It’s New Year’s, and just as in the United States people are watching Love Actually It’s A Wonderful Life on repeat, here in Kyrgyzstan as across the former Soviet Union, people are watching a charming film from 1976 called “Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром!” which literally translates to “The Irony Of Fate, Or Enjoy Your Bath!” Continue reading “Sovietski Holiday Movie Night: “The Irony Of Fate””
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”
We saw this today… A Lada full of matching melons.
That is all.
Dushanbe is a small city, but it’s even easier to get around than you might think. Everything is only a few blocks off of the main drag, Rudaki avenue, and if that weren’t enough, there is a robust network of public (and easily accessible private) transportation.
Easily most visible are the rusty trolleybuses that ply Rudaki as bus route 1, many of which have a Tajik flag billowing on a little mast above the driver’s cab. You step on at any of three doors, and pay an attendant one Somoni for the ride. As many a Tajik have learned, you then assess where the sun has been hitting the vehicle most recently. Since Rudaki runs north-south, depending on the time of day, one side of the bus is considerably hotter than the other because it’s in direct sunlight. Maybe that’s why so many people looked at me strangely for the three days I chose to sit on the sunny side of the bus before realizing on the fourth that the right side of the bus was a good twenty degrees cooler. Continue reading “Managing Marshrutkas”
A few days ago I took my first hair-raising ride in a Lada. I had just meant to catch a marshrutka or shared taxi to go to a restaurant with some friends, but when the first one to stop was a black old-fashioned Lada, I couldn’t help but hop right in and smile as we began to weave our way through Rudaki avenue at 80 to 100 kilometers per hour. Given that I’ve cracked at least two jokes at the expense of this automobile, I figured it only reasonable that I write a post all about them. Continue reading “A Lada Love”
