would you ever go back?

Farrell’s company is going through some major changes and there’s a small but terrifying (but not end-of-the-world terrifying, and it’s a small chance, so any family emails related to this sentence will be ignored) chance that maybe Farrell could lose his job (but it’s small, probably unlikely, but you never know). This all made me …

my history of living abroad

I’ve done quite a bit of moving around the world, some of which was never shared here or only shared in bits and pieces. I decided to write out my full history of spending extended lengths of time abroad, and maybe I’ll expand on certain experiences in more detail in a later post. In 2007, …

Ivory Pom’s notable posts of 2013

Good bye to you, 2013! Let’s do a quick recap of the most memorable moments: (True, Darwin was born in 2012 [just barely] but duh, he had a pretty big impact on my 2013.) January: Preparing for our trip from the US to Bishkek as a family, we had to get Darwin his first passport. …

Kyrgyz Music Friday: How to keep up with your favorite artists

For this absolutely positively final* edition of Kyrgyz Music Friday, I’m posting all resources I can possibly think of so that you can keep track of your favorite artists from Kyrgyzstan. Step 1: use Chrome and take advantage of its auto-translate function (it won’t work for Kyrgyz-language websites, but it’s good enough to make sense …

things I will (and won’t) miss about Kyrgyzstan

When I first studied abroad, in Amman, Jordan, I remember our program director showing us a picture of a wavy line, similar to the one below, that cycled through high points and low points. She explained that the curve represented our forthcoming emotional rollercoaster, how we would go through stages of loving and hating Amman, …

medium-format Darwin

I bought the Lubitel, my first Soviet-era film camera, back in September/October 2010. I bought some 120 film in the states some months later, loaded some film in there some months later, decided that the camera was busted some months later, took it to get fixed some months later, finished a test roll in August, …

Bishkek Block Party photos

The Block Party was great! What a spectacular way to send off Plov for Two. I was up front for most of the show, taking photos and dancing to all of the sweet tunes, so I can’t speak for the rest of the (fairly large) crowd, but I had a good time, and I think …

Support Kyrgyz design!

(Update: Yay! The crowdfunding campaign was successful! Keep an eye on Kancha’s website for more information on how to purchase your own felt gadget sleeve if you’re interested.) I am lucky to have made some amazing friends while I lived in Bishkek. One such friend is a German guy named Tobias Gerhard. When he first …

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 …