“April Showers brings what?”

Life has slowed down significantly since I arrived back in Ecik. After the whirlwinds of Shymkent, Almaty, and Peace Corps seminars, adapting to life in Ecik again was a little bit disorienting. My counterpart and director were happy to see me after almost 3 weeks. In my absence, they have been extremely productive, collaborating with a local youth organization to start a summer camp, beginning the application for a new volunteer, and preparing to go to a personalized seminar on fundraising techniques in Ukraine. I'm really happy for their successes.

The only thing of interest this week is the weather. Since Sunday, it has rained or snowed every day in Ecik. Going multiple days without seeing the sun has made me miserable. With it expected to rain all the way through next Monday, I'm also facing a clothes drying crisis. After three weeks on the road, all of my clothes are dirty, and the highlight of my weekend was going to be washing all of them. That'll be the easy part, but I air dry my clothes, and rainy weather isn't good for that. I'm sure they exist somewhere, but I have yet to see a dryer in this country.

I don't think that the popular American phrase "April showers brings May flowers" doesn't translate properly into Russian. Or if it does, I'm not saying it correctly. I spent over 10 minutes trying to explain the phrase to my organization the other day, and failed.

With no other interesting developments in my life or work worth mentioning this week, I wanted to pass along a couple of links that are way more useful:

1. My pal Michael's blog. Recently he had a friend visit him in Kazakhstan from America, and his friend is currently guest blogging about the things they did while he was here. It's a good read. Kazakhstan is a very unique and interesting country, and it has been a point of frustration to me that no amount of pictures or stories can fully explain what this country is about. The only way to really understand what it's like to bathe in a banya, sit on a train for over 2 days straight and eat beshbarmak until you burst is to visit and actually do those things. If coming to Kazakhstan is out of the question for you, then reading his account may be the next best thing.
   

   
   

2. My friend Erica's post on the Peace Corps application process. About once a month I receive a question from a friend or acquaintance back home asking about the Peace Corps. Her description and tips about getting through it are pretty much right on, and I don't think I could describe the long Peace Corps application process better than her. For anyone considering the Peace Corps, or people who are curious about what it takes to join, I'd recommend to take a look.