valerie
July 31, 2023 - first day of my short teaching practicum! I had students work in groups and make this at the end of a lesson on ‘I like’/‘I don’t like’. Not a v productive production activity, but oh well. I’m biased, but I think it’s an interesting visual. Maybe w more time could’ve done more w it
July 30, 2023 - Was confused because I saw this guy from a distance so I could only see the black moving…was talking with someone at the time and couldn’t help but to turn away and say, “what IS that creature?” I don’t know exactly what it is or how it got there, but I hope it’s safe 😥
July 29, 2023 - There’s a phrase in Kyrgyz, Эл эмне дейт? (What will people say?) It encourages people to stick with societal expectations and community-approved actions. This cafe is called Эл эмне жейт which rhymes but means ‘what the people eat’. My sense of humor is so boring, I find this funny
July 28, 2023 - Kyrgyz grammar chart made by a past trainee/volunteer. There is a separate word for ‘if’ in Kyrgyz (эгерде), but it’s not always necessary to use. To show ‘if (someone) (verbs)’, you need to put a С between the verb stem and the possessive ending of the subject
July 27, 2023 - line of sinks out in the open in the entrance hall of the local school. I don’t know what the purpose of this is, maybe because appearances are important?
July 24, 2023 - my host cousin showed me pictures he drew. They had stickers which looked exactly like mine. Wait…I went to my room and saw that my cat sticker pack was missing. Later my 3 y.o host sister returned the cat stickers from his pictures. But no idea where the whole pack is 😂
July 20, 2023 - fountain in front of ЦУМ, a shopping mall in Bishkek (picture taken this past weekend)
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
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
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 🙂
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!
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
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
