It's hard to believe that there are not too many more days until Xmas! Only 6 more teaching days and then we have 2 weeks of vacation. Mike and I got our Uzbek visas, so now we just have to work out the logistics of what we'll do for 15 days and how we'll get around.
We decided not to get a Kazakh visa here in Bishkek, because the bureaucracy apparently makes it really complicated. We'll wait until we get to Tashkent, and then see if we can get a transit visa there- thorntree says that it's much easier there. If we can't get one, we'll just amuse ourselves in Uzbekistan for a few more days. We'll start by getting a marshrutka/taxi down to Osh, the second-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, only 10 km from the Uzbek border. Spend a day or two there, then get a taxi across the border to Tashkent. After that, we haven't decided yet. It doesn't really matter, because whatever we do, it will be wonderful!
Last weekend was a three-day weekend, because Monday was Kuman Ait, marking 40 days since the end of Ramadan. Kyrgyz people don't do much on the holiday except eat lots of food and visit friends and family. Some go to pray in the main square downtown. I wanted to go and watch, but slept right through 8 am and missed it.
Mike and I spend the weekend just hanging out in Bishkek. On Saturday, we went to Dordoi, the biggest bazaar in the city. I was looking for some lined jeans for winter, but of course ended up getting other things that I didn't really need. I bought two pairs of beautiful, hand-knit, Fair-Isle-style warm socks, just because they were cheap and beautiful- one pair is teal, and the other is orange! I also got a fuzzy sleeveless sweater-dress. It's a style worn by all the people who work at the bazaars- it must be very warm. The bottom hem is angled like a cavewoman dress, so I look quite amusing in it, I'm sure. But it's really warm! Mike said that it sums me up as a person when I wear it because it's eclectic. I like it. I'll post pics when I get around to it- I'm still a few weeks behind my facebook albums. Some night I'll pay 80 som and stay at the internet cafe until I've posted them all.
I mailed some Xmas cards over the weekend, and Mike bought a new camera! We went to the main department store, Tsum, and wandered around the electronics floor until he found one he wanted. It's exactly like the one he had last time (the one that was stolen), only a newer model with a better zoom. He managed to haggle 25$ off the price, so he was happy. The salesman was super adorable and nice and spoke cute English, and I cried because Mike lied to him: "But today's my birthday! Can't you give it to me for 8000 som?" But hopefully he just felt like he made some foreigners day by giving him a good deal.
We also went to the National Museum. We paid extra to get a permit to take pictures, without which it totally would have been boring. There were almost no signs in English, so we just wandered around taking sometimes inappropriate pictures with the Soviet statues. The second floor was devoted to the Soviet era, with lots of ceiling murals and copper-colored statues. Again, I'll post pictures when I get around to it! The top floor was devoted more to Kyrgyz history, with petroglyphs, old coins, jewelry, and felted rugs. There was also a yurt set up, with the inside set up with blankets the way people traditionally lived in them. Afterwards, we bought some Christmas cards in the gift shop.
We went back to New York Pizza, which has pizza that rivals even Willington Pizza. It's pretty expensive for Bishkek, but totally worth it.
We also went to a "gay club," located in the Red Light District near the circus, with Evan and Alex, a British guy here studying Russian. We met up with Alex's Kyrgyz friend Anton there. I put it in quotes because it was the least gay gay club I've ever been to. There were some men who probably were gay, but there was no outward proof of it- men didn't even dance together! The only hint of non-straightness didn't come until after 1 am, when men came out dressed as old babushkas- the drag show! There was a man dressed like Jasmine and a man in a fat suit with huge balloon breasts and a hideous green floor-length dress. It would have been only a mediocre night, except that we met a Scottish professor who looked EXACTLY like my dad. Anton had found him upstairs, and brought him downstairs to our table to meet us. He didn't know it was a gay club and had been brought there by his colleagues, and he said it definitely was a new experience for him! He said he'd love to have us over some night for dinner, so I'll have to make sure I get a picture with him to prove the resemblence. He said he's been to America only once, and he visited some friends in Connecticut. He said he had a horrible time, and his impression of Connecticutians is that they're hypocritical and serious and religious. I will have to show him how wrong he is!
It was a warm weekend so we walked a lot around Bishkek. We ate cheeseburgers and schwarmas from the stands near our house, and watched a lot of movies. It was a good holiday weekend!
On Tuesday night, we had a going-away party for Derek, who is returning to America on the 12th. It was also our Xmas party, where we exchanged white elephant gifts. I ended up with exactly what I brought- a DVD of 10 Russian language movies and a Kyrgyz slipper Xmas tree ornament. Mike got a CD of over 1000 Kyrgyz songs, which will take a while to get through. Hopefully Salam Kyrgyzstan is on the CD, but since all the song titles copied to iTunes as symbols rather than Cyrillic, it will be hit-or-miss if I ever find it! The best gift was a framed picture of Derek wearing a kalpak (traditional Kyrgyz hat), with the words "We are Young People" written across it in marker. The quote is an inside joke, but the picture is great even without understanding the reference. It was stolen from Mike during the white elephant, and Andy ended up with it. It's now displayed in his classroom, and he's going to bring it back to England when he goes for Xmas, to show to his family as the description of Kyrgyzstan in a nutshell. Derek also cooked his last meal for us, champagne chicken, which was, as always, wonderful.
On Saturday the school is organizing a trip for all the teachers to Ala Archa, where we'll frolick in the snow and wander around in the mountains. I hope it won't be as strenuous a trek as the one we took in September, because I was exhuasted after that day! It's also the final weekend before everyone goes away on holiday, so we will go out to celebrate. Ben is going back to England on the 3rd of January, so it's our last weekend with him.
The weather is still very mild for December- at this rate, it will never snow! There are still days when I can wear my fall jacket rather than my winter coat. It's wonderful, and it makes it more likely that we'll be able to get from Bishkek to Osh by car. If there's too much snow the road will be closed, so let's hope for our sake that the highway stays clear.
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