could have found out from the Dean--but dates usually change about six times, so it wouldn’t have done me much good.

However, my final exam was a success--I asked the students to watch the news or read a newspaper and then prepare a report about something they heard in “Current Events.” Then we had a mock-conference the next day, where each student had to present. I was scheduled for two classes at one time that period, so I brought my literature class along too; the second half of our “Current Events” conference was about literature. I think everybody had a good time; I was really proud of the students, the reports they gave and the questions they asked each other. At the very least, I was satisfied :-) Although, if there’s one thing Tuva has changed about me this year, it’s completely destroyed my sense of time. Instead of planning activities, in Tuva I have just developed a kind of blind faith that everything will fall together at the moments when it needs to. I’m not sure how well this new found faith in serendipity will suit me once I return to America, but I guess there’s nothing I can really do to prepare for it anyhow…

I have to say that the last week of classes was amazing, perhaps because I had no idea what was coming. Up until the last moments, I was just enjoying the students, laughing with them. I did stumble a bit on the last lesson of my third year class though, when I realized it was our last class. Those guys have helped me so much this year; they really were my favorite students, and some of my closest friends. Suddenly realizing that it was the last minutes of our official time together (except for the killer third-year barbecue we’re going to have this week), at the end of a lesson about Bob Dylan and Civil Rights, I played them one last sentimental song… “I Had The Time of My Life” from the movie Dirty Dancing. Tears were shed, though I won’t say exactly by whom or how much…

The last week of teaching was filled with other good moments as well. I taught the second years a class on legends where one student who always manages to be outrageous had some killer stories. First she told me about a blue cow with the head of a chicken at Lake Tere-kohl. If you see the cow, you shouldn’t tell anyone for three years, then you will become really rich. According to the student, at a holy spring near Kyzyl, there is also a race of tiny people who kidnap children, because children are tiny like them. Finally, the student told me that when you go pee in the taiga, it’s very important to face away from the moon; if you pee facing the moon you will go insane!

I’m not sure I believe the stories; but they are great examples of the weird, wild and wacky things I’ve been hearing all year in Kyzyl. If anything, this place has given me a new appreciation and even reverence for the bizarre and absurd.

Yesterday my friend Lena and I climbed the Mountain Dugee again. Namdolmaa’s son’s hair was finally cut, and I was shocked to realize that his head was only about half as big as I thought it was! The other teachers at the university will actually continue working for another couple weeks; I get to go early because I only have to give an exam for the third year, and they are leaving this year early for summer work at camps for kids around the Republic. So most of my close friends are leaving the city soon; the next weeks will be ripe with goodbyes.

In the midst of all this bittersweet ending/new beginning, I have conceived a plan for some travel that I’m not sure I’ll carry through with yet, but I think I probably will. If I follow my plan, I will leave Kyzyl forever (well, for now…) this Friday. Which seems really soon; but as my good friend Helen pointed out, I have to leave sometime. And often, sooner is better than later.

So, for plans… if everything clicks into place, I’ll go to Novosibirsk at the end of this week, then travel with Kevin to Altai for a week, just to see what they’ve got in Altai (lakes and fun, I hear). Then following Altai, I’ll head to Moscow, St. Petersburg, and set out on a tour of the Baltic states, Warsaw and Prague for two weeks, before heading back to St. Petersburg to catch White Nights and a last taste of Russia before flying home to Alaska J

Yeah, so that’s pretty much what’s up. Starting the transition out of this place and most excellent year in my life. What a great year! I have lots of positive feelings of my time in Tuva, and wouldn’t be surprised if I find myself back in the Center of Asia some year soon.

Peace Kabanchiki,
Riley