Postcard from Bishkek

Chuko Baatyr – premiered on March 17th

Well, I suppose it had to happen …!

One of my Facebook friends regularly posts pictures of his children … a couple of weeks ago, one was dressed up in his Captain America costume … and this week he was posing in a Batman outfit.

I suppose that, as kids, we all had our heroes, who provided us with role models and about whom we would emulate in games whilst we fantasized about performing similar exploits …

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No Mobile Phones

The young guy sat opposite me, along with his supervisor.  In some ways I wished his supervisor hadn’t been there because I had some things I wanted to say to him.

They had come to see with a Commercheskaya predlozheniya – a commercial offer, a business proposal.

As it happens, it was quite an interesting proposal … but I have to admit that I had already been put off by two things … and that’s what I wanted to talk to him about.

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Photo from: the official site of the International Belt Wrestling Association

Although, I am not an avid sports fan, over the last few days, I have been a little distracted – thanks to the traditional sport of Alysh.

Normally, I might have scanned the sporting headlines for news about:

• the games being played out in the US Presidential Election Race, ()
• Chelsea’s less than outstanding performance back in London this season, (although I’ll settle for a 2-2 draw against West Ham), and/or
• England’s winning the Rugby Grand Slam by defeating France  21-31 in Paris’ Stade de France … their 13th Grand Slam and after a gap of 13 years – I do hope that doesn’t mean we have to wait until 2030 for the next one! …

… but the presence of a group of sportsmen staying in the Silk Road Lodge, (our hotel  in Bishkek), caught my attention instead.

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Ala Too – at night

There are some scenes that are instantly recognizable … the Eiffel Tower, the Collesium in Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, The houses of Parliament, the Lincoln Memorial … to name just a few.  Bishkek also has it’s distinctive features that are instantly recognizable … one of which is the Ala Too Cinema at the intersection of Prospects Chui and Erkindik.

It is one of those sights that is not only a favourite with tourists – thanks to its distinctive architecture – a concave curved main entrance with its ceramic tiles decorating the facade, including images of cosmonauts floating in space – featured in many photographs … but is also a subject for artist’s paintings of the city … which may be offered  for sale in the city’s galleries including the open air gallery just opposite.

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Clients – without them … what would we do?

Today happens to International Clients’ Day …

It is another one of those ‘unofficial holidays’ which seem to abound … although this one seems to be quite a young one, having been ‘celebrated’ for the first time only in 2010.  It seems that a a company in Klaipėda, (the third largest city in Lithuania), was looking for a way to mark it’s Birthday, (I have said before that Birthdays are very big over here).

As they were considering what to do, they realized that, although there are professional holidays for all sorts of people, (these are also very big over here), there was no special day set aside for recognizing the importance of clients … after all, they are the foundation of any business … its raison d’être … if there are no clients for a company’s goods and services, then there is no business.

As one website put it: “It’s the clients who keep the business going … and growing!”

They decided to start such a ‘holiday’ … and set about organizing it – registering a website and arranging special events.

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The poster for the 2015 film, Tracers

A few weeks ago I sat down to watch a film, Tracers.  It was a bit ubnusual for me – for several reasons:

Firstly, because it was new film, (2015), and I don’t get to see that many new films as I don’t go to the cinema very often, so I tend to see them when they are shown on the local TV channels … which is often very soon after they’ve been released  … or even before.  (Apparently, Tracers was first released back in January 2015 … in Denmark, then in the US in March that year … and in Russia in October … but the film appeared back on one of the local video websites back in February 2015).

Secondly, because it was dubbed into Russian – and although I do sometimes watch films in Russian, they tend to be Russian language films, (which, incidentally, are often very good, even if they take a bit of getting used to) … but to make things worse, this one was with simultaneous translation so you can just hear some of the original soundtrack under the Russian dialogue, which can be very distracting.

Thirdly, it didn’t get very good reviews in the Western media … for example it received just 1-star and 25% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a score of 4.5 out of ten and just 37% of respondents saying that they enjoyed the film – although it did better on the IMBD site, getting a rating of 5.6 out of 10.  Basically, it seems to have been regarded as a B-Movie … a supporting feature, (if there is such a thing these days – even if I don’t go to the cinema often these days, I can’t remember the last time I saw a B-Movie), rather than a Blockbuster or main feature.

Finally, the subject matter was not exactly ‘my cup of tea’ … an ‘action drama’ in which the main character, a bike messenger called Cam, gets mixed up with a gang war involving Chinese Triads, a crooked DEA cop … and a group of young people who use Parkour to carry out amazing exploits of athletic and gymnastic skill.  Those actions scenes earned the film most of its ‘brownie points’ being spectacular and ‘fun to watch’.  Most of the local audience seem to have liked it, using words like “Super” and “Class” and many gave it a rating of 5+, (… on a scale of 1-5!)

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Cover of the 2013 translation by Olga Shartse

I was talking, the other day, to a young American who came to Kyrgyzstan and, as they say, “fell in love with the place” … so much so that he was looking around to see if he could find an opening, an opportunity to stay and work here.

Sound familiar? … in some ways, I felt that I was looking at a younger version of myself on the other side of the coffee table …

The conversation, of course, ranged far and wide … and at one point it centered on books.  For example, how difficult it was to find books in English here in Bishkek, (difficult, but not impossible – although the selection may be a bit eclectic).

He wanted to find examples of literature written by local authors … especially English translations as he was still learning Russian … and they can be very difficult to find.

We discussed the output of the Hertfordshire Press … a British based published that specializes in publishing books about and from Central Asia.  They have a small but rapidly expanding catalogue … and it turned out that we had both read most of their books about and from Kyrgyzstan.

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Monthly Forecast for Bishkek from www.gismeteo.ru

Recently, I’ve received a lot of SMS messages on my mobile phone from the Ministry of Emergency Situations … who are responsible for the meterological service here in Kyrgyzstan … saying things like:

Na avtodorogi Bishkek-Osh i na gornyh uchastkah avtodorog Respubliki ojidaetsya shod snejnyb lavin. Budte vnimatelny! Info 112, 101 –

On the Bishkek-Osh highway and on roads in the mountain regions of the Republic, snow avalanches are expected.  Be Careful!  For further information call 112 or 101.

or:

V svayazi c izmeneniem po pogody Respublike ojidautsya intensivvnye osadki i ponijenie temperatury.  Budte vnimatelny! Info 112, 101 –

In connection with changes in the weather, the Repubilc expects intensive precipitation and lower temperatures.   Be Careful!  For further information call 112 or 101.

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Chowhound’s youtube channel icon

Criticism is one of those ‘double edged’ words that can be both positive and negative.

When someone says, “You’re doing it all wrong!”, it’s often taken badly, as a criticism … and I suppose it is.   Perhaps the reason that we balk whenever we hear the phrase may be because of the way it is said, (the tone, or simply the implication that we are doing something stupid and that speaker knows better …), the condescension is bound to illicit a defensive reaction … but the comment is often meant in a positive way – as constructive criticism.

On youtube, for example, there is a special Chowhound channel dedicated to showing how you can get better results in the kitchen … by using a more efficient techniques …

Recently, there has been a spate of “your doing it all wrong” posts in my news stream, and my first reaction, (and I suppose the first reaction of many other surfers), was “Yes, yes, of course …” and “There’s more than one way to skin a cat …”, but a couple of them really did take me aback.

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Happy Pi day

I know that I going on about Social Media, but it’s a great thing for someone like me – an expat thousands of miles away from ‘home’ … allowing me to keep in touch with family and friends, to keep in touch and find out what’s happening in their lives.

Sometimes it’s good news – a marriage or birth of a child … but sometimes there bad news as well – like the untimely death of a former pupil.

Some time ago I got a message on Facebook from a former pupil who had tracked me down … “Excuse me, but are you the Ian Claytor who used to teach Maths and Computing at Ashmole School?“.  Fortunately, I recognized the name, (if not the nickname that he was registered under), and was happy to “Yes.”

In the subsequent messages he told me that he remembered one particular lesson, (only one?), where I had tried to explain that I had tried to explain an aspect about congruence – that the orientation of a shape does not alter it’s properties.  Apparently, I stood in front of the class and said something like: “a rectangle standing upright has the same area as …“, then lying on the desk, “… one with the same dimensions lying flat“.

I had to admit that I didn’t remember the lesson … but it sounded like the sort of thing I would have done.

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