New Format! New Life!

My Dear Readers,
If you look closely at the left side of this page, you might notice that all entries have been conveniently archived in chronological order (what a novel idea!)

Also on the left you will find a cute little poll that you may or may not choose to participate in. I thought I'd try it out for a while just for fun until I get sick of coming up with poll questions.

You might also notice that I have removed the pesky Peace Corps disclaimer, although all the entries I wrote during my time with Peace Corps will remain archived on this site until they are devoured by cyberspace.

Enough with the housekeeping.

Soon I will embark on a new journey and will once again resume writing Letters From A Faraway Land, although I suspect that for many of my American friends and family my new change of location will be no more perceivable than the change in format of this site.

In fact, my new home for the next 8 months or so will be not-so-very-faraway from my home in southern Kyrgyzstan: I have accepted a non-Peace Corps teaching position in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, and will most likely travel there before the end of the month. Hooray!

It has been a wonderful, relaxing summer here at home with my family and friends, but now that summer is over I am ready to get back to work and get back to Central Asia! Once again I feel torn between leaving behind loved ones and the comforts of American life and doing work that I feel a near magnetic pull towards.

While witnessing the tragedies in Osh from my safe bubble, I was reminded that life is precious and dangerous and unexpected all at once, and all at once it made me want to be with my family and be safe and be comfortable and seize the day. In the past few months I've spent lots of time feeling safe and comfortable and appreciating the importance of family. Now there's only one thing left to do.