Whoops!

Thank you for reminding me, Tilly!  

I forgot to mention it in my last post but I have recently received 3 packages and I want to give a HUGE thanks to those who sent them!!  Thanks to Tilly and co., my dad, and Cindy, I have been chowing down on some delicious American treats recently.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

On a different note, as of Friday I'm in a band!  Meredith, Laura, and I have decided to use all of our free time to be musically productive. I discovered this amazing music program on my computer so we've already recorded some songs!  Check out our myspace page:

www.myspace.com/totesmakeupparty

Yeah, we're called Make-up Party.  Good times!

Six months and counting!

That’s right, folks! Only six months until I’m back! As excited as I am it’s becoming more and more clear that there are tons of things I’m going to miss about this place. Some of them things that I have complained about in the past, but have since grown accustomed to.. Such is the irony of life. I can tell you one thing I’m NOT going to miss: WINTER! Despite winter’s late coming this year (December and January were surprisingly warm.. for winter, that is) the past few days have felt like the coldest days I’ve ever experienced. My 15 minute walks to and from school everyday have become nightmare material. I can feel my nose hairs freeze with every inhale, and then melt again with every exhale. It’s a very interesting feeling, which wouldn’t be entirely uncomfortable if it weren’t for the fact that the rest of my face feels like it’s going to break off into shards of ice at any moment. It makes me miss living in a place with little to no seasonal weather changes, like San Francisco and Santa Cruz. Know what other place has little to no seasonal weather changes? Jamaica! Which leads me to my next point..

Though it may come as a shock, or possibly a disappointment, to many of you, I’m in the process of applying to do a transfer/extension to Peace Corps Jamaica. What this means is, if accepted, I would be doing a-whole-nother 27 months of service. It would not be immediate, however. Training for Jamaica begins in March and my Kyrgyzstan service would end in August, leaving me in America for 7 months in between. I figure this is plenty of time to catch up with everyone and get my fill of life in America before hitting the road again. When Peace Corps initially offered information about transfer extensions the thought of applying was the last thing on my mind, but the more I think about it the more I think it’s an opportunity I can’t possibly pass up. Because I’ve already done Peace Corps Kyrgyzstan I’m in a position which gives me the privilege of hand-picking which countries I want to apply to, and which work programs I want to be considered for. While there are tons of amazing countries which came into mind once I realized this (Thailand, Samoa, Peru, the Philippines, Fiji, South Africa, etc.), I will explain why I chose Jamaica.

There are two things that stand out in my head as being the most difficult things about my Peace Corps experience. The first is homesickness. Kyrgyzstan is kind of in the middle of nowhere, which makes it very difficult and expensive to travel here, or to travel anywhere from here. Because of this I haven’t gone home to visit, and I’ve had only 3 visitors. That’s actually more visitors than I expected, but their trips wouldn’t have been possible without the generosity of my father (I love you, Dad!). Missing friends and family during my service has definitely brought me close to quitting a couple times, especially around the holidays. Recognizing this, I knew that if I was going to do Peace Corps again it would have to be somewhere closer to America, and cheaper to travel to and from. Not to mention, it should be a country that people are familiar with and would have an active interest in visiting for reasons other than just me being there..

The second difficult thing has been language and cultural differences. It has been really hard for me to make true local friends. One reason is the obvious language restrictions. My language can only get me so far in a conversation before my vocabulary fails me, or before we get on to controversial topics that Peace Corps encourages us to avoid (politics, religion, etc.). I find it hard to relate to people on a meaningful level. All those things that I can’t, or shouldn’t, talk about are the things that usually bring me closer to people. Shared opinions about politics, religion, and philosophy are important. Or if not shared opinions, than at least the ability to discuss and debate (in a friendly manner, of course) those areas in which our opinions differ. Language aside, the culture here is also very different.. and very conservative. I feel I’ve had to hide many aspects of my personality and who I am in order to integrate and so as not to offend people. Don’t get me wrong.. I’ve met tons of great people here, many of whom I’d like to keep in touch with, but no one that I truly relate to or feel I’ve made a deep connection with. Except for other volunteers..

Side note: Before anyone says something incredibly charming like, “Why don’t you just study more and then you can have more meaningful conversations?!”, I need to explain something about Kyrgyz. The Kyrgyz language is incredibly under-developed. When the Soviet union took over in 1919, Russian was made the official language of the state. At that time, local Kyrgyz people were nomadic farmers and sheep herders whose lives revolved around family and small village communities. The language reflects this. Imagine if no new words had been added to English in the last 100 years. This would be similar to, but still not as extreme as, Kyrgyz. Ninety percent of the words that were introduced to Kyrgyzstan in the 1900s were introduced in Russian. This means words relating to business, politics, technology, philosophy, the legal system, the media, society, and other topics in higher education are primarily in Russian. There are no Kyrgyz equivalents. Now, it is possible to express some of these more complex ideas in the Kyrgyz language, but it is incredibly difficult. So, you ask, why didn’t I try to learn Russian on my own? Well, maybe I should’ve.. But Peace Corps taught me Kyrgyz and that’s what I’ve stuck with

Anyway, with both of these things in mind, I started to do research on Peace Corps countries, and that research led me to Jamaica. It’s close to America, and from what I’ve heard round trip flights are only around $500-$600. This means that, with the money I’ve earned from my first “tour of duty”, I can easily visit during the holidays or anytime I’m missing home too much. Also, they speak English in Jamaica! Well, Patois, actually. Some would argue that Patois is not really English but hey, it’s much closer than Kyrgyz. The culture is also a better fit for me. I realize that Jamaica is still very conservative in many ways, but nowhere near as extreme as here. Once I figure out the linguistic differences and gauge what I can say without offending people, I think I have a much better chance making local friends in Jamaica. Not to mention.. HELLO! IT’S FRICKIN’ JAMAICA!! I realize I won’t be placed in a tourist destination resembling a tropical paradise but I’ve always been much more of a forest/beach girl than a mountain girl and I know that beauty will surround me, or be within reach, even if I’m not in Montego Bay. And many other things I may have to deal with (no running water, limited electricity, poverty stricken communities, different work ethic, etc) are things that I’ve dealt with here and I won’t be phased by them. Of course there will be unforeseen difficulties, but I’m ready to meet them head on.

Moving right along.. As many of you know, my best friend, Shannon, came to visit me recently. I could take you through a step by step playback of what we did but I think that would be a lot more interesting to me than to any of you. Highlights from her trip include the circus, skiing, guesting, my birthday, and.. well, basically just her being here! Pictures are posted on facebook.

That's it!