valerie
December 4, 2021 - Two months ago one of my students asked if I had tried oromo. I hadn’t and said I would try it. This student asked me again yesterday if I had finally tried oromo. I admitted that I still hadn’t! So I had to buy one when I saw a seller who had them in the bazaar. It’s kind of like a huge dumpling, and the one I bought had potato inside. I definitely underestimated how full eating one would make me!
December 3, 2021 - I really wanted to buy this hat, but in my opinion the shopkeeper was asking too much for it
December 2, 2021 - found a channel that is like MTV and I have been noting or taking pictures of the songs I hear. They play both Russian and Kyrgyz songs. This is a Kyrgyz pop song called Jupiter (link to the music video on YouTube)
December 1, 2021 - seen in a supermarket called Народный. The sign says ‘diabetic products/groceries’ in Kyrgyz
November 28, 2021 - bought from the bazaar. It’s a kind of tofu (called 腐竹, according to my Chinese friend), but I don’t know what we call it in English. The Baidu (Chinese Wikipedia) page for 腐竹 says that the foreign name for this food is ‘yuba’, but that is a word I have never heard before. The sellers at the bazaars who typically have 腐竹 also have various other vegetable dishes. As I was browsing, the seller asked what kind of salad I wanted…so no idea what this is called in Russian, either. I’ll have to ask a colleague tomorrow
November 22, 2021 - do you ever find yourself taking pictures of the same places to capture the variations which come with time or seasons? because this is a view I have definitely posted a picture of before (back in September)
November 20, 2021 - this snack says it is garlic flavored and with cheese sauce. I mistakenly thought that the cheese sauce was part of the flavoring of the snack and did not expect to find an actual packet of cheese sauce in the bag.
Also I don’t like cheese, so I don’t know why I bought this snack in the first place. I at least tried the cheese sauce, but it was too sweet and tasted like…I don’t know, average fake cheese?
Moral of the story: never buying these again
November 18, 2021 - I’ve taken on a bit of an unusual job for a teacher at my school…there is a small company here in Bishkek which wants a few of their employees to improve their English grammar, so I’ve been teaching them. However, I go to their office instead of them coming to our school. The lessons take place in quite a posh office, but from my understanding it does belong to the boss lady. I’m not sure if she is actually the head boss or not. She made it sound like she is, but I’m not sure if her husband is involved with the company in any way (and even if he is, I recognize that she could still be the boss, though in all fairness Kyrgyz society tends to be a bit more traditional when it comes to gender roles)
November 17, 2021 - a funny thing happened on the way from the bazaar
I met this friend. He/She didn’t stay still enough for me to get a good picture, but it was still very cute. Actually, all the stray cats I have met in Kyrgyzstan have been cute. They generally like people because they always want food
November 15, 2021 - A MegaCom advertisement, one of the largest cellular service providers in Kyrgyzstan. The ad reads, “Mom, I’m in the park!” Though why a girl young enough to unironically enjoy a carousel would need a cell phone is beyond me. Perhaps it is another relative of the girl (maybe her father?) who is implied to be sending the message or picture
November 14, 2021 - some Argan Oil Balm for hair – “If regularly used, the balm slows down ageing caused by adverse exposure to chemical reactions, reduces stress effects on hair and fills it up with energy.”
Wow, I want something that fills my hair up with energy!
(To be fair, I’m thinking this is something that sounds okay in Russian which was just directly translated into English)
November 13, 2021 - I keep seeing/hearing this Kyrgyz word ‘үчүн’, and I saw it again at this recycling ‘bin’ (which is in the shape of a bottle). I took a picture of it to remind myself to find out what it means. Turns out it means ‘for’ (I think this is ‘for’ like ‘для’ in Russian). So my understanding is that the sign reads that the bin is ‘for (plastic) bottles’
November 12, 2021 - took a picture of this sign for a ‘кымызкана’. кымыз (kumis) is a traditional Central Asian drink made from horse’s milk. I have heard that it is difficult to find kumis in Bishkek. In fact, the Wikipedia article on kumis makes reference to the fact that there is no large scale production of mare’s milk, meaning you can’t just buy it at the supermarket. Usually you find it for sale in villages. I tried some when I went to Issyk-Kul with my colleagues. The batch we had was particularly mild - it wasn’t very sour. I didn’t have a lot though because I’m slightly lactose intolerant and I was worried about what might happen if I had too much. Also, kumis is slightly alcoholic, but the alcohol content is fairly low so it’s not a good beverage choice if you are looking to get drunk.
кана is a word that means something like ‘a place/building’. For example, ашкана means ‘kitchen/cafeteria’ (аш: food + кана: place/building = a place where one can get food). дарыкана means ‘pharmacy’ (дары: medicine + кана: place/building = a place where one can get medicine). So кымызкана would mean a place where one can get кымыз. But given the rarity of кымыз in Bishkek, I wonder what kind of a place that was, or if that was just an advertisement for somewhere else
