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A walk last Sunday
2008-04-09 10:15:00
Last Saturday here in Bishkek the weather was abysmal, and I stayed indoors most of the day. In contrast, Sunday was perfect: warm, sunny, with clear blue skies... the perfect day for a walk. So I took one. And, as you might suspect, I took a lot of photographs. Some are similare to those I took on my very first excursion into Downtown Bishkek way back in January, although now shown in the light of spring rather than under a blanket of snow. Others are of entirely new sights. Either way, enjoy!Square honoring the Martyrs of the (Communist) RevolutionDitto.Up close and personal......and likewise.Mmmmm, green.I really like this house a lot.Legendary Kyrgyz hero, Manas, [wikipedia entry]who once carried his horse over a rough mountain pass.A closer look.The White House.No, seriously, that's what the Kyrgyz President calls his office.Erkendik Park, a nice pedestrian park/boulevard downtownSome kind of drama theater.It had interesting detail work......and awesome columns......and one su...
More About: Photography , Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan , Walk

An animal lover's dilemma
2008-04-05 10:00:00
Rest in peace, Pewter.My mother and I are animal lovers, and this goes a long way to explaining the fact that I have three cats here in K-stan, and that between the two of us we have around thirty cats and six dogs in the US. Unfortunately, not all animals get along. One would like to think that a puppy found at a small age would grow up in the presence of 30 odd cats, thinking they were nothing more than small, lovable playmates. Unfortunately, sometimes nature overrides nurture, and the small puppy rescued from the Waycross ghetto grows up to have a tendency to chase cats. At first one compensates by fencing said dog into the backyard, and hoping that the cats have enough sense to steer clear. For the most part they do. Then in February, a mentally ill person (and that's a completely different story) lets said dog into the house - the cats' domain - and the dog kills a cat. The blame falls on the menally ill individual, not on the dog. Unfortunately, the dog now has a taste for ...
More About: Pets , Animal , Dilemma

This is simply insane.
2008-04-02 13:58:00
Thanks to Mike and Wendell for bringing this utterly absurd and rather frightening news from my city in the US to my attention:3rd Graders Aimed to Hurt TeacherWaycross Third Graders Questioned in Plot to Kill Their TeacherWaycross 3rd Graders Charged for Plotting to Attack TeacherPolice Release Photos of Weapons in Waycross PlotThird Graders Arrested in Teacher Attack Plot It's even made international news:??????????????? ?????????? ????? ???? ???????????
More About: Insane , Simply

Horse Trekking in Kochkor
2008-04-02 13:20:00
Last Sunday Jessica and Nick departed Bishkek, after finishing up their time teaching at The London School. Before they leave Kyrgyzstan , they?re spending a few weeks traveling around the country. The first leg of their journey took them from Bishkek to Kochkor (where we bought the shyrdaks on our way home from Naryn) for some horse-trekking with CBT, and they invited us to go with them.Sunday morning, Nick, Jessica, Katy, Alyson, Ben the Younger (as opposed to Ben the Elder who went with me to Ala Archa), Matthew and I set out for Kochkor. Like our trip to Naryn, this journey began with crazy haggling for taxis in front of the bus station. I was able to negotiate us a private minivan to take us all to Kochkor for the price of 1400soms, which I thought was a pretty good deal. However, I swear we got the one sedate driver in the entire country of Kyrgyzstan. Now, it?s not that I want to complain at all about a driver actually following the rules of the road for once, but after spendi...
More About: Photography , Central Asia , Trekking , Horse

Vet care in Kyrgyzstan
2008-03-29 10:41:00
I was finally able to get Lucy spayed on Wednesday, and let me tell you, had I known how horrible it was going to be on her, I don't think I would have done it. Now I am a HUGE proponent of spay/neuter programs, and have even done some volunteer work helping to get feral cats fixed so they won't be able to reproduce in the wild. But that was all in the US where vet care is usually pretty good. Anyway, I dropped Lucy off Wednesday morning at around 10:30am and picked her up at 4:30pm. She was essentially catatonic and stayed that way the rest of the evening. At one point, I was holding her, trying to keep her warm as she had developed a chill, and she peed herself (and all over me too), and she didn't even react. I was convinced that she was going into shock and that she might die on me. It was really a rough nigh; I didn't get much sleep. She was a little better the next day, although she refused to eat or drink anything (including canned catfood and kefir) until late Friday aft...
More About: Pets , Central Asia , Care , Kyrgyzstan

Naryn and Tashrabat
2008-03-26 12:26:00
Nooruz ? the Muslim adaptation of the vernal equinox into a religious celebration [wikipedia entry] ? fell on Friday, and as such, we had a three day weekend. Eight of us (me, Jessica, Nick, Katy, Austin, Jonathan, Ben and Matthew) decided to make the trip down to Naryn (a town of about 50,000 people located 2000 meters above sea level and five hours south-east of Bishkek) for the long weekend. We booked everything via CBT and they were awesome and super cheap. As usual, I took an absurd number of photos on this trip, and have uploaded 180 to flickr. You can view the entire set by CLICKING HERE.Friday morning we left the London School at about 9:30, and took two taxis to the bus station. Public transportation in Kyrgyzstan is, sadly, pretty crappy, and CBT had advised us to go to the bus station and hire taxis to take us to Naryn. They also advised us that a taxi to Naryn would run approximately 1500soms. The driver of the taxi taking us from the school to the bus station immediatel...
More About: Photography , Central Asia

Back from Naryn!
2008-03-24 07:05:00
Our three-day weekend in Naryn was great - just wanted to let you guys know that we made it there and back safely. I'll have a full post up about our trip on Wednesday. Probably.Also, the burglary fuckers in Waycross apparently made off with my swords. And possibly my video camera, although as I don't remember where I left it, it's difficult for my mom to check.And lastly, a feral cat that we feed in Waycross, but which we haven't been able to catch and fix, just had kittens. So if anybody in FL/GA wants a kitten, let me know. My mom's trying to socialize them, so they won't be feral like their mom.
More About: Back , Miscellany

CONGRATULATIONS!
2008-03-20 12:15:00
Congratulations to Melissa and Alex on the birth of their daughter, Madeline!
More About: Miscellany , Congratulations

Burglary in the Waycross Ghetto
2008-03-20 12:01:00
My house ? the one in Georgia ? was broken into last night. Of course, the only things of value I own are my laptop and my camera, and they?re with me here in Kyrgyzstan. We don?t think anyone picked a lock or anything; my mom thinks she forgot to lock the back door. (Makes one wonder if they?ve been checking the doors *every* night, just to see.) Anyhow, we?re not sure if anything was stolen or not (after all, I?m the one who knows the details of the contents of my house, not my mom), but from what my mom can tell, nothing was taken. They did, however, kinda trash the place, throwing stuff around, trying to figure out where I kept my valuables. Apparently they broke into my old trunk (a likely location for valuables...) only to discover that it was full of wigs and bizarre costumes (see here for examples). We suspect they were sorely disappointed. Mom called the cops and one came out and made a report ? fat lot of good that?ll do. Sigh.
More About: Ghetto , Waycross , Burglary

Pre-Naryn updates from Bishkek
2008-03-20 12:00:00
Ok, so I know I said I wasn?t going to post again until after I returned from my three day weekend in Naryn, but my Embassy class was cancelled today, leaving me with a fabulous three hour break in the middle of my workday. So, I?ve decided to use this time to post some random images I?ve been saving up for some time now. Here you go:I?ve mentioned marshrutkas (mini-bus taxis) numerous times; now here?s your chance to see what they look like. See, the other day, I was sitting in my peachy kitchen/living room having lunch, when I heard tires squeal loudly, followed by a loud bump; a marshrutka had rear-ended a station wagon right outside my window. I went and got my camera. By the time I returned to the window, the drivers were screaming at each other at the top of their lungs. Meanwhile, most of the passengers had disembarked and were picking sides. Some were screaming at the driver of the station wagon, while others were screaming at the marshrutka driver. All in all, it was just a...
More About: Photography , Updates , Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan

Look for me next week
2008-03-17 17:50:00
This week we're working Monday-Thursday, and I'm spending Friday-Sunday in Naryn... as such I probably won't be posting until next week. Look for me then!
More About: Week

The Ides in Ala Archa
2008-03-16 07:11:00
Since neither Austin, Kevin, Ben (the new teacher), nor I had been to the Ala Archa National Park, the school arranged a trip for the four of us this weekend. Ala Archa is a large park in the mountains and valleys surrounding the Ala Archa river, located roughly 30km south of Bishkek. We were driven there at 10:00 Saturday morning by the school?s driver, and dropped off at the park gate, left to fend for ourselves until 4:00 when the driver planned to return. I must say it wasn?t exactly the best weather for spending six hours hiking about in the wilderness, as it was chilly, dreary and overcast, but we had a good time anyway. As always, I?ve only posted a few of the pictures I took below. The entire set of photos can be seen by CLICKING HERE.At the entrance to the park are two statues, one of a mountain goat and one of a snow leopard.Of course, we had to mount them.The scenery was spectacular ? even with the dreariness of the dayCamera-shy Ben, not realizing I was taking his photo,...
More About: Photography , Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan

The continuing suffering of Lucy Cat
2008-03-16 07:03:00
When I was in Russia, one of the lessons I taught several times involved the following construction, ?Fall is a time when...? ?Halloween is a day when...? etc. Several of my students ? quite independently ? crafted the following sentence: ?Spring is a time when cats cry.? They insisted that cats always cry in the spring, as that?s when they want babies. Well, Lucy is continuing to support that claim. After writing my previous post, I managed to rig a contraption of plastic sheeting (the drop cloth from our paint party) and duct tape up over the bottom half of the windows, hoping that would allow me to keep the cats in while letting some fresh air in as well.My plastic sheeting in the window idea...Then, during my 20 minute break before my last class on Friday, four of my Korean students ran into my classroom to tell me that one of my cats was out in the street. Of course it was Lucy ? who else? While Bagira and Grey Cat took the plastic sheeting as a sign that they should cuddle up ...
More About: Pets , Suffering , Kyrgyzstan

Feeling a tad cranky
2008-03-14 06:11:00
Lucy is in heat. She's the youngest of the three kitties I inherited when I moved to Bishkek, and she's the only one who came to me un-spayed. I knew she'd be going into heat soon, but kept putting off doing it because I don't have a cat-carrier and didn't so much like the thought of carrying her to the vet in my backpack. Anyway, she's started prowling around the apartment scouting - and crying - for a boy cat, and it is unceasing. Additionally, this started at exactly the same time that the weather became warm enough to open the windows (a must, as the state-provided heat is still blasting into my apartment). Unfortunately, as I live on the ground floor and my windows have no screens, I can't really do this, as Lucy just pops out the window and goes running down the street with her ass in the air. So I'm stifling in my apartment until I have time to both take her to and pick her up from the vet. Given my schedule and the vet's schedule, this doesn't seem likely to happen...
More About: Pets , Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan , Feeling

Women's Day Paint Party
2008-03-09 08:28:00
Saturday was Women's Day, which as I've mentioned in the past is a BIG DEAL in the former Soviet Union. While it was quite nice to get flowers and chocolate from my students, I could've done without the attendant drama (the unwanted attentions of the married man and the creepy twik guy, for example). Sigh. Why is it always the creepy and/or otherwise taken ones who are interested? Seriously, what gives? Ahh well.My friends and I celebrated the holiday in a rather unorthodox fashion: we painted my kitchen/living room orange! Well, more of a bright peach, really. It's *exactly* the color I want to paint my kitchen in Waycross, and after seeing the results I'm even more convinced that this is the correct color choice. Anyhow, I posted only a couple of paint-party photos below, but there's a whole album of hilarious shots on facebook, which you can view by clicking here. Enjoy!Before.Mixing the paint was an interesting affair. See, here in K-stan, you have to mix your paint yourse...
More About: Photography , Party , Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan , Paint

Of drivers and photos
2008-03-08 06:32:00
Yesterday Kompanion had some sort of training pertaining to the ecology and environment of Kyrgyzstan (I wish I could?ve attended!) and as such I was without my morning class yesterday. I skipped my Kyrgyz class and slept until nearly 1pm. It was wonderful. Sadly, this means that next week I?ll be teaching my 8:00 Kompanion class on Wednesday morning in addition to the other four regular days ? Boo!Kompanion sends a car to The London School to pick me up in the mornings. My first two classes, I had drivers who were quite reserved, saying little more to me than hello. Thursday, I had a jolly, garrulous fellow as my driver, who wanted nothing more than to chat with me in order to practice his English. His daughter and grandson live in Tampa, so he was quite excited to learn that my father lives in Tampa. When he learned that his name, Evgeny, was the Russian equivalent to my dad?s name, Eugene, I swear he decided we were meant to be best friends. He says he?s going to try to get sched...
More About: Drivers , Photography , Photos , Central Asia

I'm tired. ? ??????. ??? ????????.
2008-03-05 06:56:00
At least I can express how I feel in three languages. This month I was supposed to have an easier schedule. Instead of having my first class of the day begin at 9:00am, I would be giving that class to a fellow teacher and moving instead to a class at 11:30am, thus earning a good two and a half hours more of sleep time per day. The 11:30 class was scheduled to be held on-site at MercyCorps Kompanion... but after I'd agreed to take the class, they called and said that actually, a class at 11:30 would really disrupt their working day, and it would be best to hold the class at 8:00am. Yeah. And you know how stellar I am with mornings. The class itself is actually quite fantastic - the students are all at the same level, they're all highly motivated, participate in class, and do their homework. Plus they're all friendly and incredibly funny. It's a really great class... but 8:00am. Yesterday I returned to The London School after my Kompanion class just in time for my Kyrgyz lesson, i...
More About: Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan , Tired

Haircut!
2008-03-03 05:23:00
After leaving the internet café on Sunday, I decided to set about getting my hair cut. I walked to a nice looking place about a block south of my apartment, and I managed to get myself a rather nice haircut for roughly $5. The scraggly mullet is gone... replaced with a much neater and shorter, and only vaguely mullety kind of do. It looks quite nice, actually.
More About: Miscellany , Kyrgyzstan , Haircut

Published!
2008-03-02 17:16:00
The above pictures might look familiar to those of you who have followed my adventures for some time now; they?re from my Spring 2006 trip to Siberia?s Olkhon Island, and they?ve been published in Issue 2 of Everywhere Magazine! To all of you photographers, writers and travelers out there (amateur and otherwise) you should definitely check out Everywhere and upload some photos and tales. It?s incredibly addictive ? not to mention that if they publish any of your stuff, you get $100. (Also, if you're interested: the photos I've submitted to Everywhere are here, and the stories I've submitted are here. And if you want to subscribe - and you know you do - just click here!)
More About: Photography , Published

A bazaar weekend
2008-03-02 17:15:00
Friday night a group of us went to the Georgian (as in eastern European Georgia) restaurant downtown (I need to find out its name). It?s probably one of the more expensive restaurants in Bishkek, so we certainly won?t be eating there all the time; however, for a once in a while treat, it was definitely worth it. In addition to fancy décor (including obviously quality linen tablecloths and napkins), the service and food were excellent. I loaded up on my all-time favorite Georgian dish, hachipuri ? yummy bread stuffed with incredibly delicious solugun cheese, AND made my evening even cheesier by purchasing an entire dish of bubbly melted solugun, mixed with tomatoes. Ahh, heaven. We split a bottle of some of the best wine I?ve had in recent memory (the Georgians do their wine and cheese to perfection), and left the restaurant feeling utterly content... if slightly light in the wallet.Hachipuri and wine :-)A giant bowl of bubbly melted cheese!Eating the cheese made me incredibly happy....
More About: Photography , Central Asia , Weekend , Kyrgyzstan , Bazaar

The cuddliest kitties in Bishkek
2008-03-01 06:20:00
Aren't they the sweetest?I've been saving BSG Razor, and I finally watched it the other evening, with help from Lucy!
More About: Photography , Pets , Kitties

In which I feel a little like Salma Hayek in Desperado, among other things.
2008-02-27 09:44:00
The other day I had emerged from Tashrabat, the fancy Western-style shopping center on Gorkova where the "fast" internet cafe is located, and had just begun my trek back to The London School when an SUV with tinted windows pulled alongside of me and began honking. Now, in general, when a strange SUV with tinted windows pulls alongside of you and starts honking, the best thing to do is to ignore it, which is what I did. Then its window rolled down, and one of my students (er, former student; he's studying with Katy this month) appeared, leaning over, shouting, "Jane! Jane! Hello!" At which point he rear-ended the Mercedes in front of him. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I caused a guy to wreck his car. Luckily it wasn't serious, and he seemed more amused by it than anything else. He also told me that any time I needed a ride to give him a call. Because after seeing him wreck his car, getting into said car is exactly what I want to do.Later that day, I went to my class at the embassy. Sor...
More About: Salma Hayek , Central Asia , Things , Kyrgyzstan , Feel

Random images of daily life
2008-02-25 06:11:00
Creative candle holders in preparation for the inevitable blackout.Kitty by candlelightAwwwwww :-)Making teaEven the coolest socks in K-stan have to be washed...and dried!
More About: Life , Daily , Photography , Random , Images

In memory of Ollie
2008-02-24 09:41:00
Poor Ollie was killed by a dog last week.However, his death may have been what allowed the others to escape.Poor sweety.
More About: Pets , Memory , In Memory

Gah!
2008-02-23 14:35:00
Even the "fast" internet cafe is super slow today. I guess everyone else in here is doing some serious downloading or something. Anyway, I just spent an hour and a half attempting to upload a two minute video to YouTube, since I've promised you guys videos from Karakoo... but you're just going to have to keep waiting. Sorry!
More About: Miscellany

A weekend at Lake Issyk Kul
2008-02-20 06:18:00
Last weekend my boss, Kendje, and her husband, Bayan took me, as well as Katy and Austin (other teachers) and Kelly (their host daughter) to Lake Issyk Kul. It was an incredible trip, and I took around 200 photos, nearly 80 of which I felt were good enough to upload. I?ve only posted photos a handful of photos below, so PLEASE CLICK HERE to view the entire set. Trust me, it?s worth it.If you look at any map of Kyrgyzstan , you will see a large lake in the north-eastern quadrant of the country. This is Lake Issyk Kul. At around 10:00 on Saturday morning, Kendje, Bayan, their daughter Aishyola, Kelly, Austin, Katy and I loaded into the van and began the roughly four-hour long journey. We headed eastward along the same road we?d previously taken on our trip to Burana Tower, although obviously we continued on much farther this time. After about two hours, we stopped at the bank of the Chuy River at the base of the mountains for lunch. The weather was chilly, but the sky was a brilliant b...
More About: Photography , Central Asia , Weekend

Back from Issyk-Kul
2008-02-17 13:55:00
I just got back from a wonderful and amazing weekend at Lake Issyk Kul. I took tons (perhaps even hundreds) of photos and quite a few videos. It will take a while for me to get them sorted and uploaded and to get a post written - so check back over the next few days. In the interim, read the two Valentine's Day posts below, which I would've posted sooner, except the internet cafe was without electricity :-)
More About: Back , Miscellany , Kyrgyzstan

My secret admirer?
2008-02-17 13:54:00
At The London School, in honor of Valentine?s Day, we had a mailbox downstairs for valentines. Today, when the admin staff were going through the few valentines deposited within, they found one for me: a letter written in both English and Russian. I?m quite skeptical of this epistle, as it is unsigned and as it reads rather like a segment of Evgeny Onegin. I?m half convinced it?s a translation of a modified version of either Tatiana?s letter to Evgeny or vice versa, but as it?s been a good seven years since I last read Evgeny Onegin it might very well not be. I?m also slightly concerned that it might be from that creepy twik guy; while his English is nowhere near this good, he could very well have had help. Or an electronic translator. But as it is unsigned, it will remain a mystery. Anyway, the English version, complete with grammar and spelling errors for authenticity is as follows:I write to the most charming girl on this world... Ah, what happiness that have this holiday. For th...
More About: Secret , Kyrgyzstan

Valentine's Day Musings
2008-02-17 13:52:00
When I was 18 years old and in high school, I had what I considered to be a serious boyfriend. I was head over heels in love with this guy, and thought he was wonderful. It was pretty obvious to literally EVERYONE else that this was a bad idea, except for perhaps my one friend whom he managed to convince to become his surreptitious girlfriend. Yeah. He was a great catch. What were we thinking? She and I are both well rid of that asshole. (Er, no offense to any of his relatives who might very well be reading this, as they are awesome.) Anyway, during my senior year of high school, when I was besotted with said asshole, two teachers (who were at the time former teachers) took me aside on different occasions to tell me that my boyfriend was a bad apple and a bad influence, and advised me that perhaps I should consider finding someone different. At the time, I simply felt awkward and uncomfortable during those conversations, and of course, I thought they had no idea what they were talki...
More About: Musings , Kyrgyzstan

Keeping you cats up to date...
2008-02-14 05:55:00
Well, not much of note has happened in the last week, I?m sad to say. I got the flu, and as a result didn?t teach my afternoon classes on Friday, and spent both Saturday and Sunday in bed feeling thoroughly miserable. Luckily, Jessica lent me the entire first season of Monk on DVD, so I had something to entertain me in my misery. Because I wasn?t able to teach my afternoon classes on Friday, I had to make them up on Wednesday, meaning that I didn?t have a mid-week free day to go stalking Chechens and/or Iraqis. Assuming that I am healthy, I *will* be having a bit of an adventure this weekend, however. Kendje (my boss) will be taking me, Austin and Katy to Lake Issyk-Kul (the largest lake in Kyrgyzstan ) for the weekend. Granted, it?s not exactly lake-going weather, what with it still being frigid and all, but it should be an adventure nonetheless. I just hope I?m done coughing and sneezing by then! And, of course, I?ll tell you all about it as soon as I get back. Or perhaps on Monday...
More About: Cats , Miscellany