Pennsylvania

The Peace Corps is advertised as an organization encompassing adventure and thrills in the deepest corners of earth. At least, that’s what I thought before I applied. Needless to say, I’m gravely disappointed. They say that once a member your life will immediately become one of fun and adventure while you are helping the people of a far-away country to get along. The fun on the south shore of Issyk-Kul comes every once in awhile; usually without warning like a flash flood or a creepy snake. But every once in a while myself and a few of the residents of Darkan have just such an occurrence. One of these occurrences is what I will tell you about today. It all happened one day at lunch.
I had come from school to chai ich (or ‘drink tea’ for you laypersons) and was in the process of chi iching with my Eje and Kanat, my 8th grade host brother, present at the scene. In some round-about way the conversation switched from what to do with a sheep’s head after severing it from the body to Pennsylvania. I was telling what little I know about Pennsylvania, that lots of Mormons live there, when Kanat asked if I had heard of Van Helsing. ‘Van Helsing?’ says I with a very wrinkled brow. (the wrinkled brow denoting confusion) I said that I had and then went into my very short monologue on Van Helsing; AKA: what I’d seen in movies which may or may not be real. Still a bit confused I inquired as to our sudden conversational switch from one of the fifty U.S. States (Pennsylvania) to Van Helsing, a long-dead person who may or may not have been real and lived somewhere in Romania. To which Kanat replied, “Because Van Helsing says, ‘Welcome to Pennsylvania!’” And this, I thought, was gut-splittingly funny. My host brother and Eje did not share the same amusement as I did but as I filled them in on the details they chuckled a little.