valerie

December 13, 2023 - ice on the window INSIDE my classroom. coteacher said this window has one pane, not two, which I didn’t see before. Government made a country-wide decision to have online school lessons today and tomorrow due to weather. here my weather app says high of -8°C and low of -23°C

plant in front of a window with ice on the right half, with sunrise shining in

December 12, 2023 - today is the anniversary of Chingiz Aitmatov’s birthday, the most famous Kyrgyz writer. He would have been 95. some students performed a court room scene. I’m not sure if the scene was related to his life or one of his works, but I will ask my Kyrgyz teacher at our next lesson

desk with a red tablecloth over it for the 'judge' to sit at, and two desks at an angle on either side for other characters

December 11, 2023 - my host sister was playing a weird mobile game on Saturday evening that let her send celebrities and fictional characters to Heaven or Hell

person with a phone in their hands. game open with left side of screen labeled as Hell (right as Heaven, but not visible). user is dragging a cartoon version of Shrek to the Heaven side

December 10, 2023 - more sheep friends! apparently they will all be sold at some point 😥 but I love their cute, inquisitive-looking faces and eyes. the rams are being kept separate

about 15 sheep of varying shades of brown and cream in an outdoor pen

December 9, 2023 - despite almost every other place in Kyrgyzstan getting snow overnight, it only started snowing in the afternoon here and it didn’t snow much. still my sister and I went into the street and she drew this. then a drunk guy walked right through the middle 🙃

"hi" with a heart around it written in thin snow with mud showing underneath. there's a mark under the horizontal line of the H and a mark to the right of the i where a drunk guy walked through

December 8, 2023 - tonight’s dinner - manti. filled with meat and potatoes, which is not my favorite kind. I prefer manti filled with pumpkin or Chinese chives. but my host mom is a great cook, so these manti still tasted good and weren’t too fatty or oily

8 dumplings in a gray steamer dish in a green, ceramic bowl sitting on the stovetop

December 7, 2023 - my family has been drinking a lot of bozo lately. it’s a fermented drink usually made from millet. I like it! Radio Free Europe has this video about Kyrgyz bozo on their website

cup with a cream-colored drink in it

December 6, 2023 - my host mom bought some Smart & Rich brand tea and hot chocolate today. She also received a booklet with info about their various products inside. This is the page about their hot chocolate (in Kyrgyz). I’m going to use this as reading practice

laminated booklet page with a hot chocolate box picture, title below in red ("hot chocolate with ganoderma (a mushroom)") and a product description in blue text

December 5, 2023 - I bought this instrument in Bishkek which goes by various names in English but in Kyrgyz is called an ooz komuz (ооз комуз). I’m definitely not an expert after an hour of trying to play, but I am actually making some cool sounds thanks to the help of this video

metal (iron?) jaw harp inside of a wooden case that slides open by rotating the top block to the side

December 4, 2023 - picture from about a month ago of a bag of kurut that my Kyrgyz teacher gave me before our first jog together. I tried a little bit and it was good, but I’m afraid to overindulge in dairy produts with my lactose intolerance

Ziploc of kurut, round-ish white pieces of dried milk

December 3, 2023 - seen while shopping for a winter hat in Bishkek. Was not a fan of the different fonts, but otherwise resonated with the hoodie

black hoodie with a blue cat skating away on a skateboard. white text: "Not my problem", "Take a break", "Bye.", "I am too busy for you", "I don't care, thanks"

December 2, 2023 - walked around the resort last night and found this event room unlocked

dark dining room with tables and chairs, 3 large semi-circle windows in the wall (but divided into different panes) and wood/vine plant ceiling decorations

December 1, 2023 - clear day to see the mountain next to our resort. you can see the wooden steps in the picture (same ones I mentioned in yesterday’s post. i also climbed them again today)

mountain side with trees and wooden stairs going up about halfway

November 30, 2023 - climbed some steps that go up the side of a small mountain at our new hotel (actually a resort) today. this was maybe not the best weather for that. it was cloudy and misty and most of the steps are wooden. but hey, it was a good workout and we survived

wooden steps going down and two people on them; fog behind with lights on a resort building visible, but not the resort itself

November 29, 2023 - there was a small fire in our hotel, and our conference had to move to another hotel. it was a chaotic day, but it was also a little fun and broke up the monotony of our conference 😅

small room with fire damage on the ceiling and upper half of the walls, which are black

November 28, 2023 - staying at a hotel in Bishkek for a conference and noticed this on the ceiling of my room, a sign indicating the direction of Mecca. I’ve never seen this before, so I thought it was cool

rectangular sign on a white ceiling reading "Qibla" with a picture of the Kaaba in Mecca

November 27, 2023 - made gulab jamun yesterday using mix that I brought from America (there were more, but these were just the first batch, to see if they came out edible or not)

fried balls of dough in a bowl with sugar syrup

November 26, 2023 - Georgian food. my first time eating the khachapuri at this restaurant

khachapuri (bread with a lowered part in the middle filled with an egg, cheese and spinach ), plate of 6 khinkali, tea and half of a salad on a table

November 25, 2023 - Swan Lake ballet

11 female ballerinas in white tutus on stage with 2 male ballet dancers, one a protagonist and one an antagonist (wearing all black)

November 24, 2023 - my local colleagues got together for a “Thanksgiving” lunch 🥺 we had a rotisserie chicken instead of turkey, they bought a cake, and gave me three chocolate bars. after we had eaten from the food on the table, my coworkers said, “now let’s order two plates of plov!” 😶🙃😨

table with various plates: rotisserie chicken, cake, fruit, vegetable salads, tea

November 23, 2023 - happy Thanksgiving and happy first real snow from my village! (which is funny to say because all of the snow on the ground melted by 2 pm)

two geese on snow covered ground, small tree behind with some snow on the branches, all in front of a house

November 22, 2023 - host family’s cow eating at sunset

brown cow within a wide pile of hay eating; trees and sunset behind

November 21, 2023 - my host mom came to my room today and said, “витамины тебе” (Vitamins for you, in Russian) as she handed me this plate. I think my host mom’s native language is Kyrgyz, but she did go to a Russian school growing up, so her Russian is pretty good

plate with orange slices, tangerine slices and green grapes

November 20, 2023 - taken during fall break. my family made a kind of salsa that they called приправа (priprava), which is strange because as I understand it, this doesn’t fit the Russian use of the word приправа. I wonder how universal this use is in Kyrgyzstan

bowl of tomato sauce, second bowl of sliced tomatoes next to an ingredient mincing machine

November 19, 2023 - lahmacun that we ate in Kochkor yesterday. I have doubts about its authenticity since it is designated as a Turkish or Armenian dish (and I live in Naryn region, which I’ve read is 99% Kyrgyz), but the most important part, in my opinion, is that it was good

food on a plate that looks like thin pizza but without tomatoes/tomato sauce