I DO....I Do.....I Do....

We have attended several weddings since our arrival in Kyrgyzstan. Here are some images from a Turkish wedding and two Uzbek weddings. Lots of food and lots of dancing!

Holiday Fun

Here are some pictures from our wonderful Christmas celebration at Meg's university. Who is that guy in the funny red suit??

Bazaar Life

Here are some pictures from our giant bazaar...buy some fresh veggies, nuts, chickens, or a skinned sheep head. It has it all!

Halloween fun!

Our Kyrgyz friends love Halloween! Here are some pictures from a pumpkin carving event that we organized at Theo's NGO. We also met up with the other volunteers that night for an all out Halloween rager at a local restaurant. It is amazing the kind of costumes you can create for less than a dollar!

Our home.

Here are a few pictures from our temporary apartment. We have enjoyed having our own place and cooking lots of delicious meals! Thanks for the sushi supplies!

Our new home - Osh City

Hello lovely friends and family. There have been numerous requests for us to post some pictures of Osh, so here they are....the first is a view of the main attraction in town Sulyeman Mountain. The other two are views from atop the mountain and huffing and puffing our way up to the top. Great exercise!

Life in Osh and More Wish List

More photos to come now that we are getting a hang of this so called "blogging", and as our schedules start to make more sense. We are doing well. Thanks for all the kind messages and support. We are still learning to adjust, and feel fortunate to have eachother for support and love.

TL: photo of Becky and Meg at the Osh bazaar, the oldest in Central Asia. By November the vegetables here will be less in abundance and variety and supply is dependent on local crops. There will be a few tomatoes but they will really expensive for us volunteers.

A room full of Kyrgyz ladies and me celebrating Ramadan and the breaking of the fast, or as they say here, "the opening of the mouth" for food. At this party 2 rooms were occupied by elders, 1 room by younger men and one room by the ladies. I decided to hang with Meg in the friendliest of the rooms, with the ladies.

Many folks have asked us if we need anything. If you scroll down, Meg posted a few items. Here are few additional items we thought of:

From Trader Joe's: Dark chocolate pretzels, pig-out brownies mix, miso soup, cherry chocolate trail mix, more assorted trail mix.

Jameson whiskey in a flask of some sort. (say its shampoo or something when declaring it) Peanut butter, coconut milk dried mix (if there is such a thing), chocolate chips for making cookies, brown sugar.

Please refer to the shipping instructions sent in a prior email update for info. It takes 2 weeks to get stuff.

Happy fall, Happy Autumn. thinking of you. We hope everyone is doing well.

Graduation! Swearing in as Peace Corps Volunteers

Yea! We did it! After 11 weeks of intensive training, a few breakdowns and 11 trainees returning to America, we finally swore in. During the ceremony the played the Star Spangled Banner was played and I never felt more patriotic. By oath we swore to protect and serve our country. The " Madame Ambassador Extradionaire and Pleinatorium of the United States of America", (spelling could be off) her ultra official title, invited us to her house afterward to congratulate us. Before the celebration, rumors swirled that there would be buffalo wings, ding dongs and all the junk food you could imagine. Our great expectations were not met but we had a good time anyway. We later said our good-byes at the hotel and departed for our destinations the next day.



When we arrived in Osh, we were walking by a news stand and found ourselves on the front cover of a national Kyrgyz journal. Now if only we could read what they are saying.

More Photos from Pre-Service Training!

More Pre-Service Training photos:

Meg and two other volunteers teaching English Club at the local elementary school.

This lady was grinding meat during our break from our russian language class. By the way, we tested as intermediates. Meg calculated the total class hours and figured out we did one year's worth of American college class in 11 weeks!

Meg savoring a piece of licorice sent via mail. Truely a luxury in Kyrgyzstan. Thanks for sending the licorice!


Our gang of trainees walking home from language class. During some days of the summer it was a 30 minute walk thru 90 degree heat. It was always memorable, seeing all the farm animals and the kids hollering, Hello!

Our Tajick neighbor and his family built himself a mud brick house in 2 months. Notice the plint block above the window and concrete before the ceiling joists. For insulation in the ceiling they used more mud. They used minimal tools. During the summer I plan to do a Habitat for Humanity project to learn how to build a mud brick house.

Krasnaya Rechka Photos

Here are some photos from our Krasnaya Rechka days during our Pre-Service training.
Clockwise from the top left: Meg getting her hair done by our host mama, Tatiana. Violetta is helping out.

Fellow trainee Brian and us carry water balloons and toys to the local orphanage for our community contact assignment. The kids went nuts over the water filled balloons and it turned into a hilarious fiasco. Brian got pelted by the kids. Part of the events included a dance we taught, running contests, and american and russian playground games.


Here's our host family. The 3 ladies on the left of papa is his sister and her daughters visiting from Moscow. The meal consisted of plov, like risotto and two bottles of vodka. To the right is the ancient Burana Tower that guided merchants along the Silk Road. Reminded me of a lighthouse in North Carolina.


After September 1st, everyone in town jumps into full speed to prepare for the winter. Here, our host papa and sister spend the afternoon crushing and grinding 50 kilograms (30 lbs) of tomatoes for canning. Other preparations include corn, peppers, potatoes, hay, pumpkins and raspberry preserves.

Pictures

This is our group from Krashnaya Rechka on our swearing in day. This group of people kept us going for the whole 3 monts of PST. Nicole (Atlanta), Cameron (Portland), Rebecca (Boston), Brian (Wyoming), Karen (has been living in India for 10 years), Tracy and Adam (Nashville). It was a happy day! The other is Theo with his grand finale at our Culture Day - we were acting out a Turkish wedding. There is also a picture of a yurt (national dwelling) structure.

Our October - December wish list!!

Hey all-

The holidays are fast approaching (well, slowly approaching here), so we thought we would post a little wish list. Please do not feel obligated to send packages, but if you would like to - here are a few things that we dream about at night.

ranch dressing packets(hidden valley ranch powder stuff) / onion soup mix
peanut butter cups
trail mix
Kiss my face chapstick
those handwarmers that you open and they heat up
smoked salmon
white x-mas lights
hot cocoa packets
stovetop stuffing packets
packets of tuna or chicken
bag of cranberries
movies (that you don't want anymore)
red vines
pictures of YOU

We also are trying to post some pictures from our pre-service training, but we are having some problems. We will continue to try, so check back regualarly. We miss you all and will continue to update on a regular basis. Thanks for keeping in contact with us - it makes us happy and keeps us going!

Much love,
Meg and Theo