Some cultural moments

I (Jim) went for my first haircut in Kyrgyzstan last week. After 10 weeks here it had got a bit long, so, armed with my best Russian and some sign language I explained that I normally have a 'number 3' clipper setting on the back and at the sides. The hairdresser looked surprised and instead suggested a number 9, which I argued with (although it is hard to do this forcibly in my faltering Russian!) After some discussion we agreed to start with the 9 and if necessary work our way down...

I am happy to advise that it is worth taking the advice of local hairdressers; it turns out that a Russian '9' is equivalent to a UK '3'. Disaster and embarrassment were averted!

On Saturday night we had a cultural family outing - to the ballet! The beautiful ballet and opera house is about 8 minutes walk from our apartment and we had a wonderful evening watching Swan Lake. The two lead dancers were from Russia and were stunning and the rest of the company and the orchestra were local and also gave a magnificent performance. It has definitely whetted our appetite for the local arts!

We are enjoying the food; once a week we have a lady help with cleaning and she cooks a meal to a local recipe and often teaches Jane how to do it. As you can see from the picture, one local dish of metre long noodles (lagmann) can be a challenge to eat!






Finally, we are developing a little more confidence with our Russian ability and are trying to take opportunities to try it out. On leaving the team meeting last week, Jane confidently stood up and pronounced that she had to leave at which all the staff fell about laughing. Apparently she had announced that she needed to loose weight!