Hi August!

Eating lunch. You can see the trash bags from all the stuff we cleaned up in the background.
Sweet jumping pic.
First beach, weather was bad but we picked up a lot of trash!
Student-trainers in action. They nailed the nutrition lesson!...ok so it's the old food pyramid and I think something is wrong on it but I didn't do it!
PC Trainers for the camp...minus Mike who took the pic.

So it has been a little bit since I posted. Summer has been flying by…already less than a month left. Hard to believe how fast that went! I’m sure before I know it I’ll be back teaching for my second and last year. It’s also hard to believe that 2009 is almost over also! 4 more months. I still remember New Year’s vividly too. I have a feeling this second year as a volunteer will really go by fast.

I helped out at my friend Mike’s camp this past week. The first two days we taught lessons to a group of students who then taught the same information to a larger group of their peers. The next three days were spent cleaning up 3 different beaches around the lake. It went really well and I was very proud of the group of student-trainers.

After that I had a nice time hanging out in Karakol with everyone. I did have to say goodbye to three of the K-15s though. They don’t leave for like two or three weeks but I won’t be able to see them again. It was pretty weird saying goodbye though. It didn’t feel like I was actually saying goodbye. Relationships here grow so fast in such a short period of time that I feel like I’ll always be seeing these people; that they are some sort of constant in my service. But of course they aren’t. In any case, I hope to see them in the states either during vacation or after my service ends.

In other news, my village has been pretty hectic lately. The apricots were finally ready to be picked and sold, after ripening like 20 some days late. It’s big money for families here. There have been big trucks here for about 2 weeks who buy from the families and then transport them wherever they go. I’m assuming they go to the bigger cities here and probably Kazakhstan, China, and Russia. Other than that I’ve been doing the same routine here: exercising, a little work, playing soccer, and going to the lake when it’s hot. I’ll probably be preparing for school with my counterpart in about 2 weeks though.

My host sister is back from Bishkek for the month too. It’s nice to have almost everyone around. She’s a very good cook too! I’ve also managed to convince my host mom to get whole wheat flour to make bread. She bought a bag of white flour and another of whole wheat flour. Whole wheat is healthier and it’s actually a lot cheaper than white flour here! I don’t know why more Kyrgyz families don’t eat it. White bread is such a strong part of their culture or the way they do things here I guess. Maybe that will change with time though. I’m beyond happy that I will have more whole wheat bread though!

My PCPP grant was approved and put up on Peace Corps’ Website. The link is here if you want to donate: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=307-136

It might be funded quickly (I hope) so don’t feel bad if you don’t get a chance to donate. You can always search for Kyrgyz Republic and donate to other projects if they are there – they are all my friends anyway. Or you can donate to KR’s country fund or any other PC Post that suits your fancy. I’m not sure if I’ll be doing another project with PCPP but I’ll be sure to let everyone know. To anyone who donates or wants to – Thanks!

Hope everyone’s summer is finishing up well. Keep in touch!

Pat