valerie
July 18, 2024 - a container with sand (and trash) at my school to put out fires. Does anyone have this at their schools? There was at least one fire extinguisher above this. My boyfriend said the sand is in case the fire extinguisher doesn’t work..
July 17, 2024 - (unripe) sea buckthorn. It grows in the mountains around here. Hopefully they are ready to eat by late August 😁
July 14, 2024 - stadium at Ormon Khan Park. The park and stadium opened last year, and I’m surprised at the state of the stadium, particularly the bleachers with grass growing between the rows. It looks neglected or abandoned to me…if you’re going to build something, why not have people use it?
July 13, 2024 - yesterday’s picnic lunch. I went with my host mom, sister and cousin to pick weeds in a family friend’s potato field
July 12, 2024 - with such dry winters, it’s been really surprising to see how much it rains here in summer. and the weather changes very quickly. at least there are some perks to the rain 🌈
July 6, 2024 - my boyfriend only wanted one souvenir from Uzbekistan - a plate. We bought one at Chorsu Bazaar and then we were set…until he put the bag with the plate on a bench and I accidentally knocked it over 😢 he says he will just glue it, but I still feel really bad about it!!
July 5, 2024 - met a friend yesterday. It took him a few minutes to understand the concept of cat treats
July 4, 2024 - when the marshrutka (van/minibus transportation available in Kyrgyzstan) breaks down on the way back to your village 🙃 all ended up okay, we just had to sit and wait for an hour for a different marshrutka to pick us up. it could have been worse
July 2, 2024 - making our way back to Kyrgyzstan. got on the train yesterday evening from Urgench to Tashkent. Now it’s the next morning and we’ll be arriving to Tashkent in about an hour
July 1, 2024 - bride receives gifts (scarves, money, household necessities) during a part of the wedding ceremony for both men and women (though men and women still generally sat at different tables)
June 30, 2024 - only a brief part of the few day-long Uzbek wedding I’ve been witnessing. at a banquet hall to celebrate the bride. I went only with female relatives and kids, no men
June 27, 2024 - where we spent last night, an overnight train from Tashkent to Bukhara. hot when we first boarded. luckily, the AC kicked in as the train chugged along, and it got surprisingly cool during the night. we were given white bedsheets to use and had to return them before disembarking
June 25, 2024 - isn’t it so satisfying when you have all of your chickens in a row? that’s how the saying goes, right? 😉
