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

FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On Monday a patch of dry grass caught fire at the summer camp. As soon as my kids ran in and told me what was happening I immediately grabbed my phone to call the fire department.... only to realize that there was no fire department near by lol As I was thinking what to do next my kids (mind you I have some as young as 6) snapped into action and started putting the fire out themselves!!! They were hauling water up from the beach and using wet brooms to snuff out the embers. I was extremely proud and impressed by what my kids did in a pinch. I asked my coworkers if fires happened often and they said that it was the first fire ever at the camp. We are still mystified with the cause of the fire and I am even more surprised with how my kids knew exactly what to do, they truly are amazing:-) Interestingly enough the boys at the orphange have been caught twice for smoking (which I have an inkling feeling that a still lit cigarette butt caused the fire) and once for stealing fruit from our neighbors garden, so as much as I've been praising them they also have had some serious tongue lashings as well lol On a side note I was thinking the other day (I have tons of time just to sit and think lol) that at 22 I am very grateful to have seen and done so much at 22, Life is Good:-)
-Peace

Its been a good week:-)

The past few weeks since I last blogged have been pretty sweet. I've kept busy, eating well (reletively) and am integrating into my community. As usual my orphans always keep me on my toes but this week even more so. Ususally my diet at the orphanage summer camp consist of Kasha (imagine watery cream of wheat) for breakfast and soup for lunch and dinner....EVERYDAY!!!!!! The soup is usually little more than broth and some potatoes and the Kasha gets old real fast.... Honestly though I can't complain because its free food and my orphans are eating a lot better than most kids in their situation. Anyways back to why I've been eating well this week, we've had watermelon, carrots, cabbage, tons of other veggies and rice!!!! I know these things don't mean that much to you guys back home but here they are like gold, sooooooo delicious. To add to that feast a company in Karakol donated a case of candy bars, which while very nice, it meant that my kids were bouncing off the walls all week. As for keeping busy and integrating into my community I've recently begun training in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). If you don't know what it is google it and you'll see that its pretty intense. My trainer/partner happens to be the Kyrgyzstan national champion at 80kgs so im in good hands. He says that I may be ready for a real fight in 6-7 months so im super excited! My trainer also has a break dance team so last night he invited me to watch his team perform at a local club and they are very impressive. Its really cool to have a local friend. Our communication is sometimes comical because he knows about as much English as I do Russian. (which my Russian is getting better by the day so I may have to stop using that reference) Anyways things are continuing to go smoothely here, and if you feel up to it hit me up with an email or a phone call or if ur really ambitious send a packages, any communication is appriciated:-)

Note: the picture I've posted is where I work during the summer, the camp is by the pier on the left side behind the trees, hahaha my life is sooooo hard;-)
-Peace

Hiking at 12500ft

Me, Taylor and his two volunteer host brothers from Holland went hiking this weekend. Seeing as this was my first time ever seriously hiking I had no idea what to expect, round trip we hiked 21km to 12500ft. Sleeping at this height offers some interesting side effects. First ur really light headed, then you get a headache and finally your dreams are REALLY messed up!!! i.e. James Earl Jones and I were in a battle royal tag team match and he was offering me words of wisdom during our ordeal. Imagine teaming up with Mufasa and Darth Vader, how can you lose lol Anyways I took a few pics, I hope your jealous ;-)
-Peace

Life is rough on the beach

During the summer my orphans go to a camp about 20 minutes outside of Karakol. The camp is right on the beach and its AWESOME!!!! I spend three to four days out there every week just hanging out, learning Russian and swimming in the lake. As with everything there is a downside, like getting jumped on at 3AM, hearing a crying children (tears my heart everytime), and figuring out how to stop fights and disciplining them in Russian. They are always super busy either with swimming, arts and crafts, or "DiscoTeka", where they blast loud music and do little kid dances all night. I'm being kept really busy and I can't complain, life is good:-)
-Peace

This is my life.....

Ugh!!!!! I left my phone in a taxi on my way back from Bishkek this weekend. The taxi driver made off with it because I realized that it was gone the moment I stepped out of the cab. The driver knew it was in his car because he promptly drove off and turned my cell phone off, meaning I couldn't call it. Thus have a new number now, if you want it just hit my email up. Buying a new cell phone stings when your on a PC budget, I think its just gonna be one of those weeks......
-Peace