When, many years ago, I was teaching Religious Education, some of the most successful lessons we had revolved around a book: Northbourne Tales.
Published in 1976, by McGraw Hill, (no I am not being paid for the advert – I don’t even think that it is still in print), was written by Graham Cleverley and centered on a group of schoolchildren in a multi-cultural, muti-ethnic urban comprehensive school somewhere in England. It was, of course, a fictitious school in a fictitious town, but this scenario was used to explore a number of themes as seen and experienced by the various teenage students in the class. Coming from different backgrounds and representing different religions, we were able to explore how a variety of cultures treated topics such as the birth of a child, marriage and death. More…
Monday was one of Kyrgyzstan’s “Professional Holidays” – the International Day of Tourism.
This year, however, there weren’t any celebrations. Usually there is a banquet, or some other gathering of those of us working in tourism, to commemorate the day – but the season has been little to celebrate. The day didn’t go unmarked – some firms sent out congratulatory messages – like Telegrams that are read out at weddings from those who cannot, for one reason or another, be present.
As it happens, I spent the day in an appropriate way: thinking about Tourism. I spent most of the day preparing a speech. More…
In 2007, the Celestial Mountains Tour Company, The Silk Road Lodge and the Celestial Mountains Guesthouse (Naryn), organized a competition: “Impressions of Kyrgyzstan”.
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Friday, I received a phone call from one of our guides. The couple of clients that he was with wanted to meet me when they got back to Bishkek.
No problem – I am always happy to meet with people … although I am not very good at “small talk”, I am by nature a very garrulous character, and it is always good to meet with people and get their opinion on how there tour has gone. I have written elsewhere about the importance of Feedback. I must admit, however, that this particular call came as a bit of a surprise, after all, not every client asks to meet with the General Director. More…
Sunday, (October 3rd), is Teachers’ Day here in Kyrgyzstan, another of our unofficial Professional holidays.
It seems that the idea for Teachers’ Day, a day commemorating the work of those in education, began in India. Different countries mark the occasion on different days of the year. In India it is celebrated on September 5th, (the birthday of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan – the second President of India, who originally conceived the idea). but in Russia, and in most of the countries of the former Soviet Union – but not Kyrgyzstan, it is marked a month later, on October 5th.
Here, the day is marked on the first Sunday in October. That seems to be because that was the day is was was marked in the Soviet Union from its inception in 1965 until 1994. More…
It’s certainly been a busy week. I have been running around far more than usual, as well as trying to keep up with all the routine work.
I had so inundated with work that I almost missed the fact that I was supposed to be meeting a film crew from New Zealand. I had intended to call Sergei, the tour operator who was responsible for organizing their trip, earlier in the week to finalize the details, but other things cropped up … but, as it happens, it didn’t matter because he was busy as well and wouldn’t have been able to talk the call and, anyway, the programme was fairly flexible and he didn’t really know the details until they arrived that morning. More…
I am always amazed that I have learned Russian – well, “sort of” learned Russian.
I am not particularly proficient in the language, but I know enough to get by. I can understand most of what I hear, and most people can understand me when I talk – although my accent and pronunciation can be difficult to cope with and my vocabulary a little limited. I watch local television and films in Russian – although, if I can find a version in English I naturally prefer to watch that. I can read an get the gist of many texts, especially where the language is fairly stylized such as legislation and regulations, although newspapers reports can sometimes be difficult.
The thing is – I was never very good at languages. At school we learned French. Most of it was written French, although there was an element of oral work, and I can understand some documents written in French, such as a guide book or tour itinerary, and sometimes even newspaper reports. When we have French tourists I can follow the conversation even if I don’t understand everything and I wouldn’t claim that I speak in French – and writing French is certainly a non-starter. More…
There is a saying that “Everyday is a special day for someone, somewhere”. In Kyrgyzstan this seems to be true as there are a number of what are termed “professional holidays”, such as: Teacher’s day, Policeman’s Day, Day of workers in the Television industry … and so on. More…
International Tourism Day is one of a number of “professional holidays” commemorated in the Kyrgyz Republic.
September 27 was designated as World Tourism Day at the Third Session of the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization, (WTO, now the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, or UNWTO), in Torremolinos, Spain, in September 1979. The date, September 27, was chosen as it was on that day in 1970, that the Statutes of the WTO were adopted which was considered to be a milestone in global tourism and the aim of declaring the special day was to emphasise and increase awareness of the fact that tourism is vital to the international community and its affects on social, cultural, political and economic life throughout the world. More…
I have just got back from my monthly trip to Naryn. These trips are so much a part of my routine that I don’t normally write a postcard about them, but this one was slightly different, so I thought I would this time. More…
