Postcard from Bishkek

Of all the special (professional) Holidays that Kyrgyzstan commemorates, today is a little special … apparently it’s World Youth Day. That might seem a bit confusing to those who thought that it was supposed to be in August, (on August 12th to be precise), but that’s because it’s a different “World Youth Day”.  The one […]

Tucked away beside the Semetei Youth Center in Bishkek is a small monument, a stele made from a block of red granite, with a plaque bearing a simple message dedicating the monument to the victims of Political Repression. It has been the subject of some minor controversy over the last year or so. One of […]

“‘Time for bed,’ said Zeberdee” Those were the closing words of (I think) every episode of a 1970′s a children’s stop motion animation series shown on BBC TV in Britain called The Magic Roundabout. Zebedee, (of “Time for Bed” fame), was a “jack in the box” and his co-stars included a grumpy dog (Dougal), a […]

Back in 1980, in the days of the Soviet, the last Sunday in November was declared the Day of Transport and Road Workers. This professional holiday is sometimes colloquially called simply Motorists’ Day – but that’s a bit of a misnomer because it was originally intended to commemorate and celebrate the contribution to society made […]

Today, the fourth Thursday in October, is a another one of those special days: Paper Free Day. It’s the fourth time that AIIM (the Association for Information and Image Management – a global, non-profit organization that provides independent research, education and certification programs for people that they term “information professionals”), have organized such a day. It’s […]

I’ve said it before … and, no doubt, I will say it again, and again: “Every day is a special day for somebody.” It may be their birthday or an anniversary, … or it may be a public holiday or a religious festival, … or it may be a specially designated day which is intended […]

Some dates prove to be not only memorable … but not all as easily remembered even if they prove to be significant. December 7th, 1941, for example, was a day which President Roosevelt declared would be “a day that will live in infamy”.  October 14th, 1066, November 11th, 1918, and June 6th, 1944, are all […]

On October 3rd, 2009, the presidents of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey signed the Nakhchivan Agreement on the Establishment of Turkic Council –  or, to give it its full title, the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States, (CCTS; in Turkish: Türk Dili Konuşan Ülkeler İşbirliği Konseyi - TDİK ). As a result, today has been designated the Day of Turkic […]

Today is International Translation Day. The day was established in 1991 by the International Federation of Translators, (an international grouping of more than 100 professional associations – representing over 80 000 translators in 55 countries.) For the record: The Federation was established in 1953 to promote professionalism, improve conditions for the profession in all countries […]

Every year since 1980, September 27th has been designated World Tourism Day.   The date was chosen to commemorate the adoption of the Statutes of the World Tourism Organization (WTO – but it is now known as UNWTO because the World Trade Organization has usurped shorter acronym). It is said that the date is also […]