Tag: Mileage

Mile 26: Reflections From My COS Flight

Published on by Mark Jahnke2 Comments

Most of this post was written one year ago as I left Kyrgyzstan.

We touched down in Istanbul at about 9:30, and we all moved quickly to security, visas, and customs. One by one, as we cleared, each person, without realizing it, left our group, and I watched over my shoulder as the old man in the kalpak got his passport stamped and went off to his next destination.  I was alone, without anyone from Kyrgyzstan, for the first time in months, surrounded by travelers from all seven continents. Continue reading “Mile 26: Reflections From My COS Flight” →

Mile 25: It’s Over. Finally.

Published on by Mark Jahnke

This post was written in real-time on May 23.  I apologize for the delay in uploading!

I’m sitting at the airport in Bishkek.  It’s 5:30AM.  Over the next 31 hours, I will fly almost 10,000 miles to my parents’ house in Seattle, the last of the 67,067 miles I will have flown on a total of 74 flights during the past two years.  I’ve been free of Peace Corps for 12 hours.  And the sense of relief is overwhelming. Continue reading “Mile 25: It’s Over. Finally.” →

Statue of Alimbek Datka in Gulcho

Mile 24: Tying The Loose Ends

Published on by Mark Jahnke

It’s hard to believe it, but I only have one month left living in Kyrgyzstan. It’s been two years almost to the day since we landed at sunrise at the airport in Bishkek, and now my service is finally winding down with some good final memories, some bad ones, and a few special projects coming to a satisfying conclusion. Continue reading “Mile 24: Tying The Loose Ends” →

Osh Health Books Training 1

Mile 21: A Quiet Winter

Published on by Mark Jahnke

Well, January came and went quickly.  January is usually a very slow month in Central Asia because there’s a bunch of holidays and school breaks.  With students out of school and universities closed, a lot of regular work stops as parents stay home with kids and people return to their villages from the city.  Despite this, the month was still lively thanks to some beautiful snowfall and time with friends and a major work breakthrough. Continue reading “Mile 21: A Quiet Winter” →

Mile 3: You Better Work

Published on by Mark Jahnke

Before I had even arrived at my office on my first morning of work after swearing in back in June, I had already made a mistake. Thanks to my basic language abilities, I missed a change in instructions, and wound up half an hour away from where I was supposed to be when I was supposed to be there. Oops.

Continue reading “Mile 3: You Better Work” →