ERIC

[russian_guy]

hey eric just wondering somethings

when you lived in krygystan for 2 years and learned russian how did you find a family to stay with? also was it easy to get by in krygystan or 50% russian and% krygystanian everywhere? i want to become a tour guide one day but need to learn tons of russian grammar and vocabulary more vocabulary then anything else. i would like to know your experience so if you could tell me that would be great

[Erik]

Dear Russian Guy,

Thanks for your message and for your interest. I'm always happy to talk about my experiences in Kyrgyzstan. I was a Peace Corps volunteer, invited by the Kyrgyz government to teach English in public schools. The director of the school worked with staff from my volunteer agency to find suitable housing for me. I was very lucky to have such great host families (one in my training village and one at my permanent site). I learned so much from my host families that go beyond just vocabulary and grammar such as invaluable information about culture and and pragmatics. If you have the opportunity to go on a homestay I would highly recommend it. There's even a tourism organization that organizes short homestays of a few nights in Kyrgyz homes. This is a great way to experience Kyrygyz culture if you only have a short time. Here's the link: http://www.cbtkyrgyzstan.kg/index.php?o ... &Itemid=29

As for the Kyrgyz language... although Russian is an official language in The Kyrgyz Republic, as it is also referred to, Russian is not so widely used outside of the capital city of Bishkek, except for small pockets of Russian speaking communities. I taught in "Russian schools" where the main language of instruction was in Russian so I did not learn much Kyrgyz unfortunately. My Kyrgyz friends, colleagues, and host family, however, could speak perfect Russian. Most people a visitor is likely to come into contact with - a taxi driver, a clerk at a souvenir shop, or a waitress/waiter at a restaurant - probably will at least speak a little Russian if not fluently, depending on the area.

Best of luck in the future with Russian language learning and as a tour guide.

Sincerely,

Erik

[russian_guy]

ok thank you eric. it seems realy cool to be able to learn russian and realy be able to use it. i aam going to interperate for something in my town so i realy can't wait for it.
thanks so much for your reply and под столом увидимся