summer breeze makes me feel fine

9 July 2009

and yes, jordan, i copied my title from you. deal. haha <3

For those of you who might have been worried about my mental health the past few weeks, you can stop. Haha I have had the greatest at my site and feel the happiest I have been since moving to Issyk-kul. YAY! Haha

My week could’ve been better but all in all, it has been pretty good. My English clubs passed the 45 student mark. I am actually going to have to split one of my clubs into two because the classroom is too small for all the students! What a wonderful problem to have!

A camp I was planning on helping with got cancelled because of a lack of funding, but another camp is happening the next week, so it is all gonna work out. I really want to do a camp in my village next summer and want to observe and help with as many camps as I can before I attempt to do my own.

One of my best buds from my training village decided to E.T. (early terminate) and left for the states. I was really upset. I have made so many great friends here already and it is depressing when someone leaves. But, I know he will be happier in the states, so I can’t be upset with him for going. My host dad saw me crying (I cry more here than I did back home. Haha) and we talked about it. He was great, haha. He told me that I would make a ton of friends here, that everyone in my village likes me (I haven’t even begun to meet “everyone” yet haha), that they miss me when I leave, that I’ll be a strong person when I finish two years. I think he was trying to convince me to not leave. Haha When I told him not to worry, because I wasn’t leaving, my entire host family beamed at me. It was the greatest feeling.

I finally feel the sense of peace about being in my village that has been lacking the past few weeks. I have no doubt that this is where I’m meant to be, but yet also know that I will experience more down days and weeks. I made it through the first series of down days and know that I can make it through the rest.

In other news, I get to wash my hair today! YAY! Haha. We’re going to the public bath house this weekend, but a week is still a bit to long for my hair to go without washing, so I’m doing a mid-week hair washing. I have to go haul the water first, but it is so totally worth it.

I think I’m gonna attempt to make pizza for my host family this weekend. We’ll see how that goes. I’ve never made pizza by myself, so I hope it turns out okay.

In other food news: Watermelon. I think that’s all I need to say about that. Watermelon. delectable.
I just had lunch with my host family- we had noodles made from scratch this morning, with beans, carrots, and onions from the garden in the back yard. Mmmm
We also had this delicious salad- I helped make it.
You should try it- it is delish! Grate two carrots, chop 2 green onion stalks, mix together, add salt and pepper, and a little bit of oil and vinegar and mix. Its uber easy and so good!

I think I’m gonna try to record some video of my town and mail home, so maybe in a few weeks Jordan can upload it on here for me. It’d take for-ever if I did it.

I guess I should go plan for my clubs tomorrow. This four day work week is keeping me busy. Bahaha.

Love from Kyrgyzstan.
Jess