Superbowl in March?! A call for help and being on TV…

Devin and I moved into a new apartment a few weeks ago and love it. The location is great; we’re in the center of the town/city. And it’s a pretty clean apartment in a safe neighborhood. We’ve already had several people over for dinner. Last week I started Cooking Club where students came over and learned to make American food (they chose pizza and brownies). But the main event was last week. We had a Superbowl party. Actually, we didn’t even have the actual Superbowl game. Instead we watched the Superbowl highlights clip with the commentator narrating, or should I say dramatizing, the whole game. It didn’t really matter though because the real highlights were all the friends and the incredible amount of junk food that we ate. Thanks to Jeremy and Christina Lyle and the rest of the family we had Cheetos, Tostitos Cheese Dip, five bags of Doritos, and three huge bowls of candy (M&Ms, Milky Way, Andes Mints, Hershey’s, Starburst, Skittles, and so much more). We also made deviled eggs, spinach dip, artichoke dip, vegetarian chili, grilled cheese, and tuna salad. It was a big success.

Other news is that I’ve been working on a big project with another volunteer. We’re planning a Leadership Camp for Girls this summer. We wrote a Peace Corps Partnership Grant, which is posted online so people can donate money to the project. Anyone can donate, and the idea behind it is that family, friends, and any other community members can contribute to projects volunteers are doing here in Kyrgyzstan. The people here in Kyrgyzstan must contribute 25% of the total cost and the rest is funded through the partnership grant. This is the 4^th annual camp, and we have some great ideas to promote democracy, health education, critical thinking, leadership skills, and we even have Devin as our expert to teach business skills. The camp is only three months away, so if you get a chance, please spread the word to other people about the project we’re doing here. To access the website, you have to go to www.peacecorps.gov and go to the “family and friends” section and click on “donate now.” You can then choose “volunteer projects” and look for the Kyrgyz Republic project 307-078. It is under the name R. Ingram, another volunteer with whom I’m working.

Last bit of news. I was on TV recently. It was a last minute thing. I was just finishing my classes when a camera crew came into my classroom to film me teaching, but my classes were over, so they brought in some other university students whom I didn’t know. Then I taught a very short “pretend” lesson. Afterwards I had to give a speech in Kyrgyz and English. It was a little stressful, but I guess I didn’t sound too bad. I haven’t seen it, but several students, some volunteers, and a few strangers on the street saw it. Life just keeps getting more and more interesting here. Happy Easter to you all!