Adventures in the everyday (maybe)

perhaps everything.

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Belgrade: Europe's Capitol of (beautiful) grit and graffiti 

Belgrade: Europe’s Capitol of (beautiful) grit and graffiti 

                                                                                                                                                                                       View On WordPress

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Taking Advantage of the Summer Scene: Bishkek

Taking Advantage of the Summer Scene: Bishkek Outdoor Cafes

A few weeks ago one of our Turkish guest noted something that I’ve since noticed everywhere: while Bishkek has these long, beautiful stretches of park, very few businesses take advantage of the city’s outdoors.  There are few shops lining the parks that spill their wares onto the sidewalks or even fling open their doors (actually, there are comparatively few shops at all lining the parks).  There…

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Two Years in Kyrgyzstan; First Trip with TUK

Two Years in Kyrgyzstan; First Trip with TUK - excursion to Issyk Ata

Bishkek is hemmed in by mountains to the south and the endless, rolling Kazakh steppe to the north.  There are few roads out of town, and endless mountains to explore. Since the road is better and it’s a little more than half-an-hour from our house, we usually go hiking/picnicking at Ala Archa, the famed [and crowded] national park. But trails around Bishkek abound, hidden down bumpy paths behind…

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Relearning Russian

Relearning Russian (it's hard!)

In grad school I aced almost every grammar-heavy Russian text, as I had before with Chinese, French, Spanish and Latin. I think I ended the first quarter with around a 97% average (disproving the motto: University of Chicago: Where the only thing that goes down on you is your GPA). But the problem was, we didn’t practice, not enough.  We had one dialogue for every twenty pages of grammar…

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America Perceived, Americans Believed

America Perceived, Americans Believed

Living abroad I’m often told that I don’t look American – by people who have never ventured outside their home country and have encountered few Americans in the flesh.  Sometimes I’m the first American they’ve ever seen.  And yet they’d rather believe that I’m German or French or British or Canadian or Russian or (stranger still) a native Chinese ethnic minority.  One of my funniest moments in…

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Here and Yet Not: Ramadan in Bishkek

Here and Yet Not: Ramadan in Bishkek

It was 4pm on Thursday afternoon. Our Turkey guests were reveling in their first cold glass of cheap beer at Old Edgar’s in the park. Low taxes and a a green sunlight-filled afternoon. Two tables over a bespectacled man in a crisp button up shirt and buzz cut overhears their chatter and calls them to his table beneath the eaves. Redfaced, he’s already had one whisky.  In two hours he drowns four…

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The Absurdities of English Abroad

So today I was rummaging through my dropbox, and I cam across two scenes of a ‘play’ I wrote when I must have been at my wit’s ends after grading English assignments back when I worked for Teach for China in rural Yunnan, because it’s prefaced by the following examples from my student’s homework: Is this your soccer? Jim plays tennis bat. I like coccball. He has healthy tennis balls. Jim plays…

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[aliarianne-blog]

Foshan Ruminitions

Recently a college friend asked me through e-mail what Foshan was like. My response was (probably not very surpisingly) negative. Since returning from Thailand I’ve been mulling over this question – why I instinctively dislike life in Foshan, why I’ve pulled out every negative factor of living in this city, and why I’m really not willing to live here for two years. I don’t think I would have the…

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Turkish Immersion in Kyrgyzstan

Turkish Immersion in Kyrgyzstan: The extent of mutual intelligibility

For four days I’ve watched three people attempt to navigate their way around an unknown country using only their native tongue. Early Thursday morning (like 3:30 am early…) we picked up E’s brother-in-law and two friends from his high school years at the airport to begin their long weekend vacation in the capital of Central Asia’s highland paradise. E’s brother-in-law speaks Turkish and a bit of…

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So I'm glad we didn't attend that match... (Chaos in Kyrgyzstan)

So I'm glad we didn't attend that match... Chaos in Kyrgyzstan

For everyone who thinks my Kyrgyzstan tone too often borders on the negative – I swear I didn’t come here biased against the country, and I’m not making stuff up.  Every county, every community, has its faults.  Kyrgyzstan is still a very new nation, a country still struggling to define itself and its community bonds, a country where people often put very little faith in their state institutions,…

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Summer Travels in Kyrgyzstan: Tips for staying safe

Summer Travels in Kyrgyzstan: Tips for staying safe

Kyrgyzstan is generally safe for travelers. But, like any locale, there are certain situations you probably want to avoid. Customs and expectations (especially for female travelers) can also be wildly different between urbanites and in the countryside.  So to stay safe and have a hassle-free trip, here are some things to keep in mind: Theft – Pickpocketing itself is uncommon; theft of items left…

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Tete-a-Tete with Turkey and Iran

Tete-a-Tete with Turkey and Iran "all parties can lose power"

This morning Google News popped an interview that occurred between the Tehran Times and the current Turkish ambassador to Iran in my inbox.  While the rest of the interview is insipid, evasive and defensive – as might be expected from a representative chosen by the government that just lost its footing following failure at the ballot box – the first response stood out as perhaps particularly…

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Saturday Hike in Ala Archa - Bishkek's Nearby Alpine Escape

Saturday Hike in Ala Archa – Bishkek’s Nearby Alpine Escape

First, the drive: there are a few marshurtkas that go out to Baytik, the village closest to Ala Archa (265 and 266), but that will still leave you at least ten kilometers short of Ala Archa itself. Unless you are comfortable with hitchhiking/paying a passing car to take you the rest of the way, you probably want to drive or take a taxi. Trekking Union of Kyrgyzstan also sometimes organizes hikes…

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Summer in the City: Bishkek Panorama

Summer in the City: Bishkek Panorama

Cool green oases downtown, mountains stretching across the horizon and everywhere, everywhere construction and dust.                          

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Comfort and Boundaries: Local Customs, Assumptions and Personal Mores

Comfort and Boundaries: Local Customs, Assumptions and Personal Mores in Kyrgyzstan (don't send your 10 yr old kid to clean our flat)

Summer is creeping in at full-blast, hot still afternoons where I’m suddenly struck with a desire for ice cream, and the cats lay languid, paws drooping down the couch. Summer also means cat hair all over our flat, along with dust from the construction site next door.  And since both of us like having a clean house, but E isn’t overly fond of cleaning, and I’m not overly fond of cleaning up after…

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Summer Packing List for Kyrgyzstan

There are a few items quite essential for traveling, but notoriously difficult to find in Kyrgyzstan.  Save yourself some pain, and make sure you pack the following before embarking: A decent rain/waterproof wind jacket A lightweight and warm wool sweater Hiking boots Comfortable walking shoes Sunglasses (with really good UVA protection) A sturdy, practical daypack. (if camping): Camp stove and…

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Inapparent Inequality

Kyrgyzstan isn’t an equal place for men and women, for citizens of different ethnicity, different religious leanings.  It may be a democracy, and the soviet era may have emphasized solidarity and equality, but there are definitely fissures and imbalances, some of which seem to have actually grown in the decades since independence. We see this in Bishkek, and yet we don’t see this in Bishkek.…

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