Brief Update--Busy Days Ahead

Happy Halloween from Kyrgyzstan! This is going to be a short post, as I only have a few minutes left. I just wanted to thank everyone who's dropped me a line. It's great to hear from friendly folks both old and new.

Here's a little info for any folks who have sons and daughters over here. On November 9th we will find out where our permanent site placements are. Nov. 10th we will travel back to the Isykk Kul Hotel and meet our "counterparts"--the Kyrgyzstan folks who submitted proposal for volunteers to come work with them (a very competitive process--so i'm told). Nov. 11th we will travel to our permanent sites and see our housing options (many sites will have 2-3 options, some will only have 1--nearly all of us will be placed with familys). We will stay at our future permanent sites until the 14th of November and then return home.

The K-12s are tight group and as I have said in the past, we do a good job of looking after one another. Spirits are high and we are anxious to find out where we are going.

Through a bit of serendipity (and reconnaissance work) I discovered that I am likely going to be in Osh (which claims to be older than Rome). If the info that I have is correct, I will be working with the "Human Rights and Democracy Center" which is located on the main street in this city of about 300,000. Those PSTs who visited the city last week tell me that Osh is fantastic place, complete with the oldest Bazaar in Central Asia. A lot of money is being poured into the south from the international community to aid with the development of "civil society" down there.

I'll try and write more soon. Take care and keep writing!