If someone had told me before coming to Kyrgyzstan that this ceremony existed, much less that I would participate in it one day, I would have laughed at them. On Monday, my mother told me that the next day she would be doing something that involved making food to wish for good health for her family and other things. I didn’t think much of it, because that kind of stuff happens all the time. On Tuesday afternoon, I was in my room when Aichurok (my sister) came in and said that the family was making ash (a rice dish – known as plov in the North) and asked if I wanted to come watch. I was really tired, because it’s been a stressful week, so I said no. I also bowed out of the beginning of whatever ceremony they were doing, citing the same exhaustion. She left my room, saying that she would come to get me “when the women make the wishes”. At around 7:00, Aichurok knocked on my door again and motioned me across the hall. There, in a big empty room, sat four older neighbor women, a neighbor girl who’s probably around 13, my aunt, my mother, my grandmother, and my sisters. They all were sitting on the floor (which is normal here) around a tablecloth covered in bread, borsok (small pieces of fried bread), tea, a plate of raisons, a pile of cotton fluff, and two candles. After I sat down, my neighbor handed everyone a small piece of cotton fluff and a handful of raisons. It’s important to note now that raisons here have stems, and you have to pick the stems off before eating the raisons usually. I also was told to cover my head, which hadn’t happened to me yet in country. I was sitting next to my neighbor, who is often at my house talking with the family. She turned out to be the person conducting the ceremony, as I discovered when she started chanting. I was told to pick the stems off of the raisons in front of me and to put the stems themselves onto the piece of cotton and the raisons in a pile. While doing this, I was also told to say the things I wished for. All of the other women quickly started to mutter whatever it is they wished for (mostly good health for their families, from what I could make out) and de-stem the raisons. As the rest of us worked and muttered, my neighbor continued to chant, occasionally clicking her teeth violently and yelling “hup” really loudly. Every once in a while, all of us would hold our hands in front of us, palms up, slightly cupped, while my neighbor prayed, then pass our hands over our faces and say “omeen”(they do that after every meal and when passing graveyards, mosques, etc). Then we would all go back to the raisons. To add to the ridiculous situation, the woman on the other side of my neighbor apparently has an uncontrollable burping problem, so she loudly burped periodically throughout the entire evening. After I finished my pile of raisons, my neighbor told me to do hers for her. She then pulled out a notebook and started to read a story that was handwritten over several pages. The story was also punctuated with chanting, tooth clicking, “hup”ping, and omeening. After the story and chanting were done, she passed around a bowl of water that we all drank from and a jar of salt that we all ate a pinch of (this happens with a lot of ceremonies). We all closed the cotton over our raison stems and twisted the tops so it would stay closed. We passed them all to my aunt, who collected all of the cotton balls and placed them all onto a larger piece of cotton, which she closed around all of the smaller balls. They then took the candles and the cotton away and collected the raisons back onto one plate.
We then sat around and ate and gossiped for a while. First was the bread and candy course, then a cookie course, then the ash and sheep meat course. After we ate, everyone was given a bag full of bread, borsok, candy, walnuts, and raisons. I was also given a hand towel by my mother as a gift. At about 9:00, as soon as everyone was done with the ash, we all filed out of the room to go home. Now I am left bewildered. What exactly was I doing? What will they now do with a large cotton ball full of small cotton balls full of raison stems? Why did this happen at all? I may never quite know the answers to these questions, but I am enjoying my cup full of de-stemmed raisons…
Besides de-stemming raisons onto cotton balls, the past few weeks have been very eventful. I can’t exactly get into it, because I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I may have big news in the next few weeks. Peace Corps came for usual site visits that happen every year to check up on us, our work, our houses, and our families. Work has been far from ideal, so we’re all working together to try to fix it so that my situation improves. I’ll keep everyone posted as it unfolds.
As an example of the amount of free time and creativity I have here, last week, I had two major projects. Both of these were done while watching an entire season of Beverly Hills 90210 in two days (don’t worry, I’m judging myself too). First, I found a bag full of scraps of yarn left over from a summer camp. None of the pieces of yarn were really big enough to do anything with, but I had a lot of time, so I knit some of them into small squares. I then sewed those into a larger square of squares. Now I don’t know what to do with said square of squares, but I have it hanging off of my bookshelf. I put a pin into it, so it’s kind of a pincushion? My second project was what’s called a “peace corps wallet”. This is a paper wallet collaged with various clippings from magazines that a lot of volunteers make to keep busy. Most are just simple envelopes covered in magazine clippings. Anyone who remembers my handmade souvenirs from India will understand how mine is more complicated than most; it has two compartments, a coin part with a closure, and a fancy closure on the outside. It’s already been proven (by the intricate cd case made of Hindi handouts in India) that I can make pretty much anything if given a roll of tape and paper. I’m kind of scared to see what happens once real winter rolls around…
Otherwise, the thing that is keeping me going is planning a trip! Since almost no schools around here will be in session from late December until March (no electricity means no heat, which means no school), I’ll have plenty of free time and PC has been encouraging us to travel, since they don’t want us all to drop out because of the boredom and cold of winter. Because of this and because I’m already in Asia, my friend Nick and I are going to Thailand together in the first week of February. We plan on spending the entire week lying on the beach and eating seafood. I’m also really excited about the prospect of having a shower in the hotel room. By this point, it’s the little things that get me excited.
So, I don’t mean to be cryptic, but I really can’t say much and don’t know what exactly is going to happen, but between work and site visits, my life has been a rollercoaster of emotions for the past few weeks. As promised, Peace Corps has already provided me with really high emotional highs and really low lows, often in the same day, hour, or even minute. Luckily, I have an amazing support system with all of the other incredible volunteers in this area who have helped me cheer up, stay optimistic, and fight for what I need, and of course my fantastic mother with her curious phone calls.
Until next time, I hope everyone is doing great. Happy Thanksgiving, and all of that! We’re having a pie-off here on Thursday and a real Thanksgiving meal over the weekend, so don’t worry about me. It may not be America, but it will be tasty.

I'm not allowed to have any political opinions (or at least express them), but Obama!!! You all know what I'm feeling right now. I'm proud. I went down to Osh on Tuesday to help with a special class on the US election system (explaining the electoral college makes it obvious what an odd and unnecessarilly complicated system it is...) and to watch the commentary and results on international CNN. I feel like this will be one of those moments that everyone remembers where they were when they heard. I was in the American Center in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, with other volunteers, Kyrgyz students, and US embassy workers. That's pretty amazing.
Besides that, I don't really have much to say. It's pretty much been more of same recently. I do, however, have some pictures, so they should say more than I can now.





Ariel and her amazing counterpart. We (and by we, I obviously mean Ariel's counterpart) made the best samsas of my life. These were potatoes and cheese inside a baked bread pocket, kind of like samosas, with different fillings.










Last weekend, I went hiking in the walnut forest. It was a really foggy day, but the views were still spectacular


















The forest itself is kind of creepy with the fallen leaves and the fog. Sleepy Hollow, anyone?









More hiking views















We had hotdogs and roasted peppers for lunch. Luckily, our group had two Eagle Scouts and one ex Air Force guy. Apparently they can make a fire out of pretty much anything, including very wet wood.















My classroom












My room. Notice the SC pride.

Happy Halloween to all!
Last weekend was the big Halloween party in Osh city. It was held at a restaurant/bar and felt like a real American Halloween party. There was red beer, a DJ, party lights (with a fog machine!), and a lot of people all dressed up and ready to have a good time. The party was a lot of fun – we pretty much all danced for 4 straight hours, and the weekend as a whole was amazing. Osh is such a beautiful city! We also ate way too much food at an American-style restaurant (California Café). Throughout the weekend, I had pesto pasta, burritos, French toast, cheesecake, and brownies all ordered in English! Besides the party and eating, I also went to the bazaar (one of the largest in Central Asia), saw the largest Lenin statue in all of Central Asia, walked through the beautiful park, and even climbed a mountain which is the third holiest site in the Islamic world. From the top of the mountain (okay, so climbing it meant 15 minutes of stairs, but it’s still cool), there is such a beautiful view of all of Osh (which feels so huge now, compared to Jalalabad) and all of the mountains that surround it – into Uzbekistan even. It was also really great to see all of the other volunteers I hadn’t seen since we all left Bishkek over a month ago. The trip there and back was also really easy and beautiful. The marshrutka (a minibus which is the best way to get around here) was about two hours through beautiful countryside and only cost 100 som (about $2.85). I’d been sick for most of last week and definitely still was for the weekend, but I wasn’t about to let that stop me from having fun. On Monday, I found out officially it was yet another case of giardia (third time’s the charm?), which has pretty much cleared up with the help of some amazing medicine… I’m proud that I could still dance for 4 hours and climb a mountain, in that condition. What can I say, I’m hardcore.
I’m headed back to Osh next week, because some other volunteers are doing a special class on the American political system, and then watching the election on international CNN, so we’re probably going to spend the night at the “American center” (where they get CNN) and watch as history is made! I’m really excited because I was sure I was going to be completely cut off from the whole process, but now not only do I get to see it, but it should be really fun too.
For Halloween, a bunch of us are all getting together today. My weekend plans are this: spending Friday night in a creepy abandoned boarding school, watching Halloween movies, and going hiking in the world’s largest walnut forest on Saturday. Just your normal weekend, here in Kyrgyzstan…
I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and upcoming week.
Here’s hoping the news on Tuesday is good!



Osh City from Sulleiman Mountain




















More of Osh











Halloween -- Christie, Nate, and Lauren


















Volunteers and Pakistani med students made up a lot of the party.













Before leaving -- The girls
















Osh people went with the 80's theme...

The past few weeks have been relatively normal (or as normal as working in a Kyrgyz school can be for me right now). I passed the “one month at site” mark, which is exciting. It’s felt like a very long month, but adjusting is always going to be hard, so I’m excited about the next 23 months…

The class schedule I was given turns out to have been a big joke (funny, right?). I still wake up every morning with no idea what will happen in the next day, which keeps things exciting, I guess. I’ve gotten to be an expert at going with the flow, or as some of us decided the motto of PC Kyrgyzstan should be: “embrace the chaos”. Teaching, or trying to figure it out, is still an adventure. It’s still shocking to me how little English the 10^th and 11^th form students know. Today, I taught the alphabet to the 11^th form club (supposedly made up of the best students from the whole grade). Needless to say, they definitely needed the lesson.

To explain some of the limitations of teaching here, here is an excerpt from the 8^th from textbook:

If you can’t read it, it’s the section on the US. My favorite part says, “There are two main political parties in the USA: The Democratic (symbolized by a ) and the Republican (symbolized by an ). They both are parties of monopoly capitalists and the American people do not see any difference between them.”

Some exciting things that have happened in the past two weeks:

Since before I even moved in here, my sister had been talking about this wedding in the family that was happening in mid-October and how excited she was and everything. A few weeks ago, we went to the pa

rty. It turns out the wedding had already happened (a bride kidnapping ma

ybe? I’m not quite sure when or what that was), but the party was when they got presents. We got there at 10 and left at 4, and I pretty much ate non

stop the entire time. There was also dancing:

The lady in the orange dress and yellow scarf never cracked a smile, but she was breaking it down the entire time.

My sisters at the party

Last week was also the 11^thform’s “autumn ball”, their answer to senior prom. It was held in the basketball room at 1:00 on a Tuesday, complete with a table full of bread, juice, carrot salad, and a jar of pickles. Not quite what I remember from senior prom… I was invited by the whole class as an honored guest. Every time I would make any attempt at dancing, everyone would start clapping and cheering. I even got to slow dance (middle-school style) with a couple boys.

The typical boys who are too cool to dance

Always with the curious kids watching through the door, until they got chased away.

I’ve started a routine on my days off (by“routine” I mean I did it two of the past three free days, with this most recent free day off because of yet another fun bout of stomach problems). In this routine, I spend the morning walking around the village, taking in the beauty of the scenery, especially in this season.

Then I head into the next town over, get lunch at a nice (or very grungy but delicious and cheap) Uzbek café and run errands in the bazaar. It turns out to be a lovely way to spend my days and

get things done at the same time. It also means I now have a lot of pictures of my village. I hope to keep it up as much as possible until the weather makes it too unpleasant.

I really like the mountains, as you can tell

A very nice shephard lady watching her sheep

That's my village, in all of those trees

Also, in true Kyrgyz style, Lenin is always watching.

A pretty big pop star came to do a concert at my village, so my sister and I obviously went, and got there an hour early so that she could get an autograph. I found myself sitting backstage (or on folding chairs on the side of the stage) with a 14 year-old Kyrgyz pop star and his midget sidekick. The midget was getting very flirty. That can get added to the list of things I never thought I would do…

This picture is pure gold, in terms of how many cool points it could give me.

I found out yesterday that my host mother is probably moving to Russia this winter. Her friend works in a grocery store there and invited my mother to come work with her. It’s sad that someone can make enough more money working in a grocery store in Russia than as a nurse in Kyrgyzstan that my mother will leave her two-year-old daughter. Her leaving means that I get an entire house to myself, for the most part, though, which would be nice.

This is my official immediate family

This weekend is the famous Halloween party in Osh, and I’m heading down there tomorrow. Apparently over 20 volunteers will be there, which should be really fun. The party itself is at a café, and semi-decent beer and food and a party full of Americans and Pakistani med students has been promised. I’m excited, of course. I’m sure I will have plenty of pictures and stories for my next entry.

Until then, take care, and check back in later!

Some very exciting things have happened in my life this week!
I don’t know if people have heard, because supposedly it made big news, but on Sunday night, there was a pretty major earthquake here in the South. I was sitting in bed, reading a book, when I suddenly heard the windows start to rattle. I thought that was strange, since it hadn’t been windy or anything last time I checked. Then I realized that the bed was shaking too, and it didn’t take long to realize what was going on. I was alone in my house because my mother was at work and the rest of the family was in the other house, but I didn’t really think to be scared until later. I found some plaster on my floor the next morning, but no real damage was done here. Supposedly almost 100 people died in a village in Osh, where it was much more intense. So there’s my first natural disaster in Kyrgyzstan!
After a few weeks of waiting, I finally got a schedule of my classes this week! It was wrong when I got it, and people are still confused (because it involved moving classes around—apparently no one had really thought that I might need a schedule or anything before I asked for the 100th time), but I think it’s all ironed out now. I’m teaching with two different teachers, one for 11th form, and one for 9th form. “Teaching with” has very different meanings for the two teachers. For 11th form, I teach and my counterpart sometimes shows up, but usually is off talking to the builders. I never know what I’m supposed to be doing, but I’ve been able to pull some uninspired lessons out of a grammar book when I’m left completely on my own. The other teacher uses the English books left over from Soviet times and teaches extremely random, useless vocabulary. So far, some of the highlights that the students have “learned” are one lesson on the British education system where the students were taught four words: to apply, prestige, tutor, and curriculum vita. Yeah, the 11th form is learning pronouns, and the 9th form is learning curriculum vita. On Thursday, I’m not sure what the lesson was supposed to be on, but they learned Gulf Stream, mild, mine, miner, and to keep in mind. I’m positive that in all of the classes I have observed, I haven’t seen a single lesson plan in use or any foresight as to what will be taught before the teacher walks into the room at the beginning of class. I’m working on a way to start working on lesson plans without completely insulting my co-teachers.
I also started “English club” this week. On Thursday, I had 10th form, with the students handpicked as the best of the class. About 3 or 4 had some clue as to how to say a simple sentence, whereas the other 10 stared blankly at me. I’m assuming a lot of them will stop coming soon, so hopefully I can focus on the few who actually care. On Friday, I had 11th form, and even less of them were at all cooperative. Next week, I agreed to do another club for 7th form, which I’m hoping will be more fun, because 7th formers aren’t quite as “cool” and distant as their older counterparts.
I had another breakthrough in my life here. I’ve been feeling bad about eating with my family recently, because I have lost the ability to stomach most of the meat (I realized that swallowing chunks of unchewed sheep meat is not healthy, but was the only way I could eat it without gagging—I really am a texturephobe), and I don’t drink milk, which makes most of the food my family eats completely useless to me. Monday night was the low point for me. We were eating dinner by candlelight, because the electricity goes out between 5 and 10 most nights. Dinner consisted of horse meat and potatoes, so I was picking around at the potatoes, pretending to eat. That will go down as the night when I realized how similar potatoes and large chunks of horse fat look by candlelight. After eating several large pieces of horse fat and weathering my grandmother yelling at me (though I can’t understand a word of it) for not eating the meat, I decided enough was enough. Since then, I’ve been cooking for myself. We have a gas stove, but so far no gas (supposedly we’re getting it on the 20th), so I’ve had to adopt a strange schedule. Since the power goes out at 5, I have to cook around 4:30, so I eat a big lunch, a smaller meal around 4:30, and another stack later if I’m hungry. My family’s not very happy that I’m not eating dinner with them, because they don’t understand that I count my 4:30 meal as dinner, but hopefully they’ll soften soon. Once the gas gets here, I can cook whenever I want, and that should make it better. This new development has made my life so much better, though. The food has been amazing – no meat, no oil, lots of flavor, pretty much the opposite of Kyrgyz food. The real breakthrough has been psychological, though. Having just a little control over my own life has made me realize just how important that control is to me. Before this week, I was told what to do all the time. At school, I’m shuffled from place to place, then I come home and people tell me when to eat, to drink more tea, what to eat, and it was driving me crazy. Now that I’ve taken a stand, I’ve been much happier.
I also had one of the most pleasant days ever on Wednesday. None of the English teachers work on Wednesdays, so I don’t either. I woke up at my normal time, ate a leisurely breakfast with my family, then went to my room and did an exercise dvd (thanks, Mom!). Then I got a taxi into town, and in the taxi made friends with a nice man. I accidentally promised to teach his 5th form daughter English (he stopped by my classroom on Thursday to schedule the classes – we start on Monday), and he insisted on paying for my taxi ride in exchange. I then went to buy some food for dinner, and stopped by my favorite chickpea lady – she’s an incredibly warm woman who cooks giant pots of chickpeas and sells them with really good spices on them. I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m Danielle, or was asking about Danielle, but she’s really sweet and the chickpeas are amazing, so I don’t really mind. Then I went to pick up a package from my mom (thanks, Mom!), and came home to sit in my window seat (or the ledge I’ve turned into a window seat), drink real American coffee (thanks, Mom!), eat cookies, and read a book. It’s amazing how the simple things can make me so happy.
With a class schedule, and clubs in the afternoon, I’m starting to get a lot busier, which is good. I’m also settling into a routine, which is really comforting (I am definitely your daughter, Dad). It’s still exciting to figure out life here, though. Next week, my cousin is getting married, so I get to experience my first real Kyrgyz wedding. I’m sure I’ll have some good stories from that!
Hope everyone’s doing well!
Love to all!

Also, here's a map of my house area. I have a lot of free time.

Instead of any coherent thoughts (you really can't expect too much from me), here is a list of fun facts and updates, jotted between classes yesterday.
-- I haven't bathed in 20 days (as an update, this morning, aka day 21, I took an incredible cold shower that changed my life and made me feel a lot less tan than before)
-- Did you know Santa Claus lives in Kyrgyzstan? Some Swiss engineers wit far too much time on their hands decided that, in order to reach every house in one night, Santa had to be leaving from Kyrgyzstan. Nationally, this is the "year of Santa". He plays a big part in New Years celebrations. This year should be especially interesting.
-- My counterparts claim the fence will be done next week. I translate that as two months from now.
-- Still no sign of a schedule for my classes. Whenever I ask, the other teachers just say they're so busy with the fence. Every day is like the first day, just over and over and over...
-- Sometimes, classes of students show up in my classroom, expecting to be taught. I usually have no idea who they are, what class they're in, or what to do with them. All the teachers ever tell me is to teach pronouns (I've taught them to 9th, 10th, and 11th grades. Apparently that's what they're learning this year). "Winging it" is very difficult with little language knowledge, skills, experience, or training.
--Inside apricot pits, there is a little seed. It tastes a lot like an almond and was a very pleasant surprise.
-- It's also walnut season now, here near the largest walnut forest in the world. I had bread, coffee, and fresh walnuts (they just fell off the tree) for breakfast. My mother told me if I eat walnuts, I won't get the flu. I'm willing to test out this theory.
-- I broke my family's heart this week. On the same day, their cows (3 adults and 2 babies) came home from summering in the mountains (yeah, I said it), so I had to tell them I don't like milk (blasphemous!). Then, for lunch, they served me a plate of sheep lungs and onions, so I told them I don't eat much meat (even more blasphemous!). Their eyes expressed confusion, sadness, offense, and concern all at the same time. Now it's a fun activity to talk about my meat intake during dinner. Always fun to be talked about.
The power's about to go out, so I have to end this.
Please update me on the world, to make my trips to the internet more exciting!
Love to all!
Leslie

So I had a long, semi eloquent explanation of my first week at my permanent site written, but this computer is all in Russian and I can't find how to get to my flash drive, so I'm going to give up and write another less eloquent explanation.
Last Thursday (September 18), I became an official Peace Corps volunteer, after three months of being a "trainee". The ceremony was nice, with my host family and the teacher I will be working with in the audience. Afterward, we had a night with all of us at the same hotel. We had a party in one room, with a lot of people and no electricity (c'est la vie here), which reminded me how much I love our group of volunteers.
Early Friday morning, however, reality hit and we left to fly to Osh and drive to J-bad from there. Since then, I have been living in my village, adjusting and trying to figure out everything.
The transition has been pretty difficult, because several things working together. First, I left Kant with a cold that has since become a lung and sinus infection. I am on a lot of antibiotics now, so I should be feeling better in a few days, but the past week or so has been spent with me exhausted from hacking up my lungs all day.
Also, my predicessor, Danielle, had a big project at the end of her service that was building a fence around the school grounds. The project isn't done yet, so I had to pick up where she left off. Peace Corps says that we aren't supposed to do any big projects for at least the first three months of service, because we need time to adjust and we have training in January on how to do projects, so I dont' know what's going on now. On my first day, I spent more time shopping for welding supplies than at school. My counterpart is much more interested in the project than in me teaching, because everyone wants the project to be over as fast as possible.
Teaching has also been a struggle. I've spent a lot of time sitting in my classroom while the English teachers fight in Kyrgyz about my schedule. After days of that, I still don't have a schedule. I've taught a few classes, with differing success. Each grade are divided into three or four class (A, B, V, and G), with A being the best students and V or G being the worst. Yesterday, my counterpart and I taught 10th grade A and B together, then she threw me into a room with 10 V and left for the entire period. The boys in the class were aweful. The girls at least put a tiny bit of effort into the assignment they were supposed to be doing, but the boys were aweful. I quickly became a real teacher-- yelling at them and even confiscating a cell phone (one boy kept trying to take pictures of me with his phone. He deserved it). By the end, the boys had all copied the right answers from the girls, and I had given up on them. Hopefully, I can talk to my counterpart to let her know that I can't be alone with them.
One extreme positive so far, however, has been my family. They have been extremely warm and inviting to me. My mother is really cute and sweet. The boys have started to say hi to me (a big step for teenage boys). My two year-old sister is a great source of entertainment, especially since my language is so limited. A few days ago, she found a book with pictures of Americans, and went through and pointed to every girl and said "Lesie Ejey" (Lesie = the closest she can get to Leslie, and Ejey = older sister/respectful term for a girl older than you). My 14 year-old sister has been amazing, since her English is so good. She's been really helpful with the adjustment and explaining everything to me. She's also a really sweet girl, so we've had fun together. My aunt and grandmother are both nice, though we don't talk much. Even the dogs I was terrified of before have turned out to be really nice. The houses are nice too-- I like living with so many animals around the yard.
After my first day of school, I was extremely frustrated and pretty upset about how things were happening. Aichuruk, the 14 year-old, asked if I wanted to go for a walk with her. We walked out to the edge of another village, and then turned back. As we turned around, so did my mood. In front of me was such a gorgeous view -- the sun was setting over a row of weeping willows, with the mosque poking up above them. All around me was farmland, full of sunflowers and wheat. It was amazing how quickly I became content again. It's the little things in life that make it what it is.
Last night was the two-year anniversary of my grandfather's death, and a big party. The family spent all day cooking and killing a sheep. They let me help make borsok (little pieces of fried bread) and clean out the sheep's intestines. Needless to say, I found one activity more pleasant than the other, but I'm glad they're letting me help. In the evening, a lot of people came to the house, and we spent hours cooking, eating, and sitting. There was one room full of men, and two full of women and children. I was pretty exhausted from being sick, so the hours of sitting got tiring, but it was great to be able to watch such a big group of women enjoying themselves.
The movement from training to work has been interesting and challanging, but I'm still very excited about what I am doing here. I'm looking forward to settling in and getting a routine, as well as getting to know my family and my village better.
Also, I heard recently that you can send me text messages for free online! Go to http://megacom.kg (my cellphone company) (when it first loads, click where it says "eng" for english). On the left, click on the second option, "send SMS" and scroll down. My number is 996550 (the second option) then 324451. Be sure to say who you are, so I don't get confused. Also, remember that my cell phone is my alarm clock, and we're 10 hours ahead of the East coast here, so don't wake me up, or I'll get cranky. Other than that, please do say hi if you want!
I'll post more when I can next!