Back in Bishkek

Hey, all, I'm back in the city again. Actually, Osh is as much a city as Bishkek; it just has a different feel to it. Whereas Bishkek is the most European of the places I've been in Kyrgyzstan, Osh feels much more traditional, a much stronger Muslim influence. Walking on the street in Osh, maybe 80 percent of the women I saw wore long, loose dresses and covered their hair. People are more likely to be Uzbek than Kyrgyz, I was told. Osh had really great salads with delicious local veggies and the best shashleek I've had in Kyrgyzstan. Yum....

I had such a nice time in Osh; the branch manager and her staff were so gracious to me. But I'm happy to be back in Bishkek, since I can submit the second deliverable today and get some feedback on it. This morning the country director came in to talk about the old database being replaced and some data she wants in the new database. I was able to show her the module descriptions I'd finished and show her that that they include the info she was requesting. We spoke about some of what I learned in Osh from the group loan officers there, and she decided to call a round table meeting early next week to discuss my module descriptions with people who will be using the new database for analysis and decisionmaking, people who will be gathering and entering data, people who will be providing the necessary equipment to enable database use, and the people building the database off my module descriptions. I think it will be really really useful.

I've already met with almost everyone who will attend the meeting, but it was to get input for creating the descriptions in the first place. Now we'll be meeting to review the descriptions and ensure that a database built from them would meet everyone's needs and that people will have the necessary equipment to use it. I don't expect a quick, smooth meeting, but I do think we'll hash out a good plan, and I expect to leave with some specific next steps in optimizing the descriptions or in building the next set of descriptions.

Okay, enough work talk, right? Well, then let me tell you what I'm looking forward to next: dad's visit!!! He will be here early tomorrow morning, and I'm so excited! I still need to figure out how to get to where he's staying, but I will.... I have his address and a very very basic map w/ about 4 streets on it. But I think that combined with another small map I have, it will be sufficient.

I just realized earlier that I never posted some photos I took in Karakol outside a beautiful local church, so I'm posting them below. That day was incredibly bright with harsh sunlight, so the color is not the best, but I think you can still enjoy the pics and get a sense of how pretty the church and grounds are.