As I am still occasionally writting in the same journal that I've have since my sophomore year in high school (ya know, "Dear Diary, today So-And-So shared his fries and ketchup with me. We're totally DFEO), I don't know why I thought that I would diligently keep you all updated on my day-to-day life in the Peace Corps. But, to my own defense, not a whole lot goes on around here. As Wilbur so tenderly pointed out after I told him the same story for the 3rd time, not a whole lot of happens to me. (Or maybe he just didn't realize that I come from a long line of re-tellers.) I guess I should be thankful that animals don't give birth in my room often or that other equally exciting events happen quite rarely. Also, it seems when I try to upload pictures the internet crashes or the electricity goes out. So cut me a little slack, huh? I live in the former USSR. Things happen a little slower here. (And it also happens that I am just plain lazy.) Waddaya gonna do?

March 27, 2006

Dear K-14s,

Hello from Kyrgyzstan! While you might still be jumping hurdles over the Medical Clearance (though I hope not), it’s not too early for you to start thinking about what you’ll need while over here. I would suggest bringing mostly clothes and having other stuff sent to you. If you are lucky, laundry will be done once a week or so but water/electricity outages are common. So if that happens, it may be a long time in between washes. Thus, I feel it’s necessary to have more clothes, just in case. As far as washing goes, the process of washing and wringing out can be especially hard on clothes. Bringing clothes with a little stretch is good. All the 100% cotton clothes that I brought now look like the Pre-Subway Diet Jared wore them. Also, bring and wear what you feel most comfortable in, keeping modestly in mind, of course. I had this image in my mind that PC meant sandals and frumpy mom-clothes but you can pretty much wear whatever you like. And ladies, despite what PC tells you, it isn’t necessary to wear skirts everyday, if ever actually. I’ve never seen the female director of my school wear a skirt.

Since you’ll be arriving in the summer instead of the fall as was done in the past, you can pack summer/fall stuff and have winter shoes and coats sent to you. I can’t really recommend what to wear for summer, as I haven’t experienced a Kyrgyzstan summer yet, but I can tell you that it will still be warm when you head to your permanent sites in September. Also, there are North Face stores in Bishkek and Karakol so you could always buy a winter coat there or at the bazaar. You can also buy winter gear, such as scarves, hats, and gloves at the bazaar but the quality is sometimes questionable.

After about 2 months you will receive your permanent site addresses and you can have stuff sent then and it will be waiting for you when you get to site. Also, things can be sent to you during Training. However, the staff at the post office PC has been using during Training is notorious for liberating the contents of packages from America. So be careful not to have anything of substantial monetary or sentimental value sent during that time.

Things you can buy here: Most American brands of shampoo/conditioner, toothbrush/toothpaste, soap, razors, perfume, deodorant, and lotions. Most personal care items can be purchased at Zoom in Bishkek, actually. Also, you can buy blow dryers, curling irons, flat irons, and shavers/clippers here. School supplies like glue sticks, white paper, scissors, tape, pens, pencils, highlighters, crayons, folders and envelopes. However, they are not always of the best quality. Basic spices such as salt, pepper (red/black), cinnamon, parsley, vanilla, poppy seeds.

Things you can’t buy here: mouth wash, stuff for sensitive skin, baby wipes (and if you can, they are probably pretty expensive), colored construction paper, lined notebook paper (it’s all grid paper here), 3x5 notecards, antibacterial hand gel,

My Recommended Packing List:

§ Laptop (not a necessity but will make your life much easier)

§ MP3 player

§ Flash drive (extremely handy)

§ Camera

§ Rechargeable batteries

§ Good flashlight (a hand’s free, headband light is perfect for late nite outhouse trips)

§ DVDs and books. You’ll have more free time than you think you will.

§ French press coffee maker and grounds (if you’ll be quitting Starbuck’s cold turkey it might be helpful.)

§ Sleeping bag (can be sent once at site)

§ Hiking boots or hiking sneakers (Necessity! I didn’t bring a pair with me and had to have my parents send me some.)

§ Nice, comfortable shoes for teaching/going to PC meetings

§ Sneakers

§ At least 3 pairs of jeans and 2-3 pairs of dress slacks

§ Regular clothes to wear everyday. Sweatshirts, t-shirts, skirts, jeans, cords, etc…

§ A large supply of quality socks and underwear. (You can buy both here and maybe the socks are not too bad but I wouldn’t suggest buying/wearing the underwear here. Not good quality.)

§ Any school supplies that you might need for language learning (notecards, highlighters, scissors, glue, tape, etc.)

§ A roll each of masking tape and duct tape

§ 2 month’s worth of personal toiletries. You’ll be w/o basic language skills for a while. Also, you will want to bring any special facial soaps or moisturizers. (If you have sensitive skin, now’s not the time to experiment. Believe me!) Also, PC Medical Office (PCMO) has dental floss, Vaseline, tampons/pads, sunscreen, bug spray, some vitamin supplements, etc. that they supply us with for free.

§ Baby wipes. Lots!

§ Perfume, sprays, and scented lotions for when bathing days are few and far between.

§ Protein/fiber powder than can be mixed w/water or milk

§ Special spices and a basic cooking book. You’ll be living w/ host families for the first 6 months so maybe these things could be sent to you later.

§ Recent releases of any TV series on DVD and/or new music (great way to make friends with K13s!) Just kidding…maybe.

Also, if you’re wondering what kind of gifts to bring your host families, don’t stress it. They will like anything that you bring them, I promise. Things like local foods from where you live, chocolate and candy (you can never go wrong w/good chocolate), picture books and small toys, playing cards, puzzles (great no-words-necessary activity), crayons and coloring books, cosmetics (mascara, nail polish, perfume, etc.), grooming kits.

If I think of anything else, I will certainly update this list. If you have any questions, also, please leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you.

Have fun packing and we’ll see you soon!

~Robyn

The events that transpired this evening require immediate blogging. Tonight, at approximately 8:30pm, my family’s cat started giving birth to her third batch of kittens! I noticed Steve (That’s her American name btw. I named her before I learned that Steve was a she and it just kind of stuck.) acting a little strangely. I knew she was due to give birth any day now and when I noticed Steve walking around the house meowing a bit more than usual, I did a cursory scan of my room before I went to take my banya (sauna/bath). Satisfied that I did not see her still lurking around my room, I left and was in the banya for about a ½ hour.

After my banya, I was in my room, in the process of wringing out some clothes that I had washed when I heard some mouse-like squeaking noises. I stopped my clothes-wringing to listen for the noises again when I realized they were in fact coming from somewhere in my room. I knowingly looked up from my laundry towards my bed and saw that Steve was INSIDE MY PILLOWCASE giving birth to her kittens! Yes, our cat was getting kitten birthing juices all over my pillow and didn’t seem to care that it was MY pillow on MY bed she was giving birth on!

After hollering for my host-sister, Sofia, to come help me to relocate the new mama to a more suitable birthing location (cardboard box lined w/sheep’s wool and an old headscarf in the kitchen), we basically started cracking up over our durah (idiot) cat. And Steve is now resting peacefully with her four new kittens. I think I’ll try to adopt one of the kittens since they pretty much adopted me (or just my comfy bed perhaps?). Maybe a boy though, I don’t ever want to see my pillowcase become a kitty maternity ward again. Oiy, another crazy day in the KR and another story for the grandkids one day! G’night!

Dude’s Day

February, 23rd, 2006

So today is “Men’s Day” and I think it’s great that the men of Kyrgyzstan, (finally) get a day off from cooking, cleaning, raising children. Oh wait…

The festivities started, for me, two days ago. The other teachers at my school invited me to a local café to celebrate Men’s Day. At first I was thinking, “Why would I go celebrate the most redundant day ever?” But alas, I went. And in spite of myself I had a good time eating and dancing with my fellow wardens, I mean, teachers. I busted out my best White Girl Can’t Dance (step-touch-snap! step-touch-snap!) moves and even managed to crack a couple of jokes (sarcastic ones at that!) with my meager Russian speaking abilities. I’m glad I decided to go b/c it was a chance to get to know some of the people at my school and for them to get to know me, too. Maybe now that I’ve taken shots of crappy red wine and danced the “Carlton” with them, they’ll cut me a little slack at with the grade books that I manage to screw up everytime I so much as glance at them! As a result of our bonding event, I got a couple invitations for guesting, a couple smooches (by women, thank goodness!), and a chance to see my usually stern co-workers cuttin’ loose.

Also, tonight my mom cooked a special dinner of fat-stuffed intestine wrapped in tongue and bought a bottle of Kyrgyzstan’s “finest” vodka. To make up for my vegetarianism and my unashamed disregard for the laws of nature, I drank the a little more vodka than usual. A trade that I would gladly make any day, by the way. In short, we all had a great, tipsy dinner and after my sister and I really tried hard to do the dishes and keep the dish washing water in the pan. We spilled, just a little bit, but doing the dishes has never been more entertaining!

I’m definitely looking forward to Women’s Day on March 8th. Now there’s a well-deserved holiday!

Kyrgyz for Mud

February 28, 2006

If I didn’t already know the Kyrgyz word for mud (butkok…snicker!) I would think that’s what the name of my village, Tyup, translated to. Every street but the main one is a murky quagmire of the blackest mud you’ve ever seen in your life. After surviving official winter, I would gladly trade the mud for snow and ice again any day. And it also seems that I live on the muddiest street in all of Tyup. I can imagine the entertainment that my neighbors get out of watching the American girl gingerly make her way to and from school. My street is a giant mud puddle and more than once I have stranded myself on the rare piece of not-so-muddy earth trying to choose the best path home. I think it might be time to invest in some of those galoshes that the rest of my family and everyone else wears outside.

With the advent of spring tomorrow, it’s hard to believe that I’ve been living here for two complete seasons already. During PST we were told by the other PCVs already at their sites for a year that winter is the hardest season in KR. We were told that if we can make it through our first winter, we were in the clear as far as homesickness and dealing with the Siberian temperatures goes. With a few low spots aside, I seemed to have successfully outlasted winter this year. Go me! Though there are no crocuses sprouting up here to reward me for sticking around to see spring, as there should be in Oregon by now, I’m looking forward to what KR has in store for me this spring. Hopefully, that means taking lots of hiking and of course, cute baby animals. And there definitely is no shortage of animals ‘round here! Anyways, I want to wish everyone a Happy First Day of Spring from the Land of Unpaved Splendor!

Clean and Tasty Love

January 7, 2006

Something happened today that frightened me to my core. I was in a marshrutka (minibus), minding my business and trying hard to look inconspicuous (yeah, that’ll happen) when all of a sudden, the Russian radio station that the driver was rocking out to abruptly stopped the perfectly nice Russian song that was playing to interrupt it with another one; “Don’t Turn Around” by Ace of Base. Ahhh! Not only have I traveled thousands of miles, all the way around the word, to watch “America’s Funniest Videos” and “The Nanny” dubbed into Russian, but my ears are still being assaulted by the 90’s musical stylings of Ace of Base. Is there anywhere in the world that I can hide from such monstrosities of nature?

I’m on break from school until Jan. 12th. That is, I think I am. Since my school doesn’t like to inform me of these minor details, such as what days I am teaching, I had to ask some of my 9th graders (formers). With our small knowledge of each others’ native languages, we were able to concur that after New Year’s school will begin on the 12th. I guess that’s when I’ll show up anyways. I was going to clean my room today but then I realized that if I did that, then I wouldn’t have anything to do tomorrow. I suppose I could spend tomorrow messing it up so that I could clean it again on Sunday. Or I could study the Russian language and try not to sob hysterically at the looming nature of such a task. Yes, these are my options. Next week I think I will set aside some time to gather materials and decide on lesson plans for the next month or so.

Oh yeah, about the title of this entry. Well, Annie’s host sister gave a delightful New Year’s toast (in English) and wished us clean and tasty love for 2006. I gave it some thought and decided that those sounded like pretty ideal standards, though maybe a little difficult to meet in this land of weekly bathing and horse sandwiches.

Have you hugged your Peace Corps issued heater today?

January 11, 2006

It snowed last nite and has not yet stopped. I suspect that it will snow through the nite again and I’ll have to tie our huge dog, Maleash (which, ironically means “baby” in Russian), to a sled to get to school tomorrow. Mush, dog, mush! It is so cold that I actually hugged my heater for at least 5 minutes today. Out of necessity and appreciation I gave my heater a fair cuddle until my host sister noticed and looked at me like I was a wee bit crazy. I also snuggled up to the petchka earlier.

The petchka is a fire-place that generates heat for our house’s extensive pipe system. The pipes run through the house and in some rooms there are big panels of metal and the petchka’s fire heats them. I think that my family is saving the coal for when it gets really cold b/c we’re just burning dried cow poo right now. Cow poo doesn’t tend to burn very hot so the petchka’s fire keeps the house just barely warm enough. Oh well, I have lots of socks and slippers, a sleeping bag, a heavy down quilt, and a light blanket so I just curl up in my bed with a good book and generally stay warm enough. All the cognac I drink now keeps me nice and toasty, too…just kidding! I can’t afford that fancy stuff! I credit my all-carbohydrate diet for keeping warm. Good think too b/c if I didn’t have that extra layer I would literally freeze my arse off in the outhouse!

The Wonders of Word Searches

February 2, 2006

A word of advice for TEFLs: Word searches are a Volunteer’s best friend. Give these to your students and you will have 45 minutes of silence, yes, silence! The students love them and actively engage in them for the entire lesson. I find that it’s worth the price to print them out, or if you have good handwriting you can make them yourself. I found word searches for the winter unit we’re working on right now. Try www.kidsdomain.com or just search on google.com. I’m serious, these things are genius!

And Sarah T. if you’re reading this, I miss you girl! I don’t have a current email address for you so if you could be so kind as to send it to me, I would be overjoyed!

Happy 2006 everyone! After finishing out the end of 2005 in this distant land, I already have some new memories of 2006. This New Year's I spent in Bishkek w/ Annie and Scott and Leslie. Never in my life have I seen more fireworks. 4th of July doesn't stand a chance against Kyrgyzstan on New Year's. We went down to Ala-Too Square in Bishkek and watched all the people launching their rockets and Roman Candles. Though here, b/c they obviously lack some of the more common safety precautions, most of the big fireworks exploded about 20 ft. from the ground. And being so close to China, you know they get the good, really hazardous, stuff here.

On New Year's Day, Annie, Scott, Leslie, and I went to Fatboy's and ate really good american breakfast foods. I had pancakes and hashbowns but oh what I wouldn't give for a waffle! Anyways, our first conversations of the New Year revolved Leslie's wearing jumpers as grown woman and how I, as a future elementary school teacher, as much as I say I won't, will probably sport the uberfunctional frock at some point. Only mine will have seasonal-related pins and light-up snowman bottons. After breakfast, Annie and I went back to our training village to say hi to our previous families. I can't tell you how good it felt to go back to something familiar. Walking down my street (now covered in snow) brought back so many memories of my first walk down that street, walking down to the market w/ my host sister to buy cake and fish, and going to my marathon Russian lessons. PST was a difficult time, but I have a lot of love for that family and my fellow PCV friends that I was lucky enough to spend those 3 long months with.

Tomorrow it's back to Tyup on a 6 hour bus ride. It was so nice to see my family (the Turks and the Americans) and I wish I could stay longer. Anyways, have a great 2006! Also, do yourself a favor and don't make any New Year's revolutions. Unless that resolution is to write emails to Robyn. In that case good luck!

Hello everyone!

Life in snowy/muddy Tyup is alright. I’m told that it is unseasonably warm for Tyup right now. It’s always cold but not bone-chilling right now, though I have my Peace Corps-issued heater running on high ‘round-the-clock! The mountains that run along the NE border of Kyrgyzstan are really close here and they’re covered on snow now. I can say that there are very few times in my life that I have been awed by nature but the mountains here utterly take my breath away. Either that or it’s the sub-zero temperatures! There has been a full moon at nite for the last few days and it illuminates the snow on the mountains. To not stop and gaze (even though I’m freezing my butt off) would be a crime.

I'm hand washing my clothes these days and it's not too bad. This family doesn't have a one-eyed Russian babushka living in the banya that does my laundry for me like at my old house. It's a fair trade I feel. Though drying laundry that I have washed by hand takes a few days as my clothes have this habit of freezing, thawing, and then freezing again. I’m not sure why we even hang clothes to “dry” outside right now but I have to say seeing my socksicles hanging on the line is pretty funny! I’m settling into life w/o hot, running water. We do have running water but it’s out in the summer house. Most people in Kyrgyzstan live on compounds with a main house and a smaller house that they use in summer. My family said that this summer I can have the summer house if I want to. So maybe when it warms up I might check that option out. We have a banya though and it’s awesome. The banya is a sauna, or steam room, where we bathe. In the banya we have a huge container of hot water and a smaller one with cold water and you just mix it in your basin until you get the temp. that you like. Then you just wash, rinse, and repeat. This process could go on for hours, and some do, but I try to be quick about it. They heat it up once a week using wood, coal, or dried cow pies, yup, cow pies. Generally, Russians whack themselves with willow branches during banya. I guess after a week of not bathing it’s the only way to really get all that dirt out. Self-flagellating is no longer just for religious fanatics! Fun for the whole family! I haven’t experienced that yet but some of the other Volunteers that live with Russians endure the weekly willow-whacking. In Karakol, I went to the public banya once and it wasn’t that bad. It was pretty clean and I only had to see one old lady’s goodies. It reminded me of the time when I had swimming lessons after Senior Aquarobics. I’ve definitely endured worse experiences.

My new host-family is very nice and they are very excited to have me as a new member of their family. My mom makes me really good food but of course, it’s a bit fat-laden. I was hoping that it would be bad and I could eat less but I guess I don’t mind having the second helping when I am basically ordered to. My family is Bulkar (not sure what they means) and they are Muslims so they don’t eat horse or pig. Thank goodness! I haven’t eaten horse yet and I really don’t plan on it. My mom makes most of the food that we eat. She makes her own bread, butter, yogurt and cheese (which my stomach can’t quite handle yet), and we eat the chickens that always squawk at me when I pass by the pen on the way to the toilet. That’s what they get for scaring the bejeezus out of me at nite! I eat very little of the meat that they serve though b/c usually it is unrecognizable as actual meat (I stay away from the really dark meat-usually hearts and other organs) and still has creepy, just-plucked skin on it. Yuck! When my chicken hearts remain noticeably untouched and are hanging out on the peripherals of my plate they just sigh and I feel as if they are a little sad for me. “Oh that Robyn, she’s a vegitarianka. She’ll never find a husband with that attitude.” I think that I might redeem myself though b/c I have expressed interest in learning to knit and to make bread. I just might make a good little wifey after all!

I started teaching on Monday and I’m excited that these children are going to get some good teaching now. I watched the other English teacher’s classes and was mystified as to how her students learn anything at all. All they do is read from the ancient textbook that is full of Soviet propaganda and then translate it into Russian. Usually, the teacher doesn’t even let the students finish what they are saying before butting in and finishing it for them. She shouts at them for mispronouncing words when she doesn’t even know how to say things herself. “Eez yoor mozer et home?” It’s really bad! And for some reason they can’t produce v’s and w’s when they’re in words like ‘water’ and ‘weather’ but they say ‘wodka’ and ‘willage’. Mysteries abound here. My goal as a teacher is to not only teach them some English but make them understandable as well. My school building is pretty cold and they don’t have a room for me yet. Generally, the teachers move from class to class and the students stay in the same room all day. I tried to tell my director, to the best of my ability, that I needed a place to put all the books and supplies that I was going to have donated but she suggested I put them in the communal school library, naturally. I would love to have a place to prepare and for students to stop by and talk but maybe next year…

My students seem pretty excited to learn but also seem to have endless amounts of energy. We were told during training that classroom management can be a bit of a problem and to expect problems, especially from the boys. Generally, the boys know that they are going to work on farms and in fields after they graduate, if they graduate, so they don’t take school too seriously. If anybody comes across any information on teaching ESL (or classroom management techniques), please send it to me, email or snail mail. I would appreciate it very much! I also have a new address here in Tyup. If you want my address send me an email and I will send it to you. I would post it on my blog but I don't think the Tyup post office would be able to handle such a deluge of fan mail. Remember, lots of tape, some candy to bribe the post office ladies, itemized list of contents, and Christian/Muslim religious symbols are good deterrents also.

Anyways, I hope that everyone is doing well and Happy Holidays to all! For New Year's I'm going back to my training village to party it up with the Turks! I'll probably meet up with my gang from Krasnaya Rechka and maybe head to the Hyatt for endless lattes. Not quite the 16oz. sugar-free skinny Starbuck’s Vanilla Latte that haunts my dreams these days but still equally wonderful! I miss you all so much! Take care!

Much Love,

Robyn

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, this is a new post! The first one in about 2 months I know. So for the few of you that might still be checking this, you are about to be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams. Well, not really, but just read on anyways.

On Thursday we have our Swearing In ceremony and after that I will be a real Peace Corps Volunteer! Well, according to the PCVs here, in order to be a "real" PCV you have to of shat in your pants at least once so I hope I never acheive that level of realness. It's probably inevidable and close calls don't count I guess... Anyways, on Friday I head out to the village of Tyup, which is on the north shore of Lake Issyk-Kul. It has already started to snow so I hope my new host-family has been warming up the house for me! I bought a really warm coat that has a fur-rimmed hood and some boots w/ fur in them (shh, don't tell PETA) so I'm ready for the winter, I hope. I don't think anything can really prepare me for making another big adjustment, but I've seen the school and the classroom that I'm going to teach in and I'm pretty excited to get to know my students and to get started teaching. Also, there is another PCV named Wilbur who lives in Tyup also who I hope will be able to give me some tips on how to survive the first winter at-site. I will have a new address next week so don't underestimate the power of a letter! Take care all!

Hey all!

I had a whole blog entry saved on my jump drive but for some reason it is refusing to work. Just my luck as always! Anyways, I am alive and well and living with a nice Turkish/Russian host family. They feed me pretty much grease and sugar for all meals but the tea is great! I am learning Russian (very slowly) and am looking forward when I can tell creepy guys to f-off! This is very short and totally insufficient I know but I'm in freaking Kyrgyzstan-what do you expect?! I hope all is well and I miss you all!

PS I totally sprained my ankle the other day. Right before my trip to lake Issyk-Kul too. Told'ya I had shitty luck...and I lost me sweet blue maglite...dang!

I'm on my way! I just arrived in Philadelphia a few hours ago, lugging all 200 lbs of luggage cross-country with me. I should have been a little more diligent with my weight training this summer as it is kind of tricky loading a 40lb backpack into the overhead storage and trying not to knock out the grandmother and her grandkids who happen to be occupying the seats below. I have to admit, I had a couple moments of utter hopelessness upon my arrival to the Philly airport this evening. After saying goodbye to my family and flying all day (coach, ahh!), dragging all my luggage around the damn airport at 9pm in search of the elusive Lady Liberty Shuttle almost sunk me. But I decided that this would just be my first test of my resoursefulness. And what do you know? I made it safely to the hotel and have lived to blog about it!

I also want to say thank you to all of my family and friends who have supported me and continue to support me. Knowing that I have people in my camp who will love me even if I fail pushes me to succeed. Without the support of all of you, I would not be here in Philly nervously awaiting my future. It is a very sad time for me; having so many good-byes (see-you-laters) to say and I often have to remind myself of the bigger picture but please know that I am thinking of you all and wondering how I got so lucky.

I just heard the drastic news today that someone has stolen Dorothy's Ruby Red Slippers! (What MJ? You didn't received enough publicity during the trial? Did Liza put you up to this?) Insured at over $1 million, these shoes are an American Treasure! This is my plea to the person responsible for this senseless act of theivery: You are most likely a crazed and desperate ol' Judy Garland drag queen who has decided to add these shoes to "her" collection. Be aware that these shoes cannot EVER be worn because they will make the wearer extremely conspicuous, more than you already are, that is. Do you think that people won't notice that you're wearing the most famous and recognizablepair of shoes of in existence? You will be caught and punished severely by members of the Sons of the Lollipop Guild. At this point, you should just turn yourself in and hand over those Ruby Slippers to Emerald City officials before they let loose the flying monkeys, er...hounds I mean. (Oh, and BTW, how dare you beat me to them?!)

To those of you who would like to send me anything, anything at all, peanut butter, socks, books, dryer lint, really I don't care what you send me as long as you send me something so I know that you haven't forgotten about me, here is my address from Sept-Dec. I've heard candy, gum, and American foods can help me win friends and influence people, BTW. Also, they write their addresses in reverse.

Kyrgyz Republic

722140 Kant City

Mailbox #23

97 Lenina Street, RUPS

Robyn Garrard

Mailing tips: Wrap boxes in brown paper and tie a string if the post office will let you. Do not be afraid to use large amounts of tape and always include an inventory list to the inside of the package. Typed adress labels also help. Unfortunately, the Kant post office is notorious for messing around with packages. Small things like gum and candy are often missing, so maybe include those as a bribe?! Be especially careful with padded and manilla envelopes, as they are easy to tamper with. Postal workers also have a tendency to mess with letters and packages and often switch things around. For example, one Volunteer ended up with a photo of another's parents. I've also heard that adorning the package with religious symbols is a deterent to some "curious" postal workers.

This weekend I Amtraked-it to Seattle, well, Kent actually. As I have given my trusty ol' Acura to my sister, I took a lovely three-hour train ride from Portland to Tacoma, which I thought would be a perfect time for me to work on my Russian/Kyrgyz lessons. However, as I was unable to repeat after the instructors for fear of public mockery (no one wants to be the crazy lady talking in tongues on the train), I eventually popped a DVD into my laptop and enjoyed the ride. Awaiting me at the train station was my very bestest best friend in the whole world, Missy.

As adventures naturally ensue when Missy and I are together, we arrived at her apartment to find that the doorknob/deadbolt were having serious malfunctions. We were locked outside and her boyfriend was locked inside! As it happens, Missy does not live in the nicest of neighborhoods. Those don't exist in Kent, WA. So we were less than excited to be locked out at 11pm. Calling the emergency maintenance pager was another disappointment as he did not answer for approximately 1 and 1/2 hours after the initial page. Having previously consumed a few beers at Red Robin, both of us were in need of a bathroom, immediately. So we decided to go find a bathroom while Missy's boyfriend, Scott, waited for the maintenance man or the locksmith he called to show up. First stop: AMPM, where I stepped out of Missy's car, nearly missing a lovely puddle of vomit. No bathrooms available at AMPM, even if you buy a Slurpee.

Next stop: 24 Hr Walgreen's. At Walgreen's, the bathrooms close at a certain hour, and we had arrived way too late. What? I guess that they don't want the guy who barfed at AMPM to treat them with another showing of the remaining contents of his stomach?

Finally: Top Foods. Success! We also had the fine fortune to witness some skanky-looking "ladies" walking into the men's room as we were leaving. Hmm?

When we arrived back at the apt. the maintenance man was hard at work fixing the doorknob, finally. Took him a couple of hours to figure out how to work the pager, darn newfangled things.

After my weekend of playing with Missy's cat/son Howard, shopping in downtown Seattle, eating too many donuts, and watching all the movies I had been too busy as a student to watch, it was time to say goodbye. Until she moved to Kent after college, Missy and I have never lived more than an hour away from each other in the 10 years of our best friendship. And I will miss her very much.

This is the first really emotional goodbye that I have experienced so it is all starting to feel real to me. I have made my flight reservations and have started packing some but that fact that I am leaving my loved ones for two years in just 19 days is becoming very palpable. I've kind of been in denial until this weekend about saying goodbye to my friends and family. So I hope that the Peace Corps has a fat stock of Prozac waiting for me in Philly!

For those of you who are vigilently checking my blog for a link to yours, I'm sorry, but deciphering HTML is way beyond my capabilities right now. I am incapable of creating a functioning link! Maybe I can get some help from my more tech savvy PC buds when I get to Philly? Please!

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to fail the first task that the Peace Corps has thrown my way. Upon accepting my invitation to K-Stan I was presented with a 6-page list of necessities...and a limitation of 100 lbs. and 107" of luggage! Can anyone tell me how I am supposed to fit 2 pairs of winter boots, running shoes, a winter jacket, a sleeping bag, nice work clothes, two year's worth of undies, laptop, camera, teaching materials, my entire library etc, etc, etc...in two duffel bags and a carry-on? I guess this is supposed to be my first exercise in flexibility and creative thinking! Per the advice of current Peace Corps volunteers I'm going to really try to pack just the absolute necessities that I will need for the first few months in-country. We'll see how that works out...

Here is a packing list suggested by a Peace Corp Volunteer who is already serving in-country:

Digital camera

4+ rechargeable batteries & charger

2 or more electrical converters

Laptop computer

Fleece jacket

Winter coat

Hiking bootsWinter hat & gloves

Long underwear, "Under Armor" or something like that

Family photos & photos of your city, state

Small gifts (children here often don't have toys, if they do, they're cheaper than the stuff you'd buy at the dollar store)

A game or two (In Naryn, we've got Risk & dominos; other PCVs I knew had Cranium)Optional:Sleeping bag (I bought mine here; good ones are expensive $200 for -20 C)

10-15 books

All clothes can be bought here, so pack light,

I brought two suitjackets and 4 ties, which I'm glad I did.

p.s. Eat some Burger King, some Mexican food, and all the 7-11 chilidogs while you can.

(Courtesy of Cale Wagner, Naryn)

However, this list is by far the shortest that I've seen! Even after selling most of my junk in a garage sale (which is quite an emotional endeavor, watching grubby little kids and professional garage-salers pawing through your cherished possesions) I still have way too much stuff!

As most of my friends and family probably know by now, I am leaving on September 14th to begin my big adventure with the Peace Corps. However, I'm pretty sure that when people think of Robyn Garrard the term "adventurer" does NOT traditionally apply to me.

Believe me, I gave this decision a lot of thought and I did my research before committing myself to such an intense experience. I am pretty sure I know what I have gotten myself into at this point but this weekend I had a very traumatizing camping experience that kinda shook my confidence a bit.

When we arrived at our campsite I was a little surprised to find out that our site was not fully equipped with bathroom facilities...I had not thought to bring any TP either. I also have a little problem with the whole "potty in the woods" idea (but now I've shared entirely too much!)Anyways, after coming to grips with my "situation" I went into my tent to set up the sleeping bags only to discover the largest insect that I had ever seen outside of the cockroach exhibit at the zoo had already moved in! This thing was HUGE and I freaked out! Luckily I had a bug smasher/hero close by otherwise I would have been toast...or sleeping in the car. But with a little help, I conquered those woods and now if and when I do see another ginormous, nasty, killer cockroach (perhaps it was a just wood beetle?) I will resist the urge to panic and scream and reach for a heavy boot instead.

So please send me all kinds of encouraging words because I am going to need all the help I can get!