इन्टरनेट फ्रॉम अमल्य्बक

Sorry I haven't been able to write or call yet. There is so much to tell! I arrived in Almaty thursday morning after an 8 hour delay at the Frankfurt airport. We were taken right away to the Sanitorium in Almaty for our orientation. That was basically a russian retreat/hotel from a long time ago, it was pretty rusty-but it had really hot showers! The orientation was great, we learned a lot about what to do with our host families and took an introduction to Russian lesson. The US ambassador to Kazakhstan also came to speak/have lunch with us. I found out I was going to be learning to speak Russian, and that I would be living in a village called Amalybak for the next three months. Amalybak is a suburb of Almaty about 20 km away ( but it took an hour to drive here in all the traffic.) I also got to walk around Almaty with Nora, who has been a volunteer here for two years. She's from Minneapolis and is now in Amalybak with my group in a house across the street, teaching us about the culture before she goes home in November. My language teacher, Eulena, also lives across the street from me. Everyone else lives a little further away from the school. I'll be training/ taking language lessons in the Russian school. there is also a Kazakh school down the street. My host family is amazing, and so is the house they live in. I'm feeling very spoiled at the moment..they have a two story house with a washing machine, indoor toilet, big TV and a computer (the internet doesn't work, though). Our Banya is also massive, three rooms-one for changing, one for showering, and one for the sauna. I'll be taking a long sauna later since we just went on a massive treck around Amalybak to see where everyone lives-this is not that small of a village! It's hot here, too! We also have a large garden at my house, so I've been eating a lot of vegetables that they grow. Last night I had stuffed peppers and soup. This morning I had one of the freshest omelettes I've ev er eaten. So, basically I'm very happy and you don't have to worry about me. I feel like I'm on vacation, everything is very relaxing. We even have a big covered porch where we sit outside and eat and listen to Madonna. Oh, Kazakhstan.

Also, I guess I should mention that I haven't met my host parents yet because they were at a funeral yesterday in another city. They will be home after six tonight, but Raoka (she's 8) and the Aunt and Damir (the 27 year old brother who speaks really good english) have been taking care of me. My host mom is a russian teacher at the Kazakh school. We have a dog and cat, too-Rex is the puppy and the cat is Malshanks? I have trouble with so many names to remember. My host sister, Asil is on vacation in Turkey but will be back sunday. they love to travel and yesterday showed me massive stacks of pictures from trips to China, India, and Malysia. They loved my pictures! They wanted to hear all about New York and my family and especially about Ryan...which was difficult with limited language skills. Damir didn't come home from work until late, so I was on my own for awhile. Nora and Eulena came to lunch at my house today and my aunt told them all about everything I did last night, s o I guess I'm doing allright so far! They were amazed that I helped with the dishes and made my bed. I'm such a nice guest, so I hear. Nora just went to get her haircut, there are three salons in Amalybak and this internet cafe.

Anyway, don't worry-everything is great..I'm meeting a lot of great people and really enjoying the country so far. Tomorrow is our day off so my family will (hopefully!) take me to buy a cell phone and I will call you when it isn't 3AM at home.

I miss everyone! hope to talk to you on the phone very soon.