valerie
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)
July 13, 2022 - I’m a sucker for anything strawberry flavored and the space cow was also enticing (it was a carbonated strawberry + milk drink)
July 12, 2022 - Catalpa or similar tree? There are many of them in the park close to where I take Russian lessons
July 11, 2022 - stray white kitty sleeping on some cardboard boxes
(also I see 312 phone numbers on the sign…I learned recently during a Kyrgyz lesson that Kyrgyz phone numbers with a 312 area code are based in Bishkek)
July 10, 2022 - Does the hospital bed sign just designate hospitals in the vicinity? Wouldn’t a sign with a red cross be enough to convey that info? Why the bed? Is it telling drivers to not be loud because patients are sleeping? I don’t think I’ve seen a sign like this in TX..
July 9, 2022 - I grew up with Pokemon, so I was really tempted to buy this discounted berry-flavored toothpaste targeted at children but I didn’t want to feel like a sucker to the advertising
July 7, 2022 - premade mampar soup which I bought at the store. I can’t seem to find a lot of information on it in English, but most of the hits on the first page of Google refer to it as a Uyghur dish
July 6, 2022 - lately I have been finding juice extremely satisfying. I bought this Kyrgyz brand/themed juice called той (which means ‘party’ in Kyrgyz). The carton features other Kyrgyz things like kalpak, elechek (hats), and Жети-Өгүз, a scenic location in eastern Kyrgyzstan
July 5, 2022 - another picture from hiking with my student and her family. This is a pistachio tree and there were a lot of them. I was told that apparently when the pistachios are ready, many people will come to pick them and then sell them
July 4, 2022 - another picture from the lake trip I took in mid-June. This was a picture of the road we had driven on to get to the starting point of our hike
July 3, 2022 - second bag of food which I had received from my student. homemade bread and manti with beef (and without fat - apparently my student’s children don’t like fatty meat, and they don’t eat manti made in restaurants because they are usually made with fatty meat)
July 1, 2022 - Fast food fix. This is the second time I’ve eaten KFC here. These are terminals inside the restaurant where you can order, or you can order at the counter. Pick up is at the counter, and you can take it to go or eat inside. There are also some KFCs with drive-thrus
