One Week Down

Written by Jonathan 10/1/07

Hi Everybody!

Well, officially I have been a volunteer for over a week now. I really wish I had something terribly exciting to add after that last comment, but really things have been somewhat slow around here, which is far from a bad thing in many respects.

My work at Altyn Kol was slow this week. The director, most of the managers, and my counterpart were either on vacation or somewhere else. The volunteer I am replacing, Trent, was at his COS (close of service) conference for the whole week as well. So, needless to say, I didn’t have much work to do, but I stuck it out (somewhat, read more later). All in all the week at work was far from bad and I am anxious to get to this next week to find out what I can do for the ladies of Altyn Kol.

Besides work, I met several tourists passing through the area and had a good time showing them around and helping them with some of the country norms. One older couple from England are driving from London to Sydney, Australia in their Land Rover. Apparently, they only have to take a few boat rides to get there. I also met a couple from the US. Audrey is actually a RPCV from Estonia. She and her husband had been living in Prague the past five years, got bored and have been to essentially every former Soviet state. Their blog is www.uncorneredmarket.com. I haven’t been there, so I apologize if it is some bad site.

My host family has also been hosting a pair of Israeli hikers at the house. They are very friendly guys and very easy to talk to. They are big into the whole walking around thing and are fascinated by the whole idea of the Peace Corps. They have asked me a couple of times to go on their adventures with them, but I have to decline. Work is just too important right now!

Other than that, nothing too exciting going on here. I woke up this morning and my room thermometer said 10 degrees (50 F). I don’t know why, but the house is way colder than the outside. It seems counterintuitive, but I sleep with the window open to let the warm air in. Hopefully we will be turning the heat on soon. I hope everybody has a good week and try not to default on your mortgages!