man... the weather here. on March 8th we had the most amazing weather, in the low 70s is my guess. by the 12th we had over 2 inches of snow. by the 15th it was all gone. and yesterday the weather was hot. ok, so relatively hot. and unexpected. it was maybe in the low-mid 80s. but seeing people still with hats or fur coats on made me hotter i guess. though they got with the picture and by the end of the day no one was wearing their coats and i saw boys in light jackets with flip-flops on. woot!
to put this in perspective, most (i don't really know if this is true, but i know a large part) of Kazakhstan is still snowy or so cold it doesn't matter there is no snow. and the volunteers there are still frozen peepcicles.
BUT-- next week is a major holiday here. its called Nauryz Наурыз (pronounced Now-riz). this is the Kazakh word for March. in this way it means the holiday of Spring and the Kazakh New Year. so its a big deal, especially here in Shymkent where the culture is the most Kazakh and/or traditional. anyway, about 65 people are leaving the siberian tundra to come down here for warmth and sport.
so, i will be extremely busy for the next two weeks. first with Nauryz then with our first peace corps training in almaty. i won't be posting but i will be taking photos to post after things calm down.
oh but i want take some pictures of the delicious things i have been eating lately. one is a glazed pastry with ORANGE JELLO WITH NUTS in the middle!!!! and the wonderful Georgian food i have had lately too.
more on that lately.
oh and real quick, to scare away the doom and gloom. i have had several nights here (and other random times) of just pure, unadulterated joy at being here. don't know why but it's really, really nice. that and having a class that i love and my students love. thank you Critical Thinking!!!
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