Oléeee, oléeee, oléeee, oléeee!

We are getting ready for the finale tonight: I made myself a flag! All you need is a flag from the supermarket, a stick from your yard, some tape and scissors. Make sure you tape the flag in the correct way (not upside down) to your stick. I got a little confused at this point...

Last year's pictures

For you to get a better impression about Kyrgyzstan and our life here, I'll give you the link to my old online album: This is our apartment before I moved in and these are pictures of our road trip last year. Because I already love those pictures I'm a little worried, that it won't be possible to get more interesting shots this year. But we'll see...

QUIZ: What kind of dish is it?

Today we were invited for lunch by two lovely elderly ladies. Philipp has known them for a long time now and they had always been so nice to him - inviting him for holidays, meals and of course lots of vodka. And they had even given us gifts for our wedding. I officially got introduced to them last week. Immediately they decided that there should be a welcome meal for me. So today was the big day! They had made lots of food for us: salads, a local dish called manti (similiar to German "Maultaschen") and dessert. They served all of this in their office, as this is where they usually gather. It was an original scene. I ate sooo much - because it was really good - and to be polite. They kept filling up my plate and my glass again and again. Everything was really good, but in the end (meaning after 6 manti and many side dishes) I just had to give up. The funny thing was, that after the meal, they took out injections. I was shocked "WOW - what's next for dessert?" - no for real, I didn't know what was going on. But then they explained that one of them used to be a doctor and that they regularly give each other vitamin shots. I was relieved. However I felt a little awkward.

I'm sorry not to be able to show you more pictures of our neighborhood and friends. This has to do with Philipp's work as we would like to treat everyone's private life confidential as long as we are here and as long as Philipp's work hasn't been completed yet.

TAKE THIS QUIZ:
1. What's the dish shown in the picture below? What is it made of?
2. What's the colorful drink in the other picture?

Please send me your answers (via mail or comment). Whoever gets both questions right first will get a traditional Kyrgyz gift when we return!!!

Check out the Link List

Hey folks, today I started a link list. You'll find it to the right of this text. I will continually add links related to Bishkek or Kyrgyzstan and of which I think they are intersting for you. You are also very welcome to suggest links... So happy link listing everyone!

And happy German-Turkish semi-final tonight!!! I keep myself awake by being online...

Our daily routine & the yard

In the past days nothing much has happened. Philipp works during the days, sometimes meets with his assistant or gives lectures at the American University downtown. Here is what my days usually look like at the moment:

I get up at 11 o'clock in the morning - seems like I still need to sleep a lot more than usually. Then I'm making breakfast for the two of us (usually Phil's second one). After this I take care of my back ache, as the bed still bothers me very much (it's too hard!) - sometimes tai chi helps. Then - being a good housewife - I think about what to eat during the day and I go out to the supermarket or/and the little bazar to buy groceries. We often have a warm meal at 4 o'clock in the afternoon (today: Fleichkuechle mit Nudelsalat, which I have never made before, pic). It's an uncommon time, but for us it works well, as we don't get hungry before that time and afterward not until the late evening, when we only eat a little something like cornflakes or bread. During the day I study some Russian, try to get used to the photo cameras, check my mails, write this blog, watch TV or listen to music. While I'm writing this, I'm wondering myself: What am I doing all day? Time just passes by so quickly. But if you get up only at 11, half of the day is gone already. And all the new impressions probably still take up a lot of energy as well. Like I wrote in a post before, we usually go out for a walk or play basketball and hang out with the "gang" at night. Bedtime around midnight.

As much as I love our yard (pic, taken around noon) and love to watch people gathering and children play (in the afternoon), it can get really annoying at night: Some people (old and young) hang out until late at night (i.e. 3-4 am) and talk very loud as if it was in the middle of the day. You can understand (ok, let's say those who know Russian or Kyrgyz!) every single word. It's also very popular to listen to pop music on mobile phones in public (by the way: Blue System is very alive here!!!). I already got used to it and don't mind it at all, but at night it gets quite annoying. So last night, I had a rough night - also because it was so hot with no breeze (windows open of course) that I felt like my head would burst into pieces any second. So I set up the little van in front of the sofa in our living room (facing north) and spent the rest of the night there...

Meat & Mountains

My cooking skills are progressing. After Philipp and I "finished" our diarrhea stage I can finally pursue my cooking goal again. Yesterday I wanted to do some meat - fat reduced turkey was our favored meat. But of course, we couldn't find it anywhere. So we bought something that looked similar to "Schnitzel". I had no idea what it was - and honestly I didn't want to know, because all I know is that most meat that is made and served here (i.e. lamb, mutton) I'm not a fan of. So below you can see the result. The meat was very hard-bitten, but I can't say if it was the type of meat or my lacking cooking skills. The sauce however (onions, garlic, pepper and cream) was awesome. The first sauce ever not made of KNORRfix or MAGGIfix!!!

The second pictures shows the beautiful mountains rising right behind the city's suburbs. I love how they are always covered with snow. I hope we can take a trip into the mountains soon...

Train Station II

Yesterday we went out for a walk in a nearby park. The park starts behind the Train Station No. 2 of Bishkek. I haven't been in the building yet, but from the outside it's quite nice. To get to the park we have to take an old wooden passenger bridge in order to cross the tracks. I think it's scary, because the wood seems so old and the bridge is shaking with every step - at least to me it feels like that. Phil has no problem with that bridge at all. Here are some black & whites...

Soccer, Basketball, Durak

YEAH! We won the game against Portugal! We ended up not going out to see the game, but "we" watched it at home (pics). Let's say, we (!) watched the game until the 0:2 and I generously left the rest to Philipp to watch in peaceful silence without my enerving comments...

Other than soccer, Basketball is playing a big role in our life here. Philipp and his gang play about every other day. And I go out with them to shoot some balls in the beginning and then watch them play or study my Russian vocab meanwhile. It's just a nice time of the day to be outside (7-9pm).

Twice I also spent my time playing soccer with some children. My Russian is just good enough to communicate with these little ones - so it's good practice for me. And they enjoy the attention of an adult, as most little kids are playing outside on their own or in groups of other kids. We always think that in Germany parents would go crazy, if they saw these kids, because many German parents (over)observe their kids at all times. It's so nice to see so many kids around - and it just seems much more natural compared to Germany, where little kids are often treated as attractions. The average amount of children in families here nowadays is 3. Years ago, families here at least had 5 children minimum, one woman told us, but rather more than only (!) 5. Yet, the family structures are different here too and they play a much more important role. It's not just the parents' responsibility to take care of their children, but also other family members, neighbors and older kids around. I like the idea of this network a lot.

After the Basketball sessions we usually hang out with some of the boys and talk - or play Durak. We always used to play it on our road trip last year. Yesterday we started a revival: This game is addictive! It's supposed to be the most popular card game in the Russian area.

Kitchen supplies & Co.

Today we went out to buy some things. On our list were: scissors, towels, drinking glasses, and some other kitchen supplies. You can really tell that Philipp never used to cook, but always went out to get meals - half of the things you need for simple meals are missing. But my plan is to cook often in order to finally learn how to do it. Philipp's friends always ask me about typical German meals, how to make them and about food prices in Germany. I always have to admit "Ja ne snaju" (= I don't know). They thought I must be kidding in the beginning, but nope - I wasn't.

And by the way, it's really somewhat hard to start cooking here, because there are so many cafés and restaurants where you get decent meals for only a few Som (a main course about 100-300 Som = 2-6 Euros). The food is really good too. So cooking myself, which means buying products, which means finding out their Russian names, which means walking to the supermarket and back (ok, ok, only 5 Minutes...), which means actually cooking on a gas stove (which still scares me), knowing there's a big chance it will taste worse than in a café and cleaning up afterward - hmm, I hope you understand the effort it takes. But so far, I keep to my goal...

Talking about "goal" - who is watching the soccer match tonight? It will only start at 1 am here, but we decided to stay up and go out to see it (another good fact about Kyrgyz cafés: many stay open until late at night). Let's hope it's worth staying up!

Attached you'll find some impressions of our walk through Bishkek today, when we went out to a special home supplies mall: A fountain, which must have been much more colorful in its earlier days and a cute young Kyrgyz couple in the streets.

My blog testimony

I've been realizing that I feel a little uneasy with this blog. It's doing something to me. It's starting to influence me. It makes me think:

• Will people be interested in what I'm writing?
• What would the readers be interested in?
• But should I simply fulfill these interests?
• Will people let me know their interests at all?
• Will knowing the readers interests affect my way of living here?
• Would this be a good thing or a bad thing?
• Will it widen my horizon by pushing me in new directions?
• Or will it hold me back from doing things my way?
• Do I write this blog for me or the others?
• Who are the others at all?
• I sent out the link to some people, but some might send it on - who are they?
• Do I have a problem with not knowing who the readers are?
• Will I censor myself for this reason?
• Will I try to impress people instead of describing the "real life"?
• Is there a "real life" at all since everything is subjective?
• Will the Kyrgyz government find my blog and if, will they be offended?
• What could be legal actions against me?
• Am I worried to much?
• What if I spend more time writing this blog than going out and actually live?
• What if nobody will read this blog at all?
• Will it then mean less to me?

Uuuuh - I love these kind of questions. They remind me of my time at Merz Academy and of course of my website.

So today I decided to write down a personal testimony for this blog. It will remind me of my original plan and it will help the readers understand what they can expect:

1. I will share some assorted personal stories about my life here.
2. I will always try to be honest and not try to impress conciously.
3. I will not guarantee this, as sometimes I just like to impress.
4. I will use names, links and pictures responsibly.
5. I will only use my own pictures, unless otherwise noted.
6. I will not accept my blog being used as one-way-communication channel.
7. I will read all comments and reply to them if asked for.
8. I will use this blog as a personal memory of my time here.
9. I will gather and link information about Bishkek and Kyrgyzstan.
10. And of course, I will respect the Kyrgyz people and their beautiful country.

What's a first week without diarrhea?

Yesterday I already had this bad feeling in my stomache. But for this I found a good solution:

We had to take a taxi to a restaurant "downtown" (note: a taxi ride costs about 100 som = 2 Euros), where we were meeting friends. Since the streets are quite old and bumpy and the taxi driver had a crazy driving style (once I already saw a bus crash into us, as we were crossing an intersection at a red light. Which wasn't too bad, because - as Philipp asured me - the taxi driver is a nice guy as he has known him for a while...?!?) ... anyway, I lost the sentence, but it made my cramps eventually go away.

But today I woke up with diarrhea. So I guess the taxi solution wasn't a longterm solution. I have no idea, where this is coming from - as I haven't eaten anything bad and I haven't used any public toilets (which usually isn't a problem either). So I'm guessing it's just my way of adjusting to the new situation. How I love it!

So today I'll stay at home, eat Libjoschka (pic1) if anything at all, enjoy the view to our courtyard (pic2) and check out the 60something TV channels. Yesterday I already spotted my potential new favorite TV station: Discovery Channel > Travel & Living. They redecorate homes, show the places of the richest people in the world and show travel documentaries. Many random things, but very very relaxing! Plus, you don't necessarily need to understand the Russian explanations. ;)

Making friends at the airport

The journey here was relaxing and safe. It took me about 12 hrs alltogether (including transfer). From Stuttgart (Germany) I took a flight to Istanbul (Alaturka Airport, Turkey) and then on to Bishkek (Manas Airport, Kyrgyzstan). Last time I was in Bishkek it took me more than an hour to get through the passport control. This time it went very quickly.

But I didn't know that they would check the luggage tag before leaving the security area. Mine was obviously stuck on the back of my boarding pass, which had remained in Instanbul. But they wouldn't let me leave without the luggage tag. I had to wait for everyone else to leave in order to prove, that this really was my own luggage. While waiting I tried to make conversation with the officer. Problem: He only knew Russian and Kyrgyz. So I proudly presented him my only 2 words I know in Kyrgyz - not realizing that in combination, they could be quite misleading - "Thank you - Donkey". Fortunately he must have realized that I didn't mean what I was saying. I'm glad I didn't get myself in trouble, but I know I was close...

So again, after about an hour of waiting, Philipp and his boys were relieved to finally welcome me outside - at 3 am! When we arrived in our neighborhood for the first time I realized what was happening. After all the farewell parties and goodbyes I had arrived in a new life - for real!

I like our new apartment very much. Phil has done a great job chosing it. And: He even got me flowers!

Hello world!

I'm so proud - I have my own blog! Being a media designer myself I had trouble deciding, if I should programme my own blog and do my own interface design or if it's ok to take the easy way and just sign up here. I decided for content over design (and pride!) - as you can see. At least this gives me the opportunity to start right away.

Hey, folks! I'm in Bishkek!
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