Carol Bontekoe

This blog has been keeping track of my adventures since 2004. The stories and the adventures have come from my college dorm room to Uganda, Peace Corps Kyrgyzstan, learning Dutch in the Netherlands to living in the wilds of Homer, Alaska. I went back to school in Amsterdam to study Theaterwetenschap (Theatre Science) at University of Amsterdam. And now my adventures as a Fruit Fly, a Sexy Unicorn, and creating a movement with Team Sparkle in Chicago.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

My Second Childhood

I remember when I graduated college I laughed at my friends that were still stuck in college. I laughed and declared my independence and was proving it by moving half way around the world. I apologize for my arrogance. For I am in full swing of my second childhood.I have a new Mama, Papa, a little bother and sister named Max and Aluna.This second childhood consists of me having to re-learn how to speak. MY parents will hav guests over and show off how I say suchimpressive words such as, "spoon", "Fork", "Table", "Chair", and if they really want to impress... "teapot". After saying these words everyone cheers and then goes about speaking about stuff they know I don't normally understand...usually me.Also, why this is my second childhood is when I am frustrated I ahve no way of telling anyone about it and my Mama feels it can be solved by having me eat more food. Or maybe I need to use the outhouse.On a night when I'm feeling lucky I might stay up past nine... but usually I'm out petty early. I did stay up till 10 the other day to watch Doctor Doolittle Dvah with my family. The guy ho dubbed Eddie Murphay was wonderful.I get walked to school and diectly picked up from school. When it was cold I was not allowed to leave without my coat. The best part of this second childhood is the fact that finally I get to be apart of the cool kids and have a packed lunch. Now, I wasn't the coolest of cool... no those kids mamas packed them Fanta or a tea cup. But I do get packed several had boiled eggs... that I can't peel, half a loaf of bread, half a chicken, and some tasteless cheese. I also, get a little treat of Kompot... Sour Cherry juice. But I get to sit there and tade for Potatoes or Tomatoes... maybe evn an eggplant or two. Then I sometimes sneak aay from class or just wait till after class and buy a Coca-Cola. Those firt few hits of the bottle let me know everything is going to be alright.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

So Far...

so far...
Well, I'm in Kyrgyzstan... finally! When I first arrived in Philadelphia I was able to spot other trainees in the airport because they all had the heavy sicker attached to their luggage, they looked desheveled, and like they just needed someone to tell them wehre to go. I was able to ride over to the airport with two other trainees Chris and Brandon. Everyone in the group is so accomplished people have traveled to amazing places and done some amazing stuff. The staging part in Philadelphia was mostly meetings and them telling us we need to be culturally sensitve and what not. It was two straight days of traveling from Philadelphia to Kyrgyzstan. Everyone eventually lost track of what day and time it was. ONe guy accidently didn't have a ticket to Bishkek so we eneded up leaving him in London! He is here now but is a whole day behind which at this point is a lot.When we got here they put us into two busses. They were awesome. They were total left overs from the Soviet Era. I loved them they had a T.V. on them with turn knobs and beige curtains and were painted red. And then the seats looked like the couches that everyone's Grandma's had. You knwo the orange ones they bought in the 70's and still have!Kyrgyzstan is so beautiful. Snow capped mountains and tons of Burch trees. But then there are tons of run down factories and eveything too. The mark of a former soviet country abandoned factories and tall ugly concrete buildings. One of the othr Trainees had the perfect way of describing it. Kyrgyzstan is a National Park meets an Industrial Park.I haven't eaten much because... well I'm going to have to suck it up and eat it once I get hungry enough. For our first breakfast they had this stuff that looks like Cottage Cheese but tastes and smells like bread. Also, there was frmented Mare's milk. I don't like Milk to begin with so that was challenging. Every meal includes about 5 coarses for lunch yesterday I was fine after soup and"salad"(The salad was 2 pieces of old lettuce any vegtable they could find and lots of meat fat). I figure there will come a point that I get so hungry I will eat anything.We have already had one language class. I got put into the russian group. It is cool because when I'm done I can travel to 15 countries without troubles if I can speak Russian, but it will be hardr to fit into the country because forgieners always speak Russian and they respect people who learn Kyrgyz more. I will be getting picked up by my Host Family soon. I have been desperately trying to remember the formal way of say hello so they don't think I'm stupid. But I pronounce it differently every time.strast-voo-tyahzdraz-tvoo-tyahzdrazt-voot-yahI need to learn... I am desperately trying!!!Hopefully they will like me and really help me learn the language.I did learn how to spell my name in Russian.кэролSo one step at a time!Well, I gotta go buy some flowers for my Mama.

Honey

My sister Diane and I went and spent a few days in the Great Tetons and in Yellowstone. We really wanted to go hiking but there aren't really anygood hiking trails at Yellowstone. So we decided to create our own trail. As we were walking there were all these signs saying.... NO!!! Turn around Dumbass! There are freakin' bears! I mean it, turn around now!!! Okay, those might not be the exact words but it was the genral idea of the signs. I have since found out that when dealing with bears you are suppose to be loud. Diane and I didn't know this so we proceeded past the signs, but made sure to be very quite once we got past the signs. Then Diane dead serious said to me, "As long as we leave the honey alone we should be alright." I turned and looked at her and replied, "What kind of bears do you think we are dealing with, Winnie-the-Pooh?" "Ah, Carol it's like proven that Bears like honey. Who doesn't like honey?""I would be more worried about the bees if I went after honey than I would be the the bears." "Oh, the bears would get ya."We kept on our hike tip-toeing so as not to piss off the bears and we left the honey alone, that is the only reason I can write and tell you this. so,LEAVE THE HONEY ALONE!!!!