To the Future...

Seven weeks in Ecik have passed and now all us volunteers know, in name, where we’ll spend our next two years of service. We swear in as official Peace Corps volunteers on Halloween and then we board our trains to commence our bold journeys.

Where am I going? The destination caught me by surprise to say the least. Having never lived in snow before for more than a couple resort days, I requested the South in hopes of enduring a less severe winter. I didn’t get the South.

Lesnoye will be my home after a 26 hour train ride on Halloween. It is a pioneer site which means I will be the first Peace Corps volunteer to serve there! Invigorating! Lesnoye is a village of 2,000 people in North Central Kazakhstan. It’s one of the most northern sites where Peace Corps serves. Lesnoye is situated in a very scenic area of Kazakhstan where many tourists visit during the summer. Rolling hills and numerous lakes sprinkle the area. The village has one school and is ethnically made up 50/50 of Russians and Kazakhs. By bus, the nearest town is twenty minutes away and the central city of Kokshetau is 90 minutes away. There are eight other volunteers within hours so isolation isn’t a blatant concern. The more I ponder the placement, the more I embrace the idea of such significant change. Initially, I was stunned. How is a tropical California young man going to fare in the legendary Russian winter? As I reflected more on the placement, I became encouraged by all the possible ways to grow and give back. Very cold winters await me (-5 to -30 C) and so do very beautiful summers. Going to keep my head up and my body warm.