Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Everyday Living in Bishkek

It's been almost three weeks since my last posting to this blog. That means I am again having difficulty imposing a discipline of writing at least weekly about my life and the lives of ordinary and extra ordinary people I encounter. It is something I need to work on.

So, let's look at what's been happening since March 8th. On Sunday, the 9th of March I attended a performance of the Ludwig Minkus ballet La Bayadere. It was a remarkable performance of the work. For this ballet principals were brought from Moscow. Alexandra Surodeevoj, the leading ballerina of the Perm State academic Opera and the Tchaikovsky and Andrei Balatova, the first soloist of the Mariinsky Theater danced with the company of the Kyrgyz State National Ballet. Surodeevoj was incredible. Her movements seemed absolutely effortless. It may have been the best performance by a female dancer I have seen in Kyrgyzstan. I left the performance wishing there had been even more.

After the ballet, my young friend Andy and I joined my German friend Richard Heider and his wife and delightful children at dinner at Кафе У Француза which translates to The Frenchman Cafe. Richard and I are working on a project to get some local cinema theatre in Bishkek to have a once a month showing of an film in the English language, or some French, German, European films in their original languages with English subtitles. I am hoping to move this project along as quickly as possible. At the moment all cinema is dubbed into Russian and shown without subtitles. For me, it means I only go to the theatres to see films where I think the dialog will be minimal or unnecessary. Like "Need for Speed" for example. We had a lovely meal once we convinced the female server that a English language menu for the food really did exist. She originally handed us Russian language menus. I do okay with standard restaurant fare when I have to translate the Russian, but french selections in Russian seem a little confusing to me. I selected a dish described as Chicken Breast in a curry sauce. It was very tasty and I will order it again. The restaurant also has some nice duck dishes and recently added some pork cutlets to the menu. That evening we had wanted to order skewered meat, but apparently the mongol grill was not fired up. It is one of the constant disappointments in Kyrgyzstan that items listed on the menus are often not available. But it surprised me that it was the case at У Француза as well.
The meal was topped off by some very nice sorbets.

Monday, the 10th of March was a quiet day, but another eating adventure came in the evening. My friend Telek Nordoolotov

invited me to join with some of his friends to a Beshbarmak dinner. Beshbarmak is a favorite national Kyrgyz dish. I have often had the dish which consists of mutton and hand rolled and cut noodles, often it seems a bit tasteless. The meat is unseasoned and the noodles lack any flavors. But Telek assured me we were ging to a special restaurant where the Beshbarmak was really good. I am always up for a new restaurant experience so I was picked up a off we went down Bokonbaeva in a taxi.

I live on the Eastern end of Bokonbaeva and I use it often to walk to a park nearby, and often take a taxi over to Manas Prospect which is on the Western side of Bishkek's Central District. But that night we continued past Manas and the street became an incredibly bad road because of an enormous number of potholes. We stopped to pick up another dinner guest and then continued on to Moldo Guardia where we turned left and went to Lev Tolstoy where we turned right and went aways almost to an area called Pishpek (one of Bishkek's previous names) but a left turn onto Nekrasova Street and arrived at our destination. The AAA Uzguchu Restaurant whose menu is almost entirely various forms of Beshbarmak. There was a Beshbarmak from Naryn, one from Talas, one from Uzgen and on and on. I am not sure which one Telek ordered but I have to say that this was the best I have ever had.
Beshbarmak surrounded by Chukchuk
And it came with a sausage made from horse and horse fat called Chukchuk. The Chukchuk is a taste that even after three years here for which I have failed to develop a tasted. This dish including the mutton was very good and I have put the restaurant on my list to recommend to others and to take groups to celebrate events.  Several others joined us and the dish ended up serving seven people with a sizable portion left over our friend Suiun took home. After dinner we piled into two taxis, the boys accompanied me home and made sure I got in to the building safely. It was a wonderful experience.

On Tuesday, March 11,  I had an unexpected call from a young Kyrgyz whom I met through my affiliation with a group called Zamandash. Kulanbek has come back from spending time in China, most recently in Urumchi, a city in the Western province of Jinzang.  He invited me to coffee at Adriano which is relatively close to my house, but for some reason I did not understand exactly where it was located. After some fun in the taxi, I called and had Kulanbek explain what and where we needed to be. Kulanbek speaks Kyrgyz, Russian, Chinese and English. He is currently taking a course to brush up on English grammar near where I live. We had a really nice visit and agreed that we need to meet again soon. Also had very good coffee at Adriano. They have a number of coffee shops around the city and I have found the coffee to be first rate, though service can be a little too laid-back for me.

That afternoon I met with Andy and had a late light lunch at Sierra Coffee. I had a small taco salad, which is made with chicken and is very good, and I had a small bowl of the lentil soup.

Wednesday, March 12th is a bit of a blur. I stayed home most of the day and read. I am currently reading in my Kindle Fire Moshin Hamid's How to Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia. It is a very captivating novel thinly disguised as a self-help book for young Southeast Asian readers looking to get ahead. It turns out to be a biography of the main character and his adventures on the road to success. Very entertaining and perceptive about the struggle.

Thursday, March 13, I went to the bank and picked up my new ATM card for my accounts at Demir Bank KG. While I was in America the card I was carrying expired, so the first time I went to use it I was greeted with a message from the Bankomat screen about that fact. It had never occurred to me to look. It turns out they expire annually and you have to apply and wait a week for a new one. After retrieving it I went to VEFA Center and had some really good Italian coffee at Coffee Time. Saw a couple of friends at the center, but then went to Sierra Coffee for a lunch. Afterwards I went shopping. I am looking for a new vacuum cleaner. The one provided with the apartment has become unusable because of a broken attachment and it is getting a bit old. Having a new one of my own will make life easier. I saw vacuums ranging in price from 2800 soms to 28,000 soms. And to be honest I cannot tell what makes the price so different. I think I will be settling on the least expensive model. But will do more looking. A quick trip to the grocery and then back to the apartment. More reading.

Friday, March 14th, another day staying in because the weather was a bit dreary. I read and slept most of the day. 

Saturday, March 15th. Normally I would get out and go to the Opera and Ballet on Saturday and Sunday. The Opera was Barber of Seville on Saturday, but I decided not to go.

Sunday, March 16th, the Ballet was offering Giselle, I also decided not to go. So it was a quiet weekend with an overload of British television and a substantial amount of progress in my reading.

More later. And as I always say to my Kyrgyz friends in parting, Ak Жол. It is a nomadic wish for clear roads ahead.







No comments:

Post a Comment