happy easter!

hey everyone, happy easter!!

i'm not really planning on doing anything for the holiday. . . but i thought i'd wish you all a happy one!

things in the stan are standard. . . hehe, it's kind of punny. the weather is warming up and it's gorgeous here in the south. tulips and other flowers are blooming like crazy here, it's rediculous! and, i'm sure you already knew this, but i just found out -- tulips originally come from central asia, they grow wild in the mountains i hear. i'm gonna try to get a couple of good pictures of them soon if i can find a patch near the mountains.

so, i'm trying to think of cool stuff that's going on with me, but i really don't have much. i'm trying to help my counterpart organize a youth leadership camp this summer and it's coming along pretty well. i also just bought my tickets to turkey! i'm gonna spend some time in istanbul (not constantinople! ;) ) and then i'm gonna visit . . . (drumrole please). . . santa claus's birthplace!!! that's right, saint nicholas, the historical personage and inspiration for our beloved modern day santa, is from the south western coast of turkey!! yay!! santa!! summer!! beaches!!! turkey!!

basically that's it. i hope you are all doing well. happy birthday jodee!

love.

ps -- sorry if the blog's gotten a little stale. . . but the kz is pretty much normal to me now, so i don't have as many witty encounters with local culture. c'mon, i can only write "i have an outdoor potty" so many times before it loses it's shock value.