valerie
July 10, 2025 - on Tuesday was stuck at a teacher’s house because of rain. She showed me the shyrdak (colorful patterned Kyrgyz felt carpet) she had in progress (bottom and top left; top right is finished). She said these will become cushions for chairs rather than carpets for the ground
July 9, 2025 - it was so hot here last week, in the 80s F, about 30 C (which feels really hot when you’re up in the mountains!). Finally back down to the 60s F and 17-20 C because of passing rain. I don’t like hot weather, but I also don’t like rain…but if I had to choose one, I’d rather have rain
July 8, 2025 - ever wanted to spray 15+ things into your hair, but worried you would inevitably forget something? Well, now there’s hope!
July 6, 2025 - took advantage of a sunny day to go on a (long) walk to another village. It was close to the mountains. Hitchhiked back with a lovely family who was on their way to Issyk-Kul to relax. They said that the primary industry of their village is raising cows and horses
July 5, 2025 - a bouncy place for kids that I saw for the first time in Kochkor. There were clothes and toy shops in the same area
July 4, 2025 - Kol-Ukok Lake (Көл Үкөк), about 20km from Kochkor. You can stay in a yurt here, but my friend and I just visited for the day. You can hike there, ride a horse there, or get a taxi there. We opted for a taxi since we were short on time, but it was expensive and the road was very bumpy
July 1, 2025 - cute gray kitten I saw in Kochkor. It was using one of its back paws to scratch as I took the picture
June 29, 2025 - winding river in a neighboring volunteer’s village
(this river also flows through my village, but I don’t usually take the time to walk there because it’s a little far from my house)
June 27, 2025 - Kyrgyzstan has a collective society, which means that people are generally more informed about each other’s lives, especially in the village. One day, when our cow was pregnant and didn’t want to get up to eat or drink, relatives and some other people I didn’t recognize came over
June 25, 2025 - a Slim Jim-looking thing left on the ground to decay
May 2025, inside some hotel on the Vegas strip
June 23, 2025 - Donkey’s fractured ear has been fixed. Panfilov Park, Bishkek
(I saw this at the same time I noticed that Shrek had been repainted)
June 22, 2025 - seen in the window of a Lego Store in my hometown. Took the picture as I was walking, hence the bad quality
June 19, 2025 - you can buy sumac at a Turkish store in Bishkek. This bag of sumac was 77.88 Kyrgyz som (a little less than 1 USD). 0.088 kg of sumac in this bag times 885 (som for 1 kg of sumac) equals 77.88
