My first 24 hours in Bishkek

January 3, 2008

My first full day in Bishkek was not too eventful. I awoke feeling incredibly hungry, as I hadn’t had anything other than triscuits and peanut butter cups since my breakfast in Istanbul. After getting dressed I walked next door to the office of The London School, and one of the staff members took me to change my dollars into soms (the local currency) and showed me around a nearby grocery store. Look! Kefir, pineapple juice, and chechil (beer cheese)!

After lunch, I went back to the school (it’s located in the same building as my apartment) and was given a tour. I have my own classroom on the second floor, which is cool. I won’t have to be lugging all my stuff from classroom to classroom. I’ll be teaching an extra class in January. They’ve promised me an extra $150 for that, so I suppose it’s a good thing. The bad thing about this extra class is that it’s at 9:00am! You know how stellar I am in the mornings and all… I’m hoping that this will just be for the month of January, although the extra money will certainly come in handy. From what I gather, my five classes will all be in the lower levels of English skill, which is the level I’ve taught the most. My schedule (at least for January) will be MTTF (no Wednesday classes), 9:00-10:20, 2:30-3:50, 4:00-5:20, 5:30-6:50, and 7:00-8:20. Whew!

After going over my schedule and teaching procedures and such, I found “my” cats – they were left by the teacher who used to live in my apartment. I’d agreed to take care of them before she left and I arrived. Anyway, they were frolicking in the stairwell and totally thrilled to come inside my apartment. They promptly made themselves at home.

Bee

Gee

Luball

They definitely know they belong here!

I would like to say that I did something with my day yesterday, as I had no obligations and as it was quite beautiful outside... but after going to a nearby internet café (that’s where I’m blogging from, by the way) and buying some things for my apartment, I came home and crashed. I’m feeling quite rested today, and I hope that I’ve finally kicked this jet lag thing. We shall see. Keep your fingers crossed that my bag arrives tomorrow!