Yes, this is where I whore myself out for presents, monetary contributions (just kidding, well kind of), tasty treats and letters. Selection is limited here, as is my budget. I started this endeavor with the noblest of intentions, purest of motivations, humblest of expectations and most modest of requirements. I came solely to give and sacrifice, asking for and wanting little in return, especially in relation to creature comforts. (please please recognize the facetious tone of this paragraph!)

I have changed my tune. I am greedy and want…well, stuff.

I have turned down many a parcel offer insisting that I have a plentitude of all supplies and a complete lack of wants. Well – if you are reading and feel so inclined there are things I wouldn’t mind getting – some really needed and some not so much – a flight of fancy if you will. My intention in writing this is not to make you feel guilty (really!) but simply to let you know that I am open and receptive to you spending your hard earned money on me and my kids here.

In case you don’ t know what to send me, the following is a list of stuff I like, want and need:

•games – eg. Monopoly/Uno/Scattergories/Cranium/Scrabble/Memory/puzzles/ (my English clubs love them – the simpler the level the better and preferably educational in some way)

•movies – I started two movie clubs, one for 5th - 7th graders, the other for 8th - 11th, so anything suited for those age groups (nothing too scandalous please)

•cheap gifts to give out as rewards for classes/English clubs (pencils, balls, little toys, glitter, etc… think dollar store)

•crafts – coloring books, paint by numbers, etc…

•books (I don’t watch TV here but I am reading a lot!)

•Splenda (I drink about 6 cups of tea or coffee a day – each with a teaspoon of sugar, you do the math!)

•Candy/gum – kids love anything “American” (sugar free if possible – if you saw all the gold fillings here you would understand)

•Food I especially like: granola bars/chocolate (the darker the better!)/reeses peanut butter cups/hot sauce/dried fruit

•Coffee (ground please!)

•French press coffee maker (if you actually buy this please leave a comment on the blog so that I don’t get more than one)

•Blank cards

•Holiday decorations/party favors (especially for the big ones we celebrate in the states like Christmas/Thanksgiving/Easter/Fourth of July/Halloween – great for club events)

•Lotion/Perfume – in general girly stuff that smells good – its cold and I hate showering here (ewwww, I know but such is my life)

•Magazines (news/entertainment – I am way behind on what’s going on in the world and can reuse the pictures in my clubs)

•Most important!!!! Update me on your life – what is new and interesting, or simply the same old same old, I want to know. I miss you and love you and desperately want to stay in touch – fill me in!!!!

And if I haven’t been direct enough in this request, here is my address again in Russian and English (just copy and paste):

Джанел Уэзэби

Гимназия – Баймагамбетова

Ул. 1 Мая № 43

110400 Аулиеколь

Костанайская область

Казахстан

Janelle Wetherby

Gymnazium – Baymagambetov

St. 1 Maya # 43

110400 Auliekol

Kostanay oblast

Kazakhstan

I wish I could report that my Christmas was wonderful and merry, but it wasn’t. In fact, the blessed night of the 25th culminated in me crying in a neighbor’s bathroom. The sordid details need not be delved into - suffice it to say, Christmas and I, was pitiful. I wallowed, I admit it. The memory is repressed though and I have moved on since, so should you! I comforted myself with the fact that while my Christmas was a tad on the dismal side, family and friends that I loved were together, enjoying themselves and hopefully thinking of and missing me a little. Lessons learned - never work on Christmas, say no to parties with drunk strangers, don’t let the cognac and fish salads get you down, and always spend this holiday with other volunteers, not alone at site.

Thankfully, things since then have been on the up and up. I spent a fabulous New Year’s in Karaganda (city in central Kazakhstan 15 hours away by train) with a group of 8 or so other volunteers. It was wonderful to get out of site and Kostanai oblast for a few days as well as to check in with other PCV’s to see how their first two months had gone. The journey to and from was an adventure in itself – I befriended two policemen who let me charge my dying cell phone in their office in exchange for teaching them the word “po-po”, bribed the conductor for a ticket extension (with the help of my charming and bicep-flexing travel companion), stopped off in Astana for another ice cream cone (its tradition now!), and smoked a midnight cigarette with a ‘caterpillar’ operator who woke me up as I slumbered in my train berth- all the while doling out impromptu english lessons like candy to language-hungry compartment mates. New Years involved strolling snowy streets in search of bars/discotheques, camel riding in a park (I tried to ride a pony but was informed I was too big), fire works dodging and the gate crashing of a fabulous local party downstairs. Three days of greasy food, sleeping on the floor, beer pong, and fellow volunteer commiseration and conversation added up to a great New Years. С Новым годом! С Новым Сексом!

I arrived back in Auliekol refreshed, recharged and raaring to go. The holiday festivities were not over though, not by a long shot. In celebration of New Year’s and Christmas and because we were on break between terms, my school put on a party for all of the teachers. The ever present alcohol worked its magic and I got to witness my usually strait-laced and professional colleagues let loose as they grooved to techno beats, relay raced through hula hoops to take vodka shots, and yes, by the end of the party, pole danced around a microphone stand while onlookers cheered and clapped. These teachers pour their blood, sweat and tears into this school and their students so it was appropriate and fun to see them have the opportunity to enjoy themselves and just celebrate life. The next day, the seventh of January, was Russian Orthodox Christmas. If I had felt robbed by my Christmas on the 25th then the Russian Orthodox one was my consolation prize. The morning was clear and bright as I walked across town (even short cutting across the frozen lake for the first time – had been too scared until then) to attend the morning Christmas service in the orthodox church, which is a beautiful and quaint green building with a gold onion-domed roof. The church was packed but quiet as I joined the women in wearing white head scarves as we listened to the choir sing and placed candles and prayers in front of the icons. Though vastly different from how I usually celebrate Christmas, the same spirit was there and I was reminded what this holiday is really about. On the 13th on January we will celebrate Old New Year’s (a Kazakh custom) and then the holiday season will finally be over. I feel like it has been an eternity of celebration – I am ready now to get back to work.

I find myself excited about starting my second full term of teaching. I have increased my lesson load and am working on introducing some new extracurricular activities at my school and in the community (I know I haven’t written much about what I’ve been doing here – but will do that in a different entry!). It’s encouraging to recognize how much more comfortable I am at teaching and living in my community as compared to just 2 months ago when I arrived. Time, more than anything, is what facilitates adjustment to life at site. Enough of this for now though! The wind continues to blow and the snow drifts to pile up as I sign off. I pray that you all had a beautiful Christmas and New Year’s – you are loved and missed!

Oh the trials and tribulations of learning Russian – perpetually tormenting my soul, twisting my tongue, torturing my ears and taunting my pride. The Russian language has become synonymous with the phrase “bane of my existence”. It has personified, taken on flesh and blood as my fiercest opponent. Every morning I wake with fresh resolve to slay this beast, reduce it to an organized and understood pattern of translated verbs, nouns, conjugations and phrases yet each night again I hang my head in defeat - confused and incapable (still!) of intelligent conversation.

Supposedly, dreaming in the language you are learning signals your successful progression to fluency. My slumbers are sadly bereft of any such occurrence, the closest being a quasi daydream/hallucination in which a deity of some sort, a multi-lingual arch angel in my opinion, bestowed upon me in a single blazing instance of glory complete and utter lingual facility. I was miraculously able to turn to the locals on the street and with ease say “Why yes, I am the strange and poorly dressed American teacher who isn’t married” or quip with a shared chuckle “No, I don’t have feeling in my face either!”. To my host mother I pleasantly responded “Of course I’d like a third helping of that deep fried bread and boiled meat, I thought you’d never ask” while my children were reduced to quiet and obedient submission by my eloquent and convincing argument “English is the best language in the world and I am an extremely qualified teacher, study hard little ones and you will go far!”. Vah, the agony as I emerged from these daydreams of linguistic triumph to the reality of my current stuttering state. I long for that official first dream in Russian, as arbitrary of a milestone it may be. Until then the battle slogs on. With a deep sigh, and heavy heart I open my language notebook and look with longing at the last page where I wrote in a moment of confidence and hopeful forecast “Janelle Wetherby WILL conquer the Russian Language!”.

__________________________________________________

I knew it was time to run for the trusty Katzner dictionary (or the hills) when:

• ...my never married and quite conservative host mother quietly asked in her broken but surprisingly technical English “why…computer…pornographic material...?”.

• ...the adorable Turkish babushka across the street, after proudly telling me she spoke German, saluted while shouting “Heil Hitler”.

• ...after pulling the charred remains of my brownies out of the oven, my host mother upon close inspection remarked “They black like n****r”.

• ...my host sister in response to my query as to why the gift I gave her from India had been gathering dust under her bed asked accusingly “You…fascista?” while pointing to the Hindu symbol for good luck which just happened to be a backwards swastika on the side of the brass souvenir.

• A local teacher, after learning from me that calling students fat isn’t necessarily constructive or ‘PC’ soothed a crying student and her mother saying “Don’t worry, I’ll tell those boys to call you “healthy” instead. That’s what Americans say.

[The above are examples of some of the most strange, ridiculous, and terrifying situations and conversations I have muddled into as a result of not speaking the language and being from a different culture. Kazakhs are extremely hospitable and kind so any or the above comments were not intentionally offensive, rather sincere attempts to communicate that were misconstrued or taken out of cultural and linguistic context]

Yes, I am alive! Can it really be true that it has been almost 2 months since I last wrote? Shameful! The fact that I still receive any mail from you at all is a miracle in itself. Thank you for putting in the effort even when you get zero response from me. All the letters, post cards, packages and emails have been read and re-read hungrily by me and coveted greatly by the other volunteers. Happily though, and to my great surprise, the times are changing! I now have internet (and skype – look me up!) at home and school so the dark ages are officially over. So much has happened since I last wrote I hardly know where to begin. If you read nothing else know that I am safe and happy, and- though I miss home and friends like crazy- continue to be enthused with life in the fabulous and enticing land of Kazakhstan!

Drum roll please….I am now an official, bonafide, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, sworn-in Peace Corps Volunteer as of Halloween, 2009! Ever the pessimist, I was sure headquarters would find a reason for my eviction, but apparently I slipped under the radar because here I am writing to you from my site. For the next two years I will be living and working in Auliekol (pronounced ah-oo-lay-kohl) a small village located in Kostanai oblast which is in the northwest region of Kazakhstan (google me!). There are 9 other volunteers in my oblast, 7 of whom are within 2 hours of me! I have been here for 2 weeks and so far love my town and home. It is bigger than I had originally thought, with a population of around 13,000 people. There are seven lakes in and around the village (completely frozen over and ice-skateable!) and a really cute town square and shopping centre a few minutes walk from my home. Culturally, it is very Russian even though there are many ethnic Kazakhs living here. I work in the biggest of the three schools in my town and am teaching English classes in the 2nd, 5th, 7th, and 11th grades. My counterpart teacher, Galina, is a wonderfully kind, enthusiastic and fun woman who has done an amazing job of introducing me to the community and making me feel welcome and wanted. She has been teaching English for over 25 years and so has the experience but also such a love for her students, all of whom adore her in return. She is my voice and means of expressing any sort of intelligent communication right now in this town as my Russian, while drastically better than it was when I came to this country, is still not at a level to interact as needed. We have had interviews at the mayor’s office, police station, department of education and local newspaper, not to mention the hundreds (I am not exaggerating) of people in town interested in the meeting, or at least getting a good look at, the new volunteer. I’ve got the routine down pat!

I am living in an apartment 2 minutes away from school with a lovely Kazakh woman named Hadisha. She is a math teacher from my school and has always lived alone so is really happy to have some companionship as well as the opportunity to pamper a surrogate daughter. She has taken to heart her role as my substitute mother plying me with food, blankets, tea and clothing every chance she can get. The first thing she did when I moved into her apartment (I interviewed two other families before choosing her) was weigh me and then solemnly promise to ensure I would never get below that number while I lived under her roof. Didn’t know whether to be amused or horrified, either way I’m pretty sure my figure is doomed! It has been such a whirlwind since arriving in Auliekol but I think things are finally starting to calm down a little bit. I feel the tenuous framework of a routine starting to form as my class schedules, english clubs and community projects begin to come together. For the first month or two I plan on focusing mostly on adjusting to a full teaching load (22 classes a week) and getting to know the students but hope by around New Year to be much more involved in the community and starting work on some of the ideas I have. People in this town are eager to help and excited to be a part of any project – it is definitely a supportive environment for a PC volunteer.

The weather terrifies my soul just a little bit - I have already witnessed 15 below zero and the locals persist in saying cruel comments like “Oh, what a warm day!” and the worst of all “When winter comes…”. Lordy, sometimes I wonder how the heck I ended up in one of the coldest places on earth, am I out of my freaking mind? My school and home are both heated though and assuming I don’t get lost in a blizzard I think I will come through okay. Long underwear has become my nearest and dearest friend, I don’t think we will part until April of next year when the ice melts. Nothing like a full body spandex suit combined with a diet solely fueled by bread, fat and sugar– meow!

Rather than continuing to blather on to the nth degree about what exactly it is that I have been doing with myself, I have just had the brilliant epiphany to make a list of the some of the highlights of my life over the last 2 months. This way I still get to prattle on but you get a quicker version. I promise all events will be wildly interesting (obviously!), only a few tragic and most, more often than not, containing a touch of the ridiculous.

The happenings of Janelle have included (in no semblance of order related to chronology or importance):

• losing my host sister’s slipper down the dark, dangerous and disgusting hole that was my outhouse, never to be seen again

• receiving Intermediate-Low on the Russian language test – reaching the goal level set by PC (I had my doubts, let me tell you!)

• reciting a Pushkin poem in Russian and the India national anthem in Hindi (Jai Hind!) to my school in Ecik on their Day of Languages assembly

• swearing-in by the American Ambassador as a member of the 21st group of Peace Corps Volunteers to serve in Kazakhstan. We were given exactly 15 minutes following the ceremony to eat cookies and drink juice to celebrate (thank you budget cuts) before we divided into our regional groups and were shipped off to the train station. A day of so many emotions – excitement, sadness, pride, fear, happiness, bewilderment and anticipation - 62 of the original 65 made it through PST!

• robbery on a bus where, flushed with the victory of a very successful shopping trip in Almaty, I failed to notice my purse being sliced open and my ipod and diary stolen (sad day)

• completing all PST requirements – a feat I previously thought impossible – including teaching practicum (six weeks teaching 6th and 7th grade english classes), community project (we pulled together a very last minute job fair that actually could almost be deemed a smashing success!), counterpart conference (week spent in Almaty bonding with our future counter parts and consuming large quantities of alcohol with other volunteers), and a volunteer-led teacher training conference (ridiculous to think that we were leading sessions on education methodology after only a month of experience but that’s PC for you!). I will not bore you with the tedious details of the work I did over PST – suffice it to say it was a ridiculous amount of work. I don’t know how it all got done but its finished now, hallelujah! Words were exchanged, Russian teachers yelled at (sorry Irina!), children scolded, tears shed (possibly in the hallway of my school after class) and countless cups of chai consumed late in the evening in hopes of staying awake while slaving over yet one more visual aid – all this and more combined to make PST wonderfully stressful, challenging, fun, draining, stretching, and something I never hope to go through again!

• travelling for 42 hours by train through the steppe towards my new home in Auliekol, dropping off volunteers at their different sites as the journey progressed. On this trip I managed to consume the entirety of the bag of food my Ecik host mom had packed (quite a feat I assure you), progress to the halfway mark on the gloriously golden scarf I am knitting, and stop off in Astana (capital of Kazakhstan) for an ice cream cone.

• dancing my heart out at a Turkish post-wedding party much to the delight of the many babushkas present, one of whom felt at liberty to pinch my butt and wink at me as I twirled past her (sneaky ladies those Turks I tell you!)

• watching an opera and the national orchestra in Almaty – thank you PC staff!

• jazzercising to the “Final Countdown” with my Auliekol mom Hadisha at 11 pm in our living room

All right, those highlights were not as short and succinct as I hoped and a pretty random collection now that I have re-read them. Either way, I hope this has filled you in my life here. I am tired of writing, and if that’s the case I know you are definitely tired of reading. I won’t wait so long to write again, I promise!

Tonight I find myself at new type of first in Kazakhstan - it is 8 pm and I am carb-ed up, tea-ed out (4 чашки *cups* and counting since returning home from school), and homework check listed. What to do with myself?! Okay, realize that this is not a real quandry as I could (and definitely probably should) easily dedicate myself to a marathon language study session and still be completely incapable of intelligent Russian speech in the morning or delve into one of my plentiful and oh-so-exciting training manuals but the fact that I technically have crossed my t’s and dotted my i’s for the day at this early of an hour is forcing me to think about some things. First and foremost, though life is ridiculously busy and full now, once things settle down and I get a routine going – what the heck am I going to do in my free time? The reason why I am a little concerned is because A) my packing style of “fit in every shoe possible” neglected to allow a single book for pleasure reading or movie for watching ; B) the onset of Arctic, inhuman weather conditions will force me to be inside for 6 months at a time; C) my Russian is moving along but not at a pace quick enough to allow me to express myself (and believe me, conveying hunger, I am American and yes I would like more tea does not cut it in the human interaction department); and D) my site location might place me hours away from anyone who knows me or who can communicate with me. All of these things combined with the knowledge that the two biggest things most PC volunteers struggle with are loneliness and depression make me just the tad bit nervous. So, I have decided tonight that I need a plan of attack, a list of goals, a spreadsheet of to-dos. This is where you come in! Give me ideas and suggestions of things to do in my free time here. Is there something you wish you had taken the time to master but never got around to? Books you wanted to read but never finished? A hobby that tickled your fancy but not quite enough to actually give it a shot? I am in Kazakhstan and have been given a gift (yes, a gift I say!) – two years away from the American comfort zone of easy entertainment through movies/cable/internet/fellow English speakers. Maybe I am in complete denial to assume that I will have any free time at all (this evening actually being an exception to the rule) but if not I figure I may as well be productive outside of my job. At this point my goals are as follows: master Russian, study for and take the GRE, study for and take the Foreign Service Exam (or at least the first part of it), learn how to play chess, read as many of the “classics” as possible, keep a journal (I have always envied Jamie’s and Jessie’s stock pile of written memories!), learn all the countries and their capitals, become a walking dictionary on all things Soviet/Eastern Europe/Central Asia related, ride on the Trans-Siberian railway wearing at least one fur-article of clothing, take ball room dancing lessons, travel to at least 5 new countries and figure out what to do with my life post-PC. Suggestions? Criticisms? Peanut gallery welcomed.

Hello everyone!!! It is a beautiful Sunday afternoon and all is well in Kazakhstan. The babushkas are congregated outside my door gossiping about the weather and why I am not married, my brother is listening to my ipod while my sister washes dishes in the kitchen (where all good girls belong and should spend a minimum of 5 hours daily) and my mom is grabbing a much deserved nap on the couch. I am sitting outside in a patch of sunlight soaking up the end of Kazakh summer and trying to decide how to most effectively (and succinctly) sum up my last two weeks.

Entering week four of PST in Ecik, time is flying! My life has begun to take on some semblance of a routine though every day it seems something is cancelled or added to the roster. Language classes continue at a break neck pace but are really beginning to pay off. My speaking skills are consistently deplorable and I simply don’t have the free time to daily expand my vocabulary as much as I would like but I have noticed I am picking up much more of what is said around me. This last week my family began cluing into the fact that I am starting to understand more of their conversations and so hindering their ability to gossip freely about me at the dinner table. I realize all this really means is that Janelle gossip/degradation commences as soon as I leave the room but still does feel like a small victory for me!

That being said and gossip aside, have no fear, my family continues to be wonderful. I never really see my dad and my brother is turning into a bit of a punk (I’m just bitter because he laughs at my Russian mistakes and in general acts like a gross 11 year old boy) but the ladies of the household are terrific. I am given as much free space as I need (many volunteers have absolutely no privacy) but am welcome to join in with whatever they are doing. Dinner is my favorite time of the day with unexpected visitors showing up conveniently as the tea hits the table, my sisters laughing about the events of the day, my family laughing at me as I add my two cents of gibberish and yes, mass consumption of good food! I get along really well with the older sister who has a fun, outgoing personality and great sense of humor. I am not sure if my helping out around the house and sweet talking of the babushkas has anything to do with it or simply my spectacular personality has done all the work but apparently my family likes me as much as I like them – they have already asked me to find a way to live with them for the whole two years. Made my heart happy, it is nice to be wanted! The only frustration with my family is their tendency to treat me like a 14 year who needs constant guidance and chaperoning. Showing up after 7pm invokes a fiery round of questioning, “Where were you?/Who were you with?/When did school get out?/Why did you take 20 minutes instead of 10 to get home?” and on and on. I put my foot down and stayed out past 10 with friends this weekend which did wonders for my mental health though I definitely got that guilty teenager feeling as I snuck back in that night.

Next weekend is the end of Ramadan and supposedly the party of the year. Every Muslim family prepares food and then travels round robin style to the other observing houses in the neighborhood eating, talking and generally having a good old time. I have been invited to go with my family and so will begin festivities early Saturday morning and finish late Sunday night. I’m a little terrified to think about the amount of food/tea that will be shoveled into my body but am honored to be a part of the custom. We had two mid-Ramadan parties last week that were a lot of fun. One was put on by my family, so as a contributing female member of the family, I logged 12 hours of kitchen time cooking and cleaning. Thirty family members packed into the house for the meal which was overwhelming but on the whole a good time. I was asked by every family member the following three questions: 1) How old are you? 2) Are you married? (Shock and horror! 23 and not married – old maid alert!) and 3) Do you want us to find you a Kazakh husband in the next 7 weeks before leaving Ecik? (insert confusion and shaking of heads when I firmly responded with a no, thank you!). By the end of the evening I began to question my sanity wondering whether the offer should to be taken up for a husband. They definitely do seem to come in handy here when you need some one to wait on hand and foot or to fill the silences with grunts and requests for more food. Hmmm, tempting but no – I think I’ll wait it out at least for now!

Preparations for teaching are in full swing. I met my counter part teacher, Tamara, who I will be working with for PST. She is very friendly and welcoming and it is very apparent that the students love her (little girls are always sneaking in her classroom to give her hugs and gifts). I could hardly contain my delight while I observed her classes as she leaped around the room calling out to the children “My Parrots! My Darlings! My Bricks!”. Not sure what the brick comment is about but it was adorable to watch. I hope to soon find my own quirky endearment to use. Originally from Tajikistan, she moved to Kazakhstan because of ethnic conflicts and has been teaching in this town ever since. She has worked with a PC volunteer before so is familiar with how the whole procedure works (a blessing for me as I have no idea what the heck I’m doing). I have been given two classes, sections from the 6th and 7th grades. My first co-taught lesson is on Tuesday and my first individual lesson on Wednesday – scary! The fact that I will be responsible for educating children’s minds surely must be illegal in some country! Apparently the kids are super excited to have an American teacher and are enthusiastic about learning so I think at this point I’m looking forward to teaching more than I’m dreading it. It was definitely the other way around last week. I’m not sure how effective/good my lessons will be but I know I need to start somewhere. We also begin after school clubs this week as well as our community development project – don’t know how it all will get done but I know it will. The whole goal of PST is to apparently pack in as much information and real experience as humanly possible (and then some) so that when we are shipped off on our own at site we will hopefully have some idea of what to do. The thought that in seven weeks I will be expected to function completely on my own is terrifying but apparently the system works. They keep telling us that the first year is essentially lost in terms of volunteer effectiveness as it takes that long for most to simply reach an adequate level of language proficiency and become skilled enough at their jobs to make any sort of difference. Year number two is the important one for volunteers, where we really come into our own. Definitely a little discouraging to think that realistically it will be months and months before I am going to be good at what I’m doing. I am impatient to start doing, and doing well, what they invited me over here for. Patience! Our group continues to tough it out though, not a single volunteer since that first person has dropped out! For Kazakhstan I think that is almost unheard of, we apparently have one of the highest or possibly even the highest drop out rate. If previous years’ statistics will prove true, 44 will remain at the end of the original 65 (roughly a 1 out of 3 drop out rate). I think once winter sets in it will become very apparent why those numbers are so high – ugh.

Drawing to a close - so many other things I want to tell you but if I start with one than it would be never ending. I am relying on the fact that at some point I will see all of you beautiful people again and we can catch up then. Also, while the minute details of my life never fail to be incredibly fascinating to me, I do realize that you all are busy and have lives beyond reading about what I’m doing. If you do get a hankering to talk to me though, my cell phone is always on and all calls are extremely welcome! If calling isn’t an option, email me and fill me in on what’s happening. I am dying to know outside news!

Well, until the next time I get to an internet café (probably in a couple of weeks) rest assured that I am alive, well, bashing around Kazakhstan and missing everyone terribly back at home!

(First entry on life in Kazakhstan – was sent out as an email but will be included as my first blog!)

Well, today marks the completion of one week in Kazakhstan! A cliché I know, but I feel like I have been here much longer than that. The time is going by ridiculously fast but also incredibly slow, does that make sense? Just a warning now, you are going to have to forgive the quality of my writing as I have been going non-stop since staging in D.C.. My mental state is a tad bit fuzzy! I am already realizing that there is no way I’m going to be able to reply individually to most mail. Believe me, I want to! It is so frustrating to know I have emails stacking up to respond to, but time and internet access just do not permit. This is literally the first hour when I am free and awake enough to write so I’ll try and do a quick summing up of this last week.

Staging in D.C. where I met the other volunteers going with me to Kazakhstan was intense and overwhelming but also really encouraging. The last few weeks before departure I was beginning to feel like the only person stupid enough to pack away my life in the States and ship off to Siberia’s hinterlands. Actually meeting 65 other people in my exact same situation was very comforting. I liked almost everyone I met initially (no, my bitch-dar didn’t go off too much thankfully!). The group has a pretty equal boy to girl ratio, most people around my age. There are also two married couples and then two single older people (both in their sixties) adding a little diversity to the group. That first day of staging in D.C. consisted of officially signing up as a Peace Corps trainee (no, I’m not a volunteer yet but I will be if all goes well with my language and technical training on October 31st when we are sworn in by the U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan) and plowing through 8 hours of ice breakers, PC policy and Kazakhstan specific country information. Not fun and really overwhelming. I did receive my PC passport at that time which was a little bit of a let down as it is identical to my personal one, just with an extra little symbol on the front and a statement declaring it was issued by the State Department. After a final meal and drinks on the PC dime (I had spinach lasagna, don’t ask me why) we got a few hours of sleep and then flew out from Dulles Airport.

The flight from D.C. to Almaty (in case you wanted to know the correct pronunciation, the accent is at the end on the y) took forever with two five-hour layovers. I managed to sleep the entire second leg of the flight from Germany to Kazakhstan so woke up right before landing rested and raring to go. It was so exciting to finally arrive, walk off the plane and see my first Kazakhstani anything (sadly was not a woman in acid-washed jeans and a mullet as I was imagining and hoping – though since both have been witnessed in plentitude!). There atmosphere among the group as we landed was that of excitement but also fear, service becoming reality as the wheels hit ground. My welcome could not have been better as my strapping Russian customs officer winked at me, quickly stamped my passport and sent me on my way. Welcome to Borat land!!!!!!! As expected, there is a lot of hand holding with baby volunteers so we were met by current PC volunteers with signs who helped us get our bags and loaded us onto buses. If there was any doubt that we were a huge group of clueless Americans it was fully eradicated by that point (yes, I definitely have been cringing a lot as I am forced to move en masse with blatantly lost and confused Americans, myself included I must admit). From the Almaty airport PC headquarters is about a 20 minute drive. My hotel room in HQ was absolutely ridiculous – walls with glitter paint, a tiger bedcover, elaborate glass light fixtures (black light included) and a picture of a bearded Kazakh man glaring down at me. Kazakhstan, it seems, receives all the random odds and ends that the rest of the world rejects as too gaudy/slutty/chintzy/shiny so it makes for some very interesting decorations and architecture. Speaking of architecture – such an interesting mix between ancient Muslim and Russian orthodox cultures with the unmistakable starkness and functionality of the Soviet era. There will be elaborately tiled mosques next to huge concrete apartment buildings – never seen anything like it before!

The next 2 days in Almaty passed in a blur of training sessions, medical interviews (I have already gotten 8 shots in the last week and am nowhere near finished – my poor arms!), group bonding (kind of felt like high school again where everyone is desperately searching for their clique) and initial language training (hooray – I was slotted for the Russian language group, not Kazakh!) and assessment. All of the in-country staff are amazing. That first morning (Friday 08/21) all of the language and technical teachers put on a cultural talent show which included a Kazakhstani Wizard of Oz (Dorothy turned out to be a beautiful 22 year old Russian teacher that every straight male volunteer is now in love with. Yes, I’m in her fan club a well.), group singing of the Kazakhstani and American national anthems (gag me, I know) as well as a professional male dancer who performed an eagle dance that consisted of him pirouetting around in a tight leather tasseled outfit with sheer puffed sleeves. I was almost seizing from how fabulous the performance was. I already regret not bringing my gold spandex outfit with me (grrrrrrrrrrrr, Jessie!!!!), it would fit right in here! I also am smitten with the Medical Officer, who is a 50+ year old ex-Soviet army doctor who has spent the last 10 years or so working with the PC. He talks a lot about poop, heart palpitations (that he gets when we poop), and in general encourages all volunteers to have as much sex as possible. I started a Dr. Victor quote page 10 minutes into his first medical session that is already half full. I love this man. I am stalking him as stealthily as possible, stay tuned!

Okay, I got distracted for a second by the Russian MTV music videos blasting in my living room (yes – its true and the music is glorious). Back to this last week. Days 1 and 2 flew by and soon we were leaving for our host family sites. It was a little strange to realize that I already felt really attached to many of the other volunteers and didn’t feel ready to let go (I think this is a pretty common occurrence when a whole group is thrown in together for this type of assignment – we bound instantly like sad little orphans). I was assigned to a town called Ecik (40 minutes or so outside of Almaty) along with 25 other people. Ecik has the biggest group being hosted as we have a combination of Organizational Development, College, and Secondary Education (what I’m doing) volunteers. Ecik is absolutely gorgeous (google earth it if you can) located right by snow cap mountains (there is a turquine lake about 30 minutes away that I am trying to hike to on Sunday). I was a little nervous about meeting my host family but also really excited as it signaled the true beginning of my service. I have really lucked out with my family. The mom is from Russian and absolutely gorgeous (very fair skin, dark reddish brown hair, green eyes)-her name is Fatima. The father is from Turkey originally and to my great shame I must admit I don’t remember his name (he is never here though!). They have 2 daughters, Taira-18 and Naila-14 as well as a son, Adelhan – 11). There is also a babushka (grandmother) who is heartbreakingly adorable. She naps most of the time (I figure she’s had a hard life and so earned the right to sleep as much as she wants) on a huge communal bed set up outside on the porch. I joined her the first day and together we studied, commiserated on her knee pain and yes… napped. I want to put her in my pocket and carry her with me! Another babushka from across the street who looks like her twin stops by frequently and likes to grab my hair yelling “Krasiva!!!!” – meaning “Pretty!!!!”. Yes, my curly hair is the hit of the neighborhood. The house is very decent-sized, huge by Ecik standards (the other volunteers are jealous saying that I live in a mansion – whatever, they can deal). Most of the other PC trainees are in one bedroom apartments but everyone in my family has their own bedroom and we are in an actual house. Bathroom is a squat down outside next to where the 4 cows live but thank you mom and dad for India, I was well prepared! The neighbors are all wonderful and very friendly – many with young children. The younger girls have turned out to be the most helpful with me in terms of learning English as they love sitting next to me and have lots of patience with the ridiculous American girl whose Russian is absolutely deplorable. We were prepped for hours on the amount of alcohol everyone would drink and the importance of handling our liquor yet I have seen not a single drop of it yet. My family is Muslim but do not appear to be practicing (except for the grandmother who is observing Ramadan right now). I do hear the call to prayer 5 times a day as I live right by the mosque, actually can see the blue-domed mosque from my window along with the beautiful mountains so my heart is definitely happy as it reminds me a lot of Mussoorie and India. Meals are an important part of life here and usually take at least an hour and sometimes up to three consisting of copious cups of chai (very watered down tea), tons of bread, borsht (beet root soup), veggies (potatoes, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers), lots of dairy products (sour cream, cheese, milk, mayonnaise) and some meat. I was a little nervous before hand that I would be placed with a Kazakh family that would only feed me enormous quantities of boiled meat but I lucked out with a Turkish family and is it turns out (well, none of you should be too surprised as you know my appetite) I LOVE the food. Many of the other volunteers are struggling to get anything down while I am inhaling everything placed in front of me. Considering that it is mainly dairy and carbs the end result is going to be a train wreck (on average - male volunteers lose 15 pounds while females gain around that). Hooray for me!!! I do have to walk at least 3 miles a day just getting to school though so I’m hoping that might balance out the cart loads of calories I am consuming. There are a few other volunteers in Ecik who like to run so a running group is in the works.

This entire work week Monday through Friday has consisted of training from 8 to 6 in the afternoon. We have technical, development, cross cultural and staging sessions but most of my day revolves around language class. My Russian study group has a total of five people with our teacher Irina who speaks zero English (she is the only language teacher who speaks no English at all - fun for us!). It turns out that we tested in as the more advanced group (those who did Rosetta Stone/independent language study before arriving) so have progressed a little faster than some of the others. It is the understatement of the year to say that language training is intense. At the end of 8 hours of Russian in a row I can actually feel my brain throbbing. Considering that I have only been here a week and can already construct very simple sentences and convey to my host family the general gist of my basic needs says a lot about the language program. I even had them laughing at a joke (okay I realize they probably were just laughing at me not with me but I prefer to see the glass half full!). I want to bash my brains out every other hour but I am definitely learning Russian at a relatively quick pace (have already surpassed my Hindi skills – though that isn’t saying too much!). I am getting a little frustrated as we are getting into the 6 different cases of declensions for nouns and adjectives (yes you read correctly - 6 – shed tears for me) and Irina isn’t able to explain the grammar in English. We are getting pretty creative at guessing and probably in the long run it is going to benefit us to have a non-english speaking teacher. I have signed up for private tutoring with another teacher who speaks English so hopefully she will enlighten me on some blurry areas. Kazakhstan is not like other countries I’ve traveled where most people speak at least a little English. It is all Russian and Kazakh so going from a full day of studying Russian to my host family that doesn’t know a single word of English is exhausting. My brain is in a constant uproar searching for words and the mental space to file them away. I feel like I have to give up 5 Spanish words and 10 English for each new Russian word I acquire. Can I say again that this whole Russian language thing is just PAINFUL!!!!!!!! The pot at the end of the rainbow is that I’m pretty sure that I will be near fluent by the end of my two years, potentially with some Kazakh thrown in as well. It will be worth it then! Ugh, just writing about Russian makes me want to throw up. Next week school starts and I begin my practicum. I meet my partner teacher on Tuesday and begin observing classes. The week after next I begin teaching. Yes, I am in denial about that happening. Let’s not talk about it. Yikes!

Anyways, this is getting ridiculously long and though I know you all love me, probably not this much! Keep sending me emails, I’m going to copy them all to a flash drive tomorrow so that I can read them at leisure and respond. I love hearing from you. Its ridiculous how isolated it is here and how cut off we are from the world. I know I haven’t been gone long at all but the knowledge that I’ll be away for over 2 years makes me miss everyone so much! Also, I found out that calling here is not that expensive (okay, my broke friends I realize that this probably does not apply to you). But working friends and family, I think I am worth the 15 cents a minute to call over here! Skype is the best way to do it, so if you have a skype account you can load money online and then call directly to my cell phone. I can call out of country but it is really really expensive so it is much easier and cheaper to do it the other way around. Incoming calls are free on my cell. I can text to Verizon phones but you guys can’t text back, so I think that unfortunately refers to every single person I know. Here’s my cell #: 8 (this 8 might also be a 7, just depends) 777 (these first 4 numbers are the country code) and then my actual personal number 731-74-37. Calling through skype I actually think you might not even need the first four numbers, just select Kazakhstan for the country to call and then put in the last 7 digits. If this doesn’t work, just google calling Kazakhstan. You’ll probably be able to find out easier than me how the numbers actually work!

Anyways, it is 10:45 and I’m exhausted. I hope that a few of you can figure out the phone/calling situation because I want to talk to someone!!! Please know I’m thinking of you and missing you all very much!!!!!!

Much love!