It has been a full week since my arrival as of today! Strangely, it feels like either no time at all has passed, or it’s been ages – my body can’t decide yet. I ended up having a migraine last night around bedtime anyway, so I didn’t upload anything about the 27th. It’s just as well, though, since it was sort of rainy and I didn’t take many pictures. Today, my friends and I learned a valuable lesson to not trust Google Maps: we were targeting an Indian restaurant called Sugar and Spice, but when we reached the address, it simply did not exist. It also did not exist on 2GIS, a more local and better updated app for navigation. We made do, though, and enjoyed the good weather immensely. My quest for spicy food continues.
Otherwise, it’s just been more adjusting. I feel pretty acclimated to the time difference by this point, which is the biggest hurdle. My Russian improves daily, and otherwise the city is not too difficult to adjust to from Portland. The parks and general plant life growing here definitely reminds me of home, especially the roses — they’re everywhere here and very beautiful (you can see some in both the picture of the music school and the park). In terms of interesting planning for the near future, I think I am going to try to see the smaller of the two main markets either tomorrow or early next week. The younger of the two kids, Bekjan (pictured below – not from my camera, so sorry for the quality) offered to be a guide for me and perhaps my American friends. I won’t take him up on it because, well, he’s 10 and I don’t particularly feel like getting lost and/or robbed, but it’s nice to have someone who’s ready to be of help.
Nate in Bishkek 2021 
I love the photo of the street musician. These photos remind me of the shots you took during the China trip.
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