New Information

The photo below is from our first week in Kaz, at a sanatorium in Turgen. Lovely, huh? The people are all trainees, from the left, Paul's back, Tim in suspenders, Ryan, Jay, and Yasameen.

I'm a bit wound up, since I just got my site assignment. There's a lot of useful information which I don't have yet, but I'll tell you what I know:

My post is in a village in Europe, technically, in northwest Kazakhstan. The town is named Budarino, and i don't know the spelling in Cyrillic. It is 90% Kazakh, and I'll be teaching at a Kazakh school, probably several grades from 2nd up to 8th. I will be about 1 hour by bus from Uralsk, and less than that from a couple friends from training, Ivy and Amber. We're pretty excited, since Ivy will have a flat to herself that we're welcome to stay at. I will be the first American in my village, I will have electricity, water, and a phone. Possibly the school will have internet - I really really hope the school will have internet. On August 20th, I'll hop on the train with my counterpart for about 70 hours.

Sorry this is so terse - I'm due at my house for lunch. Also, Mom and Dad, can you call me Sunday morning after 8 your time?