Archive: November, 2010
Yakov Nikiforovich Logvinenko was born on 23rd October,1896 in the Poltava province of Ukraine and his family moved to Pishpek in 1912. He was conscripted into the Imperial Army in the First World War and sent to the front. During the war he achieved the rank of corporal – but after the October Revolution he returned [...]
Alexey Illarionovich Ivanitsyn was a mechanic who participated in the 1905 revolution – and the Imperial authorities exiled him to Central Asia – where he arrived destitute and penniless.
Although in Soviet times, November 7th was a major holiday accompanied by parades and much merrymaking, in modern Kyrgyzstan it is a fairly subdued affair. Indeed, for several years following independence, the holiday was dropped from the list of official public holidays – being reinstated in 2004. Although official parades are no more, the Communist [...]
In Britain we have a children’s rhyme which runs … Remember, remember, the fifth of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot …
Sometimes, people get a little confused when they come to see me in my office. There are the things you might expect to see in an office: computers, papers and so on, but the decoration is, I admit, a strange and eclectic mix. As well Traditional Kyrgyz crafts, represented by a Shyrdak and a Mongolian [...]
November 1st is Police Day! Police Day is another one of those peculiar “unofficial”, “professional” holidays that seem to abound here in Kyrgyzstan, it marks the creation of the Kyrgyz Police Force, some 86 years ago, although the Criminal Detection service was apparently established six years earlier! .
At the end of 1941, a new American “romantic comedy”, Sullivan’s Travels, was released – starring Joel McRae and Veronica Lake. It wasn’t a great success at the box office and enjoyed mixed reviews. With the passage of time, however, it’s reputation has improved and is now considered to be a classic. I remember watching [...]
During the week the “baseball kids” have been making plans for the weekend. Sunday – October 31st, Halloween – seems to have caught their imagination. Katya, for example, is a member of a dance troupe and they had a show in one of the city’s youth centers, (but as I was in Naryn for my [...]
Some of you will know that one of the charities that I support here in Kyrgyzstan is the Karakol Orphanage. I was introduced to the orphanage by a British (Irish) consultant, Hugh Coulter, who was working on an EU project which was based up in Karakol. You can find out more about how he came [...]
