December --

Well, I’ve been MIA for a about a month. My computer completely crashed and would not turn on...which was kind of
tradgic considering a year in a foreign country without a computer would be manageable, but so much more enjoyable with a computer. Thankfully, there is a computer shop owned by a friend of a friend who fixed it for free! YEA for that! The only problem was that I lost EVERYTHING on my computer. Thankfully, it was mostly word documents that I don’t care a lot about or aren’t somewhere else (email or blogger) and my pictures are on my hard drive (thanks to Alex for suggesting that months ago!).

Anyway, December was full of lots of holidays, fun times and travelling!
At the beginning of December we had MST (Mid Service Training) -- it was nice to
see everyone again
It was in Almaty
We all had a chance to say bye to Megan ::tear:: and eat fabulous Chinese
food (thanks Kyle)
We went to see The Grinch performed in English (thanks Jacob)
I visited my first host family and went to a church service <-- first time
in 15 months! Amazing!
The following week my school had School Day -- pretty big deal here
We prepared for this by cleaning for 3 days and practicing lessons --
English lessons weren’t being judged! Yea!
Then Independence day; followed by
American Christmas; and
Travel to Almaty again and attend a Christmas Eve Service!
More travel to Taldy to meet up with other Volunteers -- such a good time!
Lagman
Inside Jokes
Cheap Beer
Karaoke
Travel back to site and go back to work
Novie Goad
Of course this hasn’t actually happened yet, but I am out on Holiday Break
right now!
Tomorrow the teachers at my school will have a celebration at school
I’ve been invited to a couple NYE parties, but really just think it sounds
nice to be lame at home...too bad Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve isn’t
broadcasted in Kaz...

Other exciting events of December:
Dancing with my site mate and our Shaping class women
Having students over for Grilled Cheese sandwiches
Meeting foreigners
Becoming obsessed with Grilled Cheese and Tomato soup (and by soup, I mean, heated
juice..duh)
Making lots of banana bread


I forgot my hard drive in Taldy; so no music / movies for a while...bleen. Also, my computer isn’t reading my camera right now...I’ll get it figured out...but for now...no pictures...

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!