Kygryzstan?

So... I FINALLY got my Peace Corps invitation. It seems like forever ago that I started the application process. I'll be leaving in March to start training to teach English in Kyrgyzstan. Being the typical OCD-ten-year-plan-having-person that I am; I think I've been to fifty-eleven different websites researching Kyrgyzstan... and teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL), and even websites for ex-pats about adjusting to life abroad. I know. I'm kinda crazy. I guess it is just that I've gone so long with no knowledge about what i'll be doing, or where i'll be going that I'm trying to compensate. I'm also practicing patience. I know that i'm going to need a lot of it. It is kinda funny- In church on Sunday- the preacher talked about how we shouldn't pray for patience, because God would give us something to be patient about- SO TRUE! haha I'm also working on trying to be more okay with relinquishing control.. I know, ME, the control freak, giving up control. haha I know that I won't be able to really adapt and all that jazz until months after I get to Kyrgyzstan, but it is a process that i'm trying to get used to. 

My invitation kit had a lot of info about my assignment, but it is still kinda vague.  For example, I won't know where in Kyrgyzstan I'll be for my three months training until I get there, and I won't know where my two year stay will be until after my three month training. Anyone who knows me knows that dealing with the unknown is kinda... okay... really hard for me to do, but I guess i'm dealing with these unknowns better because the little unknowns are part of the bigger picture. 

It does make it difficult not knowing, for things like packing: depending on where I go within Kyrgyzstan, I might need a different wardrobe. from -30 to 104 degrees- this is gonna be fun! haha  

Also, the immense vastness of the job that i'm undertaking is kinda terrifying. I know that I won't be able to really understand it until I'm there, but just reading through my assignment book and trying to grasp what it'll be like to teach high-school English with almost no resources- no computer, no copier, no textbooks, maybe no electricity... wow. But I figure the Peace Corps has had volunteers in Kyrgyzstan for years and years doing this so I'm sure the training will prepare me. Now I get to hurry up and wait again!

But now that I know where I'm going, and what i'm doing I actually have stuff to do to prepare. I'm going to try to get involved with the ESL programs here in Shelbyville to get some experience, there's also all the stuff like getting a passport (I have to have a different one for the PC), filling out forms, SHOPPING :-), and making my rounds and trips to visit everyone before I leave. 

Hopefully all this stuff will make the next few months before I leave interesting!

I'll keep you all updated with when I'm coming to visit and such and if/when I get anymore news!

love from KY, 

jess