Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Finally here

So I am in Kyrgyzstan and I have finally found an internet cafe! To sum things up I am having the most amazing time here! The traveling was fine- the prices were horrible in the istanbul airport but I slept a lot on the plane so I have had almost no jet lag! I arrived at 3 in the morning Monday and after a quick night sleep we began training and have been sitting in training for the last two and a half days. We have been staying in this big hotel that looks like it was built in the 70s by the Russians and NOTHING has changed!!!

In training we are covering things like security, safety, food, and our assignments. I found out that I will be a business advisor which I am so pumped up about and that I am learning russian rather than Kyrgyz- only 16 out of 63 volunteers are learning russian and several people that are learning Kyrgyz are upset because they feel like Russian is a more applicable language which is totally true but the bad part is that Russian is so much harder. Medical is also a big element of training and I have had two shots already Rabies and some other one. It was so crazy, the two doctors that administrated the shots just had me roll up my sleeves, stood on either side of me and *bam*bam* I was vaccinated!

The thing that has just kept me smiling the entire time are the other peace corps trainees I have fallen in love with everyone I have met!!!

Tonight I am going to move in with my host family, only speak Russina... anyway this is where I will be staying for the next three months- it will be some intense language, cultural and technical training. I'm not to nervous- I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have a good time.

There is a good handful of volunteers that are pretty homesick right now- I feel bad for them but there is nothing I can do other than point out the good. I hope they start to fall in love with Kyrgyzstan like me!

1 comment:

FrankieM7 said...

Martha,

Jeff shared your blog. I'll bookmark it and try to check it periodically so that I can live vicariously through your experience. I started the Peace Corps application process after graduation from college, but went to grad school instead...but was heartened by the fact that there is no age limit. So after the girls have graduated and I'm looking at retirement...or just a LONG break from work...I may follow in your footsteps. For now, keep blogging and enjoy yourself...but I know that won't be a problem for you. :)

Frankie