Well, training is officially over. I am 100% a Peace Corps Volunteer now. I can finally start the projects I have mind. I’m stoked. This also means that from now on all the structure and scheduling in my life will pretty much be self-made. So, that’s something. Training ended with three weeks of language and technical training back in our PST villages and hub site. IT was really great to see my first family again. It felt like coming home. Training was, well, a thing that happened. It was a lot of sitting and listening. The best part was definitely going to Bishkek every single weekend. We got to let loose and have some fun all together. All the Talas volunteers rode back together on Sunday. It was a fairly uneventful ride for the most part. Except for the stop we made to pick up some roadkill. Okay, so imagine that you have been in a moderately cramped minibus for about 4 hours. You’re tired, hungry, and your legs really need a good stretch. All you want in the world is to finally make it back to your house, and start settling back in, but then your driver pulls over to the side of the road. You notice that there is a dead, disemboweled horse just laying on the ground, and you assume the driver stopped to get a good look. Ya know, just curiosity. This was my rationale. NOPE. NOPE. NOPE. We stopped looked at the horse, and then I took the opportunity to use the outhouse nearby. When I walked back over all of our bags were on the ground, and the horse was being loaded into the marshrutka. Our bags just went back on top. See horse is expensive, and it is pretty tasty. So, my guess is the driver got a pretty sweet deal on this horse since it dies after being hit by a car. I can’t blame him. I want to. Because horse juice probably got on my bag, but I can’t.
Being back in Talas has been pretty cool. Monday was Independence Day. Aizada and I went watch the parade and then went to a carnival in the park. I had a blast. I got see awesome dances, and watch/listen to a recitation of Manas. It was a solid day. My counterpart is currently on vacation, so I am being left to my own devices while she is gone, but I have plenty that I can work on.
Also, if any kind soul that reads this blog wants to send me a package or letter, I would love it!
My address is:
Кристина Эденс
Кыргыз Республикасы
Тород Талас
Улииа Алля Нуржанова
Дом #11
724200
Tel # 0552231525
If you need package ideas….
Hot sauce
Candy
Instant Oatmeal
Seasonings
Chips (especailly salt&vinegar and doritos)
BBQ Sauce
Pens&Pencils
Any boxed food item (rice, mac&cheese, etc)
Protein bars
Or anything you are kind enough to send :)
Good morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Kyrgyzstan? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Kyrgyzstan in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez