Osh, Kyrgyzstan: Larry Tweed's Stomach Demons

Alive and well after battling apocalyptic stomach demons. Porcelain never looked so pretty as Friday night, with my head wedged between the bowl and the sink (see earlier post describing the uncanny construction of my can and its proximity to the hovering sink). Gut-wrenching, I know. Between Friday and Sunday I consumed 1 Snickers bar (the most satifying Snickers ever) and about 10 liters of water and a packet of rehyrdration salts...umm...ummm yummy. This happens to every volunteer at least a couple of times, however, this one seemed to be a virus--probably the flu which is called The GREEP. I love that, The GREEP, doesn't that just sound like something you want to avoid? "Dude, The GREEP almost got me the other night!"

Monday: I finally gave my "Intro to the United States Legal System" lecture. It was just a 40 minute powerpoint presentation. The audience was a group of Russian speaking Law Students who participate in the Human Rights and Democracy Center's Student Legal Clinic. Lest one think I gave the presentation in Russian, I had a translator. The students were great and asked fantastic questions and I tried to throw in some interesting facts (e.g. only 2 women (both currently serving) and only two black men in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court).

Russian Language is improving again now that I have a tutor here in Osh. My tutor, Vera, is a 50+ year old Kyrgyz woman who reprimands me when I speak in English! I use my MP3 player (thanks to some friends back in St. Paul, MN) to record my classes and play them back.

Kyrgyzstan Parliamentary elections in 25 days. Friends and co-workers from my organization were on Osh 3000 (a television station) last night answering questions about the elections (LIVE) from folks who called in. Am I really in Kyrgyzstan? (Snickers bars and Live Television Broadcasts...What an interesting time to be alive in Kyrgyzstan.)

Internet's been unreliable, so let me get this off to the Western World while I still can.