Alarcha Photos

Well, I'm finally posting the alarcha photos that we took on Dad's last Saturday here. Dad, Aidai, Kuba, and I went to the alarcha and hiked and picnicked and took lots of photos. Here are some of the best ones.

Mountain and Clouds: Dad took this photo because we thought the sand slide looked like the clouds were drifting down the side of the mountain.

Mountain: When we were there, the clouds covering the top of this mountain were much easier to see, but at least in this photo, you can see the beauty of the mountain itself.

Wishing Tree: What looks like leaves on the lower branches of this tree are actually hundreds of strips of rags. People make a wish and tie a piece of cloth to the tree. There was a tree like this at the base of the waterfall in Karakol, and I wished there. We didn't have any cloth with us other than our clothing, so no wishing this time.

Road to Paradise: This is the path we hiked along through the alarcha. You can see how green everything is in this photo.

Facinating: Dad tells a story, while Aidai and Kuba listen raptly. Pop was a big hit with all my friends, and especially with Aidai and Kuba.

Like Father, Like Daughter: Dad and I smile by the side of the path.

Aidai and I: Okay, it's proper to say Aidai and me, but "Aidai and I" is so much more fun to say.

Towering Trees: You can see how beautiful the sky was, too, in this photo.

Flowers: Dad took this shot of the purple flowers that grow by the river up there in the mountains.

River and Rebecca: You'll have to take my word for it that this is a river b/c the darn photo turned out so pale that the river was blindingly white. I grayed it out here, but the detail of the water is just not there...

River: This is what the river actually looked like. It was just beautiful.

So Strong!!!: Thanks to an oh-so-clever optical illusion, I sit on Aidai's hand.

River Rock: Here I pose on the rock in the middle of the river. Again, the water turned out pale, but you get the gist.

River Chicks: Aidai and I balance precariously on the rock. Woo hoo!

Picnic Site: After all that photography...I mean hiking...it was time for a little refreshment.

Two-Headed Man: Hee, heeee! I love this photo. As I was snapping the picture, dad popped his head up like a turtle and made a funny face.

Melon Men: Kuba and Dad slice the melon and watermelon for our snack.

The Feast: For our picnic, we enjoyed super-sweet local melon and watermelon with fresh bread, dried local apricots, nuts, and mineral water. Yum...

Enjoy!: You can see what a great time we had. Dad really enjoyed his watermelon. :)

What a Cutie: Dad said, "What a cutie!" after snapping this photo of Aidai.

Yum: Kuba appears to seriously enjoy his watermelon.

Wheeee!: This watermelon is so good, I'm a two-handed eater.

Checking In

Hey, all, I'm just sending this quick post b/c it's been a few days since the last one. Last week was a big week, since John left early Monday morning. We all went out a couple of nights, one of which was an all night event that ended with breakfast and a visit to the local art museum in the morning. I was so pooped at the museum that I fell asleep on the couch in an exhibit hall. But it was a fun time, and we sent John off in style.

All of us interns are pretty desperate to see our spouses at this point, and I'm no different. Especially now that my work is wrapping up, I'm feeling ready to jump a plane any time. Of course, I still don't have a gift for Randy or mom, and I wanted to get another small thing for Heidi and something else for Tony..... Hmm. Maybe I'm not ready after all. :-)

Anyway, I have something like a sinus infection or a minor flu, so I'm heading home after this posting. I missed half a day yesterday and will miss another half day today, but I've been drinking water like it's going out of style (3 liters of water and a pot of tea yesterday!) and getting lots of rest, so I should be better soon.

This morning we had a big meeting to review my second and third deliverables, and I felt like it went really well. I learned a lot producing my first deliverable, so things went quicker this time. I'm really excited about how the module descriptions are being received and feel hopeful that I'll get these next deliverables off to the translator at the end of the week. That is my goal, and it's looking good....

In addition to the big John send-off, this weekend I went to Osh Bazaar and Durdoy all by myself! I felt like such a native; it was awesome! I hopped the right marshrootkas, got off at the right place, found what I needed in the twisty-winding bazaars, and hopped the right marshrootkas home again. I got something for grandpa and Eli and Judy and for myself as well! This coming Saturday Aidai said she'd take me to a cheaper place to get glasses lenses, so I bought some frames for sunglasses, and if the place is cheap enough, I'll get my new prescription put in my old frames as well so I'll have more options. Just thinking about how new glasses are $500-600 at many places in the U.S., compared to the $160 I paid here at the "expensive" place, it makes me very satisfied w/ my purchase.

Okay, well, I'll sign off and head home to drink water and sleep a lot. Love and miss you guys! See you 3 weeks from today!!!!!

Yurt at the Alarcha

Dad's last Saturday here we went to an alarcha with Aidai and her uncle Kuba. Kuba is only a year older than Aidai, though, so he's more like a brother. An alarcha is like a campgrounds or public area up in the mountains. It was about 30 minutes outside of Bishkek and so incredibly beautiful. I'll post some photos of the alarcha next, but first I wanted to post photos that we took in a yurt not far inside the alarcha.

We were hiking along and saw a yurt, and I asked if we could walk over so I could take dad's picture in front of the yurt. Aidai said that we could do better: we could probably go inside. She said she'd pop her head in and ask. Well, there were about 12 women inside who had been eating bread and melon and drinking kumas and vodka all morning. Whew, they were so hospitable! One woman was really enamored of dad and wanted to dance and tried to give him a kiss. Poor dad, he can't help being a babe magnet. While we were there, the women offered and insisted that we drink a couple of shots to various toasts and enjoy some of the amazingly sweet local melon and soft bread. We only stayed a little while, but I was snapping, snapping photos like mad.

Great Hospitality: Here Kuba tells dad what the bread is, while one of the women encourages dad to take some. You can see the beautiful blankets and textiles hanging on the walls inside the yurt.

Womenfolk: Here the women sit and enjoy their food and drink, and you can see more of the wall hangings and pole structure comprising the ceiling of the yurt.

Melon: Here a woman has just handed me some of the sweet melon, and everyone is saying to eat, eat.

Poor Dad: Here a woman gets fresh with dad, while he tries to figure out how to nicely say no.
Drink Up: Here two of the women toast the camera: Drink up!

Whew: You can see dad's opinion of straight vodka here: not his favorite.

A Toast: Here we drink a toast to their hospitality. To you!

Dinner Party

We interns had an Italian food dinner party on August 3 for several of my coworkers, and it was so much fun! This was during dad's visit, and he made his famous salad, which was great. He really wanted to use red wine vinegar in the dressing, but the closest thing he found was "grapes vinegar," which wasn't actually very close. But dad's salads are always amazing, and this one was no exception.

John made a red sauce with lots of veggies, and it was served over spaghetti. It is hard to find the right kinds of canned tomato products to make spaghetti sauce here, and I will admit that looking at all those vegetables in the pan, I wasn't sure how Italian the dish would be, but it was delicious!

Sarah and I made pesto from walnuts, fresh local basil, garlic, and some real olive oil, which is fairly rare here. Sarah had taught me how to make pesto earlier, and I turned out to be a good crusher and chopper, so I got all the ingredients small enough using a very dull knife and improvised pestle, and she put it all together and supervised the proportions. We boiled some penne for the pesto, and my contribution to the meal was some of that local bread, leepairshka, which I'd topped with garlic butter I'd put together. It made a pretty respectable garlic bread substitute and certainly tasted good! Here are some pics from our evening.

Everyone: Here everyone smiles for the camera. Say cheese!

The Girls: Here are some of the girls, chatting and laughing. Aidai is next to me; you see just a sliver of Sarah's forehead, the side of Asel's head, and the back of Roshanna's.

The Guys: Here are some of the guys. I think they talked politics for a while, and dad told some jokes.

Chatting: Here John looks like he's saying, "Well, I'd say the chances of that are about 20 percent."

Pretty Anya: Anya smiles at the camera here, while Aizada listens carefully to Stas.

Pretty Roshanna: Roshanna looks amused, smiling at the camera while Asel tells a story.

Hanging at the guest house

Well, work is almost over, and I'm about to head to the gym and to a restaurant and to the market and all those places to get ready for a couple of home-bound days. I promise that when I'm at the guest house, I'll finally transfer over the pics that dad and Aidai and Kuba and I took a week ago when we went to the Alarcha (beautiful hiking area in the mountains outside of Bishkek). That way, on Friday I can post the pics, and you'll finally have another pretty post to look at. Talk to you then!

Counting Down

Well, it's Sunday afternoon here, and I just wanted to post and say that Monday is exactly 4 weeks until I'm back home!! Woo hoo!

Things are going well here, although we'll have a little extra excitement this week. The whole city--businesses, major streets, international organizations including the U.S. Embassy--is shutting down on Wed. and Thurs. of this coming week because the Shanghai Organizational Commission is visiting Bishkek. We were told that lots of armed soldiers will be on the streets those days, stopping pedestrians and asking for their paperwork and for explanations re: why they're out on the streets. No one expects violence, but we were told that people are very nervous about security b/c some major politicians and other important folk are coming through with the SOC, so it's best if no one leaves the house on those days. So on Wed. and Thurs. of this week, I'll work from home and not leave the apartment for two days. We're going to the market on Monday to stock up, and we have an extra jug of bottled water at the apartment already. Should be fine, a pretty mellow couple of days and a great way to save money. :) You can't spend money if you can't leave the house!

I'll sign off now b/c I'm meeting some of the office girls at the pool and gym and will be getting my own marshrootka. Should be no problem, but I'm leaving lots of extra time in case I miss my stop!

Back to Work

Well, dad flew out this morning, back to California, so I'm back at work today. I had such a good time w/ dad here, and I'll admit to having a lump in my throat as his cab pulled away last night. But I'm glad to be back at work and to start working on my next set of MIS modules. Until I have my deliverables done, I won't feel fully ready to come home. Yes, relationship-wise I'm ready. I miss Tony and Heidi and everyone plenty. But if someone walked into the office today and said, "Okay, you can fly home tomorrow if you want to," I would not be ready. I really want to feel like I'm leaving this organization with tools to build a much better MIS than they would have otherwise had, and those tools aren't done yet. Plus, I don't have my gifts for Randy, grandpa, or mama yet! Can't come home w/o those...

Today work has been good, and I'm hoping to have 2 modules drafted before I leave. I'm going swimming again right after work, and then I need to head to the market for some veggies for dinner. I finally got the combination of veggies just right last time, and tonight I want to see if I can duplicate the effort. I'm afraid this day to day stuff probably isn't too exciting for most of you, so I'll post a list below that I've been working on. It's a list of little things that are different here compared to the U.S. Hope you'll think it's interesting!

• The English language TV channel announces program times as “9 p.m. Hong Kong, 10 p.m. Malaysia”
• Cars always have the right of way over pedestrians (be careful!)
• “Tea” means hot tea, not iced
• Roads have painted lanes, but cars don't have to follow them; cars drive wherever on the road they want to, sometimes 2, sometimes 3 side by side, occasionally parked short term in the road
• Most electrical outlets have one plug, not two
• Common condiments on the table include white vinegar and red pepper in addition to salt and black pepper
• An average elevator is much, much smaller than in the U.S.; a person could sit down but need to fully bend her legs
• Indoor toilets that are the American style (commode, not floor model like in Europe) flush using a button on top of the tank, not a lever on the side
• “40 degrees” is super hot (people mean Celsius; ~104 degrees F)
• Milk and buttermilk are usually sold in plastic bags, not jugs or cartons
• Stairs in a single staircase differ in height and width
• “Coffee” means instant coffee
• “3” is a letter and a number
• Produce is sold by the kilo, not the piece, so if you want just one eggplant, you have to specify “one individual piece” because one means one kilo
• “Please” and “you’re welcome” are the same word

My B'day Continued...

So after lunch, my birthday (Thursday) continued to be so much fun. Just before work was over, I went to a cake shop to get the cakes. Aizada and Olga recommended a certain shop not far from work because they make the cakes there and have refridgeration to store them, so the cakes are always fresh and nice. I agreed and asked them to recommend what type of cake as well b/c cakes here are so different than in the U.S. They told me that they would send Stas with me and would tell him what I should get. So it was perfect.



B'day Girl with B'day Cakes: Here I am with the cakes we got, both of which were yummy.



Asel Cutting: Asel cut the cake for us and set out the plates and all. She is so much fun, always laughing and smiling, and that girl is very on the ball with work. If you need her help, she will take care of things immediately.

Cake Eaters: Here are some of my coworkers enjoying the cake. From left to right, they are Ludmila (she is the one who is the great dancer), Valodia (he saved the day when that drunk couple wanted to share the apartment with us in Balakchy), Roshanna (she and I swam together the first time I went to the pool; she is so cool), and Olga (she is a lot of fun and speaks excellent English; we've gone to lunch together several times and plan to shop together sometime soon).

So Thoughtful: At the office party, Aizada presented me with another bunch of flowers, this one from Mercy Corps, as well as a certificate thanking me for my work and expressing good wishes for my b'day, and a handmade felt yurt. I was so honored.

Gifts: I'm posing here with the flowers from Mercy Corps and Kompanion, as well as the yurt and a felt purse that Tanya, the head lawyer, gave me.

A Boy and His Flowers: John used my computer to call his fiancee, Kelly, and it was so funny to see him at this desk covered in pink flowers. I just had to snap a photo.

Dinner: Right after work, a group of us went swimming in that nice nearby pool. Then Dad, John, Sarah, and I went to Jalalabad for dinner. It's my favorite restaurant in Bishkek. We had salad of tomatoes and cucumbers, varainegee (little half-moon shaped pasta stuffed with mashed potatoes), logman (noodles with meat, broth, and veggies), and shashleek (shishkabob). It was so delicious, and only about $18 for the whole meal.

Dad and Me: Here dad and I smile at dinner.

Soooo Attractive: John picked his teeth with a toothpick every time I raised the camera, and in this shot, Sarah stuck out her little pointy tongue. So funny...

Dad and Me: Dad and I smile at Navigator, where we went for drinks and dessert and a hookah!

Me with the Hookah: Here I am smoking the hookah... Apple tobacco, yum.

Sarah and the Hookah: Here Sarah puffs away...

Smokin' Bec: You can see the smoke here!

Smokin' Sarah: This was my favorite hookah photo: cute of Sarah and a great shot of the smoke!

A Happy Time: All in all, it was a fabulous birthday.