valerie
August 29, 2024 - finally dragged myself out of bed today for another morning walk/jog. Nature’s color palette did not disappoint
August 28, 2024 - sign at another volunteer’s school that says “Sports ground” in Kyrgyz (спорт аянтчасы)
(аянт is also ‘square’, like in a city, but also just learned that аянт can be mathematical area, so similar to English word ‘area’. ча is diminutive for smthg small. сы is possessive case)
August 27, 2024 - neighbor’s apple tree and my host family’s house. (You can see the house over the fence because it’s two stories. There are a few two-story houses in my village but most of them are one)
August 26, 2024 - recently painted gym floor at my school. Even though the entire school is repainted every year (does this happen anywhere else? It seems like a wild waste of time and resources to me..), I’m pretty sure the colorful design on the floor is new
August 25, 2024 - sign of guests at your house
(the future bride of a man living across the street moved into his house yesterday - the guests were here to celebrate the occasion)
August 24, 2024 - this is the place where I usually go to pet Mr. Cow, but it’s temporarily blocked by just-picked potatoes. I can’t believe it’s already potato picking season
(by the way, Mr. Cow is Zoya the calf’s older brother)
August 23, 2024 - my bike! The people who read this blog and actually know me IRL (only a few?) are probably shocked to see this…I finally learned how to ride a bike last year at 27 years old 🙃 the day I got this bike (1 month ago) was the 4th time I ever rode a bike. Now I ride almost every day
August 22, 2024 - picture of the yurt we stayed in at Song-Kul. I had only stayed in yurt once before this, but that yurt did not have beds…there were 5 beds in this yurt, 4 side by side and one in the back. There was also a small stove for heating (not visible here)
August 21, 2024 - I only know about Dr. Rabbit thanks to the meme side of the Internet, and I had never seen him in real life before this, and definitely not in Russian
(but for real though, strawberry flavored toothpaste sounds good?!)
August 20, 2024 - group of people who were playing games on the street. The street is being redone, so it’s closed to all vehicular traffic. There was a race at one point. I assumed the people were renting space at the banquet hall building on the right
August 19, 2024 - I wanted to make guacamole, but knew it wouldn’t be special without a good bag of chips. Unfortunately, you can’t buy tortilla chips at normal supermarkets here. You have to get them from specialty shops with imported goods, so they are expensive 😥
(did buy, btw 😂 just 1 time!!)
August 18, 2024 - purchased from a store in Bishkek with Chinese snacks. Even though okra is advertised on the bag, there was only one inside 😭 which made me sad because okra is generally not available in Kyrgyzstan. Otherwise, the bag was like other fruit/vegetable chips that I’ve had before, good!
August 16, 2024 - a student invited me to eat lunch at her house yesterday. her mom was very chatty but very sweet. they also have a kitten! the student said the kitten likes to play, but it was hard to believe when she was crashed out like this! it was really hot yesterday afternoon, though 😥
August 15, 2024 - memorial to a hero named Olzhobolot uulu Andash (Andash, son of Olzhobolot) at Lake Song Kul. the plaque on the memorial says he helped fight against Kazakhs, but I can’t seem to find any other info about him in the internet. (it’s entirely possible that I didn’t try hard enough)
August 14, 2024 - honey with sea buckthorn that I bought in Issyk-Kul 🙂 there’s a lot of wild sea buckthorn that grows in Issyk-Kul and Naryn, maybe other regions of Kyrgyzstan too
August 11, 2024 - the highest point on our hike to Lake Song-Kul at 3400 meters / 11,150 feet. We drove part of the way from Kyzart village on flat roads, and then got out to hike the uphill part. I think it was around a 13 km hike (one way)
