Archive: June, 2010
One of the most important aspects of our job as a tour operator is to think ahead and try to foresee what could possibly go wrong, and then to plan to avoid that situation or, at least, to plan a course of action to minimize the problems that are caused as a result.
Today, I am not sure what to write … the events of the last few days, which you will have seen in your news programmes and newspapers, seems to have thrown the whole picture into turmoil once more. Up until Thursday night everything seemed to be settling down into a typical long hot summer. Working [...]
One of my acquaintances has his birthday on June 12th … and he says that the city always gives him a birthday present. “Is he somebody important, that the city gives him a present on his birthday?” – no, he’s just an ordinary citizen, with a wife, three children, a car which he can call [...]
Some friends of mine, here, have taken one particular British tradition to heart … that of the “Loyal Toast“. A loyal toast is a salute, (or toast), given at a formal gathering such as a Dinner or Reception, to a head of state who represents and symbolizes the nation, (even if they not are actually present [...]
Chingiz Aitmatov is a famous Kyrgyz author, probably the only native Central Asian author to obtain international renown. His works have been translated into English and other European languages. (It is actually claimed that he has been translated into more than one hundred languages, with a total circulation of 90 million copies). He was very [...]
In recent times the question of ethnic rivalries and disputes has reappeared in Kyrgyzstan.
The Batken oblast includes a number of enclaves belonging to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, created when the borders of the republics were settled by a commission of the Soviet Union in the time of Joseph Stalin. Sometimes it is difficult to see why the border lies where it does – dividing the Ferghana valley as it [...]
In a previous postcard I used the phrase, “No news is good news”. Well, this week has been an example of that … which means that Kyrgyzstan has settled back down to its usual “sleepy” self … and that this week’s postcard is, mercifully, shorter. That’s not to say that nothing has been happening … [...]
For those readers who are not in the UK, and indeed for many who are in the UK, the idea of the school assembly might need a little explanation. The Education Act of 1870 established a system of compulsory schooling in Britain. Amongst the provisions of the law were the fact that every school had [...]
As a former schoolteacher, and a teacher of RE (Religious Education) at that, I have taken my fair share of school assemblies. For those readers who are not in the UK, and indeed for many who are in the UK, the idea of the school assembly might need a little explanation. The Education Act of [...]
