Nearly two months after the Great Bishkek Break-In of 2010, I have some big news. We’re starting a new era in our Bishkek lives: the post-burglary era.
Because I have a camera again! My wonderful mother and stepfather put up with my whining and shipped me a Canon 7D (along with all of the ridiculous amounts of accessories that Farrell and I bought). A gigantic upgrade from the Rebel XS (RIP, probably gathering dust in a yurt by now), I also bought a hefty guidebook and several composition/lighting books.
So, maybe I’ll figure out how to take some decent pictures… or something. And I’ll update my Flickr more often now! Win-win for all.
And, of course, I celebrated by taking a picture of the Soviet Lubitel 166B I bought from Tsum. (No, I didn’t realize that it took 120 film when I bought it, but if anybody knows a good supplier in Central Asia, let me know! Maybe there’s some expired stockpile sitting in a former Soviet warehouse in Dushanbe or something)
And the cat. She’s getting huge and learning how to terrorize us in new ways everyday, such as wanting to play fetch right around midnight. Did I mention the 7D takes video? Yes, expect a video of Mamajan fetching in the near future.
Now I’m itching to wander around Bishkek, looking at everything through a frame in my mind, imagining all of the photos I now have the ability to capture. It’s a nice feeling. The paranoia that comes with having such a valuable rig is not so nice though. My mom just hired a Kyrgyz guy at her work (to be the French-speaking rep? Okay.) and she told me, “he is not surprised that you were robbed and said he wouldn’t be surprised that they try again.” Cool life!
Maybe I should buy a safe.
Other fun happenings? I was discovered by another Bishkek expat blogger. After I got over the shock that I’m not as special and unique as I thought I was, Farrell and I joined our new friend Kurt and a whole group of foreign expats for a night out. While it did get a little old to repeat the whole pitch for being in Bishkek several times throughout the night, it was really refreshing to meet these people and know that they’re around, experiencing all of the same ups and downs as me. If you want to check out their blogs, I put them up on my Favorites page.
On Monday it will be exactly three months since Farrell and I landed in Bishkek, so stay tuned for a long, reflective (hopefully not too pretentious) post.