Postcard from Bishkek

I once had a colleague who would frequently burst out with the phrase: “It’s a disaster!!!“. At first, my reaction was to ask, “Why?, What’s happened?” … and then try to see if I could find a way to resolve the  problem, or at least mitigate the effect of whatever calamity had befallen and upset […]

The name Bruce often conjures up images of Scotland … which I suppose is down to stories of King Robert the Bruce, (1274-1329).  It’s actually a French name – deriving from the place name, Brix, and it apparently arrived in Scotland with the Normans … although William never actually Conquered that land. Since then it’s […]

As today is Victory Day, a public holiday commemorating the victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War, I thought that it provided an opportunity to take a look at the Armed Forces of the Republic. When Kyrgyzstan declared independence in 1991, it inherited from the Soviet Union several military units that had been […]

Located in the Western Tien Shan mountain range, the River Chatkal flows for 189 kilometers in a remote valley in the extreme West of the country, flanked by the 120 km long mountain range of the same name and the Chandalash range lined with walnut groves, Semyenov’s Maple and, albeit less frequently, ash and tree-like […]

Andrei often asks me questions about English … and they often takes the form of: “Is that in English-English … or American?”  Although there are differences – quite real and significant differences – at times.  I remember, for example, as a child reading Superman and Batman comics, or watching American TV sitcoms, feeling a little […]

In his first collection of Fairy tales, (published in 1843), the Danish author Hans Christian Anderson included four stories – one of which was the story the Ugly Duckling – a “homely” little bird born in a barnyard who suffers abuse from the others around him until, much to his delight (and to the surprise […]

Today, May 5th, is not just a public holiday here in Kyrgyzstan - Constitution Day , but it is also the birthday of such people as: Karl Marx, the great theorist behind the social, political and economic theory of Communism,(1818); Ferdinand von Richthofen who coined the term Great Silk Road, (1833); Klavdia Antipina an anthropologist who was […]

I never learnt Latin at school … although, like most people, I do know the odd phrase – such as Veni, vidi, vici … which is how  Julius Caesar is supposed to have described his triumph in a short war: I came, I saw, I conquered. Another phrase is I picked up during my ecclectic […]

Ever since 1993, May 3rd has been earmarked by the United Nations as World Press Freedom Day. The General Assembly of the United Assembly declared World Press Freedom Day to raise awareness of the importance of the freedom of the press and to remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to […]

I am often amazed at how well some people here in Kyrgyzstan speak English.  Not everyone, by any means, but there are some people who are extremely proficient.  When I first came here, for example, I met a number who were not only fluent but spoke with an appropriate accent and could even use idioms […]