Hey all,

Before I get into some basic information on Kyrgyzstan, I want to point you to the side bar where you can investigate the geography, climate, people, and culture a little on your own. That said:

Kyrgyzstan is a mostly mountainous country that is 198,500 km² in area (to give you perspective, that is almost the same area as South Dakota…if that doesn’t help you Wisconsin’s area is 169,639 km²).  In the summer, the temperature can reach  104°F in some areas, and in the winter, it can get down to -18 °F in January.  Traditionally, there are 40 days below zero each winter. The best time to go to Kyrgyzstan is said to be May-September so…I’ll probably feel right at home

The main ethnicities are: 68.9% Kyrgyz, 14.4% Uzbek, 9.1% Russian, and 7.6% others. Kyrgyzstan is pretty diverse all in all. There are many minority groups located throughout the country. The primary languages are Kyrgyz and Russian.

I think that’s enough of an overview for most of you…again, check out links online or stay tuned.  I just got an update today on what most of the volunteer sites will be like. It looks like almost all volunteers  for this coming year will be in rural areas.  Most places have okay cell phone service, but only a few villages have Internet.  Most volunteers get to an Internet café in a nearby city once or twice a month. Most Volunteers will learn and use the Kyrgyz language; however, I can choose to learn Russian on my own time if I would like.  I also got a revised packing list today, so let the shopping begin. I have 5 weeks from today to get it together.

I’m signing off to take in some of the Olympic reruns from the day. More later!

~ by Amber on February 19, 2010.