Twenty Ten!

It's almost the year TWENTY TEN! (Ironically, I have 20/10 vision.)

So, last night was our New Year’s Eve party with the staff at Interlinga. Carolina and I taught until 7:20, and were picked up for the party at 7:30, so we went to school at 4:30 pm, dressed to the nines in high heels and nylons (normal for her, abnormal for me) and taught amidst the oooohs and aaaaahs of our students, admiring our fancy clothes, hair, and makeup.

We were picked up by our taxi in front of our school at 7:30pm, and headed to the restaurant. Here is YET ANOTHER clear example of our Father’s GRACE and ever-guiding hand of protection on us here: We were driving down the road, at about 45 or 50 mph. Someone’s phone starts ringing. I know it’s not mine, since I keep mine on vibrate. Carolina wonders if it’s hers, and starts digging through bag. Lezzat was in the front seat with the driver. She was putting on makeup, and I didn’t realize it, but the ringing phone belonged to the driver. He has received a text, and was texting back, WHILE driving. Are you kidding me?! So, there’s a stopped car in the road, straight ahead. There’s not really room to pass on the side, and there’s oncoming traffic on the other side. And we’re not slowing down. At first, I was like, ‘Whatever. They drive crazy here. He’ll probably slam on the breaks at the last second.’ So, I stayed quiet, waiting for that last second to come. Now, Lezzat, in the front was not wearing her seatbelt, and there’s no such thing as backseat seatbelts here, so neither were Carolina and I. And we were just FLYING toward this stopped car ahead, the driver obliviously texting away. So when that last second came, and he didn’t break, I reached ahead to grab onto Lezzat, as if me holding her arm could prevent her from flying through the windshield, and yelled (in English, no less), “Oh my gosh, WATCH OUT!” He looked up from his phone just in time to steer us up and over the curb (not really that comfortable at 45 mph) and around the stopped car. We missed it by 2 inches, maybe. HE is our great protector! This near-crash was my 5^th (of 5 so far) terrifying moment since my arrival in KZ. It was preceded by these: #1: My first week in general. #2: Getting unexpectedly kissed smack on the mouth by a Kazakh man at Karaoke. #3: Having our kitchen explode in a grease fire while skyping with Mom. #4: Getting incredibly and painfully sick on November 10. All in all, not bad for five months…averaging about 1/month. Should this trend continue, however, I’m not looking forward to the 6 looming terrifying incidences to come…

We got there at began eating right away. I’m getting used to the food here, and just took my organs and intestines like a man. Yep, just ate them quickly and moved on to an especially juicy orange. For this, you should probably applaud me. It’s a pretty big deal. Next, we opened stockings. In mine, I found: Sponge (it’s yellow, with the English word “peeling” on it. Not completely sure what it’s for…), nail polish, a pen holder, bar of Nivea soap, lollipop, chocolate filled with air bubbles, a toiletry bag, and many cards that all had similar messages, something like this: “Dear Jillann! I wish you happiness, love, health, luck, and everything that you wish to yourself. Also a lot of money! My best wishes to you! Merry Christmas!” The gifts people give here are really practical, as you probably could tell, seeing as I received a sponge in my stocking. Carolina and I gave the girls some nice American lotions that I brought back from the United Arab Emirates. HUGE success.

Then, we danced the night away. MAN oh MAAAAN do people here like to dance. And it’s not even that they’re especially good at dancing, they just like to move it and shake it and do whatever else comes to mind. So that’s what we did. Until 2am.

And then, HOME. I was exhausted beyond words, and it’s no surprise, looking back on the week. In the 4 days preceding this New Year’s Eve party, I participated in 17 Christmas parties, 15 of which I hosted and 2 of which I only participated. 1 of those parties as two days long and involved 4 other Americans sleeping over at our flat for two nights. So, I was already low on sleep before I danced the night away. And, you see, when I’m low on sleep, I sleep walk. So, after getting in bed and falling asleep around 3am this morning, I vaguely remember doing these things: #1: Getting out of my bed to chase a white cat with red eyes out of my bedroom and closing all the doors into the living room, believing I had trapped it in there. #2: My trumpet case is under my desk. I thought, for some reason, that it was a sleeping person. I got out of my bed and covered it with my polka-dotted blanket. #3: I removed every single Ziploc from my junk-drawer/medicine-cabinet/whatever-I-can’t-find-a-home-for drawer. This included the baggies that were holding things I didn’t want mixed in with the rest of my stuff. Anyway, now everything in my drawer is just in there, not separated with anything, and all my Ziplocs are stacked neatly on my desk. My suspicions were confirmed when I awoke to find my Ziplocs on my desk, my trumpet asleep soundly under my desk, tucked in neatly with my polka-dot blanket, and my living room sealed up tight (with no cat inside). Some people say you grow out of sleepwalking. Me? I’m guessing I’m going to be a sleepwalker for life.

Shasleevava Novava Goda! Happy New Year!

Dinner, BEFORE the first of 3 courses:

With co-workers, Elia and Lezzat.

Carolina and Me with Adilya, our administrator.

Happy 2010! It's the year of the tiger!