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! Continue reading “Mile 8-9: Winter Recess”
This year, some website somewhere decided to spy on us all to check and see which of our photos were our most liked on Instagram this past year. But, since the number of likes doesn’t always correlate to the best photos, I’ve decided to curate a list of what I think were by best shots that went up on my Instagram this year. Continue reading “My Favorite Photos Of 2015”
So, as you probably deduced by the combination of my absence, the holidays, and my most recent post, The Way Home, I went on a bit of a winter vacation! I planned this just under a year ago when my Peace Corps assignment became finalized in order to give myself something to look forward to over the first eight months of my service, and it was a great way to stay positive and motivated. I saw a fair bit more than I can cover in just a single post, so I’ll be breaking this up across a couple of days. Part 1: Getting To Prague Continue reading “Winter Trip Part 1: Getting To Prague”
Well, it’s finally happening. I’m gonna brag to you about helping the children (or in this case, the health care workers).
A few months ago, my counterpart and I discussed the possibility of conducting some sort of training around World AIDS Day (1 December). What started as a round (EARTHQUAKE JUST HIT WHILE I WAS TYPING THIS BRB OK THINGS ARE FINE) table slash panel discussion morphed over the course of several plans and months into a half-day HIV/AIDS Stigma Reduction training funded with PEPFAR money. Continue reading “A Successful HIV/AIDS Stigma Reduction Training”
People told me when I came here that you’ll feel like nothing is happening, then at about 6 months, you’ll hit a massive wave of work and you’ll also get kind of depressed at the same time. It’s called the six-month-slump, and it’s kind of like the collegiate sophomore slump. You’ve been here long enough to miss some things about home, like friends and food, and suddenly you’ve got work. Luckily for me, I’ve got a lot of really exciting work to look forward to, and was kept on my feet by a series of literal disasters in the past few weeks.
tl;dr: There was an earthquake a series of earthquakes and aftershocks in Osh! I’m fine, no damage.
So, you probably heard about the massive 7.5 earthquake a few weeks ago in Afghanistan that also triggered some building evacuations here in Osh. What you almost definitely DIDN’T hear about is the 5.9 earthquake that hit Osh (literally, Osh was the nearest city) late Tuesday night, the 4.8 magnitude aftershock ten minutes later, the 4.1 aftershock three hours later, or the 4.9 magnitude aftershock three days later (which ironically happened during an earthquake preparedness training for volunteers).
Well I missed a month in there of my monthly summaries. Oops. Probably because there hasn’t been much in the way of excitement here that I thought fit well with this grouping of posts, and that which warranted inclusion also warranted its own post (namely, my hiking misadventures). But, in the spirit, let me catch you up on what I’ve been up to these past two months. Continue reading “Miles 5-6: Getting Started Again”
So eventually someone is going to ask me for tips on what they should bring when they go into the Peace Corps. Kyrgyzstan (or Kyrgyz Republic, as Peace Corps calls it), in particular, is a pretty unique Peace Corps country, because not only do we have 100+ degree summers, but we also have -40 degree winters depending on the site. We don’t have to worry about ants invading our computers, we usually have pretty consistent electricity, and you can even buy Nutella in most grocery stores. But, getting to site for me meant fitting my bag into the overhead compartment of a regional jet. In short, the standard Peace Corps packing list doesn’t quite cut it for this country, so I’ve put together my own! Continue reading “My Peace Corps Packing List for Kyrgyzstan”
I’ve lived in Kyrgyzstan for over five months at this point, which means that I’ve managed to gather enough language fails to put two into a full-length blog. Luckily, rather than being embarrassing, these are all moments that led to raucous laughter, and some of which my host family recounts lovingly to every guest who comes to visit us at our house. Let’s take a look. Continue reading “Language Lessons: A Few Foibles”
Hi everyone!
Some exciting news, my blog on the Nomad Horse Games got reposted on the Peace Corps Passport official Peace Corps blog today! Check it out!
For those readers new to my blog who’ve followed the link in my bio, hello and welcome! My blog contains stories from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, some travel tips, some cultural notes, a bunch of recipes, and lots and lots of pretty pictures both here and at my Instagram! Take some time, explore it all, and hopefully learn something new!
And for those of you who’ve stumbled here because you’ve been invited to serve in Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz Republic officially), you’re being considered for service in Kyrgyzstan, or who are thinking about applying to join our wonderful band of yurt-loving capacity-builders, please feel free to send me an e-mail with any questions you have or post comments below or on other posts! I love making this blog a dialogue, and you might even get a full post dedicated to answering your question! There’s DEFINITELY a packing list post in the works!
With all that in mind, stick around, thanks for reading, and talk to you soon!
-Mark
