Archive sections: ‘From an Expat’
The other day, we had a very strange visit from the tax inspector. Actually, there were two of them. It was obvious that they were from the tax authority because one of them was in uniform. Yes, tax inspectors here in Kyrgyzstan have a uniform. He also showed us his identity card, and, to be [...]
In English, we have a number of phrases which we use when we feel that we are being told something that is untrue, such as: having the wool pulled over our eyes; having our leg pulled. Here, there is a similar phrase which can take people by surprise: “having noodles laid on our ears”. The [...]
Saturday was one of the few days in the year when you wouldn’t have found me in the office. Well, that’s not quite true - I arrived, as usual, at six o’clock and spent three hours going through the emails and some of the routine weekend tasks … but at nine o’clock I abandoned the [...]
One of the fund raising events which I really enjoyed when I was a schoolteacher, back in the UK, was the annual Quiz Evening organized by the Parents’ Association.
Tatiana is a common name in Russian and is often shortened to Tanya, and affectionate nicknames such as Tanyushka, Tanechka, Tat’yanka.
In Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”, the heroine, distraught that her beloved is a Montague, cries: Tis but thy name that is my enemy; … O, be some other name! What’s in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; What she meant is clear: ”What matters is what something [...]
One of the podcasts I download each week is “From our own Correspondent” from the BBC. Their reporters based in different countries around the world prepare short background essays on events and life in the places where they are stationed and these are then compiled into a broadcast. As their webpage describes the programme, it [...]
Christmas has come and finally come … and gone. It’s has always been a hectic time of the year and, especially in my time as a school teacher, I was all too familiar with the traditional build up to Christmas – and the round of special events to mark the occasion.
These two terms are often used interchangeably although they have quite distinct meanings. The world’s weather patters are a dynamic system which is in a constant state of change and flux. In the past the world’s climate has changed due to natural causes, but more recently the term “climate change” has been used to refer [...]
Apparently the United Kingdom is currently undergoing the coldest winter it’s experienced for over a hundred years. I have just listened to a news report that commented that the country is under the grip of “Siberian Air”. Siberia has a reputation for having cold winters, which is probably quite a fair representation as temperatures of [...]
