Fleece Vests and Acorns

When I started this blog it was to help all of you who do not live in Ust to stay abreast of current events happening here. Apparently the only way that works is if I actually write a blog more than once a month. Who knew, and here I thought all of friends’s blog’s just magically wrote themselves. Anyway, I will try to be more regular however last time I wrote a blog and did not send emails I got in trouble, so for now on I am going to try harder. :) Haha.

Well, I recently returned from my IST (In-Service Training,) while we were there, we celebrated 4 months of service in Kazakhstan, and at the beginning of September we celebrated 6 months of being in country!! Yikes! Time sure has flown by. As I stare out my window, the trees are changing, and I can feel the leaves crunching under my Teva’s as I walk to work. When we arrived snow was falling, and the country was patiently awaiting the arrival of spring. Now, the air has taken a colder turn, and I am starting to dig through my bags in an attempt to find the hordes of long underwear and fleece vests I brought. The trees here remind me more of my years spent in Missouri, the sidewalks and streets are littered with multi-colored leaves and falling acorns. The cafés (the majority of which are located strictly outside) are now offering blankets for cold patrons to wrap themselves in and yet, when I ask for chai with milk at the local café they said they were out. Ummm…tell me, if it is cold outside and this is a staple of the local diet, and when you are located right next door to a magazine (store) that sells both of these items, why do you not have chai with milk? It is not as though I am asking for an extra hot, skinny grande caramel macchiato. Really, I find myself adapting, but some things I will never understand.

On the whole, things are looking up. Summer was a crazy time filled with traveling (somehow I managed to spend more than a month on the road despite our 3 month travel ban,) vacations, and making adjustments. I am beginning work on a cancer awareness month for Ust, which is the largest project I have tried coordinating at my NGO. My previous experience in healthcare of any kind is pretty nonexistent but I am trying to learn the ropes (if anyone has any ideas please drop me a line, I can use any help and/or advice you have.)

I will be staying in Ust until Thanksgiving, and quite honestly, after returning from Almaty with a backpack full of dirty clothes, and a much lighter checkbook I was actually glad to be home. :)