valerie
March 24, 2025 - the most unusual gift I have ever received as a teacher. From two 6th grade boys. Maybe it was a prank (they just put it on my desk), but I know they like me as a teacher and they were adamant that I take it 😂 maybe it’s defective? (other than the missing leg and pen marks)
March 22, 2025 - was grading tests that my students took before spring break. First, I was using a pink pen, and then it ran out of ink. Then I changed to this purple pen. It had an oopsie, but luckily not on any test papers
March 21, 2025 - ad for an art museum in a village outside of Bishkek. Seen at a cafe
(also, Happy Nooruz!)
March 17, 2025 - at the park where I took the squirrel picture yesterday. The sign says “Kyrgyz-Korea Friendship park” in Kyrgyz (and I assume in Korean too, but I can’t read Korean)
park has been here a while but only recently (in the past year?) was it given this friendship name/status
March 15, 2025 - I guess the chips which come in a tin at this store are not for short people like me. (Was on an unsuccessful hunt for original Pringles?! Didn’t see any at 4 stores…so bought paprika Pringles and original Spar ‘pringles’ instead)
(btw, does the US have paprika Pringles?)
March 14, 2025 - International Women’s Day gift (late because we weren’t in the same place until today)
March 13, 2025 - more USAID materials (the Kyrgyz book on the left is a translated version of the English book on the right). Both books are pretty hefty, so the translation work must have been a big project
March 10, 2025 - put this sign outside our English classroom earlier this school year and now students ask, “May I come in?” in English
once, I took it off the wall to show a student in the classroom, and this monstrosity happened 🙃 good thing Kyrgyz schools are repainted every year
March 9, 2025 - not only was yesterday International Women’s Day, but it was also Grandma’s 70th birthday, so 6 of her 7 children (4 daughters and 2 sons - my host dad is her oldest son) and their children were at our house yesterday. One daughter brought small gifts for all the girls and women
March 7, 2025 - my Women’s Day haul. (It’s tomorrow, but we don’t work, so we celebrated today)
Most meaningful was a note in Kyrgyz with a candy from students I taught last year. Later they returned and gave me a carnation bouquet made of tissue colored with marker and a note in English 🥺
March 5, 2025 - beautiful lighting this morning 😊
(Also, Happy Kalpak Day! The kalpak is a white, traditional Kyrgyz hat worn by men, and is said to represent the white mountains in Kyrgyzstan)
March 4, 2025 - my host mom cooking beans for the first time that I’ve ever seen. She said she wants to use them in a salad. She also said she ate beans a lot in her childhood because they grew where she lived. But beans don’t grow here, so people here rarely eat them. I’m excited for beans!
March 3, 2025 - a new bell/speaker system at school that plays komuz music after every lesson
and the national anthem was played in the morning, which had never happened here before on a normal school day
(actually, the Kyrgyz gov announced a contest last month to change the national anthem..)
March 2, 2025 - had to navigate through cow city on the way home from my walk this morning. They were going to the fields to graze
March 1, 2025 - today is the first day of Ramadan fasting, so I went out and got my daily 6000 steps early. (Don’t know how feasible it is to do both the whole month, but I will try). Sometimes I see this old woman walking in the morning. Here she is walking home, down her street (I guess)
