Genna
Devotchka v Moskve Joined: July 11th 2006
Logged in: December 22nd 2009
Logged in: December 22nd 2009
I will try to update this website periodically with pictures and journal entries.
Travel Blog Posts
Me in Kyrgyzstan
On Thursday, Rahat and I headed up the mountains to Al Archa, which is one of Kyrgyzstan’s national parks. As we drove higher and higher through the mountains, the temperature became much cooler and you could see the vegetation changing. In the lower mountains, trees are in full bloom and the temperature is about 60 degrees. As you head higher, however, there is still snow on the ground. Also, you see fewer people as you head higher. In the lower mountains, there are small, quaint villages. Few people, however, live high in the mountains. The views were amazing from both the lower and higher mountains. Huge, ragged, snowy mountains towered over us, no matter how high we drove. We never even got close to the highest point in the area. When we reached Al Archa, it ... read more
Back in Kyrgyzstan Last week, I returned to Kyrgyzstan after spending about three weeks in America. I quickly realized that much had changed while I was gone. Now, the trees have leaves, flowers are blooming, the weather is warm, and everyone is in high spirits. I found out that Kyrgyzstan’s springs and falls are very short. Now, the weather is like summer weather. Everyone is enjoying the warm weather. On every street, you can see venders selling shoru (traditional Kyrgyz thick, wheaty drink) and “lemonade” (which is really a sweet, carbonated, and slightly fruity drink). Now, the babushkas are selling everything on the sidewalks from flowers to fortunes tellings. I even saw an old Kyrgyz babushka selling a slightly used traditional German dress for a toddler. It was soooo cute. I used to have a dress ... read more
View out of my apartment
I spent this weekend at the village. While I was there, Rahat’s mother was busy sewing felt shoes for her relatives. All Kyrgyz women in the villages know how to sew very well. They make their own blankets, hats, rugs, purses, felt toys for their kids, and seat cushins. While she was working, we were sitting in the living room watching Kyrgyz TV. As usual, the tv show featured Kyrgyz singers who were dressed in traditional outfits. While they sung, pictures of Kyrgyzstan’s mountains, streams, and lakes were on the screen. The Kyrgyz are very proud of Kyrgyzstan’s natural beauty, so you see it all the time on TV. While Rahat’s mom was sewing, the power went out. Since it was 9pm, the room became pitch black. I had never experienced being in such a dark ... read more
Rahat and I
I’ve been very busy the last few weeks. I wasn’t able to update my travel blog for a long time because we had to bring the computer in to get some programs installed and didn’t get it back for a week. In the meantime, I’ve been going to the internet cafes and using the University computers. The regular internet is soooooooo slow here. It took 40 minutes for the computer to attach 3 word documents to an email. So I only used the internet cafes for things I absolutely had to do. The biggest event that has happened since my last blog has been Rahat’s brother’s birthday. Birthdays here are very different than in the states. To celebrate the occasion, Rahat’s family slaughtered a sheep. We had a feast of boiled meat and noodles. It was ... read more
Third Week in Kyrgyzstan A lot has happened lately. Classes just started on the 15th. I’m taking 6 credits of Kyrgyz individually, 6 credits of Russian individually, and 3 credits of Central Asian history in a group. It is really helping to take the language classes individually, since I can really focus on areas I need to improve upon. My Kyrgyz classes are so hard though-my professor gave me about 30 words to memorize for the next day on my first day of class. Since the sounds are so different from any language I know, it is difficult for me to remember Kyrgyz words. Outside of classes, I’ve also been busy. On Thursday we went to the biggest bazaar in Bishkek, the Osh bazaar. It was HUGE and had everything you can imagine from army clothes, ... read more
I'm now completely moved into my apartment and getting ready for classes. Classes begin tomorrow. I've been pretty busy the last week. I've spent a lot of time with Rahat's relatives. I went over to Rahat's sister's apartment several times. She is in her late 20s and has two kids. They are really cute and very well behaved. They have a really different relationship than kids in the US usually have. The six year old acts more like a mother for the two year old girl than a sister. Instead of fighting, she babies her sister and is always trying to help her. I found that this is usual in Kyrgyz families. The older siblings are taught to take care of the younger siblings while the younger kids are taught to respect and obey the older ... read more
My First Week in Kyrgyzstan I’ve now been in Kyrgyzstan for close to a week. I’ve really enjoyed my time here. Life here is so different than in the states. There have been a lot of surprises for better and for worse. So much has happened in the past six days that I am not sure where to start. I arrived in Kyrgyzstan at 6am on Saturday. I was very excited to finally step off the plane and meet Rahat. As we neared Bishkek, though, I learned that the temperature in Bishkek was -20 degrees Celsius. I was wondering if my Russian coat would be warm enough for the Bishkek. As we landed, and I looked out of the window, Kyrgyzstan looked like how I would imagine Antartica-the ground was completely covered in snow that is ... read more
Alec, Kirill, and I with our fur hats
I've been back in America for over a week now. It is so wonderful to be back. I'm glad that I went to Russia-I learned so much and had a bunch of irreplaceable experiences. But that said, I feel no hurry to return to Russia. Life in Russia is not at all easy and is completely different than America in just about every way. Perhaps someday I will return. I would love to spend more time visiting small towns in Russia. I would particularly love to visit Irkutsk, the Kamchatka peninsula, and Vladivostok. Moscow would be fun to visit too, but only to visit. I could not imagine living there. The daily metro commute, the unfriendliness of strangers, the great disparity between rich and poor, the sexual harassment, the frequent crime, and many other things would ... read more
I have one more day left in Moscow.... It is so strange to think I will be in America in just two days. America seems like a dream to me now. A very good dream. But I don't know how I will fit in when I come back. I'm different than I used to be. I'll be freaked out when strangers smile at me on the streets. I'll put on pajamas before anything else whenever I return home. And I'll make borsch. And blini too. And cut up tomatoes and cucumbers, salt them, and garnish them with parsely. And I'll walk tons just for the heck of it. And probably a whole lot more that I don't even realize right now. I'm nervous, sad, and excited all at the same time. I've been trying to keep ... read more
Me in front of MSU
Renee and I decided to explore the area called "Sparrow Hills", which is a hilly part of Moscow that overlooks the center of the city. It is quite beautiful with a large wooded area and the Moscow river at the edge of the woods. Since Moscow State University was close by, we decided to take a look at it. MSU is enormous with 33 floors and is quite impressive from the outside. We wanted to see what the university looks like from the inside. So, we decided to try to get in with the student ids from our university. Thankfully, the guards didn't look at our ids very hard so they didn't notice that they were for a different university. The inside of MSU is even more impressive than the outside. Huge marble columns and marble ... read more
