Monday the 23rd is Military Day in Kyrgyzstan/former Soviet Union, which means it's also Man's Day and Father's Day. It's a holiday, but we all teach. So if I had a father of my own around town, I would buy him a tie or a watch, get him a card, and cook him dinner. Since I don't, I will have a free day! I guess I have to get Mike a card. Pop, Happy Kyrgyz Father's Day on Monday! (And Mom, Happy Birthday!)
I have had a horrible headache at the base of my skull for over 24 hours, and painkillers aren't helping... it's a good thing it's Friday and we have 2 days off!
Tomorrow or Sunday Mike and I are going to the tattoo place his students recommended. Maybe I'll get a pig tattoo :) Like this! I would get it on the back of my neck so it wouldn't be visible all the time... we'll see!
Just applied for a job in Albania, which would be pretty cool.
Spring might slowly be coming!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
I'm getting OLD
I noticed in the mirror yesterday that I am getting wrinkles. There are 3 in my forehead from where my brow furrows. They are there all the time now, it's absolutely horrible. It's all downhill from here!
Valentine's Day was uneventful. We went to our new favorite Chinese/Dungan restaurant, and then walked around the city. It was a grey day, but not horribly cold. Mike bought me bright pink tights for Valentine's Day, and I wore them out last night. I'm like a shining ball of color surrounded by the blacks and greys that are Kyrgyz fashion.
I bought a DVD of Looney Toons, but there were nowhere near 141 episodes like Tom and Jerry, so we already watched them all. Boo.
Two new teachers arrived on Friday. They are from TX and have never taught before. There are so many new people here and I just can't be arsed to befriend them all! Mike and I are leaving in 3 months and it's unlikely we'll see most of our coworkers again, so there's no strong desire to build "lasting" friendships. Blah.
Valentine's Day was uneventful. We went to our new favorite Chinese/Dungan restaurant, and then walked around the city. It was a grey day, but not horribly cold. Mike bought me bright pink tights for Valentine's Day, and I wore them out last night. I'm like a shining ball of color surrounded by the blacks and greys that are Kyrgyz fashion.
I bought a DVD of Looney Toons, but there were nowhere near 141 episodes like Tom and Jerry, so we already watched them all. Boo.
Two new teachers arrived on Friday. They are from TX and have never taught before. There are so many new people here and I just can't be arsed to befriend them all! Mike and I are leaving in 3 months and it's unlikely we'll see most of our coworkers again, so there's no strong desire to build "lasting" friendships. Blah.
Friday, February 13, 2009
I have developed British question intonation!
My coworker Kole brought it to my attention that I've developed British question intonation. I didn't notice it myself, but now that he's mentioned it, I hear that it's actually different from how I used to talk. Americans go up at the end of questions, but Brits go up all the way to the second-to-last word, and then they go down again. Kole gets really annoyed when he hears me speak like that, because he says I'm a traitor to Americans, and he thinks I'm putting it on on purpose to impress Mike. First of all, Mike isn't perceptive enough that he would notice if I was trying to impress him with my accent, and second of all, I'm not skilled enough with different accents to be able to pull off intentional impersonations. So it's not on purpose, and it's pretty scary to know that in just 4 months I was able to completely change my question intonation! Pretty soon I'll have a Manc accent too :) It will be interesting to see how much British slang I've adopted as my own, whenever I end up back in the States everyone will have to see if they can still understand me! Kole does comment every so often that I should use American words instead of British words, but being surrounded by so many Brits makes it hard not to pick up slang, especially since they have SO MANY funny slang words!
On a different note, tomorrow is, of course, Valentine's Day. I only got one Valentine card today from a student (a girl, 15). I don't have anything romantic planned with Mike- we're going to our new favorite restaurant, a Chinese place with 7 different kinds of laghman, and maybe we're getting tattoos (well, he's getting one, maybe I am). He's getting the Kyrgyz yurt roof opening (like on the Kyrgyz flag)- you can see it here: One of his students told him where a tattoo place is located, but since students are almost 100% of the time wrong, who knows if the place really exists. I got him a Christina Ricci notebook because she's his favorite actress, and a silly little 3som card. We're not big celebrators (we still haven't gotten each other Xmas presents!)
Today was payday, and we were worried that we'd get paid in som because the exchange rate has kept going up and up and up. BUT, exactly today it went down, so we got our dollars! It will be stupid to get paid in som, because then when we go to leave Kyrgyzstan we have to change it all back to dollars.
Mike and I are busy applying for new jobs for August/September... we're now looking at Thailand, Taiwan, Bulgaria, and also Prague. Many many jobs haven't written back to us. I was pretty against going to SE Asia, but then I realized how depressed I am here in winter/coldness, so being steps away from the beach would be amazing!
Time is FLYING- weather is warming up (not that it really was ever cold to begin with), birds are chirping, and hopefully spring is coming! My Russian teacher this month is amazing, so maybe at some point I'll finally begin to speak conversationally.
Happy Valentine's Day!
On a different note, tomorrow is, of course, Valentine's Day. I only got one Valentine card today from a student (a girl, 15). I don't have anything romantic planned with Mike- we're going to our new favorite restaurant, a Chinese place with 7 different kinds of laghman, and maybe we're getting tattoos (well, he's getting one, maybe I am). He's getting the Kyrgyz yurt roof opening (like on the Kyrgyz flag)- you can see it here: One of his students told him where a tattoo place is located, but since students are almost 100% of the time wrong, who knows if the place really exists. I got him a Christina Ricci notebook because she's his favorite actress, and a silly little 3som card. We're not big celebrators (we still haven't gotten each other Xmas presents!)
Today was payday, and we were worried that we'd get paid in som because the exchange rate has kept going up and up and up. BUT, exactly today it went down, so we got our dollars! It will be stupid to get paid in som, because then when we go to leave Kyrgyzstan we have to change it all back to dollars.
Mike and I are busy applying for new jobs for August/September... we're now looking at Thailand, Taiwan, Bulgaria, and also Prague. Many many jobs haven't written back to us. I was pretty against going to SE Asia, but then I realized how depressed I am here in winter/coldness, so being steps away from the beach would be amazing!
Time is FLYING- weather is warming up (not that it really was ever cold to begin with), birds are chirping, and hopefully spring is coming! My Russian teacher this month is amazing, so maybe at some point I'll finally begin to speak conversationally.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Monday, February 9, 2009
Tom and Jerry
I bought a Tom and Jerry DVD (in Russian) at the bazaar yesterday. 141 episodes for only 1 dollar- can't beat that!
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Ballroom Dancing
Not much is new around here. New classes started, and all my my students seem pretty good this month.
Last night I went out with a bunch of guys from school to Golden Bull, the skeezy nightclub where foreigners get in free. It was great fun... getting in free is enough for me to have a fun night! We danced, watched the silly US army officers picking up Kyrgyz girls, and of course enjoyed the strip show that is a must at all Kyrgyz nightclubs. We didn't get home until 4 am-ish... it's great that nightclubs stay open late, rather than closing at 2:00 like in Minneapolis.
Even though I was exhausted, I went this morning with my friend Kole to watch the Kyrgyz Youth Ballroom Dancing Championship. One of my students told me about it yesterday, and I went to watch her. It was great! There were kids from probably 5 years old - about 16, and they were all amazing! They had fancy hairstyles and cute flowing dresses, and danced things like salsa, samba, jive, rhumba, waltz, tango, and cha cha cha. My student didn't make it to the finals, but we stuck around to watch anyways. It's strange to see tiny kids dressed up doing what is generally thought of as an adult thing. They all seemed much better behaved than American children would have been.
Then we had lunch at a great Uzbek restaurant, where we had to (as usual) argue about the bill because we were overcharged. We went to TsUM department store, where I bought an mp3 cd of my favorite Russian rock band, Zveri. If you don't know them, you should download their music.
Winter came back- we had a lot of snow on Tuesday, which turned into horrible slush by Wednesday, and which is now almost gone. Hopefully spring will begin, although my students tell me it will be cold and snowy until the middle of March.
Nothing new in Bishkek. Mike and I are counting down until we're out of here. We've applied to jobs in Prague, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Thailand, so who know's where we'll end up in August...
The big news is that my parents have almost 100% decided that they are both going to come visit my in Kyrgyzstan during my spring holiday, the last week of April/first week of May!!!
Last night I went out with a bunch of guys from school to Golden Bull, the skeezy nightclub where foreigners get in free. It was great fun... getting in free is enough for me to have a fun night! We danced, watched the silly US army officers picking up Kyrgyz girls, and of course enjoyed the strip show that is a must at all Kyrgyz nightclubs. We didn't get home until 4 am-ish... it's great that nightclubs stay open late, rather than closing at 2:00 like in Minneapolis.
Even though I was exhausted, I went this morning with my friend Kole to watch the Kyrgyz Youth Ballroom Dancing Championship. One of my students told me about it yesterday, and I went to watch her. It was great! There were kids from probably 5 years old - about 16, and they were all amazing! They had fancy hairstyles and cute flowing dresses, and danced things like salsa, samba, jive, rhumba, waltz, tango, and cha cha cha. My student didn't make it to the finals, but we stuck around to watch anyways. It's strange to see tiny kids dressed up doing what is generally thought of as an adult thing. They all seemed much better behaved than American children would have been.
Then we had lunch at a great Uzbek restaurant, where we had to (as usual) argue about the bill because we were overcharged. We went to TsUM department store, where I bought an mp3 cd of my favorite Russian rock band, Zveri. If you don't know them, you should download their music.
Winter came back- we had a lot of snow on Tuesday, which turned into horrible slush by Wednesday, and which is now almost gone. Hopefully spring will begin, although my students tell me it will be cold and snowy until the middle of March.
Nothing new in Bishkek. Mike and I are counting down until we're out of here. We've applied to jobs in Prague, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Thailand, so who know's where we'll end up in August...
The big news is that my parents have almost 100% decided that they are both going to come visit my in Kyrgyzstan during my spring holiday, the last week of April/first week of May!!!
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