I have to admit that I have lost considerable blogging motivation in the past couple weeks between finishing up my photography class (agonizing the grading process), attending various lectures and workshops, stalking the editors of neweurasia.net, the absolute madness of manually entering 100+ data points from 1200 surveys, and constantly roaming Bishkek for cafes with …
Monthly Archives: April 2011
Glamour photography workshop
It just seemed so very Bishkek, that I had to take part. Such a typical thing for the chic, stiletto-ed girls of AUCA to get involved in. Also, because I’m a photography teacher and should never pass up a learning experience (even if it’s mostly in Russian) and I needed an excuse to get out …
on chasing a headless goat
On Nooruz (March 21), I had the opportunity to tag along with a group of friends to the Bishkek Hippodrome to watch a game of kokboru. (Quick playing instructions: two teams try to snatch a dead goat from the ground and transport it on horseback to their respective goal.) It was a complete assault on …
Combat paintball
In case you’ve ever considered making the arduous move out to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, but hesitated because you didn’t want your paintballing skills to fall out of practice, then fear no longer. There is a paintball club in Bishkek. It makes sense, right? Bishkek can be dangerous and citizens should be able to hone their skills …
April 7th in Bishkek
Classes were not cancelled, it was not a public holiday, but the square was decorated and a moment of silence was held (though I’m not sure when because the scheduled time was shifted a bit). Yurts were built to represent each of the oblasts in Kyrgyzstan. Foreigners were advised to stay inside, especially after 4pm.
ten hours in Kazakhstan;
Or: how we spent the night almost driving off a cliff and plunging out of the sky to get a new Kyrgyz visa. “The road between Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, is especially unsafe at night or during poor weather. U.S. Embassy personnel are restricted from driving this route after dark.” – U.S. Embassy …
back to the salt mines
As weird as I thought it was when the Kyrgyz government shuffled work days to make a three-day weekend out of International Women’s Day (which fell on a Tuesday), I was grateful for the unexpected time off, which I spent in Kochkor, a town about five hours from Bishkek on the way to Naryn. It …