I dont want to just throw pictures on the internet without any explination! anyway we are officially 10% through our pre service training (PST as its called peace corps loves acronyms). So far in 1 week of class we have had something like 18 hours of language class, 3 hours of medical class, a class on how to do our laundry...which was actually incredibly difficult, etiquitte/culture class for a few hours, community development project classes, etc. Needless to say I believe all the otheк volunteers heads are spinning as well. it is now saturday afternoon after class and we have all day sunday also. sorry i sound so incredibly anxious when i write generally but these computers' windows' programs are all in russian and really hard to understand, also the only internet access i have is in the internet cafe, which isnt cheap. my host family is still incredibly friendly, hospitable, and helpful with me. my host mom aтв litte brother walked everywhere with me the first week, which is nice because my walk to school everyday is 45 minutes each way. my host mom is a really good cook, and always cooks without meat, i feel spoiled here honesty. my mom also helps me with russian homework everyday even though i know that must be very frustrating for her. anyway so these photos are of one of the really busy streets in my village and there is a guy walking a few cows down the road...i dont think he was happy i took his picture but i couldnt exactly understand what he said. i tried to explain to him i had never seen that before but i dont think it quite came across. the notebook with the little girl is standard issue peace corps notebooks...for some reason all the volunteers got books like that. (i dont know). the bottle of milk with the horse on it is called "koo miss" as you could probably guess it is horse milk...and you probably could not guess it is carbonated and tastes like a mix of salt, kind of sour milk, and beer. i have a video of my reaction to drinking it which is pretty priceless but i cant upload it just yet. lastly you might see a bunch of cow heads in a trash can...that was at a butcher shop at the bazaaк today. the kazakhs thought it was pretty funny that all the americans were taking pictures of that. being an american here is kind of like living in a fish bowl you always hear "ameri key ameri key" anytime you walk anywhere. the neighborhood kids always come up to me and say "hello" and that is the extent of our conversation in english. you feel like half a rock star half a side show. other than that all is well i appreciate your interest and hope you are all doing well. please email me, i promise even if i only respond with 2 sentences i love getting email. i have never been in a situation where i looked forward to getting mail (or email ) so much. thank you all for your love support and interest. till next time.
