List of Food I'm really missing lol

I know most of you probably don't care about this but whatever, but I have found myself craving foods I never ate back in the states so here we go

Cookie Cake (suger butter, with Chocolate, red and white icing lol)
A Large Geraci's Pizza (sausage, pepperoni, and mushrooms)
Pull-n-Peel Twizzlers
Sesame Oil
Corned Beef Sandwich
My homemade Tofu Stir-fry
Cheese Grits
Soco ;-)
Cream Soda
Ginger Ale
Fresh Mushrooms
Gaterade
Coffee thats not Instant
Honey Bunches of Oats
Skim Milk
Flavored Coffee Creamer
Donuts
Hound Dog's Veggie Pizza (best in the world!)
Sushi
Blizzard (cookie dough, oreo, or m&m)
Oreos
Gummi Bears
I'm sure theres more but I can't think of them right now


Cookie
-Peace

Talk about a rough week

So this week started off really great, then turned horrible. On Monday I moved into my new apartment which has a great location, great size (for an awesome bachelor pad lol) and most of the things a PC Kyrgyzstan volunteer could ever want: fridge, running hot water, a shower, tv, and a HUGE warm bed. The one problem, the heat is run off of electricity, little did I know how much of a pain my heating being dependant on electricity would prove.... So after I moved in I had power for maybe 12 hours until it cut off. At first I thought ok, this is KG this happens all the time no big deal. Then I went outside and saw that ALL of my neighbors had power, which meant something was wrong with MY apartment. Luckily one of my good expat buddies (and a former PC volunteer in Ukraine) helped me find the problem. One of my transformers had blown. I though no big deal right?! Wrong it took me an hour wandering through the bazaar looking for this replacement part and when I eventually found it, the lady said everyone sells these peices, I was using the wrong word in Russian. Another stroke of luck the peice only cost 25 som (50 cents) so I bought 2 and headed happily home. Once I installed the said part I had power for 12-13 warm happy hours, then my power went out....again. This time I called my landloard hoping maybe she could help me out. Well I called and she was busy so we scheduled to meet at 12.(this is Tuesday mind you just to keep the progression of this week known) Well 12 came and went and I called again and she said that she couldnt meet until 3, again I say ok and I head out to another meeting. Well once at this other meeting, the people weren't even there and I was notified that the meeting had be reschedule without my knowledge, this is after the 45 minute wait in the lobby. As I was walking out of this failed meeting in a terrible mood, guess what? A marshrutka drives by and splashes my clothes....yay, so now I'm soaking wet, miserable, and have to go home to an arctic apartment. Finally my landlady shows up at 5 with the building supervisor and fix the electricity...again. Another semi-warm night and a happy Alexandre in the morning. Now this is Wednesday morning, I have a report due to PC administration which had detailed my accomplishments as a volunteer so far in country, a VERY important document. As I set out the power goes out AGAIN, but at this point I said "well I'm leaving anyways so no biggie, I'll fix it when I get back". So I go out to complete and turn my report form in. Unfortunately of the FIVE internet cafes that I went to NONE could open the file. So I ended up downloading it and borrowing a fellow volunteer's laptop, completing it and turning it in, this took all day mind you. So exhausted and frustrated I return home to the cold and powerless apartment, I totally forgot to get another transformer peice, and by now it was too late to buy another one. Not only did I not have the part, I also had forgotten to go grocery shopping, so I went to sleep cold, hungry, miserable, and frustrated. On to Thursday morning, I fixed my electricity for the final time and went to the bazaar for food shopping. Actually this day really wasn't that bad, and yesterday was a good stress reliever because I went clubbing with my buddies. So yeah that was my horrible week, I made it through, hopefully another doesn't happen any time soon, but if I was cranky or weird this week, now you know why. Man this will make a good story if I ever have kids lol
-Peace

Thanksgiving Fun!!!!!

Hey guys! Happy late Thanksgiving to everyone! Just a thanks to my family and friends who sent me messages on Thursday (and those who tried to), that really made my day:-) Anyways Thanksgiving in KG wasn't nearly as lonely as I thought it would be. I made the long and tedious trek to Talas oblast (10-12 hours by taxi) to spend the holiday with the volunteers up there. We had everything that you would have at Thanksgiving, Turkey (which was a miracle in itself) stuffing, pumpkin and apple pie and even cranberry sauce (purely ornamental, that stuff is disgusting lol) All in all it was a really good time. I must admit the past few weeks I was feeling lonely with the holiday and all, but now I feel much better and galvanized for work. I have decided to start a new club at the American center. Initially the club was going to be purely about sports, but the consensus is that people have a whole range of things to talk about so I'm going to name it "Club Alex" and facilitate the club through its participants. I think this will give me a good window into what the locals here are thinking, to which then I can move on to do more focused development here. Anyways these are just a few of my thoughts this week, I'm really trying to make a goal of blogging more often so you guys know whats going on here. Sometimes I forget that the normal things in my life are pretty interesting to you guys back home. Well thats it for this week :-)
-Peace

Post IST

Heyo everyone!!!! Its check-in time with your favorite volunteer in KG. :-) Most recent news..... ITS COLD HERE!!!!! Well not cold as in the like Arctic Circle but as the PCV community here puts it "its not that its cold, rather its that you never warm up", which makes me miss central heating even more. Fortunately like many of my fellow college goers, my last year at OSU we rarely has heat so I'm kinda used to sleeping under four blankets. Moving on, IST was a blast! Eventhough I was sick for most of it and the sessions were boring as sin lol Like the previous conference, I think that my counterpart got more out of it than myself. Which speaking of my counterpart and work and such, I have some sad news. A week before IST my director was fired (for undisclosed reasons) and once the new director started she fired 80% of my staff. Just as I was beginning to get comfortable with them it seems that I have lost them all. I don't blame my director for this because that's just life, she is going to bring in people she knows best, but it still breaks my heart to see my staff laid off. :-( Anyways I'm sure I have way more things to tell you but I can't think of them right now, so expect another post soon :-)
-Peace

Vacation errrr I mean Conference to Issyk-Kul

Hey guys sorry again for the long absence. This past week I was in Issyk-Kul for a HIV/AIDS and Life Skills conference. It was a really productive conference and it was nice to get away from Osh for a while. I think my counterpart Guljan (the person I work with on a daily basis) got a lot out of it and we hope to implement our ideas very soon. My work is going well, I finally have a set work schedule. I rotate subjects (english, health, and sports) and teach two groups everyday. Its pretty easy and I wanted to work more but thats all that my orphanage needs me for, so now I am looking around for some secondary work. Our In-service Training (IST) is coming up soon and I'm pretty excited about that. Not because of the training part but because I will get to see all of my friends together again. It has been almost four months since we finished training and this will be the first time that we have been all together since our swearing in. Anyways this is just a brief check in and I'm still looking for some fast internet so I can post some pics :-)
-Peace

Kind of a boring month lol

Hey sorry its been a while since I've posted but life it seems has finally started to settle lol This past month has basically been me hanging out at my orphanage getting to know my new kids and staff. I was supposed to be working on a concert but I've realized that just its a lil much right now. Unfortunately the internet cafe that I am currently using is faaaaar too slow to post pictures :-( But I am determined to find a faster cafe!!! Other than that there is a Health conference in Issyk Kul (my old region) in the middle of Octeober and because its so close to Karakol, I'm gonna stop by for a visit :-) I'm excited to see my kids, old co-workers, host family, and friends in Karakol. Its only been a month but I already miss them dearly :-( But anyways as usual I just wanted to keep you guys up on what going on with me in KG, I'm out
-Peace

Move to Osh?! What?!

Sorry about the long delay, but the past few weeks have been quite hectic for me. So as the title reads I have indeed moved to Osh city, about as far away from my beloved Karakol as possible, 18 hours by car. :-( Peace Corps moved me because my orphanage was found out to be funded by a Christian organization back in the states and being in a Muslim country they thought it prudent to relocate me for safety reasons. I miss my kids immensely and I still keep in contact with my Co-workers and I hope to visit Karakol again sometime around Thanksgiving. Whew! Well now to tell you about my new site. Osh is HUGE and is just like the capital Biskek in terms of size and population. (as a matter of fact its the second largest city in KG and is 3000 years old!) Climate wise Osh gets to 115 degrees in the summer and single digits in the winter....yay :-/ My new orphanage is pretty awesome too. Its a combination of orphanage and elderly home. Its a neat concept because both the elderly and the children help each other out, its pretty amazing to witness. I will be doing the same things here as I did in Karakol, ie teaching health, sports and english, and on October first we are putting on a concert to celebrate the Fall season. :-) I have fewer kids here, only 33, but I am super excited to work with the elderly as well whom number 26, so 59 total. The orphanage/Elderly home is situated on an old soviet sanitorium for children. I know sanitorium sounds ominous but its actually a really pretty place with apple and pear trees everywhere. I'm really excited to start working and teaching here. Well thats all I got for today, I just wanted to give a lil shout out for OSU today, they're playin the Trojans and I really wish I could see the game so GO BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
oh and for those of u familiar with OBO and such, the quest for cut city as resumed ;-)
-Peace