This past week was our Spring Break, and we really needed it to recharge!
Most of the days we just slept in, watched movies and worked on crochet and painting projects, played games, and we took a few little outings...like to the library, the post office, and on Friday we took a friend and made it out of the city for a picnic.
The first place he took us was the "Panorama" which is a big hill on the south east side of town. You get a great view of Bishkek, even through the smog and clouds.
On the top of the hill is a large Kyrgyz flag. It was lovely with the sun highlighting it from behind.
Here, our friend is showing us the location of the new American University of Central Asia (AUCA.)
Right in the center of the picture is the new campus. Can you see the large grey building with the "red" windows inset in it? That is the new AUCA where Jeff has met some of the faculty and long term he hopes to teach there.
A view looking north west to the rest of Bishkek. Lots of new building on the south east side of town.
Some of the mountains, covered in clouds, in the distance.
We then went on a drive to the south of town, toward Кашка Суу and Ала Арча, a ski resort and the National Park we visited last fall. The kids got lots of climbing and sliding in down this hill.
In the distance is Кашка Суу, probably one of the closest ski resorts to Bishkek. We didn't make it there this year due to illness, but hope to next season.
The mountains in this area are just lovely, only 45 minutes south of Bishkek.
Lots of free roaming horses on these hills.
The kids again on the hills. They played while I got lunch together in the back of the car. We ate and then went back to town, it was much colder up in the mountains than we had anticipated and we were just not dressed appropriately. My hands were numb in under an hour. A long drive for a short visit, but it was needed, and we hope to return as the weather warms up a bit more.
