Archive: March, 2011
Norus is also known as: Noorus, Noruz, Nowruz, Nawruz, Navrus, Norouz … it is a public holiday in Kyrgyzstan.
I came across an interesting article on one of the local news websites the other day. It was a Op-Ed comment on the current state of a particular aspect life in the capital city, the Bishkek. The city received the name in February 1991. Before that it has been called Frunze after the Revolutionary General [...]
This last week has been a week of special days and anniversaries. Although they were not holidays, (they come next week), some of them helped to focus my attention on a number of issues.
Let me say at the outset that although I am not a skier, I happen to be the proud owner of two (almost) antique pairs of wooden skis and have a profound respect for exponents of the sport. However, that hasn’t always been the case. When I was a kid, watching ski events on the [...]
This last week I have had a stream of visitors asking to see me, each of them, so it seems, with an air of shy embarrassment and hopeful expectation, and each of them clutching a piece of paper. I know them all. We’ve before and the conversation starts with general small talk: How are you?, [...]
Tuesday was the “Ides of March”. The Romans had a very strange calendar until Caesar decided to reform it in 46BC, (adding 46 extra days in order to bring it back into line with the seasons on which it was supposed to be based, and causing chaos and disruption throughout the Roman world). His reforms, [...]
The other day I had the occasion to call for a taxi for a friend and rang one of the many taxi firms in Bishkek. As usual, they asked for the address, where the passenger was going, and for a telephone number. I gave them the information, and they told me the taxi would arrive [...]
Although I am by no means an expert on the subject, as a former teacher I take a keen interest in questions relating to education in Kyrgyzstan. Until recently, that was mainly an “academic” interest, (no pun intended), but, recently, it has become more pointed as the kids’ schooling has been disrupted by the events [...]
Like, I imagine, most people around the world, I have been watching events in far off Japan and around the coast of the Pacific Rim’s “Ring of Fire” with morbid fascination. Safely cocooned and beavering away in my office at various mundane tasks, muttering to myself under my breath at each and every one of [...]
After several weeks of very cold weather, with four foot icicles hanging down from the guttering surrounding our building, we are now experiencing a warmer period. Even though, however, I am still wearing a pullover, (albeit a short-sleeved one), … just in case. On Friday morning I had an early morning meeting at the Hyatt [...]
