My camels! My retinue! My magic sword! My jellybeans! I leave at once for Samarkand!

Actually not, since Samarkand is in Uzbekistan, which is not a place the Peace Corps sends people. And not at once.

But a -stan is likely in my future, because if all goes well it's Central Asia for me in August. They haven't told me which country yet, but I'll be teaching English (and other projects on the side, maybe AIDS education) and using Russian. It seemed very bleak at first because I had no idea what was even there except a lot of grass and some mountains, but after doing my homework it seems they have some really beautiful grass and mountains, plus some people and horses and yurts. It's largely cold, which I like better than hot, and the weather is mostly beautiful due to it hardly ever raining. I'm looking forward to not getting malaria and other tropical diseases. A lot of the area is Muslim, which I'm excited about, but I won't have to stifle under a chador.

Also, the president of Turkmenistan who was doing stuff like outlawing recorded music and naming months of the year after himself died last month. My mother is pleased that if I go there it at least won't be with him.