valerie
August 31, 2021 - Happy Independence Day! Today marks Kyrgyzstan’s 30th year of independence from the Soviet Union. A local teacher invited me to an event called an aitish (Айтыш). This is a Kyrgyz and Kazakh tradition where singers improvise verses as they play instruments such as the Kyrgyz komuz or the Kazakh dombra (both of these instruments are guitar-like). The singers compete against each other to see who can improvise the best verses, and they sometimes jeer playfully at each other. I was told their lines are often humorous, and indeed the audience laughed a lot. I was also told that some of the lines related to politics. I had no idea what was being said because everyone spoke in either Kyrgyz or Kazakh (from what I’ve been told these two languages are mutually intelligible, meaning that Kyrgyz speakers can understand Kazakh and vice versa), but it was really cool to experience nonetheless
August 28, 2021 - new mural on the way to the track where I run (at least I’m pretty sure it’s new…but it’s also very possible that I wasn’t paying attention and missed it every other time I walked by). I believe the first line is Kyrgyz and the second is the same line in Russian. It translates to “your city - your choice”
August 27, 2021 - why does the US only have boring toothpaste flavors? I remember seeing green tea flavored toothpaste from a Western brand (not sure if it was Colgate or Crest) in China. And in this picture there is herb flavored toothpaste (which I feel could be hit or miss depending on which herbs they use! but hey, I’d still try it) and pomegranate flavored toothpaste. I know the point of toothpaste is not consumption, but…these seem more fun than the 20 variations of mint offered in the US
August 26, 2021 - the billboard outside my window changed overnight. Kyrgyzstan’s Independence Day is on August 31, so now the billboard references the upcoming holiday. 2021 marks the country’s 30th year of independence from the Soviet Union
August 24, 2021 - walked by a store which sells products for pets and they had a parrot hanging out on the door
August 23, 2021 - this is maybe my third or fourth time making this red cabbage recipe www.budgetbytes.com/braised-r… I like it and recommend it if you are into cabbage. I made this recipe today because yesterday the red cabbages at the supermarket looked wonderful 😊
August 20, 2021 - there’s a store near where I live called “Marshalls” which I highly doubt is affiliated with the actual company, but I found it amusing
August 18, 2021 - went to a cafe by myself and managed to order a salad (and tea, not pictured) for dinner! Unfortunately the cafe didn’t have a lot of local options. However, I just found out how to find restaurants near me with the maps app people use here, so I now have a list of restaurants I want to visit!
August 17, 2021 - taken in a public area/park facing south where the mountains are visible in the horizon
August 15, 2021 - I’m back in Bishkek, but here’s a picture of some mountains from yesterday that I took on the way to Issyk-Kul Lake
August 13, 2021 - cloudy and “rainy” here today. I say “rainy” because rainy by Bishkek standards so far means ‘it sprinkled a little bit’. It might actually storm tomorrow, though!
(also, all the wires over the intersection are for the trolley buses here)
August 12, 2021 - Non-dairy milk options here are tasty but expensive, so I decided I needed to find something I like which is cheaper and which is also not regular milk. I bought kefir (кефир), which you can also get in the US, though I think people here drink it more often. It’s good. A little thick for cereal, but if that’s what it takes to save a little money, so be it
August 11, 2021 - a local teacher invited me to go on a walk with her, and then we had dinner together! The plate closest to the camera is manti (манты). They are like dumplings and you can put different things inside. Mine had meat (beef) and onions. Then there is a Greek salad (греческий салат) and naan (тандыр-нан, the bread) behind the manti. The dish my teacher friend ordered is called ashlan-fu (ашлян-фу). It is a cold noodle dish which can be spicy. And the pitcher that you can partly see on the left side has compote (компот) in it, which is a sweet fruit drink. It has always been served cold when I have had it, I think because it is currently summer. I didn’t try her dish because I thought it might be weird to ask, but everything I had was very good 😀
August 10, 2021 - Ataturk Park where there is a statue of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey and its first president
August 9, 2021 - seen from afar during my walk today—a bride in her wedding dress having pictures taken 😊
