New Assignment?

An update on the progress of our assignment: we have been told that it is possible that we will go to Central Asia. The Peace Corps serves in Kazakhstan, The Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan), Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. They also serve in the neighboring countries of Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and it is not clear if these countries count as Central Asian to the Peace Corps, as they lump both Eastern Europe and Central Asia into one big region for some reason. These countries are all on the old Silk Road, and were settled by Mongols during the reign of Ghengis Kahn. The Persian influence on these countries stretches into antiquity, as does Buddhism as conceived by converted Mongols and caravan traders. Contemporary Central Asia though is a mixture of traditional herdsman culture and old Soviet industry. In Kazakhstan, along the Caspian Sea, the petroleum industry is in full swing, but they still suffer under an authoritarian regime. The language of business and government is Russian, but over half of each countries' population are ethnic Central Asians (Kazakhs, Turkmen, Uzbeks, and Kyrgyz) and they speak their own languages (which are related to Turkish and Mongolian).

These possibilities are much more palatable to us than Bangladesh. Getting assigned to one of these countries depends on that country agreeing to allow another couple to be added to their volunteer list- they are currently full, but our contact in D.C. is trying to pull some strings and get us there. If we go there, we'd leave on Sept. 14th. We're crossing our fingers, but we're prepared to hear bad news.