The multi-purpose fridge

One noticeable difference between a kitchen in America and a Kitchen in Kazakhstan is the refrigerator. For a while we didn't even have one here. It's cold enough in the winter that we just put our stuff on the front porch, and in the summer... just don't buy stuff that spoils.

In December my family got a huge, new, pure white fridge, and I noticed something really weird - it stayed white. Nothing was posted on it, no pictures, no magnets, no notes. Nothing. It was so strange to see a plain, white, magnetic surface with absolutely nothing clinging to it. So at the beginning of the summer, I made a calendar for my family to see where I would be and when and I used a magnet to put it on the side of the fridge.

This was the best idea ever, according to my host mother. I returned after a couple weeks of camps to find it covered in notes to my host brothers. "Don't forget! Feed the dog! Do the dishes! Don't spend too much time talking on the phone!"

It is the beginning of a new era.