valerie
August 7, 2022 - have wondered how I would manage if an ATM ate my card and didn’t return it. Gave me a bit of a scare when this ATM sat thinking for a while. Luckily, it spit my card out after giving me this screen (“answer not received”) and another one saying “ATM offline”
August 6, 2022 - Caucasus flatbread called lavash. Sold in supermarkets. This was the smallest one I saw - some of the others are huge. Other foreigners have said that this is the closest thing you can buy to a tortilla in Bishkek. Curious to see how it tastes
August 5, 2022 - not an actual picture, but this Kyrgyz song (YouTube link) is (or was recently) popular in Kyrgyzstan. It’s called Ким билет (which translates to ‘Who knows’) 🎵
It’s also on Spotify
August 4, 2022 - some American students studying Russian at my school got covid, and this is the higher-ups’ response. I’m not exactly sure who the target audience is (American or local students?). Perhaps the former since a 1000 som fine is quite steep for locals. Or both? 🤷
August 2, 2022 - a student brought me kvass today. I don’t go out of my way to get kvass, but it’s good. It was definitely refreshing on this hot day
July 30, 2022 - While cat sitting earlier this month, I accidentally left a notebook at my friend’s apartment. Unfortunately, she left for the US before I could get it, so she gave it to her landlord. I had to go to his house to pick it up. I took this picture in his neighborhood
July 29, 2022 - another picture of the reception area in the office where I have Russian lessons. Which flags can you identify? 🙂 (I know some of them are just plain hard to see in this picture)
July 28, 2022 - a couple of cars on the left side of the picture had a fender bender or something and were in the way of traffic. It was kind of scary to see how other vehicles navigated around them, especially big buses
July 25, 2022 - walking down the street from my apartment to the bus stop
(you can see the Russian Orthodox church I’ve posted a picture of before on the top left)
July 24, 2022 - Simit, which is like a Turkish bagel. They are relatively easy to find and some people even sell them on the street. Granted I’m not sure how authentic the ones here are, as I know very little about Turkish cuisine!
July 23, 2022 - I’m not a consumer of mohito (мохито) scented or flavored products (or actual mohitos), so I can’t comment on how widespread they are worldwide, but it seems like they are quite popular in Bishkek. That said, here’s a picture of a mohito scented bath bomb
July 22, 2022 - I’ve been seeing more and more bike racks like this pop up around the city. Looks like they are connected to an app. I’d at least try it out if I were able to ride a bike. Hopefully they don’t become a nuisance
July 21, 2022 - one of my students has a son who studies in Moscow. He came home, brought this chocolate back, and then my student decided to give it to me. I’m not sure this kind of chocolate can be bought in Bishkek, or at least the brand doesn’t look familiar to me
July 20, 2022 - reception area inside the office of the business where I take Russian lessons (with my plastic bag of fruit on the cushion)
July 19, 2022 - marshrutka stopped for gas. Gas was 67.5 som/liter. 3.786 (rounded) liters in 1 gallon = $3.20/gallon. He got about 5.43 gallons of gas (which doesn’t seem like a lot) so paid about $17.41. Feel free to check my math
July 18, 2022 - small restaurant at Shamshy Gorge after hiking yesterday. We ate shorpo which was quite good. I asked my friends what the things on the table to cover the food were called and they didn’t know. (“tent? зонт/umbrella?”)
July 17, 2022 - hiking again. this time at Shamshy Gorge (Ущелье Шамшы)
July 16, 2022 - travel agency advertisement outside of a supermarket
(according to the sign: agency is located on the second floor of the building in office/suite 8. Services: airline tickets, tourism, visas, translation services)
