English Club in Bishkek

English Club in Bishkek...I will miss you all!

There was a cafe right across the street from where our church met that wasn't open on Sundays, but whose owner agreed to open up for us for English Club. We didn't have to pay rent, just order pizza and drinks up to an agreed upon amount.

These folks were some of the high points of my time in Bishkek and I will really miss you! This isn't our whole group. We met on Fridays and Sundays and I pray I can see some of you guys again. Please write! :)

Kyrgyzstan Independence Day

August 31 is Independence Day for Kyrgyzstan.


18 years of Independence - Congratulations, Kyrgyzstan!
















It was easy to comfortable being the "tourist" and taking photos today, since everyone was doing the same!












It's funny to me to see what a holiday day out in the city with the family looks like here, as compared to other countries. There were boxes of bannanas everywhere (and my personal favorite bannana/cotton candy/pinwheel cart that is in the far background of this photo and has been in another blog of mine from last year). Can you just hear it? "Ah, why not? It's a holiday! Let's buy a banana!"



I so love the children here. They are amazing. I suppose children everywhere are, but these have stolen my heart. These two girls were cutting loose to someone's karaoke performance,











while this other little princess was waiting her turn to take her picture in front of the Independence Day displays.

Next blog will be our church conference that we had in Issyk Kyul this past weekend. It was awesome!

...in Kyiv, too

This is a cool graffiti shot I took in Kyiv right before I left for Bishkek this summer.

The walls have ears...

and eyes...and teeth!





The region I have been staying in here in Bishkek seems to sport some pretty talented graffiti artists.















These are on the canal walls near our apartment.

Ala Archak

Even though Bishkek is usually unbearably hot in August, in just about 20 minutes by car you can be at the base of the mountains here that still have snow on their peaks. A bunch of us did just that recently. We went to Ala Archak to walk and enjoy "the nature". Unfortunately it was rainy and cold so fog covered the tops of the peaks. Still, it was beautiful and a nice break from the heat in the city.

"Guarantees the nature time"

I am definitely a word-nerd. My obsession with words is a force for good (when I work editing translated materials) or evil (in conversations with friends when I get all....controlling....and get hung up on specific words). But the best part about being a word-nerd living in a foreign country is reading all the English (on signs, products, etc.) that is translated text from another language (Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese, Kyrgiz, etc.).

So...red miso. I was looking for red miso. Soy bean paste (as far as I know) that is yummy, healthy, etc. and you can add to soups, stir-fry, etc. Tracy and I were on a reconnaissance mission at this place that can only be called a Chinese Home Depot Complex. It is 3 huge buildings filled with furniture, home repair and remodel supplies, AND (the best part) chinese "stuff"... plastic storage things (baskets, boxes, etc.) dishes, teapots, etc. It's like Pic - N - Save on steroids (for those of you that remember that store).

So apparantly miso is Japanese, so the sellers here weren't really sure what I wanted, but assued me that this packet was close enough. I was glad to discover that the label on the back was actually in English! Or so I thought. Here are some of the highlights of what I read (and tried to understand):

• "This product fine ferments take the degreasing soybean as the main rawmaterial becomes, luster red brown sauce fragrance thick, sticks thicklymoderate, flavor tasty, the nutrition is rich, is the family commonly used regulator taste high quality goods."

• But my favorite is from the "Edible method" information. "Operates the bag to be direct edible, or adds the meat, the egg, theseafood expolodes the system, also may serve as the cooking, the coldfood in sauce. Guarantees the nature time: 12 months. Production date: Sees the seal."

So, the English is "good so not", but the homemade Chinese and Kyrgyz food that these girls were selling in the building supply section was excellent! Aaaahhhh, the unexpected joys for a word-nerd abroad. :)

VBS, Bishkek style: The art of jimmy rigging :)

Summer = VBS (Vacation Bible School). :)


And if you've ever helped out with VBS anywhere in the world, you know it's a lot of work! It's especially a lot of work if it is in a foreign country and the location (church grounds or whatever) are not your own, but someplace where you rent.








But we had our fearless leader, Tracy, and so our first day went great!

(Here she is with the "framework" of our make-shift tent...just wait to see how it was transformed!)





It was not without a few hiccups (and not because it was cold! ha! Sorry, local joke), but I'm so amazed at how much fun the kids had and how well it all really went! And that's the point, right? For the kids to hear about Jesus and HAVE FUN! :)


So when the borrowed tent didn't have all the pieces, David just hung it over the "jungle gym".




The theme of camp is the Old Testament Tabernacle, looking at the areas of worship there and corresponding with Jesus' fullfillment of them in the New Testament.



So, with a few scarves and benches inside, some major "jimmy-rigging" outside, 'voila'! Not exactly the tapestries of the original tabernacle, but we liked it! :)





We had our Bible lessons, singing and memory verse lessons here in the tent.

So even if we didn't have the snazziest set-up, we thought it was pretty cool. :)









(This is our "over-head projector" for the words of the songs! Way to go, Nadia!) :)


















We made papier mache "brazen lavers" that we will spray paint tomorrow and add our memory verses.












Then we "made" the altar for our "tabernacle" ...



















(amazing what gold wrapping paper on an old washing machine box will do!)













Of course there were lots of relay races and games...











waterballoon tossing


















and of course - SNACKS!

(David and Deborah cutting up watermellon!)

One big watermellon was devoured immediately and the water drank up quickly. Thankfully it wasn't as hot as it has been.

I doubt I'll be able to post photos every day, but just wanted to get some up of the first day to ask you all to be in prayer and thank you all for remembering us so far. Thanks!