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I am officially a volunteer!!
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It is official! I am now a Peace Corps Volunteer! I have made it through training and was sworn in this morning. Yesterday, I met my counterpart. Peace Corps had a conference for our counterparts so they could better understand what our job is and what their role is as a counterpart to us. Basically, the counterpart helps to train us and helps mediate any issues we may have in the community or with our host family and also helps introduce us to the community. My counterpart is this fire-cracker of a woman! She is Tajik. She speaks Uzbek, English, and Tajik. She is already helping me with my Uzbek and will help me with my Tajik once I begin the language lessons. She is going to find me an Uzbek tutor to begin with and then a Tajik one in a few months. I did take some Russian lessons these past couple of weeks and now know what is called "Cafe Russian" which means that I can order food, ask for prices, and ask for the check in russian at a cafe. This last week and a half I have done more dancing than I have in the past few years!! A group of us went to another trainees surprise birthday party in a bar and danced in this tiny bar. (image, 15 people dancing in a bar that only has room for four tables!!) Then, I went to another party this past friday and danced and danced!! A friend of mine kept asking what had gotten into me (because up until now I have been rather reserved) and I told him 5 shots of vodka. And then last night, we had a beer pong tournament at the hotel here in Tashkent. More dancing, very little drinking and a lot of fun!! Today, we were actually sworn in! Our PST director broke down during his speech about us. It was very touching. But he has this terrific sense of humor and kept flashing the backside of his folder to us where he had written the word "smile" during the touching parts. Yes, I took a picture of him doing that! And the Ambassador gave a speech as well. We also got great news about our visas! We should have them in a couple of days which means we can all go to our site within the next week or so! So, only a week delay. Not bad. I am looking forward to moving on. Although, I am a little weary of change at this point. Maybe I am more weary about the moving aspect of the change rather than the actual change.
Most Sundays, my family goes over to my Buvi's house (my host mom's mother's house) and we spend the day there. This past Sunday, I sat and talked with some of the men. My host mom was there for part of the conversation. I was touched that my uncle and brother and law took the time to look up words in my dictionary instead of becoming frustrated and ending the conversation. My uncle knows that men and women are more equal in relationships in America. He asked me if I cook at home and I said no. He joked that I was a bad girl and if I lived in his house he would kick me out. I told him that I would be quite happy to be kicked out. But he also said that in America I am a good girl. Then we talked about men and cooking and doing dishes. He asked if my dad does dishes in America. I said yes. My host mom said that my host dad doesn't do dishes and laughed but told my host uncle that my dad in America cooks. They were impressed with that. Oh! as a small aside note: my host father is a militsia man, my host brother in law is a manager in a bank and my host cousin is a career military man. Not bad, eh?
Sorry this is disjointed! I did have pictures taken of me in my outfit that was made for me. I wore 3 inch heals with pointy toes! And a scarf around my neck to match the outfit.
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