12 Days In

Geez I don’t even know where to begin so it might as well be at the beginning! The trip from New York to Istanbul (a ten hour flight) was nice and went by really smoothely. Since we had a 7 hour layover many of us chose to go into the city for some brief sight seeing. Being the adventurous person that I am, I and a few other volunteers decided forsake the usual touristy things and went about the city by ourselves. Taking the tram from the airport into the city proper was an experience in itself. We had only scant knowledge of where we were trying to go, the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque (I think this is where we went), thus asking locals was the best idea. Unfortunately no one that we spoke to knew English, go figure right?! Lol Luckily, Stephanie, one of the girls I was with knew fluent enough French to obtain the necessary intel to get us to where we needed to go. As we neared our destination my stomach started grumbling and suddenly I had rumblin’ hunger (hopefully someone picked up that BK reference lol) so before going to see the sights we got some local food at one of the many stalls surrounding the Blue Mosque. I wish I could tell you what I ate but I have no idea myself. In trying to be as un-tourist like as possible I told (motioned rather) our waiter that I wanted whatever the locals ate, as such I have no idea what was on my plate, it was quite delicious though. When we got to the mosques I was astounded by their sheer size and beauty. It’s amazing that these places were built so long ago and still retain there majesty. Anyways after an exciting day exploring a small piece of Turkey we headed back to the airport to board our plane. Once we got to the gate we were told that our gate had moved, I was like “ok this is normal, no big deal”, once we got to the new gate we were told again that we had to move to the first gate, this happened three times. So eventually we boarded the flight to our final destination and my new home, Kyrgyzstan. This flight was AWFUL!!!!! while it was only 5 hours in the air it felt like thirty. Between the stuffy cabin, window seat, and beginning signs of jet lag, landing at Manas Airport was a blessing indeed. Since we got in at three in the morning we didn’t get to see much of anything my first night. We were met by Peace Corps staff at baggage claim and immediately wisked off to the hotel. My first night in Kyrgyzstan went off without a hitch, and I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to start my new life here. Orientation began promptly and we went through the usual ice-breaker and administration that comes with any new comers joining an organization. During this two and a half day orientation we were given our first immunizations, numerous safety and culture sessions and told the language that we will be learning. Many of the volunteers here are learinging Kyrgyz, while I and a few others are learning Russian. I guess I probably should have paid way more attention to Rosetta Stone. lol Then came Wednesday, Matching Day for our host families. Everyone was nervous because these are the people who will be feeding, sheltering, teaching, and taking care of you for the next three months, G-d forbid you end up with a bad match. Luckily everyone seems to have gotten matched correctly. I am living in a small village called Dmitrievka. There are three other volunteers here beside myself and we are all learning Russian (and Dmitrievka is a Russian speaking village) I am posted with a Turkish/Tartar family. They are super nice and make me feel really welcome. It is an interesting experience living with a host family that speaks no English, my charade skills have improved greatly to say the least. Essentially Dmitrievka is a farming village with many of its inhabitants owning various livestock. My family alone has a cow (April), numerous chickens, a really mean dog (a very common feature here in Kyrgyzstan) and a mama rabbit with her ten baby rabbits. I’m a lil worried because the rabbit doesn’t have a name which means I’m pretty sure I’ll be eating them at some point, ah well, I don’t ask questions and when in Rome do as the Romans do. The food here is pretty good, it mostly revolves around meat and potatoes……. my worst enemies. Lol Slowly but surely my Host Mama is starting to believe that I am indeed a vegetarian. After coutless meals of barely touching any meat we seem to have reached an understanding. So far my favorite meal is Plov, its sooooooooooooooooooooooooo delicious. It is basically fried rice with carrots and chicken, which is right up my alley. J In terms of vegetables I am mostly eating potatoes, carrots, onions and cabbage. Recently though Host Mama has started throwing in cucumber and radishes, yummmmmm. I keep laughing because the hospitality here is so great. My host family keeps trying to overfeed me and a few days ago I finally put my foot down and denied the pressure to eat more. I know that they are only trying to make me feel at home, but my biggest fear here is not being able to stay in shape. To accomplish this I have my little body-weight workout that I do ever other day and my attempts at eating healthy. Hopefully these will keep me roughly the same body type as when I left the states, though I doubt it. Speaking of body type, the local kids all call me Mike Tyson, because I apparently to them I look like Mike Tyson, what can I say there are far worse things to be called. Lol The people here in Dmitrievka are so so so nice. I and my classmates are known as the polite Americans because we say hello to everyone on the street. The PC really emphasises community integration and I think that my village group is doing a fine job at this skill. My days are composed of roughly 5 hours of classroom language instruction, with informal language contantly thrown at you. In the afternoons I have community assignments, these are small task like mapping the community and interviewing local health staff. On Wednesday and Thursday we have no language but instead technical days where we learn about Health Promotion and other things. My days are long and busy but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Lastly the scenery here is simple gorgeous. On a clear day I walk out of my house and see a horizion filled with snow capped mountains, words and pictures cannot describe their magnificence. I came to Kyrgyzstan with such low expectations and at ever moment I have been surprised, I am truly grateful for the oppurtunity that I have been given here and I hope to make the best of it. Anyways I think that I have covered just about everything and if not I’ll put it in the next post. Oh yeah, I got a cell phone so if you want my number just ask me either on facebook or hit my email up, alexandre.dumas1@gmail.com and I’ll gladly give it to you. Well I love and miss you all and I’ll be writing again soon. J

-Peace