valerie

September 29, 2023 - contrast, the sky view from the street a few days ago

dark clouds in front of a bright sun, shortly before sunset. street with houses extending into the distance

September 28, 2023 - The Peace Corps medical team here gave every volunteer in my cohort a resistance band to use for workouts. They also gave us a jump rope, which my host mom, sister and I really liked, but it disappeared a week or two ago so we have to buy another πŸ˜₯

red resistance band on a desk rolled up in a circular shape

September 27, 2023 - saw this kitty on the way to school that I wanted to embrace, but it just meowed at me and walked past without a care. But then ran into my host cousin who was returning home from school (he lives with us) and he embraced me (he’s 7 years old)

white cat with gray patches on head and a gray tail on a dirt road

September 26, 2023 - my current beverage collection

two boxes of Tess green tea; 1 liter Nemoloko carton of lactose free chocolate milk; and a MacCoffee instant cappuccino packet

September 25, 2023 - a cow and some glare that we’re going to pretend can be classified as flare. Or maybe the sun’s rays can be considered flare. anyways, I took this from inside a car as we were stuck in a livestock traffic jam on the way to the banya (no water in our bathroom that day)

a brown cow walking, taken from maybe 2 feet away

September 24, 2023 - September 23 was Kyrgyz Language Day, so some students at my school organized a celebration on Friday, September 22. Some students danced, others belted out songs, and others recited some poetry

stage where students performed. brown/orange platform with a red rug on it, curtains framing it; red, pink and white balloons on the wall at the back of the performing area and hand-drawn student posters about Kyrgyzstan beneath those

September 23, 2023 - a day in the life, this morning’s mountain view

trees in front of mostly snow-covered mountains

September 22, 2023 - down the road after the hail storm on Monday

dirt road in a neighborhood at sunset

September 21, 2023 - went on a picnic this past weekend with my host sister and her friends. A good activity to indulge in before fall when it will be too cold

four bags of chips and two teacups for Fanta on a blanket on the ground, which 5 people are kneeling on

September 20, 2023 - I think I was a disruption at today’s goose meeting. I pass them almost every day either on my way to school or returning home. They honk at everyone who walks by (especially if it’s too close), kind of like dogs

two brown and white geese sitting on the ground caught mid-honk with their beaks open; a standing white goose to their right with its neck extended, walking away from the camera

September 19, 2023 - projection going slightly off of the edge of the screen. in a classroom in my school, during a Kyrgyz lesson with my local Kyrgyz tutor (who is also a Kyrgyz teacher at my school)

A Microsoft Word document being projected onto a roll-down overhead screen in a classroom. The Word doc has Kyrgyz words on it

September 18, 2023 - it started hailing on my way home from school, so that’s how I ended up with ice on the nylon fabric of my raincoat

black nylon raincoat sleeve (being worn) extended out, with a few bits of ice on it

September 17, 2023 - went with my host sister to her friend’s house for a picnic and some intense dancing occurred
(video title is “Dance if you know this trend” in Russian. to be clear, these are TikTok trends πŸ˜‚)

Xiaomi phone showing a YouTube video playing which is called "Dance if you know this trend" written in Russian

September 16, 2023 - oof!, aka, it was not a good idea to eat this pizza while my stomach was still recovering from something

girl with glasses sitting at a table in a restaurant in front of a whole margarita pizza

September 15, 2023 - red, the color of the peppers my host mom has drying out outside

red chili peppers on a string hung over a baluster

September 14, 2023 - statue of Turdakun Usubalievich Usubaliev who was born in Kochkor and worked as a politician during the Soviet Union
Kochkor, Kyrgyzstan

gray metal(?) statue of a man standing on a tall, light gray concrete/stone pedestal

September 13, 2023 - I have these glowing stars in my room because I am a child

glow in the dark stars of different sizes seen glowing in the dark

September 12, 2023 - might have unintentionally incited some panic in my students by giving them this test today
(it’s not for a grade. it’s part of our admittedly imperfect procedure to try and get data on whether lessons cotaught with a volunteer produce any results in students’ English ability)

5 multiple choice listening questions and a reading section with a text underneath. test primarily in English but also instructions in Kyrgyz and Russian

September 11, 2023 - in retrospect, I’m pleased that I had half of this candy left to eat after work today. I was so hungry but it was at a weird time of day in between meals πŸ₯² my little brother/cousin gave the candy to me randomly a few days ago

orange and purple colored sugar coils around a stick to look like a lollipop

September 10, 2023 - the water cycle at work today

gray rain clouds over mountains in the distance. trees and rooftops closer to the foreground

September 9, 2023 - sign in the Kyrgyz language with local emergency numbers.
Σ©Ρ€Ρ‚ ΠΊΡ‹Π·ΠΌΠ°Ρ‚Ρ‹ - fire service
милиция - police (a Russian word, but I heard Russians in Russia use a different word for police)
Ρ‚Π΅Π· ΠΆΠ°Ρ€Π΄Π°ΠΌ - ambulance, literally ‘fast help’

green bulletin board with several white papers with Kyrgyz text taped to it, including one with emergency number descriptions in red text

September 8, 2023 - my family’s horses are back from yonder! ‘Yonder’ actually refers to jailoo (ΠΆΠ°ΠΉΠ»ΠΎΠΎ in Kyrgyz), which are mountain valleys where Kyrgyz people traditionally take their animals in the summer

different colored horses standing around on land used for raising vegetables, with trees along the side and a blue sky above

September 7, 2023 - pretending that this picture taken at .5 zoom is a panorama shot since my actual panoramas don’t seem to want to upload. this is I think the fanciest of my family’s two dining rooms, and the one most often used for guests. my host father had some guests here today

big room with a long table (white table cloth on top) with two traditional Kyrgyz rugs spread along one short side and one long side as seating. bread, honey, and tea among other things on the table

September 6, 2023 - my host sister makes blinchiki (Russian pancakes) well!

a plate of blini/blinchik, (thin) Russian pancakes, but the stack is short so you can really only see the top 2

September 5, 2023 - found it hard to believe my colleague when she first told me that my village is forested because one of the words in the name means ‘sand’. But there are a surprising amount of trees here. View from the third floor of my school, from the hall outside my classroom

houses along a dirt road with trees behind them and mountains in the distance