May 24, 2009
Preppin'
for the Prez
A countrywide sports competition for teenagers who live in
villages is taking place in Talas.
Opening ceremonies were last evening and the games begin today. All week the word was the president of
Kyrgyzstan would be here for the opening.
So, in preparation, many classes at the technical college and the
university were canceled for the week so the students could make the stadium
sparkle. And it wasn't only the
stadium. Seems like everybody was out
sweeping and picking up litter (a HUGE problem in our city). Residents whitewashed walls and curbs and
miracle of miracles, potholes were filled.
Guess when the mayor thinks the president is coming to town, the money
for road repair magically appears. It's
a safe bet that without the sports games, they wouldn't have been.
The city is the cleanest I've ever seen it. I'm thinking the last time it was this clean
was the last time the president was rumored to be visiting.
The opening ceremonies were pretty cool. Each of the seven oblasts paraded their
athletes past the crowd just like in the Olympics with Talas getting the
loudest welcome, naturally. There were
singers and dancers dressed in traditional Kyrgyz costumes. The few speeches we had to endure were
short. I was glad to see female athletes
will be participating in volleyball. (This is such a male dominated culture
that I would not have been surprised if there weren't any girls.) I hope to get out to see some events before
Wednesday when the games end.
And the president? He sent
his Minister of Sports instead. Big
letdown. Really wanted to see him in
person.
You’ll notice I haven’t
talked much about politics in my emails, mostly because I figured if the Kyrgyz
government really was reading them, I’d err on the side of caution. No sense
calling the president a callous corrupt jerk, thereby ending my PC service with
a comment everybody knew and most agreed with.
In the book I talk about the peoples' attitudes regarding their president and compare it to what I experienced in China.
