Hi Everyone,
So this is a tour of my house. Some of these pictures are old and some are new. I tried to pick some from various seasons to show how things change. I live with a grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, aunt (sometimes), and five sisters ages 2 to 20. But the house is pretty big so there's enough room for everyone. It is laid out in the traditional Uzbek fashion. You can basically walk by the front of most houses here and tell if the family is Uzbek, Kazakh, or Russian. The construction layouts are that different.
This is the front corner of our house. This picture is from a few weeks ago. We're at the intersection of two small streets. The streets are paved, just not very well. The front corner of the house is the mini-market my family runs out of their house. My dad was a mechanical engineer at the Soviet farm equipment factory in town. After independence, he started the market and also sells timing belts and other car parts he buys wholesale in the city (and he grows a ton of food in the yard). My Mom's a teacher at a school.
The same corner in winter. This is the warmest part of Kazakhstan; no complaining here :)
Our front gate, which off to the right in the previous pictures. Houses here are compounds; there is no concept of "curb appeal".
Inside the market on the corner of the house. That's Malika, sister #4, and a neighbor kid playing Uno. I taught them how to play last winter and now I can't beat any of my sisters at it. They sell ice cream, cigarettes, bread, soda, etc. (no alcohol)
As you walk through the gate, the actual house is in an "L" shape (which forms the wall of the compound) and you're at the very end of the leg of the "L". You walk through the car port, where my dad has his car, an early 90's Audi, turn a bit to the left, and this is the view. This is the courtyard, the front door is ahead, the garden is out to the right. This picture is from late fall.
This is almost the same view, a few weeks ago. It is probably an ethnic requirement that all upstanding Uzbek houses have a trellis over the courtyard with grapevines growing. One of the other volunteers came here and said, "dude, you live in the garden of Eden"
If you walk out to the right, this is the view facing the garden. At the back of the lot is a sheltered area for their three cows and four sheep, plus random storage. The outhouse is off to the right.
Almost the same view in early spring.
The same view in summer. There are roses, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, parsley, carrots, pumpkin, apples, walnuts, and apricots. Oh, and grapes. :)
Closer view. It's hard to show everything in a picture.
From the previous views, if you turn around 180 degrees, there is this sitting area. It's covered, but open on one side. We eat dinner here in the summer and watch tv. You don't really wanna go in the house when it's really hot; it's cooler outside. Also, three or so of my sisters sleep out here in the summer. And the table, no matter inside or outside, is about knee height. You sit on the cushions.
The view from the sitting area out to the garden
Our roses, in full bloom. Early summer, I think.
My dad took like ten minutes taking this picture. He ended up squatting in the middle of the bushes. Medina (2) is sister #5. She is very good at sprinting into my room, grabbing something, then sprinting out. 
My mom and oldest sister chopping up cabbage and carrots to preserve for the winter (taken last fall). They stuff it in jars, squeeze out as much juice as possible, then put them in the cellar.
The calf
One more picture. This is not from our yard. It's from Tajikistan. These little groundhog things, called Hamyeks, were about the only wildlife out in the mountains. They make this warning sound like a bird call and then run into there burrows when you approach. That's it for now. So now you see how I live, and why I don't complain too much, the house is a lot nicer than what many other volunteers live in. It's dinner time, I've gotta go :)
Take care,
Eric
