GLOSSARY

PC: Peace Corps
PCT: Peace Corps Trainee. Our title during training.
PCV: Peace Corps Volunteer. What a trainee becomes after swearing in at the end of training.
RPCV: Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. What a volunteer becomes after completing two years of service.

PST: Pre-Service Training. Roughly the first three months of any PC experience.
IST: In-Service Training

LCF: Language and Cross-cultural Facilitator. Our language teachers during training.
PCMO: Peace Corps Medical Officer. A very important person in any PC Country.

Marshrutka: Daewoo minivans that are used as public share taxis. They travel the same routes as buses, but they don‚t have fixed stops. You can get on and off at any different places. They are also a bit more expensive. This year, buses cost 75 sum and marshrutkas are 125 sum. Marshrutkas are the most common form of transportation here. In busy parts of town, boarding a marshrutka becomes a skill. It‚s amazing how many people can squeeze into a vehicle with eight seats.

Sum: Uzbek currency. Legally, $1 equals about 1,100 sum. On the black market, you can get a bit more. Uzbekistan might have convertibility within a year. I'm interested to see how life here will change when that happens.
              
For a closer look at Uzbek Currency, CLICK HERE

Opa: Respectful name for older women. It means "big sister".

Babushka: Grandmother, in Russian.

Choi: Tea, black or green. In Uzbek, green tea is called "kuk choi", which means blue tea. Uzbeks generally drink their tea lighter than what we are used to. Maybe this is just the way they drink tea. But I have notices that poorer Uzbek families drink their tea especially light.

Omin: An Uzbek tradition to say a verbal prayer after meals. The prayers are said in Uzbek and usually are wishes for happiness, success, health and good times in the future.

Piyola: An Uzbek teacup. It is a small ceramic bowl with no handles.

Zavooch: Assistant director of a school. This person is in charge of scheduling and discipline.

Tandir: A tandoor oven. In Uzbekistan, they are hollowed out waist-high domes of clay. Bread, which is usually made flat and round, is stuck to the inside of a hot tandir and cooks in about 15 minutes.

Sovhoz: A Soviet term for collective farm.

Bobo: Grandfather‚ in Uzbek. The term is used to refer to elderly men in general. Grandmother/elderly women is buvi.

Iftar: derived from the word for breakfast in Arabic.

Osh: One of the national foods of Uzbekistan. It's a greasy rice, carrot and mutton dish found all over Central Asia. There are regional variations. Sometimes it has chick peas and raisins.

Eid: Celebration in Arabic.