It’s the holiday season

I’ve had numerous requests to get my act together and post another blog. And since Thanksgiving I’ve had the best intentions of doing just that. However, Burns was right about the best laid plans of mice and men. So here we go.

Last year’s PCV Thanksgiving was a Pavlodar-based extravaganza that involved lots of food in a warm apartment full of new friends. This year we went to a village and had lots of food in a house that got a bit cooler during the night…but we still had lots of friends and fun.

Personally, I thought the coolest thing was probably the turkey. Nay, the turkeys. We had two. But only one was ready for cooking when we got there. The other still had quite a bit of prep work left to do. As in the head was the only thing that had been removed. So at least we knew the turkey was fresh!

In addition to the turkey we had a ton of other traditional American fare. We also played football in the snow – Kaz 20s vs 21s. Though there were a few other folks that joined in the fray: a 19, a Canadian and a local. With yours truly stepping into the pocket as QB the team was quickly pointed to victory.

The other major occurrence between then and now was the much-anticipated arrival of a shipment of donated books from Darien Book Aid. I’ve been working on establishing an English resource center in my town, and these books really helped to inject a bit of life back into the project.

Christmas is right around the corner. After classes finish on Friday I plan to join the other PCVs for our local celebration. Think it should be a good time.

New Year is the big holiday around here, although I still don’t know what my plans for that will be. All I know for certain is that I’m joining a big group of teachers from the gymnasium at a local restaurant next week for our own celebration. Should be entertaining. It usually is.