The first three months!
Just a few tips and tricks from my first 3 months in Central Asia! -Don’t tell yourself you’re going to eat less hot fresh non (the traditional round bread). You won’t. And it’s delicious so why try? -Do buy a small inflatable pool for the summer so you and 3 of your teammates can all smoosh together in it on a hot summer day eating watermelon. -Don’t worry about how quickly language will come, and don’t compare either! It will come. -Do practice pronunciation with the girls in your host family and when they tease you about a specific sound (you really think you say it the same… Read more >>
A Culture of Laughter Among Hardship
On my mile walk to school I soak in the city. There’s a group of old men gathered around a bench watching as two play cards, several women finishing replacing spring’s blooms with a vast array of roses and other heat-tolerant flowers along the street, and throngs of uniformed children heading to and from school. And the fact that Artesia is the poorest country in Central Asia almost escapes me. Work is scarce in the city. Many men go to neighboring countries and work for months at a time, sending money back to their families. But with the pandemic, the routes to these countries have… Read more >>