One of the perks of being involved with a language school is meeting all the interesting people that come and go. We have a nice little community of people to hang out with, which also opens the door for meeting other Kyrgyz families. This week, Ryan and I were invited over to Jamie’s host family’s “mansion” for a typical dinner involving food, vodka, food, and much more vodka.

The Kyrgyz people have a way of dealing with alcohol that I am not too familiar with from growing up in the States. They think of any excuse for toasting another shot of vodka, and if your glass is empty, it will be filled before you know it. On top of the shots, they mix it up with juices, sodas, and beer! Did they not learn that mixing leaves you sick?

Just when you think you can’t possibly eat another bite, they bring out another plate of Manti. And, when you try to refuse the huge pile of food, they put it on your plate anyways. At least I enjoy eating until I’m too full to move, or else the evening could have turned for the worst. Overall, it was a great time, and here are the pictures to prove it.

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Dinner lasted a very long time. Ryan and I took a taxi back to our neighborhood (we live about 5 minutes away). After parting in the late, dark, and stormy evening, I realized I was locked out of the apartment building and had left my cell phone inside. I had a slight panic attack at first, but then proceeded to pound on the door until my host mom realized it was me and let me in, laughing the whole time because I drank too much vodka. What a night!

PS – Everyone thought I was about 17. How can I be turning 25 in a month and still be confused for 17?!

Bishkek is a happy, happy place. It is the perfect combination of big and small city – much like Peoria on a much more interesting level. After living here for almost 3 weeks, it still almost seems like a dream. When am I going to get bored? When am I going to be ready to move on? Now, I have no idea when, or if, that will happen. I am feeling the best I’ve felt in a LONG time, both physically and mentally, so I decided to add on a few health goals to my two previous and long-standing goals (1 – be more decisive; 2 – overcome germ phobia). Here’s a list of all the things I am doing to help myself continue feeling great in Bishkek:

1) Walk to class every day. Eating junk food and hacking away at the computer the past couple of years has left me sluggish and, for lack of better words, more jiggly than I would like. The walk to class is a good 45 minutes, and when added to countless hours in the evening and weekend exploring, it really adds up! I’ve lost inches since arriving in Bishkek. Originally, my walking was done in an attempt at avoiding overcrowded marshrutka rides, but now I just feel great!

2) Exercise my mind. Since quitting my job as an IT Analyst in September, I have not done much in the area of keeping my mind sharp. My Russian lessons are quickly making up for this. I have 20 hours a week of mind-blowing classes, which afterwards leave me drained (or maybe that’s all the walking). However, I feel good doing this because I would like to eventually head back to university for a graduate degree of some sort.

3) Take my daily vitamins. I started taking a multi-vitamin again every morning. My body thanks me.

4) Wear sunglasses. I have never been good at wearing sunglasses even though I know it is very important for my eyes. I bought some giant sunglasses the other day at the bazaar. It seems that’s the cool thing to wear here in Bishkek. Now I can start pretending I’m an undercover celebrity of sorts.

5) Wear sunblock. Yes, I have been even worse with this! I met a girl in Poland who just had a few cancerous patches removed from her skin, so it scared me into making this a part of my health goals. I am going to start wearing sunscreen every day, no matter what the weather is like.

6) Have Fun!

Keep on checking back! I have plenty more news and fun coming your way from Bishkek.

I hate to admit it, but I would have to say I’m a difficult person. I’m stubborn, have an insane amount of pet-peeves, and have a sometimes irrational germ phobia. When another student found out that I hate the idea of drinking or eating off random people, he responded with a shocked, “And you came here?!” Yes, I did come here, and I am happily working on my germ phobia. The kids in the family I am living with spit and cough on everything. We double-dip our teaspoons, use our hands to divvy out green onions, and eat our bread off the table top.

In light of all this “letting my guard down” behavior, I decided to conquer yet another fear – taste testing Shoro. Shoro is this crazy little drink that the Kyrgyz love. It is sold on nearly every street corner. On a normal day, you will see children, adults, and grandparents standing around these jugs chugging down some of the good stuff. The only problem is that it kind of smells like rotten food, or as I put it, old beer. The particular type I chose was the wheat-based drink, which is supposedly very healthy. Anthony, another American in town, said it took him about a month of trying it before he liked it. Now, he just can’t get enough.

So, I bit the bullet and gave it a whirl. You can see my reaction in this little video! Enjoy!

Bishkek is chock full of surprises! When I planned this trip a few months back, I had no idea how truly interesting this city would be. From learning Russian to jam-packed marshrutka rides, my weekdays are pretty much booked, but the weekends tell a whole different story.

Last weekend I was enticed into attending a local rock concert. Generally into a good show, I tagged along only to be reminded of the days of my youth (not too long ago I guess) and consumed by thoughts of the 1980’s Soviet Union. Locals, sporting mullets and carrying carafes of vodka, rocked out to Russian metal, punk, and thanks to Anthony’s band, a little bit of the Oldies.

The scene was more than surreal. To enter, you walk down a long corridor covered in graffiti until you pass through the bomb-proof 12-inch thick door. There you arrive in a place where the foreigners get second looks and no one is without a vodka shot. Having a rock show in an old bomb shelter – I cannot think of any cooler place. I became green with envy, yet full of inspiration. Who knows… Maybe I’ll be playing a show there soon! If only I had a guitar with me.

I took a short video of the event so you could take a look. Enjoy!

Yes, I’m no longer in Ukraine, but I needed to get these little myths out in the open before I start divulging all my Bishkek related goods. This post is definitely a little slow in the making because I was trying to search for some place in town that has some sort of wireless signal, or a place where I can plug in my computer. Alas, Bishkek is a little behind, even for a third world country, because they are still on the type of connection that charges per amount of usage and bandwidth. When I asked the language school about access, they actually mentioned getting a dial-up modem! So, I’ve resorted to typing on my computer and copying information off my jump drive to save time and money.

On to the myths! I stayed in three different places in Kiev, the last one being the highest rated one on hostelworld, and the only one with an internet connection (even though it wasn’t working too well while I was there), only to find myself wishing I maybe hadn’t left the lonely private room outside of town. Here is a list of reasons why you might want to think hard before going to this hostel:

1) Privacy is basically non-existent. Generally, this is a given in hostels, but when your room has no door, is the room that you walk directly into, and the office is the kitchen connected to it, it brings the privacy level to an unknown level. The hostel is a 1 bedroom flat in an apartment building. The bedroom has 6 beds and the living room has 4 beds.
2) There are no tables or chairs ANYWHERE. This means you sit on your bed, on the floor, or just stand. When it rains outside, you will really feel it. If you mention this fact to the owner he will go on a tirade on how he backpacked forever and people don’t need chairs (all this while he is lounging on a cushy computer chair in the office (kitchen) surfing the internet).
3) Oh, yes, the hostel advertises free internet usage, but if you don’t have your own computer, you only get 20 minutes a day of usage while he is sitting right next to you reading anything you write.
4) You can’t have ANY food in the hostel. NONE. You have to eat outside in the cold or spend money at restaurants. If you have food in there, the guy will kick your ass, or curse you out.
5) There are no lockers, so you have to keep tabs on your stuff at all times.
6) The shower (singular) was actually broken. Taking a shower was very difficult.
7) The beds were just like the foamy eggshell stuff you put on top of your mattress for extra cushion… only without the mattress.
The stairs leading up to the apartment (hostel) were the creepiest – straight out of a horror film packed with phantom lady, half-naked old guy, and sleeping bum. And I won’t even get started on the smell.
9) Last, but not least, the owner of the hostel just might drive you INSANE. He definitely did NOT make me want to go back there. He insulted people for even wanting to come to Kiev!

Besides all of this, the one part of my stay that made me chuckle was this guy’s telling of some Ukrainian myths. Now, I would take these all with a grain of salt because I think this guy is a complete story teller, but please let me know if anyone else has heard of these myths.

1) Ukrainians believe that sitting on concrete will make you sterile. That explains why you never see them outside sitting around town drinking beers; they are always standing! This actually appeared to be true around the hostels I stayed in, but it could have just been that the concrete walls and steps were cold.
2) Every house has a money tree. If the money tree dies, the family will go broke.
3) Even in the dog heat of summer, you will never see a marshrutka (minibus) with a window open. The reason is that if the wind blows in and hits the back of your neck, at best you will get the flu, and at worst you will become paralyzed.
4) Whistling is taboo. If you whistle indoors, you will go broke. Apparently a Swiss guy went to a poker table and whistled. The Ukrainians looked at him like he was crazy and the entire table cleared out!
5) Too much water will make you fat. They supposedly believe that drinking more than one cup of water a day will result in obesity, which is the reason why you only see people drinking beers outside, even at 9 am!

Like I said, I take anything that guy says with a grain of salt, but I thought you all might be interested in these little tidbits as well. I must go now – learning Russian in Bishkek is a very time-consuming task!

Ukraine (YkpaiHa) exudes all characteristics stereotypical of a former Soviet republic. The buildings, big and grand with gold domes, consume the otherwise stark landscape. The statues stand tall with bold features and some forceful pose. And the people… The people in Ukraine are such badasses! They drink a lot, smoke a lot, always wear red or black leather, and they never crack a smile.

When I decided to abandon the apartment I rented out my first night, a girl at the bus stop took me under her wing to get me to the metro. All the while I was thanking her and smiling, and it almost seemed that her face wanted to smile back, but just did not quite know how to flex the muscles in order to do so. I received a few slight, quick winces in return, but nothing more.

I had to run it through my head a few times that Ukraine has only recently been able to shake Soviet rule and is still recovering from those times. As a country, they are just now realizing they have the opportunity to make money off the tourist industry. For example, there are probably a total of 5 youth hostels in the entire city of Kiev, all of which are no competition to the wonderful hostels in Poland! A guy staying in my hostel now explained that just a few years ago, there were none. Perhaps the people here just don’t know how to react to foreigners, which would explain my metro-helper-girl’s inability to communicate with me expression-wise?

Overall, I think Kiev is fascinating. I’m slowly falling in love with the city, and slowly learning the Russian alphabet. Half of my day is spent trying to decipher signs – street signs, store signs, metro signs – and it’s revving me up for my Russian lessons fast approaching in Kyrgyzstan. So far, I’ve spent time learning about Chernobyl at the museum in town (I passed on the $180 tour to the actual city), and explored the WWII area. Patrick, a Canadian in my hostel who had spent the prior 6 days in town, showed me the ropes and introduced me to the best budget place for awesome Ukrainian-style food. I will probably eat there many times before I leave!

So you can also experience a little bit of the Soviet culture I’ve been taking in, I made a small video. Enjoy!

Oh, and somewhere along the way, a bird pooped on my backpack and shirt, which I was oblivious to until probably many hours later.

Traveling in 2nd and 3rd world countries the past couple of months made me realize how much I love a good transportation system – you know, where a 20 minute flight doesn’t translate into a 12 hour drive. The few treacherously long journeys in southern Mexico left me feeling hot, tired, and nauseous, and without the company of Brian along the way, I don’t know if I would have made it.

On the train back to Krakow, my Ipod shuffle battery went dead, so I made a mental note to charge it that night at the hostel in preparation for the 20 hour bus ride I booked the next day all the way to Kiev, Ukraine. After having it plugged in for a couple of hours, and the computer still not recognizing it, I got a little concerned. I updated iTunes and still nothing. I completely uninstalled and reinstalled iTunes, and all I could get was a few flashing yellow lights on the shuffle and no charge. I did a little research online and it appears I have the Ipod shuffle’s flashing lights of death. Ipod = Dead. What great timing! Just before an insanely long bus ride! Luckily I found that book store in Krakow that sells nothing but books in English and bought one called “Winter Under Water,” which is a lot about this guy dealing with love and a winter in Poland. I thought it was fitting to my previous 2 weeks in the country.

Boarding the bus on Sunday arrived one hour earlier thanks to European Summer time change overnight. The driver, speaking no English, escorted me to the back of the bus behind a nice Ukrainian couple, the lady of which turned to me and said I could ask her any questions if I had any. Turns out this lady actually teaches Russian for foreigners in Kiev. She and her husband were with four teen-aged children and were on their way back from Berlin where they took part in an Esperanto conference. She explained that Esperanto is a simple language that is hoping to become the language of the world. It has bits and pieces that everyone can understand and it has no IRREGULARS! Apparently, they have their own flag, and it is estimated that there are 100,000 - 2 million fluent speakers!

Crossing the border to Ukraine happened late evening, and would have happened sooner had the bus actually had a bathroom in it. Even the buses in Mexico had bathrooms. We stopped about every 2 hours for a bit for the driver to have coffee and for everyone else to pee. Even to that extent, I was surprised at one point when a girl asked for the driver to stop especially so she could pee and on the side of the road.

I noticed immediately a change in the environment after crossing. The cars all turned into the typical old Soviet style, and all the signs were in Russian – an alphabet that is truly foreign to my eye. At one stop, I had the driver help me find a bankomat so I could get the local currency. After that I used the restroom and almost walked into the men’s since I couldn’t read the writing! Luckily, I sort of remembered my Kyrgyzstan guidebook stating the women’s might be marked with that funny kriss-kross forward/backward K. At another stop, I bought a cold drink and a small Kinder Maxi chocolate bar for a total of 7.15 hry. The lady was asking if I had the 0.15 hry, which I didn’t, so out of a 10 hry, I ended up getting back 2.50 hry and a stick of gum. Guess that works out about right.

One of the teen-aged girls back on the bus asked me, in English, if I had some water. I did, but was going to save that for later since I was craving a cold, cold beverage at the moment. I asked her if she had a cup, which she responded “yes” to. I handed her my fresh, untouched bottle of water that she proceeded to rip open and drink directly from the spout, not withholding any sort of concern for germs or other people’s property. I cringed on the inside as she thanked me and handed it back. I get grossed out easily. I am a super germaphobe. I had no idea who this girl was, or where she came from. Sure, I had been using your mother (?) as a translator the entire ride, but still, that doesn’t give you the right to leave your slobber all over my stuff. Ew.

Twenty hours later, I arrived in Kiev. The nice Ukrainian family helped with a taxi to the apartment I was to be staying at that night. To make things more complicated, the girl forgot what day it was and wasn’t expecting me when I arrived. The taxi driver was more than helpful. I couldn’t tell if the tattoos he had on his hand were those from being in the military, or in prison. When things finally got situated, I immediately passed out in my private room.

I’ve always heard it’s the people you meet that make traveling great.

Wroclaw is a town that, unless you’re a college student looking to go out, doesn’t have much to offer the casual tourist, such as myself. Beyond the few hours I spent between the Panorama of Raclawicka (very interesting/controversial circular/3D painting) and the national art museum, the few days were made worthwhile because of the people I met, not just travelers, but locals as well (let’s not forget fabulous Paul and his Polish hospitality!).

On my last night in Wroclaw, I met another American name Rebecca – a girl who entranced me with her stories of working in Tanzania and the Galapagos, volunteering and photography and travel writing. With Rebecca, I dined out, which ended being more than just a casual dinner. We searched the square for cheaper places that just don’t seem to exist. It was getting late. I caved and took the easy route.

“Hey, there’s this great Georgian restaurant I ate at in Krakow, a few times, that gives huge plates of food for low cost,” I suggested. “They have one here, too.”

Dinner was fabulous, delicious, excellent, anything we could have asked for – until the bill. It was a mere 31 zloty. Since we both only had large bills, I dropped a 50 bill in the basket and set it on the side of the table, where it sat for a good 10 minutes while our server passed by. Finally, another girl saw the basket and picked it up. Finally, we could go on our merry way.

Rebecca and I talked so much; it took a bit before we realized we hadn’t yet received our 19 zloty in change. She went up to our server, who immediately acted like she didn’t speak English anymore. She was confused. Rebecca returned to the table concerned, only to be angered when yet another girl dropped a basket with only 7 zloty for us. Yeah, 19 and 7 zloty are almost the same.

Rebecca returned yet again to our server explaining this was incorrect, but she played dumb to the point where Rebecca drew it out on a piece of paper. This was her response:

“The girl who took your money went home. I don’t have your bill anymore.”

Uhm… You know what we got, and you printed the ticket off the computer. And, even though some other person took our money (when you had plenty of opportunities to take it) doesn’t mean that WE should have to pay MORE for one meal and a dessert. We asked for a manager.

The manager came and she, too, played dumb! “I no longer have the bill for you.”

What?! So what?! We can tell you what we ordered!

“But, I’ll have your server get your change.”

Server girl came over, gave us the most horrific look and said, “It’s not my fault, but I make enough to pay your dinner,” dropped the money, and stormed off. Absolutely amazing!

I think it was the first time we felt like we were taken advantage of as tourists in Poland. So much for the tiny piece of Polish hospitality I had two days prior!

P.S. I got my Wroclaw photos up here if you are interested.