valerie
September 5, 2025 - Georgian restaurant. This tarhun tasted so different from the bottled, carbonated stuff in stores (in a good way!). And the khinkali salt and pepper shakers were very cute. The ambience of the place was cool, and the food was good, too
September 4, 2025 - there’s a little park with sculptures like this around, though mostly of people. This one was called something like “relaxing”
September 1, 2025 - I’m so glad my fridge can hold 175 L of milk, said the lactose intolerant woman
(yes, I know it doesn’t have to be milk in a carton, or the milk could be lactose free! I’m just trying to be funny 🙃 I have no other interesting pictures because of school)
August 30, 2025 - got one last hike in at Ala Archa Park to see this waterfall before the school year gets into full swing
August 28, 2025 - a student randomly brought slices of cake to school today for my teaching assistant and me
August 27, 2025 - one student stayed inside during recess to paint: “my mom doesn’t let me paint at home because she says I will make a mess”
later:
(to be clear, I thought the situation was funny. This student is so sweet and well-behaved, and I don’t want to get in the way of her creativity!)
August 26, 2025 - I used a foot mask for the first time ever yesterday, and I was quite amused by how it looked and felt 😁 I want to buy another pack
August 25, 2025 - 2/4 of today’s bouquet haul. It’s nice, but it also feels weird – why bring a bouquet for a teacher you don’t even know yet? Who knows, maybe I will end up being the worst teacher of your child’s life! (I really hope not, but you never know 🤷♀️)
August 24, 2025 - the new Kochkor animal bazaar location. I went on my birthday earlier this month before I moved back to Bishkek. I just wanted to at least see it before leaving. The blue words on the fence say “cattle bazaar” in Kyrgyz
August 23, 2025 - first time eating Kyrgyz food (manty) since leaving my village…I don’t miss it 🙃 actually, it was not bad, but I just can’t stand eating it anymore. Seems like this restaurant is trying hard to preserve the use of Kyrgyz though, which is cool. (It says “eat!” all over the plate)
August 21, 2025 - it’s not in the picture, but I got a smartboard in my new classroom (the old school counselor’s office)!
August 20, 2025 - how many hours of waiting over three days do you think it took for me to get all these signatures and stamps?
August 19, 2025 - I have sadly moved classrooms, and now I am where the counselor’s office used to be. The room is mostly fine, there’s just 0 technology (which I can work with) and it is quite small for me and 22 4th graders
August 18, 2025 - took this picture to try to remember where I need to go when I return to this hospital. This is outside of one of the hospital entrances. I have to do a lot of tests for my work visa, sigh
August 17, 2025 - someone was enjoying a peaceful afternoon at the relatively new Chinese shop not far from our apartment
(speaking of the Chinese store, I bought Dayao (大窑) there, a carbonated drink I haven’t had since I lived in Hohhot!)
August 16, 2025 - Rakija (Serbian fruit brandy) that my fiancé’s friend brought as a gift when he recently moved back to Bishkek from Serbia. I don’t drink, and I’ve never seen my fiancé drink hard liquor, so I don’t know what we will do with this 😂
August 15, 2025 - made some butter cookies earlier this week. They weren’t great, but they also weren’t horrible. At least my fiance and I managed to eat them all
August 14, 2025 - my (currently empty) classroom for the upcoming school year! I will be teaching 4th grade. The first day that the students come is August 25
August 13, 2025 - my ‘welcome back to Bishkek’ gift. Today, I officially completed my 2 year volunteer service. Now, like before service, I’m just a teacher living in Bishkek. Unfortunately, my pictures will be less scenic from here on out. I hope to find more interesting things in Bishkek to share
