valerie
August 28, 2024 - sign at another volunteer’s school that says “Sports ground” in Kyrgyz (спорт аянтчасы)
(аянт is also ‘square’, like in a city, but also just learned that аянт can be mathematical area, so similar to English word ‘area’. ча is diminutive for smthg small. сы is possessive case)
August 27, 2024 - neighbor’s apple tree and my host family’s house. (You can see the house over the fence because it’s two stories. There are a few two-story houses in my village but most of them are one)
August 26, 2024 - recently painted gym floor at my school. Even though the entire school is repainted every year (does this happen anywhere else? It seems like a wild waste of time and resources to me..), I’m pretty sure the colorful design on the floor is new
August 25, 2024 - sign of guests at your house
(the future bride of a man living across the street moved into his house yesterday - the guests were here to celebrate the occasion)
August 24, 2024 - this is the place where I usually go to pet Mr. Cow, but it’s temporarily blocked by just-picked potatoes. I can’t believe it’s already potato picking season
(by the way, Mr. Cow is Zoya the calf’s older brother)
August 23, 2024 - my bike! The people who read this blog and actually know me IRL (only a few?) are probably shocked to see this…I finally learned how to ride a bike last year at 27 years old 🙃 the day I got this bike (1 month ago) was the 4th time I ever rode a bike. Now I ride almost every day
August 22, 2024 - picture of the yurt we stayed in at Song-Kul. I had only stayed in yurt once before this, but that yurt did not have beds…there were 5 beds in this yurt, 4 side by side and one in the back. There was also a small stove for heating (not visible here)
August 21, 2024 - I only know about Dr. Rabbit thanks to the meme side of the Internet, and I had never seen him in real life before this, and definitely not in Russian
(but for real though, strawberry flavored toothpaste sounds good?!)
August 20, 2024 - group of people who were playing games on the street. The street is being redone, so it’s closed to all vehicular traffic. There was a race at one point. I assumed the people were renting space at the banquet hall building on the right
August 19, 2024 - I wanted to make guacamole, but knew it wouldn’t be special without a good bag of chips. Unfortunately, you can’t buy tortilla chips at normal supermarkets here. You have to get them from specialty shops with imported goods, so they are expensive 😥
(did buy, btw 😂 just 1 time!!)
August 18, 2024 - purchased from a store in Bishkek with Chinese snacks. Even though okra is advertised on the bag, there was only one inside 😭 which made me sad because okra is generally not available in Kyrgyzstan. Otherwise, the bag was like other fruit/vegetable chips that I’ve had before, good!
August 16, 2024 - a student invited me to eat lunch at her house yesterday. her mom was very chatty but very sweet. they also have a kitten! the student said the kitten likes to play, but it was hard to believe when she was crashed out like this! it was really hot yesterday afternoon, though 😥
August 15, 2024 - memorial to a hero named Olzhobolot uulu Andash (Andash, son of Olzhobolot) at Lake Song Kul. the plaque on the memorial says he helped fight against Kazakhs, but I can’t seem to find any other info about him in the internet. (it’s entirely possible that I didn’t try hard enough)
August 14, 2024 - honey with sea buckthorn that I bought in Issyk-Kul 🙂 there’s a lot of wild sea buckthorn that grows in Issyk-Kul and Naryn, maybe other regions of Kyrgyzstan too
August 11, 2024 - the highest point on our hike to Lake Song-Kul at 3400 meters / 11,150 feet. We drove part of the way from Kyzart village on flat roads, and then got out to hike the uphill part. I think it was around a 13 km hike (one way)
August 5, 2024 - the inside toilets at my school are finished and they look really nice! Here’s to hoping we will actually be able to use them..
(also, remember that picture of the window that I used to climb in and out of the school? …yeah, it’s this bathroom’s window 😅)
