valerie

March 29, 2024 - a lamb that was born before spring break. you can see the fresh paint on its head between its eyes - my host mom had done it that day

a brown lamb with a spot of blue paint on it's head between its eyes

March 28, 2024 - my ticket (is that what we call this kind of paper? I don’t remember..) from Monday when I went to the US embassy to submit a passport renewal application

white receipt-looking paper with black text: "Welcome. US Embassy. Bishkek. Mon, 25 Mar Hr 1:47 PM. 006"

March 27, 2024 - went out for brunch. this was after we had eaten the 2 tacos we ordered in addition 😬 but everything was soo good. I know this cafe is owned by a foreigner, I think an American?

plate with two small pieces of toast, two small fried eggs, a small waffle cut up into 4 pieces, and two sausages. plus small containers of butter and syrup, and a cup of green tea in the top right

March 26, 2024 - the moon looked quite orange/red last night

orange moon in a dark blue sky over buildings

March 25, 2024 - today’s breakfast: блины (Russian pancakes) with сүмөлөк (pudding-like dessert eaten around the Nooruz holiday)

two cups of tea with lemon slices; a plate of blini (Russian pancakes) and a bowl with сүмөлөк, a brown pudding-like dessert (also a plastic container with сүмөлөк)

March 24, 2024 - birds for sale in a pet store

9 colorful birds in a black cage

March 23, 2024 - remnants of the Nooruz celebration at Bishkek’s main square, Ala-Too Square

a few yurts and decorations set up by the iconic Manas statue at Ala-Too Square

March 22, 2024 - nature photo before I go to Bishkek for a few days. yesterday at sunset

sky which looks like 3 layers of blue and a layer of pink over it. mountains in the lower left corner with power lines visible in front of them. trees sticking up from the bottom right

March 21, 2024 - thought this design on my tissue was a nice, cute touch. then I proceeded to decorate it with my mucus

white tissue with a sun made of indented circles in the corner and the same kind of clouds along a border

March 20, 2024 - school gym decorated for Nooruz. this was before student performances started

women in traditional Kyrgyz clothes on rugs in a gym. also a yurt structure (without the felt) set up

March 19, 2024 - my host family got a new vacuum cleaner! I think I’ve never been so excited for a new vacuum cleaner in my life

new black vacuum cleaner on a patterned rug by a dark brown staircase and a dark sofa with red and black patterned cushions on it

March 18, 2024 - made a friend this past weekend

white cat with a black mask sitting on a white windowsill, partly behind sheer white curtains

March 17, 2024 - made sushi with another volunteer and JICA volunteers last night

plate of sushi rolls filled with meat, egg and lettuce

March 16, 2024 - garden/small park in the next village over where another volunteer lives

red sign on the side of the street with the name of a garden/park, and the garden/park visible behind a red fence

March 15, 2024 - was not expecting to wake up to snow this morning

road covered by snow; trees, houses and mountains in the distance

March 14, 2024 - preschool in my village during the first weekend of the month when we had snow

yellow building behind a colored fence with snow all around

March 13, 2024 - it was cloudy and we got a tiny bit of snow today, and I thought the mountain view from the school looked cool

cloudy, gray day. snow-capped mountains with a cloud running through the middle of them

March 12, 2024 - Ramadan calendar in Kyrgyz for the largest town in our region

March 11, 2024 - classroom was in disarray because apparently new lights were installed in all classrooms yesterday (which is funny because we don’t really need them now, the school is bright enough the whole day with our daylight). fun day of moving desks and chairs while beginning Ramadan fasting

desks along walls of classroom to clear the center of the room, chairs haphazardly on top of or around the desks. one desk in the foreground with old, circular fluorescent lights on it

March 10, 2024 - flowers from my Kyrgyz teacher on International Women’s Day

flowers with light and dark pink petals and green leaves

March 9, 2024 - I, uh, may have walked to the next volunteer’s village without telling my fam, which I thought would be closer, but maybe it took longer due to walking through a field part of the way rather than on this paved road the whole time and because of stopping to take pictures like this one

March 8, 2024 - Happy International Women’s Day! We have no school today, but here’s a picture of decorations at school that one of the vice directors and some students arranged to take pictures with

[old] Kyrgyz flags on either side of an "8" made out of colorful paper flowers on the wall. paper pictures of teachers while at the school hanging from the ceiling

March 7, 2024 - International Women’s Day celebration since there is no school tomorrow. Kyrgyz people are so committed to taking leftovers home after parties in plastic bags that when a local teacher couldn’t find a bag for me in the cafeteria, she gave me the leftovers in a sheet protector 🤣

bread bun with potato filling, apple, tangerine and candies inside a plastic sheet protector

March 6, 2024 - periodic table board in Kyrgyz which is sitting in the teacher’s room for some reason

white board showing a periodic table with groups of elements in different colors set against a wall

March 5, 2024 - horses chilling in the dried-up canal in my village during my walk on Sunday

4 horses - one black, two dark brown, and one white - standing near each other in a shallow, dried-up canal with snow all around