FINALLY! One of my parents made it out to Bishkek! It might have been during the absolute worst time of the year to visit Kyrgyzstan, but whatever, this is progress.
The main purpose of my dad’s visit was to accompany Farrell and me on the vast international journey with Darwin. Farrell and I had handled the flights between Pennsylvania and Colorado pretty well, but oh my god I’m so glad my dad was around to lend an extra set of hands between the US and Kyrgyzstan.
The combination of jet lag, a newborn, and some seriously depressing winter weather didn’t seem to be the best combination for a memorable vacation, but I think we managed to show my dad a decent time and introduce him to what life is like for a couple of expats in Bishkek. We tried to stuff him with as many different types of food as we could (he’s a huuuuge fan of manti and lagman, but we didn’t get a chance to feed him any plov), drag him through a few popular commercial centers (Orto Sai and Osh Bazaars, and the much more comfortable/less frenetic Tsum department store), and just show him a good time in general. Farrell took him out to two rock shows, one at Zeppelin and one at Metro (where Plov for Two performed), which he seemed to enjoy. Overall, it was a pretty easy-going week, with the exception of some(/many) crying fits by a certain little man.
(Dad’s first Korean food.)
Oh well. Dad seemed like he had a good time and blogged about his trip, in case you’d like to read his thoughts on Bishkek (or just giggle about how cute it is when parents blog).
glad for you. hope he is enjoying. take him to mountains, skiing. also samsa and shashlik is a must.
Hi Kirstin, so glad to hear that your family made it back “home” safe and sane. It is also great to see your Dad exploring all the sights and tastes of Bishek. Take care and let me know when you’ll be back in the states again, we’d love to see you again. Hugs and love, Jillian