valerie

February 28, 2024 - small cafe in Bishkek with good khachapuri. I took a picture of the cafe while waiting for the food but apparently forgot to take a picture of the actual food

inside a small cafe with a couple booths and a couple tables

February 27, 2024 - sunrise

light pink/orange sunrise over mountain silhouettes, but a few power lines running across the pic in front of the mountains

February 26, 2024 - the neighbor’s horse, which has an interesting black and white mane

brown horse tied to a fence with a rope; mane that alternates between black and white

February 25, 2024 - a few weeks ago, I asked my sister what happened to the nozzle of the vacuum, and she said it broke. it’s inconvenient to vacuum the big rug in my room like it’s the interior of a car 😅

small vacuum with what's left of the nozzle taped to the tube, and no floor brush

February 24, 2024 - old chemistry equipment at my school

an old fume hood-looking piece of equipment amongst other things in a small storage room

February 23, 2024 - today’s a holiday, so I stayed home for most of the day and finally got a picture of the trash truck! 😂

small trash truck with the back half full of orange and white bags

February 22, 2024 - saw this delightful bird picture in a book about Arslanbob that I read with my Kyrgyz teacher. It is called дрофа in Russian and Great Bustard in English

circular picture of a Great bustard bird, which looks a little bit like a small turkey or pheasant with the Kyrgyz name (тоодак) underneath

February 21, 2024 - today is Mother Language Day, and this classroom had some quotes in Kyrgyz about languages/mother languages on the board. the most interesting to me is элсиз тил болбойт, тилсиз эл болбойт (without people language isn’t possible; without language humanity isn’t possible)

classroom with "21st February Mother Language Day" letters taped the wall and top of a smartboard; to the right a TV on the wall; below the TV an old brown chalkboard with colored papers taped to it with quotes in Kyrgyz

February 20, 2024 - fear me, I am dinosaur 🦖

looking down at a light brown sheep with its mouth open, caught mid-"baa"

February 19, 2024 - I got to watch an open lesson today, and I took this picture as a reference for how this teacher used the projector. not sure if those are her own cords or if those get left in the classroom (the laptop is hers, though). this is 1 of only a few projectors in our school

laptop hooked up to a projector that is projecting onto a smartboard

February 18, 2024 - Valentine’s Day gift (there were 3 but now there are 0)

chocolate muffin with chocolate chunks in a white paper muffin cup with a golden rim

February 17, 2024 - it FINALLY snowed in my village and region today! not a lot, but it was still beautiful to see

white mountains in front of a brown field with splotches of white snow

February 16, 2024 - this week was English week at school around Kyrgyzstan, so there were a lot of decorations in the hall. this one made by students describes English-speaking countries, and it taught me that a “bloody lion” is a symbol of Great Britain..

close-up of a white poster with the title, "English is the global language", pictures of the Canadian, US, UK, Australian, and New Zealand's flags, and a few facts written around the flags

February 15, 2024 - in the informatics lab in my school. I think the wall decoration is cute. unfortunately, the computers in this lab look old. I don’t know how well they run or what OS they have

in a computer lab with a "Google" logo and search bar wall decoration

February 14, 2024 - my host mom made her own холодец (holodets) last night, and I walked into the kitchen this morning to see 10 bowls of it on the counter 😂 luckily I wasn’t home when the bowls were served, but I did try a little bit later and it wasn’t horrible. still not my favorite food, though

9 soup bowl and one small, circular tin all filled with fat jelly and some ingredients in it (meat and onions maybe)

February 13, 2024 - closest mosque to my house. I often hear the call to prayer, especially in the morning

mosque with a white/light green exterior and green and white roof

February 12, 2024 - met with a friend yesterday

light brown sheep resting its head in the gap between two slats of a wooden fence

February 11, 2024 - cemetery closer to my host family’s house and mountains in the distance

large, tan headstones made of clay(?) with mountains in the distance; brown mountains without snow on the left, and snow-capped mountains in the center and to the right

February 10, 2024 - another volunteer and I hosted a community English club at his school this morning. He lives pretty close to me, less than 10 minutes by car, but I have never walked down that road before (it’s a road that goes through the middle of potato fields) bc people rarely walk down it

bright, clean classroom with chairs on top of the desks

February 9, 2024 - today’s sunset

blue, pink and light orange watercolor sky over a village and snow-capped mountains in the distance

February 8, 2024 - reading more Kyrgyz children’s books with my Kyrgyz teacher. took a picture of this page for a couple vocabulary words. this book was about a day in the life of 2 kangaroo teachers and their 22 kangaroo students

page in a picture book. one kangaroo teacher surrounded by many small kangaroo students. Kyrgyz text on upper right

February 7, 2024 - I think it’s fair to say that this is a typical Kyrgyz dinner

meat and potatoes boiling in a large pot on the stove

February 6, 2024 - hello

top half of a sheep's head, including one eyes, visible through the gap between the planks of a wooden fence

February 5, 2024 - SWOT analysis completed by teachers during a meeting today regarding our school community. I kind of wish I made an effort to invite staff and community members who aren’t necessarily teachers. oh well. 4 posters like this and want to translate them for myself

piece of flipchart paper in landscape orientation divided into four sections, one for each letter of SWOT, and with black and red cursive marker writing

February 4, 2024 - moody sunset picture from last month

thick gray clouds over snow-capped mountains on the left; orange sun setting on the right peeking through space between clouds