olive was a superstar during lunch. happy and talking and dropping everything in sight on the floor.
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Thursday, March 25, 2010
dad and daughter lunch... oh and shane was there too
olive and i went to lunch today with our friend shane (of jen holmes and shane). jen stayed at home doing jen stuff (most likely happy that i was out of her hair after the long spring break together!). we met shane at yusa (which i thought was a misspelling of USA when we first moved here but is really a turkish place called "yusa"). the restaurant was only a couple of blocks from our apartment so olive and i walked over (getting plenty of looks on the way... it isn't often you see a guy... much less an american guy... walking down the street with a baby strapped to his chest).
olive was a superstar during lunch. happy and talking and dropping everything in sight on the floor.
olive was a superstar during lunch. happy and talking and dropping everything in sight on the floor.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
birthday thanksgiving
tonight we held a birthday thanksgiving dinner... complete with real american turkey (thank you US embassy), cream of corn, and sweet potatoes... to celebrate jennifer turning 31 and our friend lauren turning 30.
it was hosted by nelson and lauren who are fast becoming very dear friends. they both work at the embassy and have a 14 month old son named sebastian who has already been promised to him in marriage. jen and shane (with kids) were there as was irene, tinamarie, maria, and the deputy chief of mission (the number two at the embassy) with his young (of course!) russian wife.
it was another one of those moments which made us thankful that we are returning to bishkek again next year and one of those moments that reaffirmed that no matter where you live - good, quality community is such an important thing. we are very thankful to have that here.
it was hosted by nelson and lauren who are fast becoming very dear friends. they both work at the embassy and have a 14 month old son named sebastian who has already been promised to him in marriage. jen and shane (with kids) were there as was irene, tinamarie, maria, and the deputy chief of mission (the number two at the embassy) with his young (of course!) russian wife.
it was another one of those moments which made us thankful that we are returning to bishkek again next year and one of those moments that reaffirmed that no matter where you live - good, quality community is such an important thing. we are very thankful to have that here.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
farewell to the undelands
we spend a couple of hours today hanging out with the undelands. they are leaving bishkek over christmas break and moving to dhaka, bangladesh to join charlie who has been there since september. they have been amazingly kind and wonderful friends during our year plus here. we are going to miss them.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
nothing says night out to dinner better than not having electricity
the central heat hasn't been turned on yet in most of the city and with the onset (or onslaught depending on how you view it) of cold weather people have been plugging in their electric heaters... which of course has resulted in power blackouts across the city.
we have been pretty lucky in our new place in that we haven't had any scheduled outages of yet - most of the city is under a midnight to 500pm power reduction (which is a fancy way of saying the power is cut off). but with folks trying to stay warm, the grid became overloaded and we lost power from midmorning until around 1110pm that night.
the house was warm enough but sitting around in the dark talking about our feelings can only get you so far and doesn't feed the belly. so we decided to join the holmes and some other embassy friends out to dinner (at a place with power, obviously). we went to a new mediterranean place not to far from our house. we showed up a little bit late (we have lost the ability to be on time now that we have olivia) and folks had already ordered the dinner special for eight which turned out to be course after course of food. mostly finger food stuff. hummus (ok... not a finger food... but you put it on finger food items). salads (ok... also not a finger food). lots of great food.
we normally go to another place for our mediterranean fix. and end up spending about 700som (a little less then $20) for the two of us. so needless to say we were SHOCKED when the bill came out to 10000soms which worked out to $50 a couple.
it is one thing to go out in the states and drop that much a dinner. but in bishkek? really? i don't know other than expats and diplomats who could afford such a pricey meal in central asia. ok... maybe the organized crime folks. but not the regular crowd. i think it is the biggest sticker shock that jen and i have had since we've been here.
but it beat staying home in the dark.
after dinner we went to the holmes' house (or "holmes's home" as i like to say) for some chai and ice cream. being that they work at the embassy... the can ship in chai and ice cream from the states. so good! we love them. and then i played video games with shane while the girls hung out with olivia (their kids were asleep already). it is good to be a 40 year old male who plays video games while his wife watches the baby.
by the time we got home around midnight the power was back on at the house.
we have been pretty lucky in our new place in that we haven't had any scheduled outages of yet - most of the city is under a midnight to 500pm power reduction (which is a fancy way of saying the power is cut off). but with folks trying to stay warm, the grid became overloaded and we lost power from midmorning until around 1110pm that night.
the house was warm enough but sitting around in the dark talking about our feelings can only get you so far and doesn't feed the belly. so we decided to join the holmes and some other embassy friends out to dinner (at a place with power, obviously). we went to a new mediterranean place not to far from our house. we showed up a little bit late (we have lost the ability to be on time now that we have olivia) and folks had already ordered the dinner special for eight which turned out to be course after course of food. mostly finger food stuff. hummus (ok... not a finger food... but you put it on finger food items). salads (ok... also not a finger food). lots of great food.
we normally go to another place for our mediterranean fix. and end up spending about 700som (a little less then $20) for the two of us. so needless to say we were SHOCKED when the bill came out to 10000soms which worked out to $50 a couple.
it is one thing to go out in the states and drop that much a dinner. but in bishkek? really? i don't know other than expats and diplomats who could afford such a pricey meal in central asia. ok... maybe the organized crime folks. but not the regular crowd. i think it is the biggest sticker shock that jen and i have had since we've been here.
but it beat staying home in the dark.
after dinner we went to the holmes' house (or "holmes's home" as i like to say) for some chai and ice cream. being that they work at the embassy... the can ship in chai and ice cream from the states. so good! we love them. and then i played video games with shane while the girls hung out with olivia (their kids were asleep already). it is good to be a 40 year old male who plays video games while his wife watches the baby.
by the time we got home around midnight the power was back on at the house.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
april
a post from jen's blog...
I know it is October.
I'm talking about April, our friend from Houston, who came with me to help with all of our stuff and Boone. There is no way that I would have been able to haul everything by myself. We showed her around Bishkek and became a bit of tourists ourselves. We went to Medina Bazaar, Alamedin Bazaar, Osh Bazaar, and to Burana Tower, Ala Archa, and the Foothills of Bishkek. It was a beautiful visit. We had so much fun. Olive loves her too and was mesmerized by her cheers and 'human mobile' act. She brought sunshine into our home and was so helpful and fun the whole time. I'm so thankful for friends who help and bring bright perspectives and joy into our lives.
April
I know it is October.
I'm talking about April, our friend from Houston, who came with me to help with all of our stuff and Boone. There is no way that I would have been able to haul everything by myself. We showed her around Bishkek and became a bit of tourists ourselves. We went to Medina Bazaar, Alamedin Bazaar, Osh Bazaar, and to Burana Tower, Ala Archa, and the Foothills of Bishkek. It was a beautiful visit. We had so much fun. Olive loves her too and was mesmerized by her cheers and 'human mobile' act. She brought sunshine into our home and was so helpful and fun the whole time. I'm so thankful for friends who help and bring bright perspectives and joy into our lives.
Friday, October 16, 2009
friday drive into the mountains
today was april's last day in town so we decided to drive up into the mountains and see the 'real' kyrgyzstan.
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