Well. Here we are with no raspberry incidents in 10 days. That is good news. I am still wrestling with Kyrgyzstan and sometimes it seems that Kyrgyzstan is wrestling with me. I don't like to make a big deal of culture shock, because I don't see it as being necessarily shocked by things around me, but I do feel buffeted, frustrated, and tired pretty often these days. It feels a little like an organ transplant that isn't taking...my hair is falling out, my skin is breaking out...my brain is shutting down.
Ok. Maybe I just need to eat some veggies. I've been keeping away from the fresh produce more or less since the raspberries, but maybe those were extreme measures. I love the food here but I'm not feeling too healthy in general and that is discouraging. Although, my brain is much brighter now that my Russian lessons are straightened out and I'm doing the same grammar concept in all three lessons. We're really getting somewhere and I am beginning to absorb the material, especially from my reading lesson, which I love because I get the context of the words and they stick.
Mostly I'm just learning to work with what I've got. One thing at a time, one day at a time. I may not like going to the bathroom on the side of a mountain or dealing with grumpy traffic, or having consistently slow and flaky internet, but there are worse things. I have a comfortable home and good friends, and those are very important.
I have been in the process of "winter nesting" that sense of being in a new place and wanting to secure the environment. So in that spirit, I've been searching shops for warm clothes since I brought very little warm clothing with me. There are several classy malls in Bishkek but the clothes are really high. In the markets they seem really cheap and likely to fall apart. So I'm trying to find a happy medium. I haven't yet been to Dordoi market, which everyone says to go to. It is one of the biggest markets in Central Asia, and sells literally tons of goods imported from China, as well as Turkey. According to this article, around 100,000 people work there. It's a massive place stacked with box cars in all different colors. I've only seen it empty because it was closing up when we tried to visit, but it has the signs of being quite and impressive place.
We did go to Orto-Sai market this week. It is full of beautifully laid out foods.
It is really lovely. There was even a man squeezing pomegranate juice with a huge silver pomegranate juicer and storing it glass bottles, crimson and rich. There is so much to absorb and enjoy.
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