Long overdue update

Well friends and family, I have put off writing this update as long asI possibly could. I was honestly excruciatingly busy for the months ofSeptember and October. To be honest, when I had spare time, I went tosleep or watched a movie. Then November came. By this point, enoughhad happened here in KG that I got to thinking, writing an update isgoing to take a long period of time. The procrastination dancepromptly began. For the last month or two, I would sit down to writeyou all, get overwhelmed by the task at hand, and run away before Icould ever start. I managed to find every excuse possible to keep fromsitting myself at a computer. Besides, my parents call every week. Soif people really wanted the most up to date news, all they need to dois seek out the ‘rents. See it’s not that I do not love you all andit’s not that I am not extremely grateful for your support. But howdoes one begin an email that is meant to cover 4 months ofawesomeness? This is not a task I could halfheartedly accept …butrather a challenge of life shattering importance set before me to letyou know I have not forgotten you.

Before I start, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas , Happy NewYear, and Happy Valentines day. I have a feeling this year will be aninteresting one. I hope that you are all well and having a good timewith family and friends as you get a break from work and/or school.May this next year be filled with time to relax and truly enjoy life.

So let’s start with a brief timeline:

September:
- My birthday
- Looking for and finding a new apartment
- Starting working with an English Club at a school near my new apartment
- Advanced Community Development Conference

October:
- Moving into my new apartment
- Trip to Osh
- Start teaching conversation clubs at a TOEFL center
- Life Skills Conference (I was a trainer.)
- Handicraft Training at work (I wrote a grant for this back in March.)
- Start doing Talking Club at TOEFL Center in Bishkek
- We got an English speaker at work

November:
- Volunteerism Seminar with UNDP Street Children Program
- Start a dance club for school children
- Thanksgiving presentations at a university
- Thanksgiving!!!

December:
- Volunteerism Seminar at a university
- Training with school children on how to write a questionnaire
- Christmas!!!

January:
- Holiday break
- Conference on how to Write & Manage Projects and how to Work with Volunteers
- Old New Year
- Learn to Ski

February (so far…):
- Writing a grant to do a Training of Trainers with local youth aboutHIV/AIDS prevention

When I first started writing this I thought about giving an update onhow all of those things went. Then I realized that would make anobscenely long email. So I will sum it up: it is all going great!!Honestly, life has been hectic and busy but I am enjoying. I do haveto remind myself to relax a bit and not get overworked. Right now, Iam just anxious to see if our grant gets funded.

No, I have not started to think about what I will do after I am donehere. I am just going to wait a little while longer and see how lifepans out first. I have several ideas about moving to different placesand doing different things but that is as far as I have gotten.

I would like to say that I promise to be better about posting on here.In all honesty, I don’t think I could get much worse after this longhiatus. I think I will manage to get another email to everyone beforeanother 6 months have past. Shootka! (Joke!) But for real, I startedwriting this back in December and I am JUST NOW finishing it.

I wish you all well. Take care!