Graduation!

Summer break is here and for the first time in our house, that means kids off of school. Michael and Samuel completed their first year of local school, a huge accomplishment in itself. Part of that is Michael graduated out of local kindergarten, moving into grade 0 (preschool) next year. His class held a graduation event of sorts, so we are parents who do that now.

            Things are a little different holding graduations like this here. For one, Monday of the last week of school Cindy took the boys to school and they still didn’t know when they were going to hold the ceremony. Ok, we will play it by ear. On Thursday she found out it would be the next day at noon, oh and Michael has to have black dress pants, a white dress shirt, and a black bow tie for it. We didn’t have those things, so off to the bazaar we go. Somehow she managed to find the dress clothes and even get the pants tailored to fit our long and lean boy.

Michael looks good in his outfit.

The welcome sign for us. 

            Friday morning Michael has to head to class in a clean white shirt and somehow arrive there in the same shirt clean. This is easier said than done. First there is a five minute walk up a dirt road, a road that people turn into mud by throwing water on it to keep dust down. Then we had to walk right by cranes and trucks working on construction of the new school (construction zones are not a thing here). Once inside you to to your room with shoes off, so Matt neglected to notice that Michael, clean up to this point, carried his shoes with the muddy soles against his clean clothes all the way upstairs, Oh well, we tried. He got brushed off a bit and then he is the teacher’s problem to keep clean.

All sitting nicely.

Finally noon rolled around on Friday. Matt and Cindy packed up Isaac, drove over to the school, and went up to the little classroom. Naturally the ceremony started about 20 minutes late, all the parents sitting on the floor and watching their five year old kids recite speeches, sing songs, and play games. It was bilingual, Michael spoke and sang in both English and Tajik. He apparently is quite the favorite of at least two girls who hung off him at one time or another. Even with his bow tie and dress shirt, he was far from the best dressed in the room. One kid came in a three-piece suit. Two of the girls wouldn’t have been underdressed as brides at their own weddings, with hair to match. Michael had a great time with his friends and really seemed to love being at school, even though he is overjoyed to not be leaving for school every day any more. Even Sam got in on the fun there at the end, coming up to see the end of his brother’s ceremony.

In the end, we have had a great experience with this school and look forward to both boys going forward in the same system. It’s a private school here, but we are the only foreigners with kids in it at this point, so Michael even had a place created for him next year so that we wouldn’t take a spot from a local kid. We are so impressed with how well both boys did in school at such a young age, they are learning and growing so well. Enjoy a little slice of our life this year.

To Michael's left, that girl intentionally chose that seat. 

Think she has a thing for him?

Speeches

Michael showing off his language skills

Songs with motions

Check out the hair. And the dresses. They went all out.

And then there is Michael's hair.

Dancing

Michael showing that he is, indeed, a Mitchell.

His dancing looks a lot like walking.

Hm.

Sam had to get some pictures of him too.

           

Looking good for getting out school. 

Seasons

            One interesting aspect of life in the mountains of Central Asia is seasons. Now, I know, seasons are pretty common to the human experience. The earth isn’t straight on its axis, so any location on the planet is going to experience regular changes in temperature and climate on a yearly basis. But much of the modern world has relegated seasons to a small part of life that really changes very little on a day to day basis. We live and work in air conditioned and heated buildings, import foods grown far afield or in greenhouses, and do most of our entertainment and recreation ensconced safely in buildings that shield us from all but the most extreme weather. Sure, the trip from the car door to other doors is more or less pleasant based on if it is winter or summer, but for the most part even a wardrobe hardly needs to change more than one or two layers.

            Here seasons matter. We live life in something of a rhythm we are just not used to in the US. We open the windows in the late spring, turn on the a/c in summer on hot days, close the windows again in the fall, and turn on the heaters in the winter. We eat cherries, strawberries, apricots, apples, lemons, peaches, and pears based on when they ripen in our yard or show up in the bazaar.

Even our work takes a yearly rhythm in a season. Spring is when we work to start up and inspect all the projects of the coming year, hearing about the damage and disaster from the winter. In the summer we work full days and travel up and down all the valleys, implementing projects, delivering materials, spending nights and days out on the road. In the fall we scramble to finish up each project before it is too cold to continue, spend a little leftover money on small repairs in villages, and start a list for next year. In the winter we pause, except for a few disaster responses we get to rest a bit and take stock of what we have done in the previous year and what our next year is going to look like.            

There is something reassuring and peaceful in a seasonal life. Strawberries are pretty special when they come in, a reason for celebrating even. Winter is a lot more enjoyable when you can remember how tough travel and visiting can be when it’s really hot, summer is more fun when you enjoy turning off the heaters in the house and opening up the windows. Work changes from season to season, keeping boredom at bay. Even our leisure and recreation changes from season to season, moving indoors when it’s cold and back outside when it warms up.

Now, we are just as eager as anyone else to take advantage of a/c and central heat when we get back to the US. We enjoy an indoor pool (or waterpark) as much as the next family in January and look forward to any Western grocery store where fruit is a year-round advantage, but there is something enjoyable in the coming and going of seasons and the pattern of life overseas. At least we will keep saying this to ourselves until our next trip to Great Wolf Lodge.