A new group of Peace Corps Trainees just arrived in Kyrgyzstan, and since they’re discovering quickly how a traditional house is laid out in Kyrgyzstan, I thought that today I could tell you what makes up the places where we live here here in Kyrgyzstan. Continue reading “A House In Kyrgyzstan”
I’m sure more than a few of you grew up saying grace before meal. Whether religious or not, stopping to be grateful for a meal for a moment is a pretty universal cultural habit that I’ve seen all over the world. In Kyrgyzstan, we do it a little differently. Continue reading “Omeen: A Central Asian Grace”
Peace Corps has so many confusing acronyms and so much specific jargon that I worry sometimes that I am confusing readers beyond belief. So I decided to spend some time to think about the most common ones and write a guide to help you decode some of my occasional lapses into Peace Corps-ese. Continue reading “A Glossary Of Peace Corps”
Symbols are an important part of building a national identity. In particular, the flag of Kyrgyzstan is truly an icon of the country, as is the national emblem and the national anthem. Today, I want to dive more into what these symbols mean and the history of the flags of the Kyrgyz Republic. Continue reading “A Sun, A Tunduk: The Flag Of The Kyrgyz Republic”
Hey readers!
This is a really exciting day for me, because not only is this the 100th post on my blog, but by coincidence, it’s also the day that I’ve achieved several readership milestones. Today, Monday Bazaar welcomed its 3,000th visitor and its 8,000th page view. In the past week alone, I’ve broken my one-day page view record, my one-week page view record two weeks in a row, my one month page view record, and my readership so far in the first half of 2016 is already greater than my readership for the entirety of 2015. Continue reading “Big Blogging Milestones: My 100th Post”
In this week’s language lesson, I’ll introduce you to the personal pronouns of Kyrgyz, how to introduce yourself to someone, and how to express “to be” (Kyrgyz does this without a verb!). It may sound like a lot, but it’s actually not too difficult. With a little practice, you can land in Kyrgyzstan being able to get acquainted with your hosts. Continue reading “Language Lessons: Introducing Yourself and “To Be””
One of the biggest pieces of advice I’ve been given as a Peace Corps Volunteer is to accept the invitation. My colleague Colleen wrote a really good post about this, so when two of my site-mates and I got the invite last Friday to go to Arslanbob for the weekend with a local friend of ours and stay with his aunt, we didn’t hesitate to say yes. Continue reading “24 Hours In Arslanbob: A Weekend In The Walnut Forest”
Today was one of those days that reminds me why I absolutely love where I am and what I’m doing. I’ve mentioned a few times before that I do some work on the side at the Osh American Corner, including talking clubs, movie clubs, an art club, and even a talk about Alaska Native art from my hometown. All of this works towards the second goal of the Peace Corps, which is to share American culture with the people of Kyrgyzstan.
Well, the American Corner program has a really cool even that’s happening right now called American Corner Book Caravan. Basically, the American Corner hires out a marshrutka (making it a literal caravan), and fills it with toys, games, books, and performers (and the occasional wayward Peace Corps Volunteer) and brings them out to regional centers and villages to set up mini-carnivals to share American culture and to share information about the resources available at our library in Osh.
Today, we went to the most distant rayon centre in Osh Oblast: Daroot-Korgon. Continue reading “Day Tripping to Chong-Alay”
Summer is here, which means that each week, more and more adventurous tourists come passing through my beloved home of Osh, Kyrgyzstan. A lot has changed about Osh even since the Lonely Planet Central Asia and the Bradt Kyrgyzstan guides were updated in 2014, so I wanted to put together a quick destination guide to things to do and see in Osh for the DIY tourist who’s going to be passing through or staying for a few days. Most tourists only budget a few days or even a few hours for Osh, but let me tell you, there’s plenty of reasons to spend more time than that here!
Lets get started! Continue reading “72 Hours In Osh, Kyrgyzstan: A Destination Guide”
Why did I join the Peace Corps? It’s a question that gets asked of me all the time, and one to which there are as many answers as there have been volunteers. Some people wanted to serve. Some wanted an adventure. Some didn’t know what else to do. But what about me? Continue reading “Why I Joined The Peace Corps”
