Archive sections: ‘From an Expat’
I have a friend whose favourite phrase seems to be: “It’s simple!” My response is normally, “No it’s not. Nothing in life is simple.”
There are six basic questions that sum up any story: Who?, Where?, When?, What?, How? and Why? When I knew that I was coming out to Kyrgyzstan, I signed up for a weekend Russian language course which was being held in a village in Kent. It was run by a voluntary organization, not a college [...]
Isn’t it annoying when you get a tune in your head and you can’t get rid of it. When it happens to me I find that it is usually just a short phrase, maybe a line or two, from a song heard long, long ago. It goes round and round in my mind, repeating over [...]
The days before the election proved to be quite busy for me. Each day I came to the office intending to tidy my desk and catch up on some of the backlog of work that has been steadily building up as I have had my attention distracted onto other matters – but it seems that [...]
As I walked out of the office one morning last week, I was struck by the sight that greeted me. In the yard we seemed to have acquired a new mountain. Well, that is, of course, an example of hyperbole … it wasn’t exactly a “mountain” … here, the term is used to refer to [...]
During the Second World War, the battles raged in several different “theaters” around the world. Despite the fact that the United States entered the conflict after being caught “off-guard” by a surprise Japanese attack in the Pacific, for various reasons the war in the European Theater was given priority. That’s not to say that the [...]
When, many years ago, I was teaching Religious Education, some of the most successful lessons we had revolved around a book: Northbourne Tales. Published in 1976, by McGraw Hill, (no I am not being paid for the advert – I don’t even think that it is still in print), was written by Graham Cleverley and [...]
Monday was one of Kyrgyzstan’s “Professional Holidays” – the International Day of Tourism. This year, however, there weren’t any celebrations. Usually there is a banquet, or some other gathering of those of us working in tourism, to commemorate the day – but the season has been little to celebrate. The day didn’t go unmarked – [...]
Friday, I received a phone call from one of our guides. The couple of clients that he was with wanted to meet me when they got back to Bishkek. No problem – I am always happy to meet with people … although I am not very good at “small talk”, I am by nature a [...]
Sunday, (October 3rd), is Teachers’ Day here in Kyrgyzstan, another of our unofficial Professional holidays. It seems that the idea for Teachers’ Day, a day commemorating the work of those in education, began in India. Different countries mark the occasion on different days of the year. In India it is celebrated on September 5th, (the [...]
