Quick update

As it always seems in this country, I’ve had plenty of new things to happen and far to little time to reflect upon it. So, as per normal, this’ll be a hack job on way too much information to filter down.
So, we said goodbye to our host families and saddled up towards the actual part of our service. First, there was fact that we had to swear-in as official volunteers, as we had been only trainees for the past 2 and a half months. After many speeches and song and dance numbers, we became official Peace Corps Volunteers, as opposed to unofficial volunteers. Either way, this was the beginning of what is our real service. Most people got on the train right away, but the group going to Akmola and North Kazakhstan. This was kind of fun, because it gave us time swap music and movies and bottles of beer. Never anything wrong with that.
Anyway, we boarded the train for a whole day’s journey. Luckily it was with Patrick and Sidd, a couple of my best friends. Sidd was actually scheduled to be in another room with Becky and her counterpart, but he was kind of smoked out by the counterparts BO. We basically passed the time by watching movies, listening to music, playing cards and eating ramen. Though that may sound like a dream to most guys, doing it in a room the size of a closet that is normally meant for 4 people is not necessarily nirvana. But I was fine.
Anyway, so after a day, I arrived in Makinsk where Sara, my counterpart, and one of her friends, Asset, picked me up immediately and brought me to my host family choices. Though I would have liked to have a little time to think about it, I guess it’s best to get that choice out the way. There was a choice between a pensioner and the psychologist at my school. I eventually chose Tatyana, the school psychologist, mostly because it was a family, with her, her son Dima and her mother. The grandmother is kind of hilarious because every once and a while, she spouts off random Soviet sayings. Anyway, so far it’s been pretty good. She’s very patient with me, which is definitely different than my host mom in Issyk. I’ve had the chance to meet with Sara and the other teachers at School 5 along with Yelena Yurievna at School 2, the other school I’ll be working at. However, the teachers in my district are furloughed right now, so there really isn’t much I can do right now. But this next week coming up, I should hit the ground rolling.
As for a little anecdote, it is absolutely freezing here. Today’s temp was hovering around 0, which is bad enough in normal circumstances. However, there is no running water here, so anytime I need to go to the toilet, I have to don boots and a jacket and run out to the squat toilet. And also pretty much pray to good that you don’t get any stomach ailments. The flipside is that your cleaning choice is the banya once a week. Now once a week may sound like not very much, but there’s something about sweating for 15-20 minutes and then washing it all off. It actually makes you feel cleaner than just a straight shower. It reminds me of taking a sauna and then washing off in the lake in Hackensack at Lac du Bois. It’s definitely refreshing. Anyway, this is enough rambling for today. The internet connection is less common here, so posts may be a little less often. Anyway, tata for now.