the second part of this is that my blog is probably more for me than for you (the dear reader). i'm a talker as we all know and this is a way for me to work through things. also it makes me feel better that i am not being negligent of my filial responsibilities of at least pretending to communicate. and some of it purposefully written to be oblique or coded for alan. some of it is also generation/cultural and i can't fix that.
so. today was interesting and as always it just keeps getting better. i made lasagna part deux today. omg yummy! it was probably better than the first time. half meat. twice the eggplant. GOUDA cheese AND mozzarella!!! OMG CHEESE! haha. anyway, russians EFFin love lasagna. as they should. and they love me for showing it to them. which is fun. it took us forever but i'd say was a pretty successful and beloved summer camp activity.
because this has been brought to my attention right now in a concurrent conversation, i REALLY REALLY REALLY miss ham. REALLY. i knew i loved ham before. but, now i know how close to true love i was. volunteers up north live with russians or kazakhs even more likely to backslide into a bit of non-kosher eating. but not really here. some of my friends and colleagues eat ham. but most do not. which is strange to me. its SO yummy. regardless, living in a rather muslim city means little to no ham available. this is sad. i will be consuming copious amounts of ham upon returning to america.
so today i had a lot happen. i was identified, correctly, as an american which shot a kid straight out of his pallet on the floor the shop i was in. its kind of flattering? strange? to get that kind of reaction. this was pretty much immediately negated by my final leg of the walk home. i was not more than 20 meters from my door where these kids, probably four 16 year old kazakh boys (maximum of 24... sometimes it's really hard to tell here), were loading a moving van (random old truck with a tarp on top) with pillows and sheets and things. they all turned to me and one kid started laughing. like really, really hateful laughter. like the kind i grew up with. the kind that fills me with rage, shame, and nostalgia. so i keep walking and as i walk past the last kid this cacophony of wicked glee. you'll all be proud to know that i just kept on walking. i did think some rather hateful things, half formed and nondescript, but i generally stick with "i'm leaving in a year and you WILL ALWAYS BE HERE." that satisfies me most of the time. it is really sobering to have to do the walk of shame the last 30 seconds of your walk home for no reason though.
so tomorrow night Holly and Anna get here. that'll be good to see new people. and then on friday i leave for zhanatas! woot. soviet-style ghost towns full of bomb blasted buildings. so there was no apocalypse there sadly, but a lot of looting and scrap searching so it looks bunk, from what i hear. and i get to see some great friends i haven't in a while. downside: no internet or anything approaching civilization for a while. a gathering of PCVs often is the bacchanal of affairs and in no way constitutes civilized life. yay!
i know i'm forgetting more. but that's what you get! love it! read my GRE words and tremble. or not... god i need to start studying for that too. waaaah! :P
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