Salamatsyzby!

After 48 hours of travel and 4 cities, we arrived in Bishkek at 3am Sunday morning. We promptly took a bus from Bishkek to Issyk-Kul, only a 5-hour ride. As unwelcomed as that was, seeing the landscape as the sun slowly rose was pretty incredible.

Kyrgyzstan is absolutely beautiful. The mountain ranges are astounding and Issyk-Kul Lake is unlike any other I have seen. A few PCT were brave enough to jump in after our arrival (I was not one of them). The hotel we are staying at is pretty westernized. The food, while not like home, has variety, veggies and flavor. We have been told to expect mostly tea and bread in the winter so I am definitely savoring these past few days.

We had very little time to succumb to our jet lag and began orientation. I can already tell Pre Service Training (PST) will go by extremely fast. We have training classes from 9-5 6 days a week, and as luck would have it, I will be living in one of the furthest villages. My commute will probably be close to 30-40 minuets. Silver lining: I will be a pro at the mini buses (murshutkas) by the end of these 8 weeks.

We have just begun our language training, and as difficult as it is, seeing current volunteers speaking to locals with ease is encouraging. I hope to be at that level within my first year! Living with my host family for the 8 weeks of training, and probably at my permanent site, will be invaluable practice. We meet our host families this Wednesday and have been told they are very excited to meet us, which is very reassuring. I suppose if they did not want us, they wouldn’t open their homes to us. I have only heard wonderful things of the Kyrgyz hospitality, filling up their PCTs will tea, bread and honey (music to my ears).

I won't have access to the internet for some time, but will update when I can!