December is one of my favorite months of the year. From the first snow to the holidays, it’s a month when winter is still magical and there are plenty of occasions to meet up with friends and family to enjoy endless mugs of hot chocolate. It’s also a time when all of the religions have all of the holidays, making it even more special to just about everyone. Continue reading “Have Yourself A Merry Little New Year”
I was at a New Year’s party the other day with some of my students, and they invited me to play a little game that is simple enough that I figured you might want to learn it as well. Continue reading “What Is It? Why, It’s The New Year’s Truck!”
Back in September, I went to the Portrait Gallery in Bishkek with my parents to take a look at a fantastic collection of art from across the history of Kyrgyzstan. One of the things that is most frequently forgotten about the former Soviet Union is that there was a spectacular range of art that was supported and elevated by the state, meaning that artists had support from the state for a lot of their work. Wandering through the museum’s amazing collection of carpets, felt work, and paintings in styles never seen in the museums of London and Paris, I found myself in a dimly lit room. Centered on one wall was the painting. Continue reading “Daughter of Soviet Kirghizia: A Socialist Realist Masterpiece”
Mile 19 is about where you start to hit the wall in a marathon, depending on your training. It varies from person to person, from marathon to marathon, and depending on how you’re doing physically and mentally. I’ve run races where I never hit the wall. In another I hit it at mile 16. It’s not enough to stop you, because you keep going. You have a job to do, a goal to reach. But it’s been hard, and November has been, I think, a proverbial hitting of the wall for me. Continue reading “Mile 19: Hitting The Wall”
Editor’s note: This post is a partnership post written by Josefin Åström, a Swedish colleague of mine who works with a local youth centre here in Osh through the Central Asia Solidarity Group, a Swedish NGO that supports civil society across Central Asia. The post was translated from Swedish by Josefin and I together, and is part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. From 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day, the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign is a time to galvanize action to end violence against women and girls around the world. You can learn more at the UN Women Website. -Mark
This project started out of curiosity on what girls and young women in Kyrgyzstan find important in their lives. I believe that the chorus of their voices can provide an interesting snapshot of Kyrgyz society today. As a young woman myself, I gathered that approaching the topic through the lens of fashion could be a non-intimidating way of getting access to this group in the street to start a conversation about themselves. This is why the project has been carried out in the format of a street fashion project. Continue reading “16 Young Women, 16 Days Against Gender-Based Violence”
Well, the media tour surrounding my trip to DC got a little more exciting – I got interviewed by KRBD, the radio station that I grew up listening to every day in Ketchikan, Alaska! I had the great pleasure of sitting down with journalist Leila Kheiry and chatting about Monday Bazaar, my Peace Corps service, and my time so far in Kyrgyzstan.
A former Ketchikan resident and Peace Corps volunteer recently won a trip to Washington, D.C., after his blog about volunteering in Kyrgyzstan won an online social-media contest.
Mark Jahnke lived in Ketchikan until he was about 9 years old, but he said he’s maintained a lot of ties to the community through the years.
“It still is actually the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere, so I still, obviously, think of it very close to my heart,” he said.
And, Jahnke said, Ketchikan was the start of his path toward joining the Peace Corps a little more than a year ago.
You can listen to the whole interview over on KRBD’s website.
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 “October 2016 Photo Roundup”
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”
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”
