Holiday (every day?)

Hello again! It's Thursday and, yes, I definitely should be teaching class right now, but the mayor of Bazar-Korgon has declared it School Cleaning Day! This is not a joke, class is actually cancelled so that the students can clean their school as a crucial element of their instruction on how to be good little Soviets. This week I taught school a total of . . . (pause for Ailey thinking) . . . two days! Why only two days, you ask? Because who needs eduation! I flippantly reply. Actually, Wednesday was International Man Day, which is definitely needed here in Central Asia - men just don't get the respect they deserve. So, no school on Wednesday and, because no holiday is complete without a half-day the day before, no school on Tuesday either. Next week is International Woman Day, so there will be no school on Tuesday and, as I have already said, no holiday is complete without a half-day the day before, no school on Monday either. Of course, the post office will be closed for two weeks straight in celebration of International Man Day and International Woman Day. International Man Day doubled as Army Day, so there was a lot of drunk men in the street all week last week. When I pass a drunk man in the street on the way to my 11am class, I never know where to look. If he's walking straight, but slightly lurching, I don't make eye-contact. If he's sober enough to walk, he's sober enough to talk and I hate making conversations with drunks early in the morning. If he's walking, but veering all over the place, I have to watch because, first of all, maybe he will fall over and that is interesting and, second of all, maybe he will walk into me and that is bad. I'm curious, are they still drunk and awake from the night before? If so, that is an impressive feat. Or did they just start drinking really early in the morning? The thought honestly turns my stomach - to be honest, the thought of vodka turns my stomach at any time, day or night, but in the morning when respectable people are eating their bread and tea! I just don't understand. Alright, I'm going to go enjoy the weather. Its around seventy degrees today! This is great, but its only March. What will happen in June, or July, or August? For those of you who were tired of hearing me complain about the cold - prepare yourselves. I'm going to complain a lot about the heat. Honestly, I'm from Seattle. Its sixty degrees year-round there.