Friday, July 29, 2011

A Homecoming

July 28, 2011

 

I'm baaa-aaack.  So, I took a month long hiatus.  I left my village to help with summer camps and visit friends. Then I rounded out the month with a much-anticipated family vacation.  My Dad called it the "Siege of Paris."  All Flakers came to the city from a different angle (North, South, East, and West, we covered them all!). Total chaos and total bliss!  There are some things that can never be replaced and the love and comfort of family is one of them.

 

Anyways, back to business… I'm blogging about Kazakhstan.  In case you didn't know this, France is a pretty well-to-do place.  I flushed my toilet paper down the toilet and everything!  Then I came back to Kazakhstan and remembered that I joined the Peace Corps. Things aren't quite the same.

 

My plane landed at 7AM and I was glad to be back in a country where I spoke the language as I hitched a taxi to the bus station.  Perfect timing! The bus was almost full and ready to pull out, so I wouldn't have to wait to hours to begin the trek home. The bad news: There was only one seat left. In the very back row. Good news: It was cheap. Seven bucks for a seven hour bus ride. 

 

I tossed my oversized-bag under the bus and made my way to the long bench in the back. Lucky for me, I was dead-tired from traveling. Otherwise, I would have been insanely aware of the two portly men on either side of me, obviously unaware that their tickets paid for one seat, not one-and-a-half.  I rested my head on the seat in front of me (the one with a babushka leaning her seat back as far as it would go… until it hit my knees) and drifted off as best I could.

 

Things went well from about 9:30 to noon.  I slept.  Then the sun turned the bus into a toaster-oven.  Forty degrees Celsius.  No air-conditioner.  No windows.  We did have two ceiling vents, but there was a woman on board with an infant and she insisted the wind was bad for her baby's health. (But heat strokes aren't an issue? Okay.) So the oven door stayed closed.

 

After five more hours in broil mode, I bid farewell to that bus, and made my way home.

 

First thing's first, go to the water pump outside and get fresh water.  Nope, scratch that, the water isn't working today.  Use the reserve water under the kitchen table.

 

Next, unload the bag and plug in an almost-dead cell phone.  No, you can cross that off too.  The electricity is out.

 

Okay, well, some things are solid. Use a dust rag and broom to wipe a month of grime from my house.  Then use the gas-burner to eat a meager egg-and-yogurt dinner. 

 

Last, make time to laugh at yourself. This isn't Paris, and it's not convenient.  But this is exactly what I signed up for, and I can definitely be happy here.