Limbo

So I've arrived in Ust-Kamengorsk.. The past few days have been relatively uneventful, as we've been spending time looking for host families to take me in for the next six months.

For some reason, there were originally 6 host families prepared for me from the start - 3 that Dinara, my counterpart had found. 2 families that Dinara found were axed from the start, because they lived across the river, meaning if I stayed out late at night, it'd be very difficult to get back out there because I'd have to hire a taxi for what is relatively ridiculous amounts of money, since the buses tend to shut off after dark.

Nevermind the fact that Dinara won't stop telling me how rich the family was and how safe the neighborhood and how great they were and how giant the rooms were - they were just a tad bit outside the city, so PC wouldn't have any of it.

Leaving 4 families, Dinara called every single day this past week only to find that 1 decided not to have a volunteer and another decided to remodel her house.


With 2 families left, both were out on vacation and it was impossible to get in contact with them - since there's some rule that says I should not be living at my counterpart's home for longer than 2 days (and I'm pushing 5 today), the fact that I hadn't moved out yet ruffled some feathers, combined with the fact that somehow a rumor began circulating that I was actually living with volunteers, which I wasn't.

As my counterpart was berated for 'not working harder' to find me a family, despite no fault of her own, all we needed to do was give it time until the families came back from holiday, which some did yesterday.

I'll be living in an older section of the city, named after a large pharmacy, "Sorok-Pyat Aptyeka," or "Pharmacy 45". It's a small apartment with a Russian lady and her son, and they both seem like a good family, so I think things will be fine.

In other news, the days I've been spending here have been rather tiring and boring, because my counterpart lives just outside of the city - getting to the city is a little inconvenient, and part of me doesn't want to spend a lot of time shopping around and stuff because I'll be moving out soon and I'll lose all orientation the second I move out anyway. Yet, spending the days at home have been not unlike any other lazy summer day in California, meaning my days are filled with doing nothing, at least for the next few days until I get settled in and can start work.

Watching my counterpart's kids remind me just of all the wasted time I spent at home in my own youth. Her 15 year old, spends the day sleeping or playing computer games, and her daughter, 11, spends literally, the WHOLE DAY watching Jetix and Cartoon Network, meaning, she sits in front of the television for 8 hours a day, watching Hey Arnold, Eeek the Cat, and so on. I really worry about her... yet I think back, and my sister and I were the exact same way.

No cable for my home when I get older. It's funny, because my counterpart had the same conversation my own parents had about the situation - she wants to pull the cable, but her husband can't do without it. Lovely to see the same problems worldwide. With American cartoons, no less.

The first night here I spent with Dan, Heather, and Ryder - Dan being an education volunteer and Heather and Ryder being two NGO volunteers - the group here seems to be a very close knit bunch and seem like a fun group, but it quickly became clear that the group here had acquired a notoriety for being hard partiers – whether I personally believe that or not doesn’t matter – certainly, it’s a bad rap for the volunteers here, one they feel is unfairly projected, but much of the time, perceptions can be a lot more damaging than the truth. Whether I was placed here to balance out the city is up in the air, but I made it clear that my choices were my own and I wasn’t there to tell anyone what to do.