That summer, together with Ida and Nestor Patana, we decided
to make a trip to California. They had a large Chandler “touring car,” open
sides with side-curtains (if necessary.) So, with all needed equipment packed
into our cars we started off. The Muttinens (Miettinens?) had bought our
furniture and remained in the apartment.
We were
young and it was an adventure! They had a little girl, Florence, she was about 4
or 5 years old then. The cars were never out of sight from the other – so if
help was needed it was there. We took in all the sights on the way, natural
sights and as many free ones as possible, we had no extra money. The Patanas
had a tent which they put up for the night at free camping grounds and we had a
mattress and slept in our little coupe. We cooked outdoors and ate outdoors. Ida
and Nestor had to have their potatoes every day – sometimes we’d cook
them in a roadside ditch! We camped by creeks and once even in a cemetery!
Nestor had a mandolin which he would strum in the evening. Those days the roads
were still under construction – often we had to pick our own road across fields
and riverbeds. Yellowstone Park, to us, was an awesome sight! And the Grand
Canyon.
The
roads were rough and dusty, tires had to be changed often, as they would wear
out. Spare tires were carried then – many at a time – often outside of the
cars. Those were the days when the “Oakies” were also on their way West – with
all their worldly goods piled on top of their “jalopies.” I think we looked like
them, too. Eventually, we got to Los Angeles. The men looked for work with not
much success, as there was a surplus of labor. So, Ike started selling Fuller
Brushes again – which he already knew how to do. And Nestor got some iron work
in San Bernadino, Cal. He had the misfortune of falling on the job [and] luckily was
not injured seriously. They were quite broke and wanted to come back to
Waukegan, Ill. I did not want to stay behind, either. Ike perhaps would have
stayed – but he also decided we’ll come back, too. We went then up the West
Coast to Black Diamond, Wash. where Nestor had an old blind uncle who lived
near the Columbia R[iver] We helped him with his haying and he took us fishing
on the river, it was surprising how surefooted he was in spite of his
blindness.
Picture of some Oakies heading West.
We
stopped by small mountain streams several places on the way back, to fish and
camp. The scenery was so beautiful and we didn’t try for any speed – the tires
and roads were not made for that in those days. Then the first place we and
the Patanas ever lost sight of one another occurred in N. Dakota. Something
went wrong, I don’t remember what, with the engine of our coupe. The Patanas
had been ahead and just then, not in sight. It was a hot, hot Sunday afternoon
on a barren Dakota prairie, dusty and dry. I’ll never forget that was the longest
hottest and dustiest Sunday afternoon both of us ever spent! Ike tried to hitch
hike – no one would pick up a lone dusty young man and we kept waiting
for the Patanas to turn back to see what had happened – but no. Finally, an old
mad and a young boy stopped to give Ike a ride into Valley City, N.D. Ike sure
found out why! He had to help the old man fix his old worn out tires a
half dozen times – tho’ it was only about 18 miles to the town. I had to stay
in the car and wait, as all our possessions were in the coupe. If I had the
windows open I choked on the dust, and windows shut, I felt suffocated in the
heat! But finally, when it was almost dark, the tow-truck came and hauled us to
Valley City. We stayed in a hotel (for the first time on the whole trip) and
the engine was repaired the next day. Then we finished the whole trip and
drove towards Superior, tho’ I seem to remember we slept one night in the car
yet, in the yard of a Co-op Store – I think it was Perham, Minn. The farmers
were driving to the store already in the morning before we woke up!
So,
we went to Altos in Allouege. (Ike’s sister) Soon, the Patanas drove in,
too—greatly agitated as to what had become of us. They had turned back – took
a side road into a small town off the “highway” – thinking we had to go there
for some reason – when they got back to the main road, they again figured that
now we had gone by. So, all was well, that ended well. Of course then we all
went to Oulu. Ida Patana’s family was there and also ours. In those days the
trip we had made was really considered something! Our families were all
glad to see us back home. I think we stayed at Tikkanen's and helped with
the haying for awhile.
The ATKs just finished their first (very eventful) European vacation. That's right. After all these years of globetrotting, we have missed everyone's go-to vacation spot (pick any place in Western Europe). But not any more! We've just spent the last five days in London, enjoying a variety of food, dreary overcast weather, and general tourist must-do's. I wanted to share a bit about all the fun things we did and also all the songs I randomly sang based on visual, aural, and written cues we came across during our many walks all over town. (See above video for the first song.) I'm also going to try not to get too bogged down in the minute details which ends up making these posts to long and then are posted significantly after the trip/event has end. (Case in point this post about New Year's which I posted 29 days after New Year's occurred. Personally, I'm proud I published it in January at all. Baby steps.)
Anyways, it's a long and tiring journey from Kyrgyzstan to London (with a stopover in Istanbul.) All the flights that leave Bishkek are at 3:00 am so it's one of those "wake up in the middle of the night scenarios." On the plus side, we were at the hotel in London by noon. We weren't really in a site-seeing mood, of course, what with the exhaustion and jet lag and all. Still we got some traditional British pub food for lunch (steak and ale pie for Mr. ATK and fish and chips with the largest piece of cod I have ever seen for me. There were also mushy peas on my plate. I did not eat those.)
Mr. ATK and his meat pie, chips, and pint of ale. Pip pip cheerio and all that!
The largest piece of fried fish I have ever seen.
And of course, this meal (and basically anytime I saw an advertisement for pies at pubs) had me humming "The Worst Pies in London." (There are better vocalists than Emma Thompson, but she's my favorite and I was at this concert, so... sorry, Angela Lansbury. Next Sweeney Todd reference is all you.)
Our main goal that day was to stay awake until 5 pm. So after lunch we had a stroll around Regent's Park and passed out promptly at 5.
For the next few days, we tried to see as many of the tourist sites as possible. We decided to invest in a "London Pass" which gets you into a lot of things for free after an initial investment of 73 pounds. That doesn't seem like much, but it's actually $111 USD. That's the one thing about London--the sticker shock. All the prices on everything are about what you would expect to see on the items in the US, except the price is in pounds and 1 pound is worth about $1.50, so when you do the math in your head, what is a "5 dollar foot long" Subway sub in America is a $9.00 foot long sub in London. Who wants to spend that much on Subway? On the plus side, we didn't eat fast food the whole time we were there.
So we were pretty obsessed with getting our 73 pounds worth from this pass. It wasn't that hard to do, since it costs between 15 and 20 pounds (usually closer to 20) to get into any of the big places--Westminster Abby, Tower of London, Kensington Palace, War Cabinet Rooms, etc. It was nice to finally see the inside of most of these places as the only previous time I had been to London was over a weekend while I was studying in France and I couldn't actually afford to go in anywhere. I just walked by and pointed at things. So it was nice to see what the fuss was all about.
Selfie at Big Ben!
I really enjoyed Westminster Abbey. That was very cool. We didn't get a chance to visit St. Paul's Cathedral--we only saw it in the skyline. That did not stop me from singing, "Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag)" from Mary Poppins. In fact, I basically started humming that song any time I saw a church. I'm not picky.
Mr. ATK really wanted to go to St. Paul's. I think he wanted to see the inside. I also wanted to go, but mainly to look for a bird lady. I did see lots of pigeons all over London, and I have to say, they were all pretty fat, so I guess the bird lady has done her job. I don't believe for a second any of those birds have a bare nest. We'll be going back to London in a few months and we plan to see the cathedral then. I'll keep you informed about my quest to feed the birds. However, if it costs more than tuppence a bag, I make no guarantee.
We did some other free stuff, including braving the massive throngs of people to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.
It was crowded, but not Wagah Border crossing crowded. Still, I was stuck looking at the backs of people's heads and shoulders for the most part. More than anything, this is what I saw:
I got great views of the whole thing on the cell phones of the people in front of me. We didn't stay for the whole thing. It turns into a band concert half way in and I was hungry, so off we went.
The other thing I really enjoyed was the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park. The weather was awful, as weather in England tends to be, but the memorial was lovely. I can see it being a wonderful place to spend time in the summer when, I assume, the weather is nicer. I was a big Diana fan back in the day and was sad (like so many others were) when she died. It's hard to describe the fountain and the pictures don't really do it justice, so I'll just link to the Wikipedia page here.
I liked this little kid running around and having fun at the memorial. Princess Diana did so much to help children around the world, it just seemed fitting that her memorial would continue to bring joy to children.
And of course, here's the video for the song I was humming along (and occasionally blatantly singing) while we were there. Of course, I forgot a lot of the new words and so kept switching to original recipe "Candle in the Wind" after I got past the "Goodbye, England's rose" part.
On our last day in country, just to top off the excitement of living the high life in London, we went to the doctor at BabyInc. (yep, that's a real and very reputable clinic) and saw pictures of the soon-to-be BabyTK.
Coming Summer 2015
To be continued......
Oh, and I also sang "Waterloo Sunset" a lot but couldn't really fit it in anywhere in the post. So here it is at the end. A reward for folks who made it through this whole thing.
Happy New Year all! We are happy to celebrate our first New Year in Kyrgyzstan!
And while many of you were out partying or perhaps watching "Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve hosted by Ryan Seacrest," the ATKs spent a few days in Mr. ATK's former stomping grounds, Kochkor, with his Kyrgyz family.
Panoramic of the mountains and fields outside Kochkor
New Year's was quite the cultural experience for me, that's for sure. First of all, New Year's Eve/Day is a BFD here. I can't stress that enough. Our cruddy little Christmas? It's nothing. New Year's is where it's at in Central Asia. From what I understand this is largely due to Soviet influence. Since the Soviets were not exactly pro-religion, secular holidays were, and continue to be, the biggest holidays. There is a Kyrgyz holiday called "Nowruz" which is celebrated on the spring equinox and traditionally signified the start of the new year. It's still a very big holiday. (And a quick search on Wikipedia informs me this is a Persian holiday that celebrates the start of the Persian calendar and is celebrated in areas that were under Iranian cultural influence. The more you know, I guess.) But Victory Day? The day the Allies beat the Nazis? That's a really big one. (I just asked Mr. ATK for his unofficial rankings of Kyrgyz holidays from biggest to smallest deal. He says its: 1. New Years; 2. Nowruz; 3. End of Ramadan; 4. Victory Day; 5. Women's Day; 6. Independence Day/First Day of School.)
Anyways, there are big variety shows on TV that put Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve to shame--both in Russian and Kyrgyz. These programs are on for, like, 10 hours. It could be because Russia is massive and it's probably 8 a.m. in Moscow when the clock strikes midnight in Vladivostok. Or it could be they just like singing songs about the new year. Or both. They aren't mutually exclusive. One of the things that cracked me up was that as we would be watching these people sing and most of the time I wouldn't understand it (especially when it was in Kyrgyz), but then I'd realize, "Hey I know this tune! That's 'I Will Survive'." But instead of it being the real "I Will Survive," it was a version that kept saying "Happy New Year" (one of the few phrases I can actually pick out in both Russian and Kyrgyz.)
There is also this gem, which I heard several times and is awesome.
So clearly, this is the Russian "version" of Wham's delightful, yet sad "Last Christmas" in which the singer reminisces about how the previous Christmas he had given a special someone his heart and then the very next day, this person gave it away. But, the singer is optimistic that if he gives his heart to someone special this year, it will save him from further tears. Well, this Russian version scraps that narrative entirely and basically just talks about how awesome New Year's is and how you get to see old friends. (Granted, this is all from what I can understand. My Russian is officially "limited.")
But I digress....
Back to Kochkor.
The New Year's celebration was an interesting one. Largely food based. We arrived around 3 pm and the family was cooking, but had also already laid out quite the spread. (I wish I had taken a picture!) At around 3:30-3:45 we sat down for our first course. There were many salads, fruits, vegetables, sweet breads, and, of course, tea. After this, the food kept coming about every 90 minutes, until midnight rolls around and then you all toast.* Needless to say, food was plentiful and pretty much every hour and a half more food came out, including fish and turkey, and we ate some more. This is all supposed to culminate in eating besh barmak, (which means "five fingers" in Kyrgyz), a traditional dish made of horse meat (if you are lucky! They only slaughter a horse for special occasions, or honored guests) and noodles. I tried my best to power through all the food, in order to save myself for this "big show" at midnight. I admit, I was struggling. First of all, I'm not big on staying up to midnight, even on New Year's, because I am a 60 year old trapped in a 35 year old body, so I was getting sleepy as the night wore on and all the food didn't help. I tried eating less and less to save some room, but that's kind of hard. Also, Mr. ATK was struggling a bit, too, though I'm sure he would deny it.
Mr. ATK and his brother Aziz, "slit the throat" of a salad shaped like a sheep. Gotta be halal after all!
I guess Mr. ATK's brothers noticed how we were struggling with the food, so they decided not to serve the besh barmak that night. I felt really bad that they altered their tradition. I tried to say, "Oh, that's not necessary. Eat your food. We'll be fine. We can eat some." But they were like, "No, horse meat is heavy and you won't sleep well." So we had the besh barmak the next day.
New Year's selfie taken as the clock struck midnight
In between courses, Mr. ATK and I went out to explore town. He was keen to both show me around his old stomping grounds and see how the town had changed in the five years since he left. The biggest news seemed to be (in no particular order): 1. The road between Bishkek and Kochkor has been redone and is much improved (Mr. ATK marveled about this on the way there and would try to explain how awful it had been. "See this guard rail? This guard rail wasn't there before. It was just a drop off the cliff.") 2. The stoplight in town now works. 3. The family got indoor plumbing. (I'm pretty sure I was the only one who used the indoor toilet, however. Even Mr. ATK used the outhouse. I don't know if he just missed squatting outside in the cold or what.) 4. There is an ATM!
Lenin!
It was pretty interesting to see the village. It's a large town (bigger than my Peace Corps site, for sure. It has a traffic light, for pete's sake!) Like Bishkek, it had quite a few monuments in honor of Kochkorkians (not sure what the adjective for these folks would be) who died in war, notably World War II and Afghanistan. It also has a Lenin statue, which is always interesting and it has a couple of schools who have the most insane playgrounds. I imagine these are very Soviet style playgrounds. They are a series of bars, mainly. I wondered if children just do pull ups during recess.
I think the things on the right are like pull up treadmills
On New Year's Day, the family took us out to see some sites outside of town. They couldn't believe that Mr. ATK had never seen the salt mines, so we loaded up the car and headed out to the mines. First, however, we stopped at the place where the water starts on fire. Now when they first mentioned this, I was thinking of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland which famously started on fire. That is, I figured the water started on fire because of pollution or some sort of mining issue (like how the water near some fracking areas supposedly starts on fire). Now I suppose this water could have been polluted, but it came out of the ground flammable. And the spring wasn't near a mine or anything that I could see, so it was very odd. The brothers bought some matches and sure enough, just started lighting the water on fire. A couple interesting things to note: 1.) This lighting water on fire thing is apparently a popular past time around Kochkor, because while we were there another car load of people showed up and also started lighting the water on fire; and 2.) People seemed to think this flammable water was some sort of health tonic. Apa brought a two liter bottle and filled it up. So did the people in the other car. They took the water home in order to drink it!
Fire water!
Now I'm not a chemist or a scientist or anything, but I just feel water that starts on fire cannot be good for you. That's just me.
After the fire water, we headed over to the salt mine. The salt mine is closed for the winter so we just drove right up and looked around. It was pretty cold in Kochkor, and the mine is a bit higher up in the mountains, so, you know, I took a look around and was quickly ready to take my frozen toes back to the heated car. The entrance to mine was padlocked (for obvious reasons, as the mine was closed and there was no staff present.) This led the brothers to discussing where they could find the guard so he could open up the mine. Another car of people (who we did not know) then showed up to also check out the mine. I guess it's a popular hang out spot. Anyways, these folks also wanted to go find the guard to open the mine up so we could all go inside. My crazy American brain was like, "First, why would a guard open up the mine for a bunch of strangers? Second, what kind of crazy liability would this guy open himself up to by letting a bunch of randos into a dark salt mine?" Then I realized that 1.) They would probably try and bribe the guard (if, in fact, we could find the mythical guard, who was not anywhere near the mine); 2.) There is probably no liability in this country.
Mine stuff
In the end we were unable to find a guard (we even drove to a little village, or maybe it was a sanitarium) at the bottom of the hill, but alas! no one was there.
All in all, it was a very interesting, if not chilly trip. Next time I will bring cuddle duds.
And I leave you all with the following picture of the town New Year's tree. Happy Жаңы Жыл!
*I'm going to dedicate a blog post just to Kyrgyz food, so I'm not going to go to far into descriptions of all the food.
