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They’ve warned us about this: Culture shock, homesickness, stomach malfunctions, isolation, and mild depression. They just didn’t tell me it would all happen at once. I remember feeling homesick and a little culture shocked during the first week of my study abroad in Spain, but I knew the language there, and didn’t have a stomach bug. Thursday afternoon for lunch I had some leftover, not-reheated rice, from Wednesday’s dinner, and about two hours later I was feeling nauseous, feverish and very tired. I went home early from our laundry party (how-to session on handwashing clothes) and slept for a few hours. That night, and all through the night, I started having diarrhea and vomiting. I called Victor, our PC medical officer and he said to stay home and that he would be by to give me the next round of rabies and tick-borne encephalitis immunizations which were scheduled for Friday, and he would check me out then. I stayed in bed all morning, sipping water, getting up only to visit the latrine. Victor came and decided that I had lost enough fluids that I should do an IV, since I had vomited any substantial amount of water I tried to drink. He also gave me a steroidal injection to calm my stomach and ease the nausea. I was on the IV for about an hour, long enough for a liter of liquids to be replaced, and I felt better for a few hours, but then went back to my prior state of massive liquid loss. I called him again saying that I wasn’t getting better, and he has put me on an antibiotic called Cipro which should knock out the bug I’ve picked up. Now, 36 hours after it all started, I am feeling a bit better, using the bathroom less frequently, although I haven’t had anything to eat all this time. All day yesterday in bed I couldn’t help thinking, “I want to be home… I want my mommy.” At orientation they said to remember that low day, write it down, because it can only get better from there. I’m fine, and I’m not giving up, even though it would be so easy to do so. Easy is not what I signed up for.

On a lighter note, I am learning Russian bit by bit, and although I’ve now missed two days of school, it is only the first week on site and there are 10 more weeks of training. We’ve also taken several long walks around the town, getting acquainted with the area. We are required to make a community map, of which I’ve been put in charge of the “official” version. It’s kind of cool creating a map by walking around, never seeing an actual map to compare with. Today is Sept. 1, the big school kick-off day, with classes starting on Monday. I start observing lessons this week, as we are learning how schools function in Kazakhstan. We have 4 hours of Russian each morning and then the afternoons are tutoring with Darya, our language coordinator/facilitator (LCF), or teaching lessons with Kunsulu, our technical coord/facilitator (TCF). Once we get in a groove and the Russian starts making a bit more sense, things will most certainly get better. I appreciate all your notes and comments.

I found out my phone number here at the house, and although I’m not quite sure that the region and city code is included (i.e., it might not work), here it is. From the US dial 011-8-3272-219-56. 011 is the country code, and 8-3272 I believe is the region code. If you call, call between 7pm-10pm here. I believe that is 8am-11am CST. I don’t tend to answer the house phone, so just say “Feelip” over and over until they give me the phone or hang up on you because I’m not here.