Felix's First Five Days

We asked Felix about his first five days in Kyrgyzstan...

It is very hot! I really like our new flat, which is very spacious and my room is cool (not the temperature!) I like the food, especially the fresh fruit - we have had water melon, nectarines, plums and strawberries.









We have walked a lot! The city is quite green - there are a lot of trees and parks, which brings shade (hurrah!). Yesterday we visited our school and I like the look of it. It has air conditioning everywhere inside which is good.

Today we went to a large local market, the Osh Bazaar, which had billions of sweets! You could also buy fruit, home equipment, bathroom equipment, bread, vegetables, dried fruits and nuts, sports equipment, meat, Korean salad which we had for supper and lots more.

I have really enjoyed my first five days in Bishkek and will be looking forward to the rest of my time here!

Felix, over and out!

We've Arrived

Wow, we are finally here!!! After some intense weeks of packing, sorting, storing and farewells we have finally made it to Bishkek!

The journey went very well. Felix and Rosie are expressing lots of enjoyment of it all and for Felix, Jim and I there is a lot of familiarity about being back in a very hot climate. Rosie has spent the time in the flat in few clothes and dipping in a cold bath, finding it all rather hot!  We did get to swim at the pool at the hotel we stayed at last night which was a lovely bonus. We enjoyed pancakes and honey for breakfast.

We are now gradually unpacking in our flat. We are very happy with it and the location. We explored a little earlier with the help of a friend and one thing I have really enjoyed is the gardens, parks and  flower beds being irrigated by glacial mountain water which run down small channels along the side of the pavement; what a concept!

Felix has asked "why didn't we come sooner?".

It is hard to believe in the current heat that it is really going to be snowing in a few months, that change will be quite something to experience.

The Big Pack!

Boxes, boxes everywhere!

We won't take very much with us to Kyrgyzstan - mainly clothes and books, and get the other things that we need there - and so most of the things that we own are staying in the UK. It is amazing how much we have collected, even when trying to live reasonably simply!

Some friends who spent many years in West Africa have given us some of the tea chests that they used when they returned to the UK in the early 1970's, and also a trunk used by their uncle to return from Malaya in 1952 (according to the label!) It is quite something to be packing into boxes so steeped in history!

A Week Off

After the busy-ness of the end of term and saying goodbye to school friends, at the end of July we headed off to South Wales for a quick break. It was a wonderful time, staying at the newly opened Hiraeth Centre run by friends from Tunbridge Wells. We had a day at the beach, a day at the centre playing in the stream and cooking on the fire, and a day up a nearby mountain.

It was a wonderful week and we returned refreshed and ready for the big pack up...

A place for us to live

At the end of last week, our colleagues in Kyrgyzstan looked at an apartment for us. We had tried not to be too picky when thinking about how we would like to live, but nevertheless had a few criteria for them - within walking distance of the children's school, secure, and with four bedrooms, so that we can host guests easily.

The apartment that they looked at (in the block in the picture) fits the bill brilliantly: it is about 1.5 kms from the school, is on the third floor and has good security, and has four bedrooms (in fact, the guest bedroom even has it's own bathroom!) So, we have said yes, which is very exciting.

So, hurrah - another part of the jigsaw is in place!

Vaccinations

Today we are all going to get stabbed! Fortunately, because we have all been inoculated numerous times in the past we just need boosters; so we are all having a rabies jab, and most of us are having one for Hepatitis B. Felix and Rosie are not exactly ecstatic at the thought but are bearing up, bolstered by the promise of a trip to McDonalds afterwards! They are holding to the conversion rate of one Happy Meal per injection...

Thinking about it, it does seem ironic that we reward / encourage / bribe them to face up to something that is good for their health with something that is not!

Learning Russian!

As we wrote in our first blog, one of the big areas of our preparation for moving to Kyrgyzstan is to learn Russian - well, at least making a good start. There are 33 letters in the Russian alphabet, and so the first task was to learn those; for Rosie this has meant a daily Russian lesson on her Ready Brek! To start with we felt quite illiterate when faced with our Russian books, but now feel that we can at least read it - and even if we don't know what it means we can find our way around a Russian dictionary! But it will be a lot of work, time and breakfasts before we are reasonably fluent!

Nevertheless, it will be great to arrive and live in a Russian speaking context - but it will definitely be quite a challenge and will no doubt cause a few raised eyebrows and smirks. Hopefully we will not end up saying anything too rude or offensive by accident...!