Christina is home!

Well this last weekend I ventured to Almaty (aka: NYC of Kazakhstan). It’s SO huge and overwhelming I can’t stand it, but I must go through it to get to my training village, where I had planned to visit my first host family. I was as excited to see them as they were to see me! The minute I was in my training village I was so excited! I kept wishing the bus would go faster! It’s so nice to be around familiar! I went to the store across the street from my host family’s house to buy candy for them – a necessity when you “gost.” My favorite cashier, whom I had become besties with, remembered my name and my favorite candy!

It was all I could do to not run in front of traffic to cross the road to get to their house. I waited for a clearing and ran! I opened the gate and the dogs, of course, began to bark! My host parents greeted me at the door with lots of hugs and kisses and lots of saying “Christina is home!” It was all very sweet! My host mom was making my favorite dish, Monte, which I helped make! A couple Volunteers who live not far from the village stopped by and we hung out for a while! I love seeing old friends! On Sunday morning my host mom prepared my favorite breakfast dish, blene. She is amazing!

It was at first weird because I had my weekend stuff, but I no longer had a room in their house, I stood awkwardly at the door until my mom said, “Go put your stuff in your room – I’m happy your home!” It reminded me how much I really miss them! However, I did NOT miss bucket bathing – they really should learn how great showers are. I stayed there Saturday and all day Sunday, but, all good things must come to an end. Tears were shed as we said “goodbye” and I began to wonder if goodbyes ever get easier. I will see them again in March and my host mom kept saying that “It wasn’t goodbye, but until March.”

I took an overnight bus back to my site, but not before purchasing “Sleepless in Seattle” in Russian, which is one of my favorite films! I have already watched it, the crazy thing about movies here is that a lot of them are dubbed and I can still hear the English – I’m really good at listening VERY closely to hear the English, which is bad because I want to learn Russian! I’m back to work now – we had a week off for “holiday.” It’s hard to get back into the “swing of things” after a week off, especially after a fun weekend! But I’m trying!