As I warned back at the end of August, I had a lot of excitement coming up this fall in my life… so since I’ve done special posts on the big things that were a part of it, I’m going to combine these two months into a single summary to talk about everything that I didn’t get to talk about in those other posts. Continue reading “Mile 17-18: Nomad Games, Uzbekistan, America, Oh My!”
It’s the end of the month, and as a part of a new blogging and photography goal I’ve set for myself with BloggingAbroad, I’ve been taking photos based on prompts (and just from life in general), and I wanted to share a few with you! Take a look, read about it, and click to enlarge if you want to see more closely. Continue reading “September 2016 Photo Roundup”
Sometime over a year ago, my parents and I decided that we wanted to do some additional travel when they came to visit me. Thus was born our plan to travel across Uzbekistan. Well, we actually had come up with the idea in 2013, but it wasn’t until now that we finally managed to get visas and hop on a plane into the capital, Tashkent to start our adventure. Continue reading “Uzbekistan: A Silk Road Adventure”
Today is September 23rd, and it marks a somewhat unusual holiday, one of a type that is becoming common across Central Asia: National Kyrgyz Language Day. Perhaps it seems self evident that the national language of Kyrgyzstan would be Kyrgyz, but it’s not quite that simple thanks to the country’s history. And to understand that history, we’ve got to do a little bit of linguistic anthropology. Let’s dive in. Continue reading “Language Lessons: National Kyrgyz Language Day”
Hey friends! In case you hadn’t already noticed on Instagram, Facebook, or by my talking about it in some of my other recent posts, I had the incredible fortune to compete earlier this month in the 2016 World Nomad Games representing the United States. It was, to say the least, probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my entire life. As the announcer in the opening ceremony said, “If Ghengis Khan were alive, he would want to be here.” Continue reading “My Week At The 2016 World Nomad Games”
You’ve almost certainly never heard of Toguz Korgool, which literally means “nine sheep droppings.” But, in honor of my upcoming posts from the World Nomad Games, it’s probably a good idea that I explain to you exactly what I was doing there for 9 hours a day: I was playing a board game called Toguz Korgool (also known as Toguz Kumalak in Kazakhstan). And I guarantee you that in 15 minutes or less, you can be playing too. Continue reading “Toguz Korgool: A Traditional Kyrgyz Board Game”
Note: I’m back! Sorry for the hiatus, and sorry in advance for the ensuing DELUGE of posts and pretty pictures that are about to come your way!
Summer was supposed to be a quiet time for me. It had been implied to me that I needed to not leave site this summer, so I cancelled my plans to work at a variety of camps and things, instead planning to bide my time a bit, focus on my blog, and maybe hit a few touristy weekends while work slowed to a crawl for July and August. Well, by the first week of August, it was clear that wasn’t how things were going to play out, and that actually turned out to be a good thing. Continue reading “Mile 16: August Before The Fall”
It’s the end of the month, and as a part of a new blogging and photography goal I’ve set for myself with BloggingAbroad, I’ve been taking photos based on prompts (and just from life in general), and I wanted to share a few with you! Take a look, read about it, and click to enlarge if you want to see more closely. Continue reading “August 2016 Photo Roundup”
Given that I’ve just won a trip back to the United States for this blog, it seems somewhat fitting that my next Kyrgyzstani Movie Night should be for one of the most famous and charming movies to come out of Kyrgyzstan in the past few years: Salam, New York! Continue reading “Kyrgyzstani Movie Night: “Salam, New York””
Guys, I have amazing news. Thanks to the over one thousand people who liked and shared my blog across Facebook and the rest of the internet, I was named one of the 8 Top Bloggers in the Peace Corps for 2016! Words can’t capture just how happy and grateful I feel right now. Continue reading “We Won Blog It Home! I’m Going To DC!”
