Outside of my vacation, December and January were not particularly exciting months.  It was hard to top the excitement that was my HIV/AIDS Stigma and Discrimination Awareness Training at the very end of November, and then it was hard to do much of anything knowing that I was going to be gone for nearly 3 weeks.  But, we got a lot of things planned and some good stuff is launching… finally!

After returning from Europe, I almost immediately got on a plane to Bishkek to celebrate my friend’s birthday and to see a bunch of people who were alternately departing for and returning from their vacations across Eurasia.  Most volunteers visit Bishkek at least once or twice a month because it’s not that far from their sites.  But for us in Osh, even though we are but a 45 minute flight from Bishkek (total 5 hours travel time, though), we can’t afford to go there unless Peace Corps pays our way since there are hefty restrictions on overland travel.  Thus, I was in Bishkek once in October for a mandatory training, once in November for a mandatory training, and was scheduled to be there again in February, and not again until April.  So, I decided that this was as good a time as any since so many people would be passing through.

It was a great decision; at least half the volunteers in country came through that weekend, and it was a much needed soft-landing back into my beloved world of Central Asia.  It was also good because early January is when the least amount of things are happening; New Year is the biggest holiday in Russia, Eastern Europe, and the CIS, and Russian Christmas (Jan 7th) is also a national holiday.  School is out for the entire month of January, too, and many workplaces follow a reduced schedule.  So, if you can get a hold of someone to even schedule a meeting, there’s still a good chance it might not happen.

Luckily, I got some very important planning meetings in, and I’m launching a new pair of professional development series for my colleagues that will help improve capacity of the HPU staff not just in Osh City but across the oblast.  We’re running a pilot in February, then I’ll start traveling to various regional centers to give more trainings.  It’s a really exciting prospect, and if I manage to pull it off, my impact could reach hundreds of village health committees across Osh Oblast.

My other big exciting launch of January was my film club at the American Corner.  I’ve been leading a twice-weekly talking club for a few months now at the American Corner in Osh, but it can be hard to bridge a wide level gap that included first time students and fluent speakers.  So, I decided to convert one of my talking clubs to a film club, where even beginners could watch and listen to learn, and those more advanced could participate in post-film discussions about historical context and important themes and characters in each film.  So far, we’ve shown “The Artist” and “The Wizard of Oz,” and I’m planning to show “Casablanca” and “Star Wars” in the next few weeks.  I’m keeping it to historically significant films for now, but I’m hoping to branch out into other themes too.

Oh, and I’ve started running again!  I’m kicking my training quickly into gear for the Almaty Marathon in late April, and I’m super excited.  Running here can be a bit sketchy because of the traffic, so I’ve been running along some major highways where there are larger shoulder areas and less traffic.  It’s been good so far; I’m up to 14 miles on my long run, and next week I’ll push it towards 16.  I’m also trying to walk to work more often to get my legs more experience, since it’s often not possible nor appropriate for me to run during the week before work because of the darkness and the ice.  I’m confident I’ll be able to have a pretty good showing!  Stay tuned!