It has been
roughly four weeks and more since I have left the states and things have been
going better than I have expected. Lots of happen during this time. I went from
primarily learning Kyrgyz to now primarily learning Russian. Even though I
worked at a Russian speaking nursing home for 2 years, I was never able to pick
up much. And now I understand why.... it is indeed a very difficult language to
learn. Pronunciation and enunciation along with grammar rules and a new set of
alphabet is completely foreign to me. Thus, my overall progress is going slower
than I would like but I hope that will soon change as I interact more with the
locals and my host family. I already know one set of challenging language
(Chinese) and hope to pick up Russian soon. Wish me luck...
My day
starts early nowdays with either language, cultural, or health lessons. If you
know me well enough, you should know that I don't function that well in the
early mornings. But I am toughing it up am doing quite well. But waking up
early does not mean sleeping early. That's me! Each day is filled with back to
back activities and I haven't had much time to write to individuals. I
apologize on that. I am quite exhausted by the end of the day due to training
and lessons and then having Russian conversation with the locals. Believe it or
not, it is quite draining to constantly speak a language that you are not
familar with. I throw in phrases here and there and then the rest are sign
language. I hate to admit it but it seems that my linguistic ability is
weak....sigh. My english is also simultaneously getting weird. The other day I
was asking my friend "What's this read.....?" rather than What's this
say?". Thus please tell me if I am unclear at times.
On another
note thou, I wake up to roosters crowing, cows mooing and a beautiful scenary
of Tian Shan (the mountains). Traveling in buses that are jammed packed.
Personal Space? well, those don't quite exist here. However, the price to ride
is about 40cent. Can't find those in the states. Beverages such as coke and
sprite are 50cents a bottle (which is about the sale price in the states). The
cuisine here is surprisingly to my liking. They DO serve meat if anyone was
wondering. And my daily meals depends on what my host family prepare since I
don't know how to cook. I have no complaints about the food. I kind of get my
daily nutrients... protein, carbs, fruits, veggiess some way or another
multi-vitamins. AND let's not forget tea. It's a tradition here to drink tea.
When people come to your home, you serve tea along with many other goodies. And
I mean other goodies in that there are both sweet and salty dishes on the
table. There could be basic things like bread and then sometime there would be
rice dishes or salads or candy and many more. On the flip side, when you go to
other people's home (we call that guesting), they serve you tea along with
other goodies as well. I absolutely love this tradition and would love to see
more of it back at home. (except that fact that tea dehydrates the body).
I promise
that I will get come pictures up as soon as I get the chance. Email me if you
want to know more.
Thanks for
the continuing support everyone! And those that want my address...please email me privately.
Cheers!
