Interview with a krzy boy in Kyrgyzstan

A little over a month ago my good friend Jenni Marsh introduced me to her pal Baylen Forcier because she thought it was interesting that we were both going to die, I mean, leave the country, within a day of each other. As overdramatized as I had tried to make my trip seem, he always seemed to one-up me: I gave 75% of my clothes away on loan for 6 months. He gave 75% of his clothes away for good. I was entering a country where I had 8 years experience studying the language. He was entering a country with 0 years language experience. You win, Forcier, you win. 

So I decided to pretend like we're legit or something and do a little interview for you all to read and find out why some other young folk have decided to go abroad. 

Interview with Baylen Forcier of sonsofhedin.org

1. So, what, did you spin a globe and land on Kyrgyzstan or something? How did you pick that country of all places?

I actually bought a giant world map and one dart; closed my eyes, spun around 3 times and did a back flip while throwing the dart and it magically landed on Kyrgyzstan. 

I picked this country because I wanted to develop an understanding of Central Asia. When I told people I was moving to Kyrgyzstan their response was often, "it's pronounced Kazakhstan," which is actually a country north of Kyrgyzstan that I plan on spending some time in.

2. What is this Sons of Hedin nonsense? Is that a Lord of the Rings game?

Most people here think it's a religious organization called "Sons of Eden." Please let everyone know, especially the Kyrgyz government, that this is not the case.
 
Sven Hedin was a Swedish explorer who spent his life in Central Asia and wrote Scientific results of a journey in Central-Asia and many other books.

Sons of Hedin was created by myself and my friend D. Dalton Bennett. We document not for profit and development NGOs in Greater Central Asia and feature them on sonsofhedin.org in an attempt to create a dialogue between Central Asia and the West.

We are currently working with the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia (http://www.efcentralasia.org/en/) and documenting their work with the disabled here in Kyrgyzstan. We are also setting up many other projects with other actors.

We also work with and have many interns from the American University of Central Asia

3. What are your goals with this organization?

I hope that Westerners read our website and gain an understanding of the region. Most Americans don't know anything about this place, and I would like to change that.

4. Are you learning Russian? How's that going?

So far it's not that bad. I got the alphabet down, now it's just a matter of learning the rest of the language. I'm taking private lessons which start in February. No one in this country speak English, even some of the kids at the American University. 

My biggest problem is that some of the words in Bishkek are written in Russian and some in Kyrgyz, which is a Turkic (not Turkish) language that uses the a modified Cyrillic alphabet. I still can't tell the difference. 

5. What have you learned about the people so far?

Though they're mostly Muslim, they love Vodka.

Everyone I've met has been extremely nice and understanding. There are very few Americans here so most people think I'm Russian, German or British. When I tell them I'm Amerikanski They get all excited and start to talk about Miami, unfortunately they know nothing about Virginia.

6. What has your favorite experience been so far?

Whoa, haven't really thought about that. 

Probably meeting Nuraly. He is a taxi driver that followed a taxi I was in across the city so he could talk to me. At first I thought he was going to kidnap me and make me his bride (still a big problem in Kyrgyzstan) but he just wanted to trade English lessons for rides, which is awesome. I spent a wonderful Sunday with his family were they spoke Kyrgyz while I ate plove and sat there awkwardly. Nuraly has a degree from a technical college, but jobs are so scarce in Kyrgyzstan he can't get one. I hope to help him find a job too.

7. Which direction do the toilets flush in? Do they even have toilets?

It depends on where you go. If you go to a place that caters to westerners then they have toilets, but most places have porcelain holes in the ground that you squat over. I'm a little too scared to try these, though I will probably have to soon.

The western toilets are so low flow that they don't really spin when you flush them, the water just kind of leaves while new water rushes in.

8. Anything else you want to say?

Check out our blog and subscribe to the RSS feed and e-mail list, we're working on that other social media stuff.

That's all for now. If it sounds interesting, check out sonsofhedin.org.