Peace Corps is keeping us on a pretty tight leash during training (for our own safety, of course) so I'm sorry to everyone that has commented/e-mailed and has not gotten a response. I'm thinking this blog is going to be my best form of communication since everyone has access to it
There is so much to say that I don't know where to start... I guess a brief photo description would be appropriate to start with:
This is our group. 62 of us to start, though, to my knowledge, three have already decided to go home. 59 left. Can you find me?
This is the hotel in Bishkek where we spent our first two days in country attending orientation meetings and taking care of medical necessities (which means LOTS of shots!)
Behind the hotel was a crazy sculpture park which included this giant tower.
A bunch of us climbed to the top of the tower..
And watched the sunset over Bishkek..
This is my house! Or rather, my host family's house. I'm not allowed to say where it is but it's a very cute village! On the left is the main house, on the right is the summer kitchen, washroom, and food preparation room. Washroom depicted below:
Bucket baths aren't so bad..
And here is the dreaded squat toilet. Ours is deceiving because, as you can see, there is a bit of a seat. You are NOT, however, supposed to sit on this. What we do is climb on top of the seat, and then squat.
This is my host mom! She's wonderful, and patient. I don't think people smile in pictures much around here..
This is me, my host sister (on the right) and a family cousin (on the right). My host sister, Aliya, spent a year studying in Wisconsin and speaks excellent English, which has been a huge help. Also maybe a bad thing, as I haven't been using Kyrgyz as much as I should be. Yep, I'm learning Kyrgyz, not Russian, for anyone who was wondering. It's a pretty tough language starting out, but pretty basic when it comes down to it. It's all about word endings.. Words here can be SOOOOO LONG
Well, I was hoping to get more on here but, as I said, not a lot of time. A few highlights:
-Horse meat is delicious
-Horse milk is not.
-Two shots of vodka with salt will cure all my stomach problems
-Animals are not treated nicely here. I have seen a lot, right down to puppies and kittens being kicked. It's hard for me, being such an animal lover and all, but I know that I can get over it. As far as cultural differences go, this one is very minor.
-Most of the time I have water and electricity.
-The mountains/country side are beautiful here... Not to mention the stars
-I have drank more tea in these two weeks than I have in my entire life
I'm totally blanking and I'm almost out of time anyway. More later!
