Hello from Kyrgyzstan...

At the moment I have just finished doing yoga and am studying/writing to you guys. My host siblings are in the other room watching the TV show 24 (dubbed in Russian) and my world seems vaguely familiar to the one I left. Anyway, we've made it! After 20+ hours of flight time, a delicious meal on Turkish Airlines, and a few jet-lag ridden days in Bishkek; we are now settled in to our home for the next two months. We will be living with our wonderful new host family for the duration of our Pre-Service Training in which we attend language, culture, safety, and health classes from 8-5. Thus far, the training is intense but extremely useful and practical. The staff and current Peace Corps volunteers are informative, pragmatic, and fun. Alex and I are in a group of 6 trainees for most of our classes. I couldn't ask for a more interesting, chill group of people. All in all, life is good!
Now a little about Kyrgyzstan. The weather has been nice so far as it is springtime. The Kyrgyz people are actually quite familiar with Indian people; the comparison between tradition Indian culture and Kyrgyz culture has been a popular topic of conversation which has been nice. My host mom showed me all her Bollywood movies and my host sister were really excited to see pictures of me in a sari. The rest of my family consists of my host father, older brother and his two little people (5 & 2), younger brother, 11 sheep (one adorable baby), 3 cows, and 2 dogs. The food has consisted of mostly mutton and chicken with vegetables including cabbage, carrots, potatoes, beets, radishes, onions, tomatoes, and pickles. As for starches; there are a wide variety of breads, noodles, and rice. We also have been eating various fresh farm cheeses, butter, and cold vegetable salads. It's been tasty. The country is sparsely filled with Soviet style buildings peppered with a mosque every once in awhile. Even near the city, you can see that the plains and mountains go on forever.
Well, that's all I've got for now. I'm going to spend the next two months trying to learn Kyrgyz and figure out the intricacies of the culture here. I'll get back to you when I have more to share. I love you all and miss you very muchly.

Athena