valerie
May 21, 2025 - played an end of the year review game with my 10th graders and asked both teams to choose an English team name. One team chose Smurfs and the other chose Minions. The Minions team drew this on their whiteboard while waiting to answer questions 😁
May 20, 2025 - in our front garden. I don’t remember seeing anything growing here before I left to America! It’s possible my family was growing it in a pot inside first, I guess? Or they bought it and planted it into their garden recently? Either way, it’s a pretty flower 🌹
May 19, 2025 - more gifts from my students 😭 this time from my three most advanced students. They said they wanted to give me something that I can remember them by (because they usually give me snacks). They also said they spent several months saving up for this gift 😭
May 18, 2025 - when you like a game so much that you graffiti the wall of your own outdoor kitchen with its name
(this is about my host sister…at least she is writing English 😂)
May 12, 2025 - probably won’t be a surprise to anyone who has had American fast food abroad, but KFC in Kyrgyzstan is better than in the US. Or at least I found this KFC in the LAX airport lacking. Or maybe it would be better to eat at a regular KFC in the US
May 6, 2025 - Flydubai’s animated aviation safety video featured women wearing golden face shields. At first, I thought it was just a random character design choice, but after looking into it, seems like it might be a battoulah? (Also I think the black is a veil rather than hair?)
May 4, 2025 - went to a Globus supermarket in Bishkek and they were selling emoji plushies which were put in Morrison’s bags for some reason (I assume to keep them clean, but it just looked weird)
May 3, 2025 - May 2nd is my host sister’s birthday, and May 4th is my host mom’s birthday, so my host family made chicken shashlik last night, and it was really good 😋 this is the second batch of skewers before they were cooked
May 2, 2025 - Shrek in Panfilov Park got a paint job done that makes him look truer to his color in the animated films. On the other hand, Donkey (not pictured) is darker now, but at least his second ear (which was broken) got repaired
May 1, 2025 - statue of famous Soviet-era Kyrgyz artist Chokmorov, who is also on Kyrgyzstan’s 5000 som bill (the largest bill denomination here)
April 30, 2025 - I remember when this was a thing in America, that you could find Coca-Cola bottles with various names on them. Seems that it’s here in Kyrgyzstan now, though I don’t know for how long. I could only find my host father’s name, not anyone else in my host family
April 29, 2025 - used a toilet at a hotel while there for a conference. The only dispenser on the wall next to the sink read “hair and body wash”. I didn’t want to use hair and body wash to wash my hands, but I also didn’t want to not use soap! (yeah yeah I assume that the label wasn’t accurate)
