walking on ice

Narnian table

The making of a snow angel

In the middle of the road there was a horse...

Ala Archa

On Sat, I went to Ala Archa with a couple of girlfriends. It's a national park that's only about half an hour south of Bishkek. We were blessed with a lovely day and beautiful scenery. It was so good to be out of the city for a bit - the air was noticeably fresher and cleaner, and it was a marvel to see snow that was deep and white. Snow in Bishkek doesn't stay white or snowy very long before it becomes slush, mud, or ice, but the snow on the slopes of Ala Archa was the kind of snow that you put up with cold winters for.

My first lone marshrutka ride

Marshrutkas are interesting things. I have not yet been on a full marshrutka; marshrutkas which I have thought were crowded were apparently relatively empty. Crowded, apparently, means you are absolutely so sardine-squashed in that not only is your nose in someone else's elbow, but you are also only able to make your way to the door to get out by dint of making a large amount of noise and doing a fair bit of shoving.

The other day, I got on a marshrutka by myself (that is, O2 saw me onto the right marshrutka to get to my destination) and managed to get off at the right spot. I didn't actually get to use my getting off phrase, though, as a helpful fellow passenger, having heard me talking about Beta Stores on my mobile (I was running late), said to me "Beta Stores" and the driver heard and therefore let me off at the street corner without my having to say anything.

But remember, it's one small step as marshrutka rides go, but one large step towards independence in taking public transport! Next time I go on a marshrutka, maybe I'll get to practise my getting off phrase. (Which is not, contrary to some public opinion, 'hasta la vista, baby!' It's actually more like 'astanavitier'. But you can hear from whence the confusion arises.)

My first ornament

[disclaimer: Due to technical difficulties, Sandy is posting on VT's behalf.]

Witness the first and so far only ornament I have bought in Bishkek. Walking along in the 99som (A$4 shop), my bag bumped into a bucket full of similar ornaments. The bucket fell over and the security guard informed me that it was broken and that I would have to pay for it (it's incredible how much you can communicate without speaking the same language, simply through pointing, gesturing and accusatory looks). So I had to buy this plum branch for 20som (luckily, it was 5 for 99som and not 99som per branch). Yes, it is hideous. It is currently living on top of my washing machine, because I don't know what else to do with it. Any suggestions?

What's the use of a manicure set?

The hand you see above is that of my landlord trying to use an implement from my deluxe manicure set (from the A$4 shop - I needed nailclippers) as a screwdriver. He was unsuccessful, but I thought the attempt was hilarious - so much so that I got my unwilling (Russian-speaking) friend M to ask my landlord if I could take a picture. (The man thinks I'm crazy; his wife just thinks I'm Japanese.)

The other side of the snow

In case you are thinking I live in an utterly romantic winter wonderland, I thought I would provide a tiny insight into what you don't see in the picture of those lovely white trees. Witness the picture above and the reflection of the trees in the water. What would you say this is? A canal? A brown ditch full of muddy water? Well, it's my front driveway. Thanks to yesterday's snowfall, it is impossible to walk anywhere without stepping through brown slosh, brown sludge, or brown puddles. That is, while you're trying assiduously to avoid brown ice! =p

My nice new local boots have also sprung a leak - the top seam is obviously shoddy and the boot bit is coming away from the sole bit already, after only less than two weeks of wear. TIK. I'm taking it to a boot repair man tomorrow - apparently such repairmen are good and quite cheap, so hopefully that fixes it. Cold, wet socks are not exactly pleasant. But I do like looking up at snowy trees when I am not too busy looking down and watching where I'm stepping (rare, but good.)

My first Bishkek snowfall

It started snowing at about noon yesterday, which made me very excited. These three photos were taken about two hours apart, from the window of my living room. I'm looking forward to walking around in the freshlly fallen snow and I am endeavouring to focus on present delight of fresh white snow and not future pain when aforementioned snow will have become a very slippery new layer of ice (this is quite the converse to an eschatological approach, I realise).

Ya ni panimayo

I had my first Russian lesson on Monday. I'm starting to pick up some of the Russian alphabet and learning a few useful words and phrases, though the concept of genders and cases freaks me out a little bit. We are taking it very slowly. I have discovered what I think might be my new favourite Russian phrase for a little while - 'ya ni panimayou', which means 'I don't understand'! =p My landlady and I could reach new heights of communication with this phrase.

The oven of deception

From all appearances, I have a very nice oven, more pristine and functional-looking than my oven in Melbourne, in fact. When I first tried to bake muffins in it, though, I had a very TIK moment. The first thing I heard from my oven was a loud crack, followed by several smaller ones. Internal explosions kept happening in my oven and I ended up with some shards of ceramic in my not-exactly-successful muffins.

Why? Because the top heating element of the oven touches the oven ceiling and, as you can see from the second picture, this was causing the ceramic to explode off. My landlady is coming to look at the oven later today (though I don't dare to hope that she'll actually fix it) but in the meantime, I discovered last night that I am quite able to roast pumpkin in it using only the bottom element. There were no ceramic splinters in my pumpkin, though it was sweeter than the pumpkin varieties we get in Australia (that is not the oven's fault).