Wowie!

I know, I know, I just posted last week and so it's unreasonable to expect any of you to check back in so soon for an unprecidented note, but this is just so exciting that I have to tell someone back home.

April 22nd was Lenin's birthday, and in honor of the holiday I sent a message to my buddy Jose down south.  This is the same friend I visited a few weeks ago for the kokpar and camel tour.  His site is very remote and quite conservative, and even though we stayed in different homes and took pains to inform everyone that we're just friends, the rumors still flew that we were a couple.  

Anyways, a few hours after my text, Jose called.  "Guess what?" he said, "my Kazakh tutor's cow
gave birth to a new calf today!" When I was in town we spent lots of time with this man and his family, singing songs and eating with our hands.  

"That's awesome," I replied, "Did they name the calf Lenin?"

"No," he said, "they actually named it Nora..."  

Naturally I thought he was kidding, but then his tutor got on the phone and confirmed that, yes, the new calf was indeed named Nora.  "Don't be offended, ok?" he asked in his quick Kazakh.

I wasn't fast enough to respond to him, so I passed my response along through Jose, "Tell him this is probably the coolest honor I've ever received in my life!"  

And truly, it is.  There is a little calf, a sign of spring and a source of milk and wealth, named Nora!  Wow.  Jose reports that calf-Nora has a mother named Micah and almost reddish hair.  

When we were in training, our acting Country Director told us many stories about her 4-year service in Indonesia.  Ten years later she returned to find the kindergarten/feeding program she started still up and running, and even more astonishingly, that there were three children named after her.  One of them, unfortunately, was a beautiful girl named Schmidt.  

I may not be the super volunteer worthy of children named Williams, but there is a special cow!

Love,
Nora

PS Happy Orthodox Easter.  Last night I stood at church from 10.30pm -3.00am for the Easter vigil.  It was quite an evening.