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Studying Kyrgyz
2008-02-14 05:53:00
Friday was our first day of Kyrgyz lessons. A group of 6 or so of us have decided to start studying Kyrgyz together once a week here at The London School. Unfortunately, on account of being out with the flu on Friday, I missed our inaugural class. I?ve been trying to catch up in preparation for this coming Friday. It doesn?t seem that I missed too much, and I hope I?m not deluding myself on this account. For those of you who are interested: Kyrgyz uses the Cyrillic alphabet (which I already know quite well), with the addition of three extra letters. One looks like a theta and sounds like the u in fur and church. One looks like a Cyrillic ? with a tail, and it makes the ng sound. The other is a super-stiff looking y (as opposed to the relaxed looking Cyrillic ?) and it makes a ew sound. (Sadly, even after installing what is allegedly ?Kyrgyz Cyrillic? on my computer, I still don?t have those extra letters!) There are a lot of Russian to Kyrgyz cognates (eg ???????, ?????), although t...
More About: Central Asia , Studying , Kyrgyzstan

Colin Thubron takes on Central Asia
2008-02-14 05:44:00
I fell in love with Colin Thubron when I read In Siberia while living in Korea. He?s a travel writer who combines beautiful prose with a penchant for visiting obscure and exotic locales. He also holds a vast wealth of knowledge regarding the histories of his destinations, which he weaves in and out of his tales in a thoroughly engrossing manner. He travels without a camera (which frankly defies my comprehension) but his words are detailed enough to paint an intricate picture of all peoples and places in the reader?s mind. (Of course, Thubron is somewhat pretentious when it comes to his prose, and at times reading his works reminds one of studying for the verbal section of the GRE. I swear the man?s two favorite words are plangent and faience, and he uses them all the time. I don?t know about you, but I had to look those two up!) I brought two of Thubron?s books with me to Kyrgyzstan : The Lost Heart of Asia (published in 1994) and Shadow of the Silk Road which came out last year.I re...
More About: Book Review , Central Asia , Central

Well that sucked.
2008-02-11 05:36:00
Thursday morning I sent my mom an email saying that I was finally recovered from my rather long lasting cold. Thursday afternoon I was struck down by a swift moving and virulent Kyrgyz flu. I couldn't even teach on Friday, and spent all weekend in bed feeling like shit. At least today I feel human again. Not recovered, just human. Which is definitely an improvement.

Chechen Stalking and ??????? ????
2008-02-07 07:04:00
Ina has befriended a Chechen woman who works at a small kiosk along Chui, the main drag downtown. Apparently she had been stopping there every day for various items, and the woman eventually struck up a conversation with her and invited her into the back part of the kiosk for tea. As they got to know one another, Ina learned that this woman (Zina ? or perhaps Xena...) was acquainted with the president of the Kyrgyz Chechen Diaspora. Ina asked if perhaps it would be possible to meet with him (his name is Sayyid something), to interview him regarding the latest news out of Chechnya and his views on life here in the Central Asia n diaspora of displaced Chechens. Zina said that she would try to set up a meeting. Ina thought I should come along too, claiming that my Russian was better than hers; it?s not ? although that certainly wouldn?t deter me from tagging along on this interview!Anyhow, during the course of their getting to know one another, Zina asked Ina if she had a boyfriend... a...
More About: Kyrgyzstan , Stalking

Just call me Madame Ambassador
2008-02-05 05:37:00
Okay, don?t actually call me that. I did, however, have my first class at the American Embassy on Monday. Going into the Embassy compound is just like going onto a military base ? something I?m very familiar with from my days as the long arm of the law. Of course, back then, my badge would get me in wherever I wanted to go, unescorted. It was an odd feeling to have my things searched and to then be given a bright red MUST BE ESCORTED badge. Amazing how things have changed in my life in just three years. The compound had such an overwhelming US government feel, even though I only spoke with one American, and that was merely to say hello. So many buildings in the former Soviet Union are built of poured concrete, but the buildings of the embassy (at least in the part of the compound where I was) were made of standard US concrete blocks, covered in a thin veneer of bland paint, just like the innumerable government buildings I?ve been in during the course of my life. And it even SMELLED ...
More About: Central Asia , Call , Kyrgyzstan , Madame , Ambassador

Burana Tower
2008-02-03 09:15:00
On Saturday Kendje, my boss (kind of the Galina Petrovna of The London School, for you AH folks) took me and Austin (the other new teacher) to Burana Tower with some of her friends and family. This is apparently something they do with all new teachers, and it was really a wonderful trip. The weather on Saturday was still warm, sunny and spring-like, with clear blue skies ? excellent for photography.We drove out of Bishkek around 11:00 in the morning, and began our trek eastward along what was once a branch of the Silk Road. Along the way, we drove through many small towns and villages. Every tiny town and village along the way had a brand new mosque, concrete, topped with a shiny steel cupola. We were told that these new mosques were constructed by Saudi Arabians, in an attempt to attract more Kyrgyz to the Muslim faith. Apparently, while the northern part of Kyrgyzstan is predominantly Muslim, they tend not to be overly serious about their faith. (Think about Christians you know go...
More About: Photography , Central Asia

Friday Night Chinese
2008-02-03 08:58:00
By Friday , I was feeling mostly better, and was left merely with a sore throat, a voice like an old crone, and a hacking cough. Yes, this was an improvement. Friday night some of the teachers, Jake (an American studying Russian at the London School), Ina and I met at a Chinese restaurant in downtown Bishkek (located roughly behind the circus). Jake used to live in China and apparently speaks fluent Chinese. He had been to this restaurant several times before, and had managed to befriend all the staff. Ina arrived first and was told there would be no tables available for at least an hour (the place *was* packed), but then Jake sweet-talked the employees into essentially kicking some people out of a table and giving it to us! Also, I have no idea how much food actually costs at this place, because Jake apparently got us a huge discount. Six of us shared numerous incredibly delicious dishes and had two to three beers a piece, and the total came to around 1300 soms. For the massive amou...
More About: Pets , Central Asia , Night

Next month?s schedule
2008-02-03 08:57:00
Well, I?ve still got a pretty crappy schedule for next month ? although I must admit that I quite like the extra $150 I received this month for having taught said crappy schedule. And I?ve pretty much gotten used to it. Being able to take a two to three hour nap between my morning and afternoon classes helps a lot. So yes, next month I still have my morning class. My afternoon schedule has altered somewhat, however. On Mondays and Thursdays I will now be teaching a class at the American Embassy! My students are Embassy employees, who are at the Elementary 1 level. I?ve told that it?s an incredibly weak class, and that I was chosen for it because I speak Russian. Cool. So on Mondays and Thursdays, my afternoon schedule is as follows:2:30-3:50, Elementary 45:00-7:00, Elementary 1 at the Embassy7:10-8:30, Pre-Intermediate 1This is nice, since on Mondays and Thursdays I?ll have an additional break from 3:50-4:45 (when I leave for the Embassy). However, on Tuesdays and Fridays, my 2:30 a...
More About: Schedule , Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan , Month

Wednesday Warmth and the Whispering Club
2008-02-03 08:51:00
A couple of my students have told me that the reason the power keeps going out is because of the severe cold this January. Supposedly, in addition to the sauna-like heat provided by the state-run heating system, people across Bishkek have been plugging in electric heaters to help alleviate the cold. They must not be receiving as much of the state heat as I am; I continually have to open my windows to cool my apartment down. (One senses inefficiency here...) This January has been exceedingly cold by Kyrgyzstan standards. I?ve been told that it?s the coldest January since 1984, and, alternately, the coldest in thirty years. (How is it I managed to land my southern self in Russia during the coldest winter in decades and then managed to do the same in K-stan?) Anyhow, if these electric heaters really are to blame for the frequent power outages in Bishkek, then we may very well have seen the last of them. Maybe. I awoke on Wednesday to blue skies, shining sun and melting snow. And unlike...
More About: Central Asia , Club , Warmth

Feeling better. Mostly.
2008-02-01 06:27:00
I'll try to update sometime this weekend... I don't really have time right now. Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm (mostly) recovered, and am now merely sneezy.
More About: Miscellany , Feeling

In sickness and embarrassment...
2008-01-27 08:15:00
I suppose that spending so many hours in subzero temperatures last Wednesday was not exactly the best thing for my body, which was still in the process of adapting to strange K-stan germs. I didn?t feel to great Thursday morning, and by Friday I was feeling miserable with a full blown cold. Saturday I actually felt a lot better, just incredibly tired and weak. I made it to the nearest internet café (the slow one, as I didn?t have the energy to walk all the way to the ?fast? one) and then meandered across the street to Ramstor to restock my fridge. I?m usually quite good at knowing how much money I have and making sure that the cost of my purchases does not add up to more than I have in my wallet. Unfortunately, the illness that left me feeling completely weak and drained also left me feeling a little spacey. At the checkout, my total came to 100som shy of what I actually had in my wallet. I apologized profusely to the cashier, and fished out 100som worth of things that I figured I d...
More About: Central Asia , Sickness , Kyrgyzstan

Ripped from the Headlines
2008-01-27 08:04:00
The above headlines all came from last week?s edition of The Times of Central Asia (free copies of it can be found at Fatboy?s, among other places), and seem to provide a little bit of background behind why we here in Bishkek suffered extensive blackouts nearly every day last week. Granted, this edition of the Times was published a good week before the Bishkek blackouts began, but obviously energy shortages ? both gas and electric ? are of big concern in the Stans these days.We had all assumed that our Monday blackout was a fluke; however, by the end of the week we had all grown accustomed to teaching by candle light, and my students had (mostly) stopped laughing at the absurd sight of me, teaching in my LED headlamp. One of my older students told me that the city of Bishkek is shutting off power to different grids of the city at different times each day, because the electronic generators are overworked. Rolling blackouts, I suppose. Not really what you?d expect from capital city of...
More About: Kyrgyzstan , Headlines , Ripped

Wednesday Weirdness
2008-01-26 08:09:00
(I?ve been incommunicado for the past few days on account of the combination of sickness and power outages... But here?s my story of what happened this past Wednesday . I?ll try to update on the rest of the week when I feel better.)We don?t teach classes on Wednesdays, and while I?ve spent the previous two Wednesdays busily engaged in lesson planning, I decided to actually *do* something with my mid-week break this time around.I awoke promptly at 9am, not thanks to my alarm or my brilliant internal clock, but to the annoying chiming of my doorbell which whines a synthetic Beethoven at an obnoxious volume. After persistent ringing, I stumbled out of bed and peered through the peephole to find Sharipa, the school?s cleaning lady, with my freshly laundered clothes. (This is a service we have to pay for, but in my opinion, it?s well worth the money.) After she left, I managed to convince myself to go ahead and get dressed. The lure of the internet will do that.After spending some quality...
More About: Photography , Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan

Twik?
2008-01-23 06:02:00
(Monday)Student: Today you is very... twik.Me: Excuse me?Student: Twik.Me: Quick? ???????Student: No, no. Twik.Me: [puzzled look]Student: Maybe I mistake. I at home see in dictionary.(Tuesday)Student: Yesterday I not mistake. I see in dictionary. Yesterday I say you twik.Me: What? Quick?Student: No. Twik. T-W-I-K.Me: T-W-I-K? Twik? No, that?s not a word.Student: Yes it is! I see in dictionary! You twik!Me: Ummm... ??? ??-????????Student: ?????????.Me: [I look up ?????????. It means to observe, to watch, to look after, to supervise. I show this to my student.]Student: [shakes his head] No, no. [Takes dictionary and tries in vain to locate twik.] This dictionary, bad. My dictionary... twik. Thursday I take dictionary. You see, you twik.Luckily, whatever the hell twik is, he seems to mean it as a compliment.
More About: Kyrgyzstan

Just another manic Monday....
2008-01-23 05:54:00
Monday was... interesting. Actually, the bulk of the day was fairly normal for a Monday. Then, at exactly 7:00pm ? right as my final class of the day was beginning ? the power went out. Not just to The London School, but to the entire city block in which the school is located. All the teachers wandered downstairs, wondering what the protocol might be for such a situation, only to be handed candles inside little plastic cups, and sent back to class. As you know, all of my classes are fairly low-level, and this class was Elementary 4. We?re currently studying the present perfect. After asking as many ?Have you ever...? questions I could think of, I then began asking every low-level question I could think of. (We couldn?t really hold class by the dim light of a candle, and I couldn?t find my stellar headlamp flashlight.) Eighty minutes of basic questions was a bit much, but luckily my last class of the day is filled with hilarious, good natured people. It might not have been the best l...
More About: Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan , Monday , Manic Monday , Manic

Culinary Catastrophe
2008-01-21 06:19:00
I should?ve paid more attention back when I was hanging around Nina Mikhailovna?s kitchen every day. Something she used to make me quite frequently was fried tvorog, which I would eat topped with either jam or honey. Now, perhaps someone who knows what tvorog is can help me explain. I?ve seen it translated as cottage cheese, but it is very much NOT cottage cheese. However, I would say that tvorog has as much in common with normal cheese as does cottage cheese, if that makes sense. Anyway, it?s in the cheese family. A cousin, perhaps. I found a wide selection of tvorog in Ramstor the other day and decided to try my hand at frying some up. (I?m not a big fan of uncooked tvorog.) As far as I remember, Nina M simply used to pour some oil in a pan, drop in the tvorog, and a few minutes later there would be some tasty fried tvorog patties, ready to be smeared with jam or honey. So, I bought my tvorog...and my honey...and tried my best to repeat the process... Unfortunately, what I got was...
More About: Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan , Culinary

Friday and Saturday
2008-01-20 08:03:00
Friday night, after a long week of work ? and getting paid ? we decided to go out for a night on the town. The school?s former students who made us plov last weekend play in a cover band called Cadillac, and one of their frequent venues is a café/bar called Sweet 60s. Sweet 60s is a really nice café, with many choices of Russian, Kyrgyz and Western foods, plenty of booze and a good staff. Cadillac are excellent. They played a lot of classic rock covers mixed in with Red Hot Chili Peppers covers and they covered a few Russian songs too. After a fun evening of yummy food, beer and dancing, I headed home (opting out of the trip to the group?s next destination, a hip hop club ? boo).This is a shot of people dancing. Really.Saturday morning I got up early (despite my late night the evening before) in order to wander down to the internet café to check my email and make sure my plans for the day were still on. See, back when my AH friends and I went to Siberia, we met this super fabulous g...
More About: Photography , Central Asia , Friday , Kyrgyzstan

And now for your daily (blah) dose of the utterly random...
2008-01-20 08:00:00
This, as should be obvious, is a packet of moist cat food. What might not be obvious to non-Russian speakers is that it is RABBIT flavored. Now, I don?t suppose there is anything wrong with that; after all, rabbits are a perfectly acceptable prey for kitties world wide. However, after watching Vinni Pookh way too many times, the word ?????? (rabbit) is, for me, synonymous with Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh. It seems wrong somehow to be feeding ?????? to my kitties! They, on the other hand, love it.
More About: Daily , Pets , Random , Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan

Introducing the Som
2008-01-20 07:51:00
The som is the unit of currency used here in Kyrgyzstan . The exchange rate varies, but currently 35soms is roughly one dollar. Coins are rarely used at all. I guess they?re in the final stages of being phased out. I have heard that they exist, but that people are usually surprised when they receive coins as change. Paper soms exist in denomination from 500soms, down to half a som. Unfortunately, I didn?t realize this. Somewhere along the way, in a handful of change received at the grocery store or somewhere, I received a bill labeled 50. Not having remembered where I got it, or how much money I was owed when I received it, I simply assumed it was a 50som bill. After all, there ARE 50som bills. What was interesting about this bill, was that it was about half the size of the other bills in my wallet:If I?d paid closer attention, I might?ve noticed that while the 100som bill spells out ??? ??? (one-hundred som), the smaller bills read ???? ?????, which turns out to mean, essentially, f...
More About: Central Asia

Oh, the "logic"
2008-01-17 05:52:00
Every culture has its own logic (or in some cases, "logic"), which often differs greatly from the logic of one's homeland. There are two internet cafes near my apartment. One is about a 3 minute walk away. The other is nicer (and faster!) but it's about a 10 minute walk away. Now, I have a 4 hour break between my morning class and my afternoon classes, so you'd think this time difference wouldn't matter. However, (and this is Jane-logic here) as I prefer to use my 4 hours to check email, eat and (most importantly) nap, I usually opt to head for the closer one. I arrived there today and was assigned a computer, as usual. I sat down and tried over and over again to get yahoo mail (and then several other sites) to load, but with no success. I realized that other patrons were having similar troubles. Two women who had arrived shortly after me got up and attempted to leave without paying. Their argument was that they came to use the internet, and it wasn't working, why should they ...
More About: Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan , Logic

What the bloody sodding hell is a jumper anyway?
2008-01-16 08:01:00
Here at The London School, not surprisingly, most (probably all, but I don?t know) of our textbooks teach British English. Now in general, I do a LOT of reading, and many of my favorite authors are British. As such, I haven?t had too much trouble assimilating to phrases like ?Have you got any biscuits?? (or even ?Have you any biscuits??) instead of ?Do you have any cookies?? (although every time a student says ?biscuits? I inevitably think the fluffy buttermilk kind), talking about what people do ?at the weekend? as opposed to ?on the weekend? (or simply ?this/last weekend? as we usually say in the American south), and saying sport instead of sports and maths instead of math... but can someone please tell me what the hell a jumper is? See, when I was a kid, a ?jumper? was like a dress, but I needed to wear a shirt under it. My childhood jumpers often had tops similar to the top part of overalls, and would?ve been indecent had I not worn a shirt underneath. However, as far as I can t...
More About: Central Asia , Jumper , Hell , Kyrgyzstan , Bloody

Gold Toothed Leer
2008-01-16 07:59:00
Bektour was a little late meeting me on Sunday, as the snow had rather slowed down transport city-wide. I waited out on the sidewalk before deciding that it was cold and since he knew where I lived, I might as well wait inside. However, before common sense led me to that stellar decision, I had a rather interesting experience. When I emerged onto the snow-covered sidewalk, I saw a middle-aged man who appeared to be waiting either for a bus or for someone. Now lest anyone suggest otherwise, I did not so much as make eye contact with this fellow, and I most certainly didn?t smile at him. In fact, I?d taken very little notice of him until he began crossing the street, headed directly for me. At first I thought that he was simply crossing the street, but no. He grew nearer and nearer, and I steadfastly gazed down the street, as if scanning the bus numbers. Finally, there was no avoiding the man; he was totally up in my personal space. I bit back a rather rude ????? (kind of like rudely ...
More About: Gold , Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan

Random photos for your enjoyment
2008-01-16 07:54:00
The Ala-Too Mountains, as seen from my classroom window Ramstor might be evil in its expensiveness, but they sell salsa! Only mild and medium, sadly, but still! It's real salsa! I bought some lavash (the closest thing in Central Asia to a tortilla... very close, actually) and some Kyrgyz cheese and made myself a very authentic quesadilla. Yum!Bagira has discovered my suitcase atop my wardrobe.Lucy's a cutie!Kitty pile!
More About: Photography , Photos , Pets , Random

The worst thing to ever come out of the former Soviet Union
2008-01-16 07:44:00
Sure, many negative things emerged from the Soviet Union : abysmal customer service, frightening post offices, hideous architecture from the 1960s onwards... but I remain convinced that the worst holdover from the Soviet Union is the cat pee box. While in the West we developed litter boxes filled with a variety of clumping, odor controlling cat litter, covered litter boxes and even self-flushing litter boxes, the former Soviet Union gives you this horrid contraption:Pleasant, huh? And I bet you can guess how wonderful this contraption is at odor control. Now there *is* kitty litter to be found here; however, thus far I have only located it in one store at an outrageous price ? something like $21 for a mere couple of pounds! I have three cats; at that price, I?d be spending my entire salary on litter. Instead I?ve opted for the following method of odor control:Ok, so perhaps this isn?t the best solution, but it improves the air quality of my apartment quite substantially. You know, as...
More About: Pets , Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan

A nice walk in the snow
2008-01-14 05:54:00
It snowed steadily all day Sunday, and was extra chilly and windy to boot. Not exactly the day for a good two hour stroll around the city... and yet that was exactly what I ended up doing. I met up with Bektour and we took a marshrutka (mini-bus) to the western part of the city center to walk around. Unfortunately, like last time, we got together in the early evening, so it wasn?t exactly good lighting for photographs. As such, I didn?t take any, but I now know of even more places where I?ll have to return when it?s sunny. And when the weather?s warm enough for my fingers to manipulate my camera! We walked around the Philharmonic, through a couple of parks, and past several allegedly corrupt universities where one may as well pay a bribe and purchase your degree because you wouldn?t learn anything by studying there anyway. We also found our way to the ghost train of Bishkek ? a short spur of abandoned railroad that crosses one of the city?s main thoroughfares on a rather fancy bridg...
More About: Central Asia , Snow , Kyrgyzstan , Nice , Walk

snegariffic!
2008-01-13 07:37:00
Sneg means snow, and today it's snowing away. I should be planning my lessons for tomorrow, but instead I've braved the elements to come to the internet cafe in order to share the miscellany of my past week with you.On Wednesday, I got to pick up my official certificate of AIDS-lessnessI decided to rearrange my bedroom in an attempt to make it more homey.Not sure that I succeeded.I removed the rather gross rug from my living room/kitchen floor. This picture was taken after I'd swept THREE times. I kid you not. It was filthy under there.So filthy, in fact, that I had to get on my hands and knees and attack the floor with cleaner.On Saturday, some of Katie's friends (Katie is a fellow teacher at TLS) made plov. They're from the city of Osh in southern K-stan, and claim that therefore they make the best plov. Plov. Yum.Our plov-eating partyMy favorite Russian chocolate ever... readily available in Bishkek!I caught Bagira mid-yawn. Don't let her scary teeth fool you... she's a sw...
More About: Photography , Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan

In Memory of Misty
2008-01-13 07:34:00
One of my mom's cats, Misty, died this weekend.Rest in peace, cutie.
More About: Pets , Memory , In Memory

I have my suitcase! (And other news)
2008-01-09 07:11:00
This past Saturday, I spent nearly the entire day working on my lesson plans for Monday. Luckily, the levels of the classes I teach go in order (Elementary 2,3,4, Pre-Intermediate 1), so next month when everyone moves up a level, I?ll only have to plan lessons for Pre-Intermediate 2; I?ll be able to recycle the lesson plans from the previous groups. Of course, this means that this month ? in addition to having a morning class ? I am spending an absurd amount of time planning lessons. I can only imagine how exhausted I will be by the end of the month!Sunday I finally made it to downtown Bishkek. I was meeting someone in a café downtown, and at that point didn?t know how long it would take me to make it down there... as such, I left very early. As it turns out, downtown Bishkek is approximately a 30 minute walk from my apartment. As I made it to my destination with about an hour to spare, I decided to walk about for a bit and take some pictures. All of the information I?m providing be...
More About: News , Photography , Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan

I don't really have time to be blogging....
2008-01-07 06:11:00
I just finished my very first class here in Bishkek, and it went quite well... and I have a few hours before my next classes. What I really need to be doing is planning tomorrow's lessons and eating some lunch, but of course, I'm in the internet cafe instead. I took a bunch of photos yesterday, but I don't really have time to post them here and to blog about them, although I promise I *will* get to that soon. Meanwhile, you can look at all of them here (click "next" to get to the next image), or you can simply check out the few below and patiently await the arrival of the rest of them.The London SchoolThe bluish-grey building on the left is the school,teachers' apartments are in the grey building to the right.My classroom!Mountains in the distanceAgain with the mountains.I can't wait to get a shot on a clear day!
More About: Photography , Time , Blogging , Central Asia , Kyrgyzstan

Anyone want to do me a huge favor?
2008-01-04 10:57:00
Because my internet access is so limited, slow, and not free, I'm suffering from a severe news deficit - and I've only been here a handful of days. If any of you itunes users out there would be willing to download (it's free!) Talk Of The Nation and The Diane Rehm Show and send them to me once a month, I'd love you forever. My address is Jane Keeler, The London School, Baitik Batura Street 39, Bishkek 720005, Kyrgyz Republic. Thanks!
More About: Miscellany , Huge , Favor