Peace Corps Placement!

After months of waiting, this week I received my Peace Corps placement assignment in the mail! I will be going to the Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan), a small former Soviet state in Central Asia, to teach English as a foreign language to secondary students, ages 13-17. My departure date is scheduled for September 14, 2005, the day after my 25th birthday! I'm scheduled to complete my service December 9, 2007. These dates are subject to change, but shouldn't shift more than a day or two. I will first spend a couple days at orientation (called "Staging") in the States. Then on September 18, I am scheduled to fly to Kyrgyzstan, where I will begin 11 weeks of Pre-Service Traning (PST) with 5-6 other Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) outside the capitol of Bishkek. During PST I will live with a Kyrgyz host family, and receive technical and language training, in addition to training in health, safety, and culture. On December 9, 2005, I will depart for my 2 years of service at my permanent site.

Kyrgyzstan is located southeast of Kazakhstan, east of Uzbekistan, north of Tajikistan, and northwest of China. To see a map, check out http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mapshells/central_asia/kyrgyzstan/kyrgyzstan.htm. The two official languages are Kyrgyz and Russian; PCVs learn one or the other depending on the predominant language where they are serving. Though there are no guarantees, I am optimistic that they will place me in a location where Russian is spoken, since I have some experience with the language. But I will not know where that will be until PST. Everything I have read so far describes the Kyrgyz people as extremely warm and hospitable, so I have no doubt that an incredible experience awaits me! Of course I will be sad to leave family and friends for such an extended period of time, but I am also excited to have this amazing opportunity to serve, live, and learn in another nation. There's so much more I could say, but I think I'll leave it at that for now. If you have any specific questions, feel free to email me (at the right), or post a comment. And if I get a lot of the same questions, I'll address them in a future post :-). Oh, and Happy Birthday Aunt Kristie!!