So Karl and I have been back in the states, back in "real" life for almost a year now. I haven't written anything since well before we left, yet so much has happened between then and now. I guess when things got ugly, I chose the whole if-you-don't-have-anything-nice-to-say-don't-say-anything-at-all position. Things got pretty hideous...
As the school year came to a close, my job was given away due to a "miscommunication". Really, someone who thought she was someone important, was trying to save herself the potential work of trying to find a teacher to take my spot in the event the base closed and I left. There was nothing I could do. I met with the US Embassy. I corresponded with the US State Department. Nothing would be done because they needed an accredited school in Bishkek. I even met with a lawyer in real life who advised me my time (and money) would be wasted since the company was not a US entity. Long story short, the base did not close, but my job was gone, and therefore so was our life in Bishkek. Hello "real" life!!!
Karl got a civilian job working as a firefighter in the beautiful city of Savannah, Georgia and we began our "real" normal lives. We bought a house. We adopted a cat. We renovated a kitchen. On the weekends we go to movies with friends or hang out at the beach. We do what normal Americans do. No more spending Monopoly money or waking up to roosters in the city. No more $1 pints and Azerbaijani plov at the corner cafe. Somehow it seems that our surreal Kyrgyz life was truly living and real life here at home is just ordinary. Karl put it well. He said that here in the states he doesn't feel like he is really living life. I think our year overseas as plagued us with a serious case of wanderlust.
However, I have learned this past year that life is a balancing act. I have been taught that the scale may tip severely, but I have to have faith that it will eventually balance out. A few months ago I turned on CNN and was schooled. Kyrgyzstan was on the national news again. Protests turned violent and bloody in the streets that we traveled every day. Stores that we shopped at and restaurants we dined in were burned to the ground. Hundreds of people were killed. School was closed and teachers were evacuated. Maybe that is why we had to leave. Then again last week ethnic violence claims the lives of hundreds in the southern part of the country. What happened? That was not the country I left.
Then, good news from the overseas school. The self-important B was forced to resign. Try as I might, I couldn't get it done. But sure enough, Karma finally caught up and the scales were balanced. It's a beautiful thing!
