March 4th, 2004

Well the word is getting around--"What are you up to Dan?" "Oh you know, working, hanging out, going to Kazakhstan." I try really hard to sound unaffected, probably at the risk of not sounding excited (which I am), and deep down I want to feel like I'm not just doing it to be special. I don't want to seem conceited. I mean, heck, I've never done anything like this, and most of the people I know haven't either; I don't want to seem like I think I'm special because "I'm going and you're not. Nyah nyah."

When I tell people, it feels like I'm just trying to get my fifteen minutes of fame, or I'm doing it for the rush and attention, but once I get over there, and the glory fades, I will back up and go AWOL. I tell myself I won't--You won't Daniel, you won't. I usually say it will be quite an experience, which it will. It's kind of my default statement, you know like "Hey Daniel, you want to eat this pickle-juice snow cone?" "Sure, it'll be quite an experience." Or "Hey Dan, you want to jump off this cliff?" "Man, that'll be quite an experience." I say this statement simply because, being a practical person, there are some things that any sane person would be terribly excited about. Smelly latrines, maddening mosquitos, drunk teenagers that mug you, dirty russian cops, boiled sheep-head: "Quite an experience..." That's all I have to say.

But yeah I'm excited. I'm excited about learning to function in a new language, meeting interesting people and making new friends, eating horse sausage (yes, I'm excited about that, it's kind of a novelty in America, yet can you name ten Americans that condemn the eating of horse meat and have actually tried it), and watching a rousing tourney of goat-carcass polo...in the SNOW (also a novelty in Texas). Heck yeah, it's gonna be a blast.