A match made in heaven

I have something personal to share with you all. Some of you already know, but for those of you that don’t, I just wanted to make this public. I have fallen in love. I knew coming to Kazakhstan would be full of surprises and life-changing experiences, but I didn’t quite expect my heart (and my breath) to be so completely taken away. I had been in love before coming here, but this past weekend something special happened. I guess I should tell you about the beauty that I have found, or rather that found me. We met in the most unlikely place – although I guess that meeting your true love does not depend on a certain type of place – the post office. Her name is the Resse’s Peanut Butter Cup.

I received two packages this weekend from family and friends back home including goodies like markers, magazines, stickers, canned pumpkin, and candy. I had forgotten how perfect peanut butter and chocolate are for each other, and how they together, with their jagged rims to ensure a secure grip, can make me stop thinking, walking, speaking, or concentrating on anything but the taste in my mouth. Peanut butter doesn’t really exist in this country… you can find it in big cities but for about $8 for a small jar. Starbursts and jolly ranchers are sold in the stores here (though not in bags as big as the ones I received), but Reese’s. We bought PB once on the train and thoroughly enjoyed reawakening our taste buds to the American wonder that is the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but this was on a whole other level. The best thing – both packages had bags of the foil-wrapped, bite-sized bits of heaven. I obviously have shared with my friends (my mother didn’t raise me to be stingy), with both those who had had it before and those for whom it was new, and everyone’s life is now better because of it. As a result, we’ve already eaten one of the three bags in 24 hour’s time. We taught a local girl how to properly eat the miniature cup in one bite, and then roll the foil into a ball (with the paper inside, of course) and toss it at the face of the person closest to you. The other two bags I’ll have to ration – once I’m sure I’ve introduced all of my local friends (and maybe a star student or two) to the best candy in the world.

This weekend was great, partially due to the packages, but also because of the picnic I went on Sunday afternoon. With Mike and his counterpart, several other university English professors, and a handful of their students, I tagged along out to the woods and frozen lake that lie just outside of the city limits on the way to Beshkol and Yavlenka, where other PCVs are posted. We made a roaring fire from wood hiding under the 4-inch blanket of snow and cooked Pelmeni (small meat dumplings) and drank tea (surprise!). We played soccer on the frozen lake, and Yevgeny (Mike’s CP) even brought his fishing gear to try some ice fishing. The process involves a four-foot hand crank corkscrew that drills a baseball-sized hole into the ice and a string with a hook of tiny worms. We didn’t catch anything, but it was still a new experience. I made some new friends with young English professors and university students, which is helpful in settling in here. And while I don’t yet have a girlfriend, I do have bags of chocolate-peanut-butter goodness to get me through the cold and lonely nights in northern Kazakhstan.