Update! We bought a dang car. Thanks everybody for your responses! Quick post: help me, Internet. Give me your crowd knowledge. Here’s the situation. I got a job offer, and I’m patiently waiting for my work permit to come through. The job is in Bruges until mid-June, then it moves to Ghent. (Stay with me, …
Category Archives: impractical advice
must learn Dutch: resources
I wanted to go into more detail about my attempts to learn Dutch. Duolingo. I’ve been using DuoLingo for French… because I love wasting time? I don’t know, I really do enjoy the format. Plus, I studied French in middle school, high school and university, so it’s been nice for my ego to blaze through …
must learn Dutch
No, really. I’m serious this time. I have to learn Dutch. In Kyrgyzstan, I gave up on learning Russian. Work was the ultimate excuse, plus I had reached a decent level of speaking and comprehension. I was good enough at Russian, I told myself. It wasn’t even a personally satisfactory level, I always wished I …
Darwin’s DIY Learning Tower
I’m not much of a DIYer. I want to be; I’ve wanted to be one for a long time. In Kyrgyzstan, it seemed too daunting, so I silently pined away for a life located near a Hobby Lobby or Joann’s fabric store, filing away all of the DIY projects of my dreams. One day I’ll …
how to find an apartment in Bishkek
OKAY GUYS. I get it. I’ve mentioned enough real estate-related terms on this blog that many of you end up here from Google looking for actual advice on how to find an apartment or a house in Bishkek. I receive an unbelieveable amount of emails asking for tips on apartment-hunting, or flat out asking if …
my newest addition
…to my growing collection of film cameras! I picked up this Smena-35 (Смена-35) at Orto-Sai Bazaar for 300 som (about $8). I was drawn partially to the packaging (it was one of the only cameras this vendor had that came with its original box and instruction manual) and partially to my recent desire to pick …
in praise of Aeroflot
There are few options for flying into Bishkek from the US compared to many other destinations. For cities, your choices are essentially Moscow, Istanbul, or Dubai (you could fly to Almaty/Astana, Urumqi, or a few other cities, and then continue to Bishkek, but to me that seems more trouble than it’s worth). Istanbul and Dubai …
baby’s first passport
I stressed out about getting Darwin’s passport for months before he was even born. To me, the process of getting a passport is arduous and time-consuming, but there was nothing I could do ahead of time and attempt to cut down this process since, you know, you can’t really get a passport for someone who …
the cost of being pregnant in Kyrgyzstan
When I was back in the states in June, I had a check-up at my mom’s doctor’s office. A few weeks later, my mom emailed me to tell me that the bill from the appointment had arrived, and it was nearly $3000. Three thousand dollars. Not anywhere close to what I was expecting. Being the …
Tips for photographing from a car
(Nowhere near as exciting as my last post of photo tips, but more practical, perhaps?) I like to think I’ve picked up some skills in taking acceptable photographs from a moving vehicle, considering that Kyrgyzstan is so vast that I’ve found myself zooming past some amazing landscapes for five or more hours at a time. …