valerie
February 18, 2025 - first day of English Olympiad. Speaking day! Here were all of this year’s topics. Each participating student picked one at random and spoke about it. Then they had to answer follow-up questions from judges (us), and we decided that each judge would be responsible for a few topics
February 17, 2025 - relatively new restaurant in Kochkor. It’s so nice! I didn’t actually eat there when I went this past weekend (because I had already eaten lunch before going in), but I want to eat there next week!
February 15, 2025 - namazkana (намазкана, prayer room) in a hall of other suites/offices Kochkor, Kyrgyzstan
February 14, 2025 - made envelopes and had students write nice messages to each other in English club yesterday. I told them they could take their envelopes home, and didn’t think to take a picture of all of them before
February 13, 2025 - Bishkek buses now accept payment by card and QR code. I heard they wouldn’t take cash, but the drivers do still accept cash. It’s just a little more expensive than paying electronically. This is a coupon you can take if you pay by cash to prove to a controller that you paid
February 12, 2025 - not exactly sure what they are planning to do here, but this part of the road from the center of Kochkor to Ormon Khan Park is a full-on construction zone (and has been since maybe last fall?). The arch in the distance is the entrance to the park
February 10, 2025 - my digestive system was distressed yesterday afternoon and a bit this morning, so I bought some crackers after school. This was all I could find in the one shop I went to (was too lazy to try others). They’re essentially thick, bland Goldfish. And it’s a pretty big bag, too..
February 9, 2025 - my sister painted her wardrobe recently. I have no idea if she asked her parents (or even had to ask her parents) for permission or not. I think it’s cool
February 8, 2025 - I’m not sure why there is a Kyrgyz language and culture display set up in the lobby of our school, but it gave me a little whiplash when the display suddenly changed from celebrating the Russian language to the Kyrgyz language. It could be here bc Feb 21 is Mother Language Day
February 7, 2025 - I read the Sadako and 1000 paper cranes story in school, but can’t remember when…I think after 2nd grade. I’m reading the 2nd grade Kyrgyz language textbook and found these lovely pictures that show the background for Sadako’s story. a small atomic bomb on the next page, too 🙃
February 5, 2025 - old bus stop in my village that is no longer used, at least not by an actual bus. The village taxi drivers usually congregate around here
February 4, 2025 - back of a Kyrgyz book I read whose publication was sponsored by Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Education and USAID. There’s a small collection of these books in the library and I often see younger students carrying them around school. This is what you want to stop?
February 3, 2025 - taken from my favorite road to walk down lately because it has fewer cars than the main roads. This is facing west, but this road goes to the east, so farther away from the mountains pictured (though it gets closer to other mountains)
February 2, 2025 - two young horses I saw on yesterday’s walk. I think the shadow of the black horse looks funny 😁
February 1, 2025 - arm wrestling table at my school. It’s usually here in the hall just outside the gym, but I have seen it used during at least one student ‘performance’ event (I think it was during Nooruz last year?)
January 31, 2025 - a real guard dog this time. This dog likes to chase cars when they drive by, so I’m scared to get close to it
January 30, 2025 - “sausage shop buying cow and horse meat”. The sign on top seems to be an updated version of the one below since the phone number is the same
Interesting example of Krussian (Kyrgyz and Russian). колбасный цех = sausage shop (Ru), but with a Kyrgyz ending “ке”, to/for the shop
January 29, 2025 - found this while looking for moisturizer. The ‘Avocardio’ pun is cute, but the ‘коррекция фигуры’ (figure correction) description is odd. Maybe it just means a ‘slimming cream’, but it sounds harsh to my English ears
(Google says ‘body shaping’, so maybe it sounds ok in Russian)
January 28, 2025 - someone in my village has a Spar truck? (Spar is here in Kyrgyzstan, but it arrived not long ago, maybe 2023? And as far as I know, the closest Spar to me is ~80 km away)
January 27, 2025 - sign for a ясо shop. Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
(ok I’m just being silly, it’s мясо but with the м mostly faded. мясо = meat, in Russian)
January 26, 2025 - Cheetos for her (для неё) and Cheetos for him (для него). A Valentine’s Day promotion? Either way, I don’t understand why this is necessary
