16:30 27 November 2008

Yesterday I had banya for the first time in a week. It was a beautiful, beautiful thing. I hadn’t felt clean in about 5 days and it was so good- my hair was so greasy that even with its incredible curliness, I could comb it and it would stay parted and in place. Scary. But now, for the next day or so I get to feel clean and my head won’t itch with dandruff! It’s good to celebrate the small things in life.

Speaking of which- Banya is undoubtedly one of the things I am thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day. My host mother is preparing delicious lagman for me and one of my JICA friends today (the other couldn’t come) and we are making pumpkin bread- a suitable alternative to pumpkin I feel. I am currently coming up with a list of A-Z what I am thankful of both as a volunteer in Kyrgyzstan and, as a volunteer what I will be thankful for upon my return, and I will share it with you as soon as its completed. Due to incredible stupidity on my part, I accidentally left my laptop charger at a friends apartment in Karakol, and it will have been two weeks since I return so I have been rationing my battery over the time span. Luckily tomorrow I get a nice full charge and hopefully won’t forget it again.