Six Months At Site

I could write so much to catch up on the past two months but I don’t know where to start. One recent event was IST (in-service training) with Peace Corps in Almaty. On the first day we did an activity where we had to write down the new things we have done, experienced, learned or seen since getting to site in November. It was a great exercise to show how far we’ve come in that time.

Yesterday marked six months of being at site. So in celebration I added a few things for April to complete the list. In six months I…

November

• Met my awesome sitemates
• Moved in with a great host family
• Was interviewed for the local news
• Started journaling
• Observed HIV/AIDS trainings held by my organization
• Had a delicious Thanksgiving with my fellow S.K.O (South Kazakhstan Oblast) volunteers
• Bedazzled my cell phone

December

• Tried cooksi (Korean noodle soup) for the first time
• Started a women’s club with another volunteer
• Hiked around the Burgulook mountains
• Gave and received presents in a white elephant gift exchange
• Celebrated Christmas with the S.K.O. KZ-21s
• Set new year’s goals with friends over pizza

January

• Embarked on an adventure to the Aral Sea
• Joined a gym for a 1000 tenge a month
• Made my own Kazakhstan greeting cards
• Got a site visit from my Regional Manager, Alma, and had a meeting with her and my director
• Introduced my English club to Glee

February

• Was visited by Marissa and Kostya
• Spent a few weeks with Erin (adopting in Shymkent) and her friend Elizabeth (RPCV Bangladesh)
• Started weekly trainings with the student volunteers of Intellect
• Went to a rock party (aka concert) and saw a band cover the Ting Tings
• Had a small role in a play for English week at school
• Got awesome packages and letters
• Made brownies from scratch
• Celebrated my birthday with sitemates and local friends
• Visited a Shymkent orphanage with my organization

March

• Made a summer mix cd for a volunteer freezing in the north
• Helped host 50+ volunteers/guests in Shymkent for Naruz, the Kazakh New Years
• Visited Turkestan
• Conducted a peer-training for my student volunteers with the help of other youth development (Y.D.) volunteers
• Went to an orphanage with volunteers from P.C. and my organization to hold trainings and mini-Olympics.
• Moved up a language level in Russian since the end of P.S.T. (October)
• Presented on Volunteerism Development at I.S.T.
• Ate Indian food for the first time since August

April

• Got to Skype with a few people for the first time since getting here
• Rode a horse at the Hippodrome
• Spent a beautiful day in the Akmechet mountains
• Attended PDM (Project Design Management, a P.C. training) with my director
• Met Erin’s baby, Hannah
• Booked tickets for a summer vacation with my brother
• Started Kazakh lessons