The fabled lake

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Ok, so I'm not actually in Issyk Kul, but it is the only place in Kyrgyzstan that the Travelblog lists, I felt like I should list it as where I am at least once. And I was there for 9 days and I would have added to the blog had I not been in the least frequented area of Issyk Kul, the very small town of Tamchy. It was probably chosen as the place for the American School camp because it is much cheaper than any other town on the lake.

It's beautiful! It's somewhere over 6000 feet above sea level and surrounded by mountains. Unfortunately I didn't get out and about very much. I was teaching English at the camp for two hours every morning, and then spent time at the beach or watching a movie or playing ping pong. We also got in a few soccer and basketball games. I greatly impressed all the boys with my sports "skills", probably because I'm the only girl they've ever seen play aggressively. And I'd like to mention that I did score a few baskets - better than I ever did in high school games 😊

It rained a lot, unfortunately, so there really wasn't much question of visiting other cities on my own. And much as I wanted to go hiking or riding in the mountains, I wasn't about to do it alone, and no one else seemed interested. Ah well, next time maybe. And I did have a good, relaxing time. I was only paid to teach for two hours, so if I really needed a break I had no responsibilities to worry about with regards to the kids - absolutely the best way to work at a camp!

The food was pretty bad. Breakfast was always hot "cereal", usually left-over noodles floating in hot milk and smothered in butter. And dinner and lunch usually consisted of soup (with about an inch of grease that congealed very quickly), and occasionally meat. After I found two mosquitoes cooked in my meat on the second day, I became selectively vegetarian. There were no fresh vegetables or fruit, except for when we bought our own, and as the kids weren't allowed out on their own, basically the only people who ate well were the teachers.

NOTE: have recovered the text for this one, but not the pics, may try it again later...

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Photos

the actual school (cafe/classroom)
Interestingly enough, the cafe which served so many tourists was also owned by members of the family of the owner of the American School... as was the sweet shop where the kids paid for most of their dietary supplements

and representing Colorado...
yes, slightly scary

zain and myself on the boat
forgot to add this one with the boat pics - Zain is one of the other teachers with a lot more patience and Russian than I have - he's staying at the camp for another month! good luck to him, I'm glad it isn't me

my bed
This was hilarious to try to get into. I slept beautifully in it, but it was really more of an armchair than a bed. The first few nights I really had to work to make sure that I didn't roll right out of it as I got in!

the lake...
so pretty!!!

the state representatives
each of the kids rooms were named after a different state, and this was the competition where they presented their mascots/representatives

and his shoes
can't imagine how he walked in those...

all the donkey boys
There were lots of donkey and horse races along the beach - slightly dangerous in terms of running small children over... And perhaps it was the donkeys with which we shared the basketball court that gave me good luck :)

Kyrgyz discipline
you know those former Soviet republics...

this happened a lot
it happened only once to me, and then I started doing the throwing :)

going for a boat ride
rather pointless, actually, as it was raining and we couldn't see anything, but we still had fun :)

having fun on the boat
these kids love to dance :)

yurt in museum
we did get to visit a museum - this yurt was beautiful :)

they love me :)
after giving each student (57 of them) a postcard, I got lots of flowers :)