Women of the Year
For a few months now our women's club in Shymkent has been putting together a list of women of the year. Each week one or two participants presents information about a woman they have chosen to be on our list. Our criteria is simple, chose a woman, dead or alive, who admire and explain why. Also, we have been trying to deter women from just selecting pop stars. In celebration of Women's Day here's our list:
- Marie Curie - physicist and chemist, first person to win two Nobel Prizes
- Dr. Hawa Abdi - founder of a health clinic for women and children in Somalia
- Rosa Parks - civil rights activist
- Tomyris - queen of Iranic people in Central Asia
- Anna Politkovskaya - journalist and human rights activist opposed to Chechen conflict
- Aung San Suu Kyi - opposition political in Burma and Nobel Peace Prize winner
- Cleopatra - last pharaoh of ancient Egypt
- Mother Teresa - humanitarian and advocate
- Gabriela Mistral - educator, poet and first Latin American woman to win a Nobel Prize in Literature
- Saint Olga - Princess of Kiev who avenged her husband's death and converted to Christianity
- Valentina Tereshkova - first woman in space
- Jennifer Figge - endurance athlete
My short descriptions do no justice to the amazing achievements and qualities of these women! I'm really proud of our women's club for putting together such a strong list.
Women's Day
Women's Day is a very big deal here. It's like Valentine's Day and Mother's Day combined and multiplied. Flower vendors are out in full force, glittery cards are for sale, tons of people are out and about, there's a lot of traffic, and you probably can't get a table at a restaurant. Usually, guys give gifts to the women in their lives. This year the holiday falls on a Tuesday so we got both Monday and Tuesday off of work.
Celebrating
On Saturday, I bought and delivered presents for my Russian tutor and director. When I got to work give my director a bouquet of beautiful red tulips that are now blooming outside of Shymkent, she was already celebrating! My sitemate, Katie, and I joined her and a co-worker for a mid-day celebration break.
The next day I invited a few women, local friends and Peace Corps volunteers in Shymkent, to come to my apartment over the weekend for a spa day. We did face masks, painted our nails, made lava cakes and watched a chick flick. It was a fun and girly evening!
On the actual day I was in Zhetisai a town of 30,000 people about 4 hours south of Shymkent. I went there with my sitemate, Phillip, to visit three volunteers that live there. We got there Sunday afternoon and went straight to a English Club that Tes, Katharine and Lisa hold, but of course nobody was there because of the holiday. On Women's Day I slept in (!!!) and leisurely head over to Tes' for eggs and toast. Toast! It may not sound exciting to you but it's rare here. Despite the availability and use of many modern appliances people here don't have toasters! After filling up Katharine, Lisa and I head off to the banya (sauna) to sweat and scrub away our winter skin. I think I've written about banyas before. It's one thing I'm sure to miss when I leave Kazakhstan. Anyways, our short time in Zhetisai was nice. It's always fun to get out of the "big city" and enter the slow pace life of a town or village. Kids are playing outside, livestock is roaming around, and at night you can see the stars.
Spring
February is a cold and miserable month but just like last year the weather started changing as soon as March arrived. I'm pretty sure March 8th marks the start of spring in Shymkent. On March 8th last year, the weather was warm enough to wear shorts and dresses. This year is much the same. Well, the snow's melted and you can go outside without a coat on. Spring is here!
