Reflections and the Road Ahead

      Two updates in one week!  What is going on?  Well, there have been a lot of changes here in the past month and the upcoming months will yield a few more.  Thought I should keep you guys updated.  So after my family left in September, I attended a conference with my training mates at the Peace Corps office in Almaty.  We got to bring one person from our workplace and learned some new information to apply at our sites.  As always, it was good for the 9 of us to get together and here about the good work that everyone is doing.  It was also helpful for my work situation and I seem to have more freedom this year. 

     After the training, I went back to site ready to start work on some real projects.  I started this school year more confident in my Russian skills and with a greater understanding of what I wanted to accomplish in my time at the orphanage.  I got a few clubs up and running and want to start a volunteer group, but have had a few road blocks in my way.  My project will hopefully be successful, but is kind of on hold until December. 
    
      October brought a lot of changes.  Two of my site mates, Niall and Katie, had finished their two years in Petropavlovsk as Peace Corps Volunteers and have left the city.  Niall left early in October as he had some job prospects in the U.S.  Katie left at the end of October and she and I will travel together to Georgia, Armenia, and Turkey.  It is really hard to imagine Petro without them, but time will tell.  I moved into Katie's apartment and left my host family that I have lived with for one year.  That was really hard on all of us, but it was time to live on my own.  Those Americans and their love for independence...

      While I'm on vaction with Katie, the new group of volunteers will come up to their sites on November 7th.  In my city, we will get one new volunteer and two more volunteers in surrounding villages.  It will be nice to have some new faces in our neck of the woods.  It's hard to believe that one year ago, I came up to Petropavlovsk for the first time as a newly sworn-in Peace Corps Volunteer. 

    It's been a crazy year, but one I wouldn't trade for anything.  It was a dream of mine for a long time to join the Peace Corps and while it hasn't been easy, I have no regrets.  This has probably been the most challenging thing I've ever done.  It's difficult to describe what makes it so challenging, maybe it's the language barrier, the new surroundings, different culture, 24/7 work environment, who knows?  Regardless of the challenges, it's still a lot of fun: meeting new people, having crazy experiences, working with kids, exploring cultural differences and similarities, among other things. 

     So, I have one year left.  There is a lot I want to accomplish in that time so that I can leave here next November feeling like I made good use of my time.  Then I can return home to all of you and share my crazy stories in person!