Posh Corps

In a couple weeks, I’ll celebrate not only my 26th birthday, but my one year anniversary of leaving home for Kyrgyzstan! In honor of this momentous occasion, many of YOU, my wonderful friends and family, pitched in to give me the best early birthday present: a week of luxury and fine dining with my first visitor! In addition, I was able to get a lot of official PC stuff taken care of (the non-exciting part I won't bore you with). In all, it was simply a spectacular way to end my first year, and kick off the new one.

On August 23rd, I headed out to Lake Issik-Kul to meet Krista, a friend of mine from my DTS way back in ’99. As we’ve kept in touch over the years, she has become a treasured friend, and I was so excited to see her… in Kyrgyzstan! We joked about how we wouldn’t have believed it if 7 years ago someone had told us we would be together in Central Asia, in a country neither of us had ever heard of at the time!

We spent about 4 days on the lake in a very nice hotel room… with a very nice shower! I took more showers in the last week than I think I’ve taken in the past 2 or 3 months combined, and it was wonderful! I realized that I’d forgotten what it was like to be clean all the time. By mid-week I just couldn’t believe how smooth my skin was—dead skin and dirt-free! By the end of the week, I found myself marveling at the cleanliness of my own feet :-). I’m quite sure my feet hadn’t been that clean in a year!

After a few days at the lake, we headed into Bishkek, where the real pampering began… We stayed at an adorable bed & breakfast, which, of course, also had a very nice shower and flushing toilet—two things one would expect, but which are still very exciting luxuries for me! It was the perfect place for us—small and quaint, unpretentious and friendly.

We had originally planned to spend a couple nights at the Hyatt, but with the money we saved by staying at the bed & breakfast, we were able to really take advantage of the perks of the Hyatt without actually having to pay for a room there! I could hardly contain my excitement in anticipation of the Sunday Brunch, which did not fail to meet my expectations. For one, it was simply amazing to be in an environment where people call you “Miss Freeman” and say things like, “Let me escort you to your table,” and “May I offer you a welcome beverage?” I mean, this would have been a treat in America, much less after a year in Central Asia! And the food, of course, was delectable. The brunch was from 11:30 until 3, and it’s a good thing Peace Corps hasn’t done anything to rid me of my shamelessness, or we wouldn’t have been able to do what we did—arrive at noon and stay until 2:45! I mean, c’mon, this was a $30 meal and I was going to get my money’s worth!

The big surprise came later that afternoon when I got an email from Kristen (the BEST friend in the WHOLE world), informing me that several friends had gone together to pay for a day’s membership for both Krista and I to the Hyatt’s health club, including massages! This was a total surprise, and a total blessing! We spent Monday being completely pampered—receiving massages, showering in the locker room, enjoying the Jacuzzi, and lounging at the pristine outdoor pool. I was particularly excited by the fact that we were given white terry cloth robes and slippers to walk around in. And I think my favorite moment was having lunch delivered to us at the pool, rolled out on a cart by a fully-uniformed hotel waiter, and drinking iced tea in my robe under the sun umbrella. Talk about being spoiled! This was like an episode out of the Twilight Zone. Krista and I decided that even though it might be nice to live like this all the time, it’s really the contrast with normal life that makes it special and exciting. So thanks SO much to those of you who made us queens for a day!

The rest of our time together was spent eating delicious food, talking, spending money like an American tourist and not like a Peace Corps Volunteer, watching movies, talking, sleeping, showering, talking, did I mention talking? It was such a wonderful, restful, refreshing week together, full of blessings and being spoiled by our Heavenly Father.

Now it’s back to the Peace Corps, but I always have the memory of Posh Corps to keep me going :-). One year down, one year to go! Signing off from the halfway point...