So this is my life

I haven’t been writing on my blog. I know this makes me a bad person. But I just really haven’t been able to adequately put my experiences into words. It’s hard to see different and new things everyday and try to explain it to someone. But I will try.

My life has begun to settle down into some semblance of normalcy. I am very happy to be where I am and starting to feel like a real part of my community. I will admit my Russian is horrible due to the fact my students speak almost perfect English, but somehow I am able to get around. I have been living with my host family for almost six months now, and have decided to actually stay with them for another extra month then required by Peace Corps (Peace Corps requires volunteers to live with their host family for a minimum of six months at permanent site, after they are free to find other housing). This is mostly due to the fact that my family keeps hinting that living in my own apartment would not be good (wow they actually like me?). I also have a great relationship with my counterpart (the teacher I work with at school) and thank god everyday for her. Another great thing about living in my city of Kokshetau is I have three site mates (other volunteers living in my city) who are incredibly supportive and fun.

I am also starting to begin thinking of long-term projects. My one main project is a starting a mentoring program in my city. I was trained as a mentor in Michigan and really found the program interesting. In my little city of Kokshetau we have a large population of youths without parent(s) and many lacking guidance. My idea is to start a program that matches people in the community with youths in need of attention and support. At this point the idea is still in planning stages and we are trying to recruit people from the community to help.

Another possible project for this coming summer is an art camp that I am planning with another volunteer in a nearby village. This would be a day camp that would teach students about art history and also allow them to express themselves artistically with painting, sketching, and other forms of art. The ending project would be to design and complete a mural on one of the walls at the school.

Another exciting part of life right now is SPRING! The snow has finally melted, cross your fingers, and now we have some thing that kind of resembles spring. I have finally started to feel energized by the sun and want to go outside all the time. I started to just walk around my neighborhood for fun now. One of the reasons I haven’t been walking around the exploring since I have arrived is because it’s too cold and the ice is slippery. Now I am going to try to get to know every little nook and cranny of the city.

I do occasionally miss America. Yes, I know! How is that possible!? But as time goes on, I am actually experiencing these pangs of emotion less and less. One thing I miss less and less is the food. When I first arrived here I would have daydreams about things like enchiladas and milk shakes. Now I rarely think about these things. In fact when I am hungry I actually usually think about foods I have eaten here. I even started having dreams about Kazakhstan rather than the USA. Generally I think these things mean I am adapting to the culture well.