daily life

Spring in Bishkek

May 7, 2013

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous lately. It’s like a switch has been flipped, suddenly I’m acting in a way that one might call “being social”. I’m searching for cafes that have their patios set up (not fast enough!), I’m willingly dragging the stroller outside on my own, and I’m foregoing sleeves. Bishkek is finally [...]

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Zil is a ski resort

March 6, 2013

One fine Saturday a couple weeks ago, a new friend (who has already left Bishkek) invited Farrell and I to go to the mountains. We learned two very important lessons that day: 1) Zil, the place he said we were going, is a ski resort. 2) In Russian, to “go to the mountains” implies skiing, [...]

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new apartment

March 2, 2013

I’m currently in the midst of moving into my fifth place of residence in Bishkek (ugh!) and I always forget there’s an unavoidable lag with getting internet hooked up in the new location. Regular posting will resume soon, I went to Karakol last weekend and I have so much to share!

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another dreary day

February 6, 2013

This is my third Bishkek winter, and yet again I trudge through cold puddles under sludge-colored skies and think, “Wait, what made me want to move here again?” The weather has been particularly atrocious, so this morning when I saw a fresh layer of snow, I got up with Farrell and decided I might as [...]

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a busy week at the office

October 27, 2012

My business in Bishkek essentially works based on contracts. It’s hard to sum up what we do in terms that are general enough to encompass everything, while also being specific enough to give a satisfying response, because it really does vary from month to month, project to project. On the one hand, this is great [...]

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Things to do before leaving Kyrgyzstan

October 4, 2012

I bought my tickets, I’m leaving Kyrgyzstan (temporarily) on November 1st. I won’t get back until January 24, meaning I’ll be in the states for nearly three months. That’s practically a whole life chapter, an entire season in a different location. I’ve got about four weeks until I fly back and… you know, give birth [...]

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my war on stuff

September 6, 2012

Maybe it’s because I’ve moved so often in the past six years (I’ve never lived in one place for more than 12 months, most places less than that), but I’m extra conscious about the amount of stuff I own and constantly thinking about how to reduce it. It’s looking more likely that Year 3 might [...]

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my Australian guilty pleasure

July 30, 2012

I have managed to live in Bishkek for nearly two years with very few requests from abroad. I get great, freshly roasted coffee from Sierra, Beta Stores stocks locally produced peanut butter, and I’ve managed to procure most other products and food items without having to have them physically transported from abroad. But there is [...]

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going to Issyk Kul

July 16, 2012

After an uneventful weekend of lounging in my pool, baking a cake, and calling around to get the Oxus International summer intern out of custody from the Karabalta police station (what? I’ll explain below), the whole office is heading to Karakol (and nearby villages) for a few days to conduct some research and workshops. Hopefully [...]

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putting down roots

April 17, 2012

This. This is amazing. The weather is gorgeous. The living situation is working out better than I could have hoped, and the garden is really shaping up. Farrell and Carl (one of my housemates) spent nearly every afternoon during the week and all weekend planting, weeding, digging, watering and maintaining the garden. I can’t even [...]

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