I have barely thought about Belgium one bit in the past few weeks. All I could think about was leaving Kyrgyzstan, without paying attention to the next step. I was very much stuck in what had to be done right this second. Now, I’m sitting in a friends’ house in Ghent, the city that will …
Monthly Archives: August 2013
a final dip in Issyk Kul
Some photos from my final dip in Kyrgyzstan’s famous “warm” (but actually frigid most of the time, nippy on the best days) lake, Issyk Kul. I’m getting a bit emotional thinking about it. It wasn’t a trip I was most excited to take. It was peak season, we were going without the most solid reservations …
Bishkek Block Party
If you’re in Bishkek, then congratulations! You have plans this Saturday! (Yay for you!) (If you’re not here, this post will be a total bummer for you. Sorry.) Farrell and his bandmates have been hard at work organizing what is shaping up to be an epic music festival called the Bishkek Block Party. As I’ve …
the last camera
I swear, this is the last one I’ll buy in Kyrgyzstan. Dun duh-duh daaaaaaah: But what a great way to end my Soviet camera purchases, with my dream camera: the Sputnik. A friend and I stopped into an antiques shop that I had previously visited searching for the Sputnik. I wasn’t looking for any more …
Kyrgyz Music Friday
Kyrgyz Music Friday is a (sometimes) weekly feature in which I post a pop music video from an artist in Kyrgyzstan. It could be catchy, annoying, funny, insightful, brilliant, awful, or anything in between. It’s what’s playing on the radio, what all the cool kids are listening to these days. Kyrgyz Music Friday is not …
taking the train to Issyk Kul
This is an experience that seems to make it around the various expat circles. Let’s take the train to Issyk Kul! My first reaction to hearing it was something like, really? You can do that? I just finished reading The Great Railway Bazaar and, influenced by the book, I imagined the train to Issyk Kul …