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Kyrgyz family dinnerparties

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During my stay in Bishkek I had the amazing pleasure of attending not only one but a multiple of Kyrgyzstan parties. (Thank you my lovely host family! You are the best.) Here I will describe my first party where we ate one whole sheep. And I mean the whole sheep, every single part. The parties have a certain distinguishable structure. Firstly, drinking tea and eating the first serving of salads, breads and first courses and of course a lot of conversation. The main dish is brought out later as the final culmination of the party. Then there are toasts to wish the family good things and to thank them for the party.  At the end there is operation pocket. Firstly I was amazed at the amount and variety of different types of food. Salads, chicken, bread, the traditional bread borsok, sweets, fruits.. I was actually full even before they brought in the main course; mutton Beshbarmak. With it everyone was served mutton with big bones and given a knife to carve out the meat. The na
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Cooking PLOF and MANTI

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23.2.2018 My last day in Bishkek was really warm and sunny; spring is coming to Bishkek as I am leaving back to Finland. I spent the last day with my host family and host mom taught me how to cook plof and manti. I try to describe the procedures here as well as I am able. The foods might be reproducible with these instructions or not. Recipes are surprisingly though to write. Plof 200 g oil 1 kg meat 3 onions 1 kg of carrots 2 l water 1 kg rice Heat oil in a pot and cut the meat. Add the meat to pot, low heat. Cut the onions and carrots. After meat is cooked, add onions. After a while add the carrots. After all is cooked, add the water and boil. Add the rice and boil until no water left (about 15 min). Stew under the lid with low heat for about 40 min. Manti For dough flour and warm water with salt. Mix until no flour is left in the bowl. Minced meat (mutton preferably) 1 kg Onions 500 g, cut really small. Add salt to onions and press the onions by ha
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Burana tower and Tokmok

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3.2.2018 Our awesome volunteer group This weekend lovely Natali from our volunteering job showed us around Tokmok and Burana tower. Tokmok was around 2 hours taxi ride away from Bishkek and Natali picked us up from Tokmok bus station. The car ride from Tokmok to Burana was only around 20 min even with some cow and sheep -inclusive traffic jams on the way.  We also stopped for some horse and lanscape photography on the way. Burana tower is a remnant of an ancient city Balasagun build around year 900 and destroyed by an earthquake in 15th century. Burana tower was a minaret and a watch tower. Before the earthquake it was 45 m high but afterwards only 25 meters. The tower was restored in 1970s. We took the narrow and dark staircase all the way to the top of Burana Tower. I am not too fond of narrow places but managed to make it almost without panic noises. The tower has of course its own legends in many versions. A long time ago the daughter of a local leade
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Opera experience in Bishkek

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28.1.2018 Cold weekend well spent indoors -series continues. Me, Para and Lamees embarked on a journey to find some culture. We went to Kyrgyz National Academic Opera and Ballet theater Maldybaeva to see a classic opera Don Juan. The tickets cost about 5 euros per person for the most expensive seats. Here it would be affordable for me to enjoy some opera or ballet culture every single weekend and they actually have a different show for every weekend; Saturday ballet, Sunday opera. The opera building was quite beautiful but also a bit cold because of the weather. We left our coats with a nice babushka lady (who only spoke Russian) and proceeded to find the entrances. We also got to use some of our newly learned Russian; "I come from Finland/Indonesia/Egypt". We were trying to impress a lady selling programs and wearing a lovely traditional coat to get a picture with her (and succeeded). The hall had a lot of art but my favorite was a blue lady looking like a real opera d
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Getting lost in banya experience vol 1 & 2

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21.1.2018, VOL 1 After a long day of sliding it was time to take it easy, rewind and relax. But on the other hand, when volunteering abroad for 7 weeks you don´t want to waste your precious free time by not experiencing the culture of Kyrgyzstan. Para found the perfect solution to this dilemma; banyas. In short banya is like a spa or public bath with different kind of saunas, treatments and pools. It was a completely different experience compared to the spas in Finland. Mission relax and experience something new achieved. We chose a fancy looking banya called Slegkim in Bishkek city center. When we got there the outside did not look much, some construction was going on. Here I have noticed however that a shabby looking building often hides some beautiful indoors spaces. That was also the case with the banya. We had no idea how to use a banya, the staff did not speak English, we do not speak Russian and we did not have anyone from local AIESEC with us today to translate. Para
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Gliding down a hill with a balloon

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20.1.2018 This weekend I was invited to a field trip by my awesome host family. First we went to visit my host dads parents in Bishkek suburbs. On arrival I was fed exceedingly well with traditional Kyrgyzstan bread. Luckily I had one more box of Finnish chocolate with me to give for my host grandparents. By lunchtime we were joined by the family of my host dads sister. Suddenly I was in sitting in a table full of new people none of which spoke English. I had to come up with a new communication strategy. Firstly, smiling is really important, you can rarely be impolite if you smile a lot in a family gathering. Also hand gestures and "joong rahmat", thank you very much, help a long way. I am learning to be more solution oriented in new situations as per AIESEC leadership development. After lunch it was time for a family outing to "little mountain". A popular gliding place for families with children and adults as well (gliding is for everyone!). The plac
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Osh Bazaar was massive and complex

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18.1.2018 Second week of working in "share your smile" project in Bishkek brought us new AIESEC volunteers. Our team got some reinforcements from Egypt and France. Project-wise we are starting to improve with our lesson plans and teaching but there is still so much to learn. :) After work Ayana from AIESEC Kyrgyzstan wanted to show us Osh Bazaar, the largest marketplace in Bishkek. The Bazaar was amazing, massive and had everything from TVs and shoes to all kinds of food supplies. It also had a really confusing layout with some stalls inside, some outside and had I been there alone it would have taken a long time to find my way out again. Our Bishkek friends took good care of us, warning to be really careful with all valuables as there are a lot of people in the Bazaar.
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