one week down, 83 more to go
so, i've just (successfully?) comlpeted my first week as a real-live volunteer. hoot hoot for me. ruskulova is pretty much like my last village except that it's bigger and i have less reason to go to the big city every weekend. which is good, because the big city is crowded and noisy and everything's in russian or kazakh.
i agree with my mom. i probably shouldn't have posted my cell phone number on my blog, but for those of you who tried to call me, you know that the numbers i posted are very wrong, and i can't be reached by dialing those numbers. i'm sorry. i don't know how to have you all call me on my phone. my bad. but i also couldn't have sent out a mass email with the numbers in them because I CAN'T GET GMAIL TO WORK ON THIS STUPID, SLOW, DIAL-UP COMPUTER!!!!!! GAAAAAAAAAH! I HATE IT. ok i''m done. so as for now, it looks like this blog is my only link to the outside. . . .
i'm trying to think of any amusing stories that i can tell about my week in r-town and i don't have any. . . yet. i'm sure that the anecdotes will overflow from my tiny blogsite.
so, i also noticed in my comments that some of you all want to send me care packages. this makes me happier that a pirate at a parrot sale. and i just so happen to have made a list of things i might need/want here in kazakhstan (i made this list instead of paying attention to a staff meeting which, like the city of shimkent was noisy and in russian).
ok here's my list:
1. vhs tapes -- these will be for use in a school-sanctioned english club, and i will more than likely donate them to the school when i leave.
2.markers (crayola, please! :))
3.photos (keep 'em classy, kids!)
4.books (in spanish too, if you have any to spare)
5.a camera that works on film
6.halloween costumes (just because they don't celebrate it in the kz, doesn't mean i can't dress up like a pumpkin if i want to!)
7.cheap holiday decorations
8. lists of what you guys want from the 'stan -- keep in mind that i'm trying to live off of $30 per month so i can go on vacation next summer, so i might have to bring you your gifts in two years when i get back.
9.speaking of vacation -- any ideas? anyone thinking of maybe meeting up with me?
also, i have it on pretty good authority that my cos date is june 18, 2007 instead of august 18!! guess whose turning 24 in the usa?
ps -- here's a kind of funny story from swearing in: i definitely went to a happy hour at the home of the executive cheif something-or-other to the u.s. ambassador to kz's house! he invited us during the swearing in ceremony. no joke. it was part of his speech. and i quote "blah, blah, blah, volunteers, blah, blah, happy hour at my place. . . .with marines!" so, obviously the phrase "happy hour" paired with the suggestions that good-looking marines will buy my drinks -- that's right, it was a cash bar, come on, america didn't get to be the unipole by being generous with its booze -- got my attention. it was super fun. they had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (i told my host mom that pb&j is one of america's national dishes -- i don't think i'm too far off on that.)
i agree with my mom. i probably shouldn't have posted my cell phone number on my blog, but for those of you who tried to call me, you know that the numbers i posted are very wrong, and i can't be reached by dialing those numbers. i'm sorry. i don't know how to have you all call me on my phone. my bad. but i also couldn't have sent out a mass email with the numbers in them because I CAN'T GET GMAIL TO WORK ON THIS STUPID, SLOW, DIAL-UP COMPUTER!!!!!! GAAAAAAAAAH! I HATE IT. ok i''m done. so as for now, it looks like this blog is my only link to the outside. . . .
i'm trying to think of any amusing stories that i can tell about my week in r-town and i don't have any. . . yet. i'm sure that the anecdotes will overflow from my tiny blogsite.
so, i also noticed in my comments that some of you all want to send me care packages. this makes me happier that a pirate at a parrot sale. and i just so happen to have made a list of things i might need/want here in kazakhstan (i made this list instead of paying attention to a staff meeting which, like the city of shimkent was noisy and in russian).
ok here's my list:
1. vhs tapes -- these will be for use in a school-sanctioned english club, and i will more than likely donate them to the school when i leave.
2.markers (crayola, please! :))
3.photos (keep 'em classy, kids!)
4.books (in spanish too, if you have any to spare)
5.a camera that works on film
6.halloween costumes (just because they don't celebrate it in the kz, doesn't mean i can't dress up like a pumpkin if i want to!)
7.cheap holiday decorations
8. lists of what you guys want from the 'stan -- keep in mind that i'm trying to live off of $30 per month so i can go on vacation next summer, so i might have to bring you your gifts in two years when i get back.
9.speaking of vacation -- any ideas? anyone thinking of maybe meeting up with me?
also, i have it on pretty good authority that my cos date is june 18, 2007 instead of august 18!! guess whose turning 24 in the usa?
ps -- here's a kind of funny story from swearing in: i definitely went to a happy hour at the home of the executive cheif something-or-other to the u.s. ambassador to kz's house! he invited us during the swearing in ceremony. no joke. it was part of his speech. and i quote "blah, blah, blah, volunteers, blah, blah, happy hour at my place. . . .with marines!" so, obviously the phrase "happy hour" paired with the suggestions that good-looking marines will buy my drinks -- that's right, it was a cash bar, come on, america didn't get to be the unipole by being generous with its booze -- got my attention. it was super fun. they had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (i told my host mom that pb&j is one of america's national dishes -- i don't think i'm too far off on that.)
posted by ashli at 5:54 AM
6 Comments:
Pirates do love parrots. Also, if I was a nation, PB&J would be my national food. It's quick, it's efficient, it's tasty, and it's portable. It can be frozen, it can be thawed, it can be any temperature. You can even leave it in a hot car for a while. Delicious.
I'm glad to hear that you're doing well (beats me how you do it on $35.00 a month). You have to be careful posting that phone #- you know how Tom Cruise feels about Toledo girls!
We'll sift through our archives of Academy Award-winning vhs tapes and cull from them the finest for shipment to you.
You have a new football star little brother- Charlie is the starting tight end and middle linebacker on his team. Maybe he will have really blossomed by the time the "07 season opens!
I love you and miss you very much. Hope the marine guys were nice and also hope they were the ones on OUR side!
Love,
Mike
By the way, Charlie probably has 5 or 6 extra Ninja costumes, but you may not have the swords with them
XOXOXO
Mike
It seems like everyone on here has most of your list covered, so I'm going to look into things that you actually wanted but since they don't deal with school you were too altruistic to put on here. Girl, you's gettin' some US weeklys and some other trashy magazines I can get my hands on. I don't know if you've seen LoHo lately, but she's starting to put a few pounds back on. Nicole Richie looks like a skeleton with hair and Mary Kate and Ashley have gone back to looking the same again (except Ashley still weights 400 lbs). Brad-gelina have adopted a baby, TomKat were so five minutes ago and Spederline is as big as a house and all kindsa trashy.
glad you are doing well and i hope to talk to you soon!
XO,
Jas
If you choose to want., A netzero account is offrered. Of course at no more charge than a proper monte'cristo'
luv 'n all olive dat.
Dad
i'll have to agree with jason in that your requests seem to be pretty well covered. i'll shoot for some luxuries, then.
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