valerie
May 28, 2024 - my host sister pointing at an orange and blue volleyball that we accidentally got stuck on the roof of a stable while my host mom is walking toward us in the background with a wooden ladder 😁
May 26, 2024 - potato field behind our house. my host mom said they finished this work while I was at school, which disappointed me because I wanted to help them (though don’t know how helpful I actually would have been 🙃) and see how they worked
May 25, 2024 - today was my school’s Last Bell ceremony (акыркы коңгуроо in Kyrgyz; последний звонок in Russian), which is essentially graduation
May 24, 2024 - my host mom told me before that these are bottles of medicine which some men buy to get drunk off of (because alcohol is more expensive). I rarely see these bottles, I assume it’s because I live on one of the main roads in my village (my house is on the same road as the school)
May 23, 2024 - spicy sauce that our family bought. I’m surprised to see my host brother and host dad eating some, because I thought the only person in my family who likes spicy food was my host mom (btw, өрт means ‘fire’ in Kyrgyz, so ‘fire sauce’ 😁)
May 22, 2024 - second-floor school stairwell. чыгуу is “exit” in Kyrgyz and this word was painted around school last fall, but today was the first time I saw this one. In what other situations would downstairs not lead to an exit unless it goes to a basement? (btw no basement here that I know of)
May 21, 2024 - homemade kattama! The dough is formed into a long roll that is rolled around itself to make a circle, then flattened and fried. My host mom also added green onions to this kattama
May 17, 2024 - today’s morning walk companions. I don’t think the cat belonged to anyone, at least none of the women with me, because they all ignored it (most Kyrgyz people dislike cats). But it was so sweet 🥺 Host mom is in the middle
May 16, 2024 - along the road where I usually walk or run in the morning. first time going out in about a week, and this was not here before. I assume they are bee containers. Wonder why the owner brought them here. And nobody will steal them, because they are bees?
May 15, 2024 - from the day I went hiking earlier this month, though as you can see we stayed at the family friend’s house quite late. I’m not sure how to make night pictures look better, but at least this is kind of cool
May 13, 2024 - жапжаңы, “supa fresh” in Kyrgyz. (Literally “brand new”, but we don’t describe produce that way). The Russian word below (свежесть) translates to “freshness”
May 12, 2024 - I’m not a hat person, but oh my god, sunny, 20°C/68°F+ weather at 1,900 m/6233 ft elevation doesn’t feel great! So I went hat shopping in Bishkek and saw this. I was very tempted to buy it.. 😂
May 9, 2024 - the lilacs are in bloom, and some students have been bringing bunches of it to school. some of my students gave me these. (also, I didn’t know that these were lilacs at first…I only knew the Russian name сирень because of this song, and I had to translate it to English 🙃)
May 8, 2024 - made it to a new and further landmark on my morning run. To be honest, I don’t know what exactly this building is or what it is/was used for. It’s very small. The inside is like the size of a small walk-in closet
May 6, 2024 - separator that my host mom uses to separate the fat from milk. The milk on the left will be used to make airan (milk-based drink) and suzmo (like milk solid kind of lumps used to make kurut). the yellowish cream on the right will be used to make sari mai (essentially Kyrgyz butter)
May 5, 2024 - when we went guesting to a family friend’s house a few days ago, the mother made this. I believe it is быжы, like Kyrgyz sausage made with meat, rice, and sometimes some herbs or vegetables. If it was быжы, I’m sad I didn’t get to try it, because I like it 😂
