Time Marches On

Spring is definitely coming. The weather has consistently reached the high 20s the past couple of weeks and people are slowly but surely shaking the winter off of themselves. My school is still riding high on our Olympiad wins and everyone is looking forward to the upcoming spring break -- and all the craziness of Nayourz, the Kazakh national holiday on March 22nd.

We're doing our best to stay busy. I'm happy to report that I have made some more progress with the whole Olgii museum exhibit to America thing. I helped the museum director translate a brochure into English and we compiled a photo album of the museum's prized items to send to the Bowers Museum in California. The information has been passed onto the president of the Bowers Museum and their director of exhibits and they promise to get back to me soon. Ashlee and I also helped our friend Aynabek with his fledgling tour company. He is attending a tourism conference in UB at the end of the month and he needed help designing a brochure to distribute from his booth. I used my writing skills and Ashlee used her awesome computer skills to make a pretty professional-looking leaflet. Aynabek was pretty happy. Also, I have nominated my friend and counterpart Agii for a Fulbright scholarship to study in America during the 2012-2013 school year. I think he's an awesome candidate. The only catch is that before he can officially apply, he must take and pass the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). He's taking the bus to UB on Monday, so I have spent the past week finding materials online to help him study. Cross your fingers for him! Lastly, Ashlee may have finally found a project that is actually related to her field! The local branch of World Vision helps operate a small center for kids with a mix of physical and mental disabilities. Ashlee toured the facility earlier this week and she hopes to return in the near future with a translator to help see exactly how she can pitch in. Wish her luck!

Everything else is groovy. I'm still waiting to hear back from UCLA -- according to their website admissions decisions are made between March and April. The only other news is that we will be back home in California in four months! Avocados, here we come!

Oh yeah, I suggest that everyone look for a chance to catch the latest BBC series "Human Planet." It's a follow-up to the "Planet Earth" series, but this time around they are focusing on people and not animals. One of the episodes heavily features Kazakh eagle hunters. The BBC crew made a couple of trips out to Olgii last year and Agii served as their tour guide and local fixer. You can even see him in the episode! You can catch a YouTube clip here.

That's about it for now. There are two weeks of school left before the two-week spring break. We also got word that our Close-of-Service conference in UB will take place at the end of April -- we're hoping to tack on a trip to the Gobi right after. Four months!

PS: This past Monday we Olgii PCVs gathered for a little Oscar party. It was pretty awesome! Justin hosted and we streamed the show live on Brian's computer. We also made banana pancakes and eggs benedict to celebrate -- all under the disapproving eye of a Danish couch-surfer that Justin was hosting. She's one of those people "who doesn't own a television" so I think she thought we were pretty silly for getting excited about Hollywood. Oh well -- it was some good quality America time!

PPS: This week was the Peace Corps' 50th Anniversary! Here's a video commemorating the momentous occasion :)