Archive sections: ‘From an Expat’
As the old year draws to a close, I got a bit of a surprise today when I saw the following entry in my daily “google alert” for Kyrgyzstan: Asian Countries Solar Eclipse 4 January 2011 Timing : Solar … By admin In Asia, 4 Jan 2011 Solar Eclipse will be visible in few Asian Countries like [...]
I am back from Naryn. Yes, it was a flying visit – it often is. It’s a five hour journey each way, and we usually start work as soon as we arrive and continue until late into the evening. Tatiana, (my accountant from Bishkek) and Asya, (the accountant from Naryn), work on the monthly accounts [...]
I’m off to Naryn for my regular monthly visit to the guesthouse. The main road from Bishkek to Naryn offers a wide variety of landscapes, and although I know the route well, travelling it about 150 times, (at least once a month over the last twelve and a half years), I never tire of the [...]
So, Christmas has arrived. Many people agree with the song, (written by Eddie Pola and George Wyle and made famous by Andy Williams), “it’s the most wonderful time of the year”. Although a popular song in its own right, it pales into insignificance when compared to “White Christmas”, (“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas”), by [...]
Who could possibly confuse Kyrgyzstan with the Ivory Coast? Why did news reports about the election results in this small West African country strike a chord with me this week? Could it simply be related to the fact that we have also had a recent election drama or that both countries seem to be divided [...]
Yesterday I had from Aizada. She’s the Director of one of the city’s Music Schools – The Children’s Musical School Number 7. I am not sure why the schools here are given numbers rather than names, but that’s the system here. They name virtually everything else in honour of some notable character or other. The [...]
I have been asked some questions about the “Baseball Kids”, so I thought I had better spend a little time explaining the situation. I have known them for about four years now … Although they live on the outskirts of town, some of them used to hang around the city center, (around Beta Stores, the [...]
“Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat”, goes the old seasonal children’s rhyme. Well, Christmas is definitely coming … and Goose was the traditional fayre for Christmas dinner in Victorian England – whilst, at the same time, it was a rare treat. In A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens wrote that in the poor [...]
The International Business Council, (IBC), publishes a journal called “Investment Now, which is subtitled “In for the long haul”. This can be understood in several ways, some of which are positive, but others are negative.
The day began with music blaring out of my computer from a CD in the Drive. This doesn’t happen very often, but is an annual event on December 16th, as is the “birthday cake” which arrived later in the day. Now, the people of Kyrgyzstan enjoy a celebration and they take every opportunity to join [...]
