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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 b [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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