valerie

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

February 3, 2024 - inside the Central State Museum of Kazakhstan when I was in Almaty a month ago. They have a mix of modern art and traditional handicrafts displayed

view of two floors of a museum atrium, taken from the higher floor

February 2, 2024 - if it comes as any surprise, northern Kyrgyzstan in winter is neither the best place nor time to try a mangosteen for the first time 😂 it was still good, but not as good as I feel like it should be. and it was a pain to cut open

cut-open mangosteen with both halves face-up, with the white fruit inside a little mushy

February 1, 2024 - construction on indoor toilets starting at my school (project was already planned before I got here). Coteacher said toilets will be built on the 1st and 2nd (out of 3) floors and that the work will finish in 2 months. don’t know anything about building, but feels too optimistic

bricks and other building supplies in a school hall

January 31, 2024 - chicken jump

a chicken in mid-air with its wings flapping

January 30, 2024 - in 9A’s classroom. I teach this class (but not here - in my English classroom), and they are active and enthusiastic about learning English. Their homeroom teacher is my Kyrgyz teacher. They decorated their classroom themselves. One of the boys painted the picture with the family

trail of colorful paper butterflies and flowers on a classroom wall above the door; colorful balloons hanging on the wall and a poster painted with a picture of a family and some Kyrgyz words on it also on the wall

January 29, 2024 - helped my host mom and sister fold buns yesterday. this was before they went in the oven, but they turned out soo good

16 folded buns on a black oven tray

January 28, 2024 - about a week-old lamb

close-up of a black lamb with yellow eyes and a white spot on the top of its head

January 27, 2024 - went back to the iced-over lake that I skated on on New Year’s Eve, but there were a lot more large cracks than last time. I wonder if it’s because of the earthquake that we had last Tuesday

green/gray lake surface with white ice skate cuts and large cracks forming a cross

January 26, 2024 - чөбөгө, a kind of Kyrgyz spread made from sari mai (yellow butter) and kaimak (sour cream which is made from milk). You can eat it with bread. Tasted pretty good, but I didn’t want to eat too much because of the dairy

dark yellow/light brown solid spread in a white bowl

January 25, 2024 - thought my Kyrgyz teacher would have less to do after a regional academic competition last week. Now she has to help students prepare for the ОРТ, the national test for Kyrgyz students to get into university (kind of like the gaokao 高考 in China). Pic shows some Kyrgyz questions

one page of multiple choice analogy questions in Kyrgyz

January 24, 2024 - today I learned what a feedbag is

brown horse tied to a tree with a green feedbag over its nose and mouth