Coming to you live from the Pink Palace!

Today marks my first full day of independent living in Kazakhstan. I’m pretty excited about it. I have my own place. I have high-speed Internet. I have food. All in all, life is good. Interestingly enough, I feel that I’ve really turned a page in my service because of it. Granted, I’m sure I’ll be completely worthless for a few days while I get reacquainted with the Internet, but overall this is a really good thing for me. Maybe not the same for every volunteer, but I think it’s good for me.

I’ve taken to calling the place the Pink Palace. Mostly because the exterior of the building is painted, well, pink. A lovely shade of sun-faded Pepto-Bismol pink. There’s also grey, but it’s mostly pink. I briefly toyed with the idea of calling it the Pink Pony as a nod to the importance of horses in Kazakh culture. Then I decided it sounded too much like a strip club. And in fact there is a strip club in Atlanta called the pink pony (learned this from a volunteer from Atlanta).

Speaking of horses, I had my first kumys a few days ago. What the heck is that? I’m so glad you asked. It’s fermented horse milk. My host mom said it wasn’t a very good example of kumys, though. A little sour, she said…I think. My Russian isn’t so great, but I’m pretty sure that’s what she said. Perhaps you’re wondering what kumys is like? Well, I thought it would be thicker, but it’s pretty thin and runny. It’s fizzy, which I also hadn’t really anticipated. Had a bit of a funky albeit indescribable flavor, too. All in all, not bad. Though I think I’ll hold out for the good stuff next time. Shubat, the camel equivalent of kumys, is thicker according to the host fam. Don’t know that I’m up for that just yet.

A lot has happened lately, but I don’t really even know where to start. I’m just jazzed to be online again! So there you have it friends. The latest and greatest from my world. Also, I have Skype now. So hit me up if you’d like to chat!