An Average Weekend

Whenever I talk to family and friends back in America, the question “what are you doing this weekend?” usually causes a sarcastic response from me. Not that I intend to be mean, but weekends are not a big deal for me in Kazakhstan. Usually I’m so exhausted from the week that I spend Saturday and Sunday as mental recharge days so I can go all out during the week. Earlier I posted about what an average weekday was like for me. I decided to do it again, but with what I did during this past weekend. It's not exciting...but it's what I do.

Saturday

8:30am – Wake up. Eat breakfast, yogurt with oatmeal. I don’t like to eat breakfast in the morning. I prefer it for lunch, or dinner, but as of late I’ve been getting hungry more often. It could be the new diet.

9:00am – Discovered that Saturdays are the day when Ecik doesn’t have water! During the summer, many large towns and cities have a day when they shut down the water systems to repair pipes or to divert water to local farms. My neighbor says that it will come on late in the day, perhaps around 5pm. I usually take Saturdays to clean and wash my clothes. However, it is impossible without water so I need to find something else to do.

10am -9pm – Instead of cleaning, I watch the 1^st and 2^nd seasons of Arrested Development, and read Ivanhoe. I’d like to say that I’m doing “Peace Corps things” on the weekend like teaching kids, saving the world, or whatever people imagine the ‘ideal Peace Corps experience’ is, but truthfully on weekends that I’m not traveling or working I watch recorded TV shows or read books.

Sunday

8:30am – Wake up.

9am-3pm – Watch the rest of the 2^nd season, and parts of the 3^rd season of Arrested development

4pm – the water is back on! Actually it came on yesterday after dinner, but I was busy watching Arrested Development. I washed my clothes, mopped my apartment, and cleaned everything.

5pm – Went to the local store to buy potatoes. Along the way, I came across some little girls that have befriended me. They told me that some boys were throwing rocks at them, and this was very painful. I told them that in America, boys trouble girls because they like them, but if I saw the boys, I’d tell them to stop. Along the way to the store, I did see the boys, and although I’m a fan of rock throwing (at dogs that try to eat me, not girls) I told them the exact same thing: that it’s a tradition in America that boys trouble girls that they like. At the store I bought potatoes (2 kilograms = 1 dollar)

5:30pm – while walking back the girls came to me and thanked me and said that the boys have stopped throwing rocks. They asked me what I said to them. I said it was a secret between men and that they’d learn when they were married and had kids of their own.

7:00 – Although I’ve hinted that my time in Kazakhstan has enhanced my cooking skills, I can now say that I think I have mastered potato soup from scratch. I’ve been tinkering with it for many months, and I think I’ve now perfected my recipe! If you give me water, potatoes, flour, milk, and some salt and pepper, I can make a mean pot soup!

7:00-8:30 – Read more Ivanhoe. It’s not the best book I’ve read in Kazakhstan, but very interesting, and reading makes me feel more productive than watching episode after episode of Arrested Development.

8:30-12am – type out emails on Outlook while watching the Italy/New Zealand, and Brazil/Ivory Coast games on repeat and get ready for Monday.