Archive sections: ‘From an Expat’
The other day I had to have a meeting over lunchtime. We decided that we would go out instead of sitting in the office which can be quite crowded and sometimes a little noisy, and where I can be interrupted by someone at the drop of a hat. It seemed a good opportunity to try [...]
One of the most difficult questions we get asked by clients is about tipping. Should they give a tip? And, if so, how much? Now, back in Britain, when I was growing up we never had a system of service charges imposed on the bill. In a restaurant, the price on the menu was what [...]
So, we were told, “the moon will appear to take a bite out of the sun … ” in today’s Partial Eclipse of the sun. The amount of the sun which is hidden by the moon during a partial eclipse depends on how far you are “inside the penumbral shadow”. Although many Europen capitals would [...]
I got a strange comment on my Facebook profile the other a little while ago. Someone had noticed that I had clicked the “like” button on the Archers community page and responded with the following comment: Tum-te-tum-te-tum-te-tumm…. tum-te-tum-te-tumm-tumm At least two of the seventy odd “friends” with whom I am connected on Facebook would have [...]
One of the newswires that I subscribe to had a link today to an interesting article in the Guardian newspaper about the growing pressure of work on mountain rescue services in the UK. It caught my attention because Kyrgyzstan is a mountainous country and I wondered about the situation here in Kyrgyzstan. In fact I [...]
The first amendment to the American Constitution was introduced along with other measures which formed what is known as “the Bill of Rights” in order to provide guarantees for civil liberties which were thought to be inadequately provided for in the original document. This particular amendment was directed towards the freedom of religion, the freedom [...]
So, 2011 has finally arrived … and, as usual, I slept through it – well almost. Having fallen asleep, as usual, watching the TV, I was woken up at 12:15, (or should that be 24:15?, or even 00:15?), by the fireworks. Apparently, the ban on fireworks is only valid in Osh. Here in Bishkek the [...]
New Year is almost upon us and it is time to sit back and think about what has happened and making resolutions and plans for the coming year. There are already lots of reviews of the year in the various newspapers and on TV and Radio. This year Kyrgyzstan seems to feature in all of [...]
When I was a schoolboy, (and later when I was a schoolteacher), one of the standard projects that classes were set was to plan a holiday. The task involved a number of different skills, establishing a budget, and costing various alternatives; setting priorities as to the type of holiday, (for example, activities like trekking or [...]
Whilst I was in Naryn this month I took the trouble to go through some of the video cassettes and CDs that we have up there.
