Great Weekend:-)

So normally I wait at least a week until I post a new blog but this weekend was just so good I felt it necessary to post early. lol After spending time in the hospital with Sergei I was finally able to get some R&R at home. Productivity was the name of the game this weekend. I typed out my program travel reports, a new exercise lesson plan for a camp I'm doing next week, and put a proposal in to Peace Corps asking them to allow me to tour other volunteers orphanages and draft a report detailing their respective situations. After that was done it was WEDDING TIME!!!! One of my coworkers got married this weekend (this would be my 4th wedding in country, including my own :-P) and it was a really nice affair. They asked me to be the camera man during the drive around town (don't ask me its a Kyrgyzstan thing I guess) and it felt like I was riding shotgun in a HUMVEE in Iraq, the camera is all jumpy and such because of the roads. Being camera man was cool for about 15 minutes then it got reeeeeeal lame because people keep shouting at you in Russian to get the "best" angle/shot. I was glad when that task was over. Anyways, it sucks that althought I've been to so many weddings, I missed my brother's on July 4th :-(, such is the cost of being a Peace Corps volunteer I guess. After, well actually during the wedding I dipped out for a MMA training session, it was one of the best sessions that I've ever had. We went about 90% and man did I get worked!!! Suffice to say striking is not my forte, but after the first round my trainer taught me a new defence (somewhat like Randy Coutours for those of you who know MMA) and I was back in it. I think for now my style going to be ground and pound with a lot of Jujitsu mixed it, I'm really really good at both of those (thanks to 7 years of wrestling) but yeah even though I got clocked a few times it was a great session and I learned a lot. Best part about the training was that afterwards I went back to the wedding (yeah it lasted from 11am to 8pm) and smashed on some plov and got to dance the night away, twas a great time :-)
-Peace

Hospitalization......

So for the past two days I've been in the hospital. :-( One of my orphans apendix burst and he needed immediate surgury and since hes an orphan there was no one there to care for him, so I volunteered to stay with him at least until he was functional. He is doing much better now and is smiling and walking around like a normal little boy again. The doctors said he'll be out on Monday or Tuesday. Its been a crazy month for me so far. Between traveling all across KG and being with my orphans I've barely had a moment to just sit and reflect. At one point when I was staying the hospital I had no idea what city I was in, Osh? Jalalabat? Karakol? Cleveland? Columbus? It was sheer craziness for a moment. Anyways I bounced back and after a few days rest I am fully coherent. lol My trip to the South of KG (Jalalabat and Osh) was nice. Both cities are much bigger than Karakol and have nicer amenities but Karakol is my home and has my heart. :-) While I was in Jalalabat I gave a healthy diet and exercise lesson to some orphans. They seemed to really understand the material and I was happy to practice my presentation skills. Other than being extremely tired life is going on as usual. After this month I would have clocked over eighty hours on the road gallavanting from place to place. It'll be nice to just chill at home with my kids for a while. Anyways this was just an update, and I hope that everyone reading this is well and in good spirits. :-)

Note: this is Sergei, my orphan in the hospital, this is a HORRIBLE pic of him but he made my promise to post it, crazy kid lol
-Peace

Song-Kol Lake

This past weekend I did a camp at Song-Kol lake. It is about a 4 hour drive from where I live in Karakol and utterly beautiful!!! (see the pics) These past couple of days have actually been kinda rough because between traveling around KG and spending time at the orphange I haven't slept at my house consecutive nights for 3 weeks. Honestly I wouldn't have it any other way. :-) Anyways the camp went fine (sort of),I taught a lesson on leadership that went well and the kids were, well they were kids. The biggest problem that I ran into was that they were all ethnic Kyrgyz children so they spoke little Russian. Trying to handle ten 13 year old boys is rough enough in english but doing it in another language is another thing entirely. Finally on the 3rd day (after I they saw my tattoos, go figure), everything came together and we all had fun. This was an interesting camp for another reason as well, I got to sleep in a Yurt;-) Although very nostalgic, sleeping on the ground for two nights was more than enough for me. They had these little oven/heaters and they would be blistering hot for like 3 hours but after that you'd freeze the rest of the night. Suffice to say that I started the night in just boxer briefs and ended it fully clothed with a jacket lol Anyways it was a great time and just the start of my adventures for the month of August.... Tomorrow I leave for Jalalabad and Osh, which some people say is like going to another country (these are two cities in the South of KG) but more on that next week when I get back;-)
Note: The girl in the pic is NOT my girlfriend, wife, or anything else!!! and that is what a yurt looks like.
-Peace