Before I came to Bishkek, I was planning to work part time as an English teacher, both to offset my costs here and to get a better feel for the place. Once I arrived, however, I got a bit lazy, and decided that the meager salary was hardly worth my limited time in the country.
So far my fair share of free time and minimal responsibilities have prevented me from regretting this decision. Yet from time to time I hear a story from the teachers here that actually makes me wish I taught a class or two (for a moment, then the feeling passes). The local students at the school here seem to treat the foreign teachers quite well: they give them chocolates, home-made baked goods, flowers and other gifts. Some invite the teachers to restaurants, cafes, museums or even their hometowns.
All this I can pass up. But one of the teachers recently hit the jackpot, and I am jealous. Daniel was given this book, printed in 1978 by a student. The name of the book is something like The City of Frunze. Frunze is the capital's former name, after Russian military officer Mikhail Frunze.
So far my fair share of free time and minimal responsibilities have prevented me from regretting this decision. Yet from time to time I hear a story from the teachers here that actually makes me wish I taught a class or two (for a moment, then the feeling passes). The local students at the school here seem to treat the foreign teachers quite well: they give them chocolates, home-made baked goods, flowers and other gifts. Some invite the teachers to restaurants, cafes, museums or even their hometowns.
All this I can pass up. But one of the teachers recently hit the jackpot, and I am jealous. Daniel was given this book, printed in 1978 by a student. The name of the book is something like The City of Frunze. Frunze is the capital's former name, after Russian military officer Mikhail Frunze.
I love the colors, I love the pictures.
Who will win? (Oodarysh wedding)
Students
Goods with the trade-mark "Made in Kirghiza" are known all over the world.
New apartment blocks in Sovietskaya Street.
Alexei Nikolaevich Kosyghin in Kirghizia.
Labour for the benefit of Motherland brings happiness.
A view of the Central Department Store "Aichurek."
(This is the 1978 version of my 2009 neighbourhood. The department store is still there but now called Tsum Aichurek, or just Tsum. You can see the circus in the background - it is the thing that looks like a flying saucer.)
No comments:
Post a Comment