Yes, finally, I am updating our blog. For a while, there was just nothing to write about. It is now Spring and the weather is finally nice enough for us to start having some fun outside. We plan on going hiking very often, hopefully starting this weekend.

Now, Mike and I are keeping very busy. I am working on a project to clean up the city and keep it clean. There is so much natural beauty in the city with the lake and mountains, but it gets overlooked because of the abundance of litter on the streets and beaches. The project will be completed with the help of the community and youth volunteers. We will first clean up all the trash. Then we will install garbage cans around areas of the city that need it most. Then we will paint a mural dedicated to the environment on a large wall on the main street that goes through the city. Finally, we will train youth volunteers to give presentations to their classes about the importance of respecting the environment. This will be funded by the generous people in America, i.e. my friends and family. So, you will be getting the email from me soon!

In addition to this project, I will be writing another project with the social worker at my primary placement to organize a series of trainings for women to learn a trade that they can use to increase their income (possibly sewing, cooking, and hair styling). I hope to follow this with a training on self-employment.

Mike is working on a project to open an art center here in Balykchy that is free for children and youth to come and take art lessons. He was inspired to do this after we visited a museum in a village about an hour away. The artist uses the museum to show his art as well as teach art lessons to kids. His art is very interesting and he actually gets his inspiration from rocks. He finds rocks (or the rocks find him) and he turns the shapes and colors he sees in the rocks into images on canvas. He is very talented and his art is very symbolic, and we are planning on buying a piece to take with us back to America. This artist is working with Mike and his counterpart to develop the art center in Balykchy.

Aside from these projects, we are still working at our regular jobs. Mike is teaching English and has English clubs. I am working at the NGO as well as teaching ballet twice a week and cardio kickboxing once a week. Mike’s counterpart was chosen to go to America for six weeks for a teaching program, and one of his students was also chosen to go to America for a year on an exchange program. We are very proud of them both.

We will soon be able to travel around the country and we are already planning when and where. We want to plan trips to go white water rafting, hiking, camping, and horseback riding. We also hope to go live in a yurt for a week in the mountains.

When we start traveling, we will have to be more careful about our transportation. We learned this lesson on Sunday when we were coming back from Naryn. We were driving uphill on the mountain pass when something broke and steam started coming from the hood and spilling into the car. At the time, I thought it was smoke so I was yelling at the driver to stop the car. He kept driving despite the lack of visibility, but we made it safely almost to the top of the very cold and windy mountain. We were towed by a passing car the rest of the way. I got out of the car at the top to stretch my legs and I fell in the mud, so I had to go the rest of the way home with mud all over my pants. From the top, we coasted all the way down the mountain until we lost momentum and the driver then rigged it up somehow to make it to the next closest town where we got another taxi. Our first adventure.