valerie

July 23, 2023 - near Syn-Tash, Kyrgyzstan

green and brown mountain valley under a blue sky with some white clouds

July 22, 2023 - in the middle of yurt set-up

assembled red skeleton of a yurt without any felt coverings

July 21, 2023 - love the scent of trash burning in the evening

plants next to a wooden fence with trees behind and a layer of smoke in the air amongst the trees

July 20, 2023 - fountain in front of ЦУМ, a shopping mall in Bishkek (picture taken this past weekend)

multiple streams of water shooting up from a rectangular fountain in front of a modern building

July 19, 2023 - Welcome to my host family’s banya! The stove on the right has hot water inside. The blue basin is for mixing hot and cold water. The cold water is in a bucket on the table to the left of the basin, not pictured. We use the banya 1 or 2 times a week. Feels better than a regular shower

white walled room with stone floor and a partly unfinished ceiling with wood visible. right: stove for holding hot water / left: table with a plastic blue basin for mixing hot and cold water

July 18, 2023 - the clothes I have to wear for Culture Day on Saturday!

traditional female Kyrgyz clothes - long skirt with white silk slip and a mesh outer layer with a purple pattern; purple velvet-like top with red/orange embellishments; matching purple hat with red/orange embellishments and white feathers from the top

July 17, 2023 - Victory Square, Bishkek

monument in a city which looks like two sides of a yurt joined by the roof at the top

July 16, 2023 - Dordoi Plaza shopping center in Bishkek

July 15, 2023 - outhouse friends

wasp nest with about 5 wasps visible on a white wooden wall

July 14, 2023 - lyrics (only the first and third verses) to a Kyrgyz song called Угузчу бир сөз that the trainees in my village are learning to perform for Culture Day next weekend. 3 people bought a komuz in Bishkek yesterday to play and some of us (including me) will sing

song title and lyrics in Kyrgyz on an easel paper pad

July 13, 2023 - my cohort finally took a day trip to Bishkek to see the Peace Corps office here and get acquainted with the city. We ate Indian food for lunch 🙂

table for four with a blue cushioned booth seat, 4 menus on the table with 2 open, 1 closed menu showing the name of the restaurant (Gandhi) and a candle in the center

July 12, 2023 - my Kyrgyz teacher brought these delicious desserts to class called Amaretti. The ingredients were quite simple, something like sugar, egg whites ,almond flour and there might have been some fruit flavor in it too, maybe dates? These don’t look like what I see on Wiki tho!

small light brown desserts in the shape of Hershey's kisses on a plate next to the box they were packaged in

July 11, 2023 - in my village

concrete fences along a gravel road both stretching into the distance; several tall trees next to the fence

July 10, 2023 - went to a music teacher’s house to ask her to tune a couple of komuzes. She and her husband(?) ended up playing on komuz and accordion

7 komuzes against a wall (komuz - national Kyrgyz instrument with 3 strings, strummed like a guitar)

July 9, 2023 - a fellow volunteer gave me this apple at our last training day together three days ago. Normal, small green apple that I put on my desk. Just noticed today that someone took a bite out of it!! It must have been one of my host family sisters 😂 So I gave the apple to the chickens

small green apple with about two small bites taken out of it

July 8, 2023 - factory in my village which is undergoing renovation

half finished concrete building behind a tall, gray brick fence

July 7, 2023 - we had homemade pizza, coca-cola and cake to celebrate my host brother’s birthday which was yesterday

a small glass of mug of coca-cola on the left, plate with two small pieces of pizza on the right

July 6, 2023 - sunset

two black tree silhouettes against a cloudy, pale pink sunset

July 5, 2023 - Russian cemetery in my town

grave mounds, some decorated with flowers, with short wrought-iron towers as headstones and all but one surrounded by fence

July 4, 2023 - came home to this and was told that it was a grain used for feeding chickens and could also be used to make some kind of bread? My host sisters were playing in it like it was a pile of dirt while my host dad shoveled it into sacks

pile of yellow grain on the ground behind a car (almost as high as the top of the trunk) and next to an orange house

July 3, 2023 - cucumbers from my host family’s garden

long, bumpy cucumber lying on the dirt under cucumber leaves still attached to the plant with one half of another cucumber visible

July 2, 2023 - mountain view today from my PST village. was the clearest view of the mountains I’ve seen since I’ve been here

gray mountains with white peaks against a light blue sky

July 1, 2023 - all the trainees in my village got together for a movie night but it didn’t work out the way we planned 😅

room with a TV hanging on a wall over the rails of a wooden staircase leading downstairs

June 30, 2023 - my fellow trainees and my Kyrgyz teacher laughed at me today when I told them I carry a stick as my key to open my host family’s gate. This was not a personal choice - my host mom literally picked up a stick off the ground and gave it to me to use. I assumed this was normal

keys on a carabiner with a small stick lying above it

June 29, 2023 - I don’t remember the number, somewhere between 30 to 50 liters of kompot in the basement of one of the trainees who is in the same village as me

about 30 jars with cherries and red kompot (fruit juice drink) inside on a wooden table in a cellar with brick walls