Well, life certainly is interesting! I'm back at site after traveling for a little over a week! And what a GLORIOUS time that was! My site mate and I took a 17 hour bus ride to go to Southern Kazakhstan to celebrate the Kazakhstani New Year with other Volunteers. It was SOOOOO good to see everyone again!! I was there for two days. One of the two days some Volunteers took a 3 hour bus ride to Turkistan! This is said to be the most historic city in Kaz. I had a super fun time and I took lots of pictures!
The following night I took a “sleeper bus” to my training village. I went with two other Volunteers, Hotard and “Other” Christina from the Education group! I had never taken a “sleeper bus” and wish that I had taken pictures. It’s hard to describe but the beds are TINY. They are big enough for a person to lay flat and not move. There are three rows of beds separated by an aisle. There are top bunks and bottom bunks and the top bunks have metal railing to keep you from falling (too bad the bus steps aren’t equipped with this:-)). In the FAR back there are 5 tiny beds smushed together with no railings, kind of like one big mattress. These beds are the cheapest, although it would be INCREDIBLY awkward to sleep next to someone you didn’t know! The bus ticket seller gave us a pretty excellent deal and we purchased all 5! We were in the WAY back on the top bunk. We kind of had the set up…a VIP lounge!! The bus driver said the bus would leave at 6:30pm, that seemed rather early and then he agreed that the bus would leave at 7pm…what he really meant was “People will start loading the bus at 6:30pm and the bus will leave when it is full.” Nervous that it would leave without us we arrived at 6:30pm anyhow. We had fun, food, and games for the bus ride. The bus stopped at 12:30am for dinner! That was kind of crazy and certainly “a cultural experience one wouldn’t want to miss.” I don’t think that I have been on a bus that was SO much fun! Thanks “Busties”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I visited my first host family. I love them! I REALLY miss them lots and wish that I had more opportunities to go and visit. They fed me well, then we played cards and some other people from the town came over to visit. I miss my training village, but will admit that it isn’t the same without the 16 other Volunteers, but nevertheless, it was still fun! I have plans to visit again in the not so distant future.
The next day was Tuesday; this was the day that we checked into to the “Hotel” like place where we would be staying for the conference. I first went to Peace Corps office; this is where I saw all those who I hadn’t seen in Southern Kazakhstan for the New Year. Afterwards, I went out to lunch with my good friend MyA!
The conference lasted for 5 days and even when it was boring; it was still SO good to all be together! We had lots and lots of fun! I hated that Sunday was quickly approaching and we would all, once again, be breaking up! Some people had to leave on Sunday others got to stay until Monday. I hate goodbyes. In the words of my Best Peace Corps friend, Jessik, “It feels like dropping your kid off at college.” (Although I don’t think any of us have had that life experience, we’re just kind of guessing what it might be like).
I didn’t have to go back to site until Monday night. I hung out at the PC office for a while, checked out books, chatted with my friends and left the office with 2 hours to get to the bus station. I quickly realized that I wasn’t really sure where I was or how exactly to get to the bus station from the office, but I did know that my bus was leaving with or without me. I wandered around, asking questions and looking for something familiar…finally! I saw a woman who works for PC, she tried to help as best she could, and then another person from PC was at the same bus stop!! He told me I probably wouldn’t make it to the bus station in time if I took a bus…I taxied, he assisted me in flagging down a taxi, talking down the price, and getting me to where I had to go! I made it to the bus station with lots of time left to spare when I saw another friendly face, Michael! In the remaining time we grabbed a bite to eat at the bus station where the food costs WAY too much money, and then I boarded my bus back to site.
I got back to site early Tuesday morning and went home to nap for a while…it’s difficult to get any kind of sleep on the bus. In the afternoon I walked to the lake, it’s SO nice that all the snow is FINALLLY gone, I generally like snow, I think it’s beautiful, but I don’t know that I think it’s THAT beautiful in March. The lake is thawing and I’m looking forward to summer! The weather is incredibly nice and wearing a winter coat is a thing of the past!! WOO WOO!!
I’m back at work; slowly adjusting to being back after being gone for a while, but it’s nice to be back. I didn’t realize how much I had missed it until I returned. My friends and coworkers were happy to see me and we chatted about the previous weeks! It’s good to be home.
I took lots of pictures and will upload them soon so to all you regular followers…don’t be disappointed…they are coming:)
During the weekends I have more free time than I do during the week. Often, I don’t know what to do with this free time and need things to occupy my time. I have begun going to work on Saturdays (remember this is optional). Right now we have “Subotnik” on Saturdays…this is where all the children from my school clean the school yard and surrounding areas; all school in my town participate in “Subotnik”. This is a good project. I feel like I’m doing something and the children seem to have fun! I cleaned for a while; this was a fun way to get to the kids learning English! We counted in English multiple times! Then I sang random bits of songs that they asked if I knew – you don’t have to be good here…you just have to know the words. Then I was in charge of taking pictures and I passed out stickers! Oh good times!
