Goodbye, Ak Bala

Misha with Ludmila Nikolaevna, school director, and his first grade teacher Anastasia Nikolaevna.

I dreaded all the goodbyes of the last day of school at Ak Bala. I had to do it twice, once for Misha and once for Sebby. When I picked up Misha, I was lucky enough to get all of his teachers lined up for a photo. (From left to right: his teachers for P.E., Kyrgyz language, English, art, and the first-grade homeroom teacher, Anastasia Nikolaevna, who teaches reading, writing, and math.) That day, all the children in Misha's class had made him a collage of their photos and had written a collective letter on the back saying they will miss him and wait for him to come back. His teacher Anastasia had tears in her eyes as she gave Misha a final hug.

 Saying goodbye to Sebby's teachers was no easier. They gave him a medal and a coloring book, saying they would miss him sorely because he was such a part of the class now.

Sebby with Galina and Elnura.

Sebby was delighted with his medal and his prizes.

With Toktogul, in charge of the school's security. He is always friendly and smiling.

Bud and Ashley playing with Ushu swords after school

That evening Alesia made a surprise borsh dinner for me, giving me some much-needed stress relief. What a sweetheart!

A post-borsh, post-sunset walk to accompany Kulia partway home.

The next day was Saturday, time for Misha's last day of Ushu. It was test day, in which all the first-year Ushu students were performing for judges to earn their "chornaya panda" (black panda) badges. Misha passed!

Since parents weren't allowed to watch the tests, we snacked on shashlik, shorpo, and gan fan at a nearby cafe.

New "black pandas" Misha, Timur, Yan, and Pasha stand proudly with their Ushu trainer Gulfia.