Day in the life of a Nomad in Central Asia

Wake up early after sleeping out on the roof- my alarm clock mosquitoes, the mullah call to prayer or the sun. Quite time with the Lord, followed by checking for any new emails. Then a little bit to eat, which might be eggs, bread, oatmeal… Then time to hit the books, language study starts early and consumes most of my day. I have class 6 days a week with on of the best language teachers ever. Then I grab a bite to eat on the street, usually pick up some bug from what I eat. Study for a few more hours then I am out hanging out with shop keepers, running errands and just being in community. In the evening I may read for a little while, practice the guitar, read BBC news online have friends over for dinner, go out to eat ice cream with friends…. It is a tough life but someone must do it. Actually I have a job and work is starting to pick up here. That is right I am a business man, soon I will be running all over the city running errands for the company. Luckly, I work for the coolest company in the world and I am given quite a bit of time for language. I try to spend 8 hrs a day in language six days a week. Fridays are my only day off and what I do on that day changes every week. Some Fridays I do nothing but read all day, I may read a book or two. Some Fridays I will go on a picnic with friends. There have been a few Fridays where I will ride my bike all day and try to find some remote spot outside of the city to relax, write in my journal and just get out of the city.

My favorite things: Hanging out with my friends, going to the bazaar, spending time with my brothers and sisters here.

Least Favorite things: Getting ripped off, getting ran over by taxis

Favorite foods: fresh bread, mangos, cherries, anything cooked in a home (rice, eggplant, okra) *special ingredient- OIL and lots of it.

Least favorite foods: Anything with lots of the special ingredient, sheep fat, anythig containing parasites or bacteria that will make me really sick.

Favorite people: Nice shop keepers, neighborhood kids, old men sitting outside the mosque.

Least Favorite people: Taxi drivers, bus drivers, and mean shop keepers
Sweetest moments: Sitting on the mountain side looking out over the city, riding my bike beside the river at sun set, hanging out with my language helper and one of my best friends just talking about culture and memories.

Hardest moments: Getting really sick (4 times), having my best friend stolen ( my bike), my aunt and uncle (not really but very sweet people that are like an aunt and uncle to me) returning to the U.S.

Dumbest Moments-losing $200 (it fell out of my pocket on the way to the money changers), losing fruit off the back of my bike, buying my first bike that was suppose to be new and almost half of the parts on the bike were used.
Greatest Deals-Buying saddle bags for my bike (no more lost fruit), finding peanut butter in the bazaar, having clothes made locally, fresh bread (only $.08 a piece).

Goals for the future- Speak the local language really well so that I can go deeper in the culture and community, learn how to play a local instrument, bike across the county, camp out with my father when he comes to visit, visit my brother if he ends up serving here at a base, learn how to cook a lot of local dishes (right now I can only cook a hand full of things), put together an art exhibit someday of all the photographs that I have collected…… my list could go on for forever