Life so far...

I have been in Central Asia for just over a week now (although some times it feels like much, much longer since we arrived)! We have done so much in so little time. I love it!!  To recap, here are some of the highlights from my first few days here:

• Arrived safely with all my luggage & had NO problems getting my visa or going through customs! I was met by everyone on my team at the airport which was so refreshing! I also finally got to meet my roomate, Sarah, for the first time face-to-face. She is wonderful!
• Our apartment is a blessing! I live with Sarah and two other girls on the 8th floor of our building (also happens to be the top) and we have a beautiful view of the city spreading as far as we can see in every direction. I still can't get over the fact that millions of people live in this city alone. We live near a highway and hundreds of other apartment buildings, AND if we hang our heads far enough out the window, we can even see water!
• There is constant noise all the time from the traffic on the streets. There are SO many new noises, smells, sounds, sights, etc...so different from the quiet Eastern Shore!
• Our first Saturday here, one of the ladies on our team took Sarah and I to our neighborhood pazar (like a huge flea market). Most of the neighborhoods in the city have a weekly pazar. It is an open-air market in the streets and ours is every Saturday. You can seriously buy everything you want from dresses to shoes to table linens to fans and EVERYTHING in between. It is also relatively cheap to buy things at the pazar - plus you can get a great deal when you barter. Shopping for produce here is a dream - it is big, beautiful & cheap!
• Currently we are most learning some basic language & transportation. These two facets of life seem to create most of the ups & downs that we have. It is exhausting to be trying to decipher everything in a new language. Needless to say, we have already gotten on the wrong bus more than once. We will learn.
• Every minute of every day is a very new and humbling experience as we struggle through language barriers and order simple meals.
• We spent most of this week on the other side of the city (which also happens to be on another continent) in an orientation with six other students as we prepared for our tasks this fall. It was a very encouraging time as we got to hear teaching from the Word and many topics related to our work.