First trip to Karakol

Karakol, Kyrgyzstan is on the far east side of the country, by the Lake Issyk-Kul, and less than 100 miles from the border with China. It is the 4th largest city in Kyrgyzstan and is where some of our friends used to live and work. We were super excited to go out and visit this lovely area and have a short break after what has been a very busy and full couple of months of moving, transition, and language school. Enjoy these pictures and know that you are welcome to come and visit, anytime!

Our room at the Baytor Guest House in Karakol. There were 3 twins beds and a pull out couch for all 5 of us, perfect! The breakfast on-site was amazing as well.

Our view out of the window of the guest house. The mountains are covered by the clouds in this picture, but normally it was a lovely view. The location was excellent as well, less than 15 minutes to the base of the mountains for skiing, sledding, and ice skating.

Indy and I on the pull out couch. Gwangi took this picture while I was getting set up to read our Advent devotional on my phone after breakfast and before going out for the day.

Our first view on the ski lift going up the beginner slope.

Sissi, all ready to go on her ski run.

The mountain peaks are pretty impressive and remind us so much of home, in Colorado.

The on-site hotel and restaurant in the background.

Krypto, coming down the beginner slope.

Gwangi, working on getting his skis closer together and going faster down the hill.

Sissi, she did really well and remembered all she was taught from last year in NC.

Lunch!

Gwangi took this picture from our lunch table.

Gwangi says there aren't enough pictures of Indy and I, so he took plenty of them on this trip.

Indy's shashlik (meat kabob, cooked on an outside grill) for lunch.

Pretty awesome ice sculpture that they had on the beginner slope.

At the top of the intermediate slope. Gwangi had a bit of a slip, but he got back up. There was quite a jump in difficulty level between the beginner and intermediate slopes. Only Krypto was willing to do it a few more times.

I really, really love this view!

On our second day, we went sledding!

It was a long run and they really got up some speed!

Still going, I needed to use the zoom on this shot!

Our friends that we took the trip with to Karakol.

And, then they had a spill. Actually, there were a lot of spills on our sledding day.

Resting a bit between hikes back up the hill to sled. The kids were exhausted at the end of the day. It was quite the workout.

Sissi and Indy after a fun day of sledding.

We then went over to get in a few minutes of ice skating with our friends.

This was only Sissi's 2nd time ice skating, she went right to it and loved it!

All the kids after a very long day of sledding and skating.

Another beautiful view from the top of an intermediate run.

Krypto's and my one-on-one time. We got to do a run together while Indy stayed with the younger two on the beginner runs.

This is the main building when you arrive at the ski base. I love the fur hats for sale on the right side. Beyond that were the sleds for rent, for 150 som (equal to about $3.)

The steps up to our room at the guest house. She really loves plants, and it gave the whole place a really homey feel.

The Lake Issyk-Kul on our drive home. On the way to Karakol we drove on the north side of the lake, on the way back to Bishkek, we drove on the south side.

It's a really, really big lake.

After the lake area, you go through a section of high dessert/steppes before you get to the valley area where Bishkek is located.

I really enjoyed watching all of the animals grazing in this area...cows, horses, sheep were constantly crossing the road ahead of us.

Oh, and we saw the Kazakhstan bike racing team on our route as well.

Krypto's Egyptian Short Story

As is normal for any proud mommy moment, I am sharing a short story that Krypto developed, wrote, and edited over the last three weeks for our Tapestry of Grace curriculum.

It was supposed to be based in one of the ancient civilizations that we've studied so far this year - the Egyptians, the Israelites, the Assyrians, or the Sumerians. He chose the Egyptians. Enjoy!

The Darkest Palace

Chapter 1: Escape!

“There he goes!” shouted one of the guards. They were chasing an escaping servant from pharaoh’s palace. Beads of sweat evaporated off the boy’s tanned forehead, his bottomless brown eyes searching vainly for a side street or alley to escape into from the relentless guards. “We have him now!” said one of the guards carelessly, “This road ends at the wall of Pharaoh’s palace!” The young slave realized this only too late, trapped between the trap and the trappers! Then a brilliant idea sprung into his mind….

“He’s just around this corner!” shouted the leader of the guards, laughingly, “You’d think after trying to escape three times he’d have learned his lesson!” But laughter turned to shock as they turned the corner to find that the missing slave had disappeared into thin air! “Where could he have gone?” They turned around in utter bafflement, wondering where he went.

“They’ll never find me here,” thought the slave, cunningly, watching with amusement as the royal guards searched everywhere for him. In pots, near windows, they even searched behind each other for him, without ever a clue where he really was. “All they had to do was look up,” he thought amusingly, watching the guard’s antics from on top of the palace wall. “This is my best escape plan yet,” he thought, as he jumped down in to the palace. He would hide in the very place he was escaping from!

Chapter 2: A few hours later….

“You fools!” cried Pharaoh, the famously cruel, handsome, brutal, and clever leader. User-Aa shouted at the guards after they had made their report. “How does a 13 year old boy slave, who can’t even read or write, outsmart fifteen of my strongest and bravest warriors? Do you want the Pharaoh of Egypt, ruler of the greatest empire in the world, son of the god Ra, to be shamed by a slave boy? Off with you and don’t come back until you have him!”

Unknown to either the guards or the pharaoh, the “ignorant slave boy” was behind a pillar laughing at the entire conversation. He was tall and thin, with many marks on his back from the years of slavery within User-Aa’s palace. He was also intelligent, kind, and often times angry at Pharaoh. He had been a slave as long as he could remember, and his name was Nedjes.   “Oh, those silly guards,” he thought, barely containing his laughter, “they will search all of Egypt before they search here.” With that thought, he slipped away into the depths of pharaoh’s palace…….

Chapter 3: A few months later

Nedjes had never been caught, even though they had searched for him for many days and nights. Finally, they decided to permanently increase the numbers of guards that were guarding the pharaoh’s palace, just in case another servant tried to escape….or an already escaped servant tried to get back in.

And that’s exactly why User-Aa had called court today, someone HAD managed to get in. “I want to know how exactly someone got past my guards, slinked into the very heart of the palace, and killed one of my most valuable nobles! The incident with the slave boy was bad enough, but this!” The nobles all mumbled different thoughts, ideas, and suggestions but no one was brave enough to say them loudly enough for the pharaoh to discern.

“I see you’re all very helpful, but I’ve already called a city wide search for this mysterious killer. And unless you want go and help them search every inch of Thebes, you are going to get back to work!” So saying, User-Aa slumped backwards into his throne, exhausted from that long speech of his. “And to think,” he practically whispered, with his hand sweeping out over the room, “all this, but a day from completion.”

“Sire!” yelled a messenger, who entered the room.

“What is it?” demanded User-Aa, grumpily.

“It’s the killer! He’s killed one of the other nobles who didn’t attend the meeting! This time he signed his work!” So saying, the messenger held up a piece of papyrus with bold letters on it saying, “Ra’s curse.”

“Ra’s curse?” roared User-Aa, “no Ra’s curse can stand up to the son of Ra! I want not only the royal guard, but the entire army searching for this imposter! I want them searching now!”

“Of course your majesty,” whispered the messenger hurriedly, and he rushed off to do the pharaoh’s bidding.

Chapter 4: Palace intrigue

“This time, I’m going to know for sure,” said Nedjes, who had never actually escaped from the palace, but had spent his time scavenging and stealing from the nobles. He was about to learn the truth about a mystery that had haunted him from day one.

He had often seen around the palace a mysterious girl, dressed poorly like himself with a mischievous look in her eye. She was always hiding in the most unexpected places, with big, smart eyes, and beautiful tanned skin, she was enigmatic. He could never find any record about her anywhere. “You can’t stop me this time!” he thought as he raced for this once in a lifetime event, access to the unguarded archives. He had seen all the guards running off to find someone called, “Ra’s curse.”

“You made a dire mistake leaving the archives unguarded this time, I’m sure.” After months of trying to find out who she was, he had almost come to see her as the enemy that was trying to stop him.

“At last, I’m in the archives!” He quickly began going through the scrolls. He had taught himself to read from stolen scrolls during his long stay at the palace. “Aha, here it is. Her name is ---.”

“Hey who left the archives open?” quickly Nedjes turned around and dashed out of the room before the guards could close the door.

Round 1 went to the mystery girl. He still had no idea who she was.

In the throne room, the pharaoh, User-Aa was worried. Two more nobles had been killed mysteriously by “Ra’s curse” and he was starting to be nervous. He had already sent over half of his guards to protect the remaining nobles, but it felt like nothing was helping him get closer to solving the crime.

“Has there been news about him, any news at all?” User-Aa demanded.

“No Sire, nothing we do seems to stop him, if anything, it seems like we’re helping him!”

“Idiot! I want this mystery person dead before the sun rises. If not, you won’t need his help to pass on to the next life! You know what’s at stake here! I must not fail!” howled the frustrated Pharaoh.

“Yes, Sire,” and the guard hurriedly left the room.

Chapter 5: Secrets unlocked

“Today’s the day!” said Nedjes quickly. He had never been in this particular room and today he was going to do it. For a good long time now he had heard constant hammering and working sounds in the room, all thoughts of the mystery girl were gone as he tried to get into the most guarded area in the palace

He quickly sized up the security guarding the room; ten guards, all clad head to toe in armor, a heavy wooden door that would take a battering ram to destroy, and who knows how many workers and other people on the inside. The boy realized that the only way in was to wait until the door was open and then rush through. He didn’t have to wait long before a scribe came out, looking worried and muttering over a piece of papyrus.

Nedjes quickly took his chance and lunged in the door before it was closed. What he saw astounded him. A massive workshop with hundreds of workers all making wooden parts for an unknown something, a dozen scribes drawing a diagram of the same something, and a bunch of guards watching the whole procedure from up high, on top of posts.

That’s when he saw her, his enemy, the mystery girl standing plain as day on the other side of the room.  He started running in her direction when he heard a trumpet. “Have they found me?” he thought worriedly, and he turned in the direction of the trumpet. It was Pharaoh, arriving to carry out an inspection. The boy turned to look at the girl again, but she was gone.

He then turned his attention back to User-Aa. “If Pharaoh is a god, he is a demon one,” muttered Nedjes under his breath.  Pharaoh was boasting about how powerful his army would be when he finished construction on whatever was going on in here.

“Just think,” he said, “when we’re finished with this project, we will have an unstoppable armada of soldiers! Ha!”

“How can he have an unstoppable armada of soldiers?” thought the boy worriedly. “What does he have that makes him so confident in his armies?”

“Display the weapon!” shouted Pharaoh gleefully to his soldiers. The boy gaped in openmouthed astonishment at the weapon.

It was a gigantic wooden frame, set on mighty stone wheels, and within the frame, there was a massive lever and a cup was at the end of the lever.

“Test the weapon!” shouted Pharaoh.

Nedjes watched curiously as they put a large stone in the cup. “Now why would they do that?” he thought. But what he saw next took his breath away. The soldiers pulled on a rope attached to the frame and the lever went up, throwing the rock through the air and through the door!

“They could crush anyone with that!” he whispered excitedly. Then a hand grabbed him.

Chapter 6: Show down

“What are you doing here?” a voice hissed into his ear. He twisted around to gaze astonished at the mystery girl!

“Who are you?” he asked confusedly. “I’m Neferet. I’m like you, an escapee from pharaoh’s palace who decided the best place to hide was IN pharaoh’s palace. I ask again, what you are doing here?” 

“I got curious, that’s all,” responded a slightly sarcastic, Nejdes.

“Well, you almost got yourself and me killed, follow me!” and so saying, she led him though a hidden passageway into the court yard.

“Are you crazy?” he hissed. “They’ll see us out here!”

“No they won’t, they are all inside or preparing for the celebration tomorrow.”

“What celebration,” queried Nedjes incredulously?

“The celebration when Pharaoh reveals his super weapon to the public. We can escape from 

Pharaoh’s palace forever during the festivities.”

It was going to be a long night.

Chapter 7: The surprise ending

“My people,” proclaimed Pharaoh User-Aa, proudly. “Today is the day, where I forever change the course of battles. Today, Egyptian supremacy is assured for a very long time. Soon, hundreds like this weapon that you see before you shall be on every battle field…on our side.  Shortly, every empire, barbarian raider, and puny kingdom shall bow before Egypt, and the catapult!”

So saying he had his guards wheel out the weapon, now named the catapult. The crowd started cheering wildly “User-Aa, User-Aa, User-Aa!!”

“Enjoy your cheap glory, Pharaoh, it will not last long!” shouted an intimidating voice from above.

Every person in the crowd outside Pharaoh’s palace looked up. There, on the roof, was an individual in a mask!

“I am Ra’s curse!” boomed the masked man. With that, he jumped from the roof, landed on his feet, and knocked out two guards.

User-Aa may have had someone do his work for him his whole life, but he was not lazy. He jumped up and ripped off the man’s mask. It was the general of his own army!

“Yes, it is I,” he laughed insanely. “I knew I could be a better pharaoh then you, so here I am!”

While all of this was happening, Nedjes and Neferet were running for their lives through the crowd, panting and sweating as a whole dozen or more guards chased them. “We’ll never make it,” she panted miserably.

“Yes, we will make it, all we have to do is get to that side alley and escape!” shouted Nedjes. Was it too late, he thought, then the biggest and strongest guard he had ever seen was now blocking their path.

“Not this time!” he yelled and rushed into the guard, blowing him over and running into the alley at top speed. They had escaped.

Meanwhile User-Aa and the general were locked in a grapple, each trying to push each other off the raised platform they were on. User-Aa at last succeeded and pushed the general on to the ground below them.

“I’d rather burn then work for you,” declared the general. Then his eye fell on the catapult, “yes, I shall burn, burn, BURN!!!” With that he ignited the catapult and threw himself onto it.

“No!” shouted User-aa. “Guards, save the catapult!”

But by the time they got there with water, the catapult and the general were ash.

“No,” wailed User-aa, “all that work, all that time spent, and now to start over! Why?”

“Sire?” said a guard timidly. “Should we send a patrol after those escaping slaves?”

“What’s the use? They deserved their escape,” and so saying, Pharaoh sat down, and wept.

The End

Historical author’s note -

For a historical novel, this book has very little base in reality, there was never, as far as my knowledge goes, a Pharaoh named User-Aa, the idea of hiding in pharaoh’s palace is ridiculous at best, and the catapult is just wrong and out of place, but it was cool and I enjoyed writing this book. So, if any historian out there is reading my book and then hitting his head on the nearest heavy object, I’m sorry.

Sincerely,

                    Krypto   

One month in Kyrgyzstan - The Apartment Tour

Is it possible, that we've been here a month already?!

We arrived in the early morning on the 2nd of October, having had no sleep on the flight from Istanbul to Bishkek, dragging a bunch of very heavy plastic bins/luggage out of the airport, with children falling asleep on hard plastic chairs as we waited in line to get our 30 day tourist visa, to being sick with some kind of stomach bug the first week or so we were here....ahhh, what memories!

But, as usual, the Father provided in a mighty way. I was able to stay well enough to scope out the area the first few days, our friends had previewed a few apartments, and we had confirmation through prayer and rent amounts dropping that the place we were choosing was where He wanted us to be.

So, without further ado....here is the street where we live!

This is the local magazine, or quick shop, for your basic grocery needs. One of the amazing things about Bishkek is that there seems to be a "grocery" store, called Narodni (народныи), every few blocks. Between that, and being about 5-6 blocks from the Osh Bazaar, we have access to quite a bit of food.

This is our apartment building, from the street side.

This is our balcony, it runs the length of the apartment (along the back side of the boys' room, the living room/dining room/school room combo, and our bedroom.) We use it for storage and to dry laundry, when it's warm enough.

This is the park area in the courtyard between 3 buildings. Our building is the one you can see in this picture. There is also one behind me and to my right in this picture.

Our living, dining, school room combo....plus, when the weather is cold we bring in the laundry to dry. It's a bit "cozy" but it works!

Looking at the living room the other way. You can see the doors on the right, they lead into our bedroom. The doors straight ahead, lead into the hallway and then onto Sissi's room, if you turned left, you would come to the bathroom and the kitchen.

In essence, when you walk in the apartment, it's a hallway with the boys' room, living room, and our bedroom on the right. The bathroom, kitchen, and Sissi's room are on the left.

Looking into our bathroom. There is a tub/shower in there on the right.

The kitchen. You can see the brown line on the floor, that is where the kitchen was renovated and expanded to take up what used to be the balcony on this side of the apartment.

Excuse the mess, these pictures were taken this weekend, as we were beginning to do some canning.

Looking at the kitchen from the back window. You can see out into the hallway and just a glimmer of light from the living room is visible.

The opposite counter and storage area.

The boys' room...they were reading when I came in to take the picture.

Sissi's room. You can see the door on the back wall that leads out to the small balcony that is left on this side of the apartment.

Looking back into Sissi's room from the balcony door. You can see a peek into the living room from her room.

 

She wanted a picture of her getting into bed.

Clean sheets and we're ready to get all comfortable.

This is the balcony off of Sissi's room. It has been renovated and has new windows so it's much warmer. Also, the floor was refinished and so it's not just concrete and cold as the other side is prone to be this time of year. She loves it and uses it as her "play room."

Our bedroom. You can see the door to the balcony and our extra luggage, camping gear, and storage.

Standing at the back door and looking at our room from the other side.

Leaving our room and looking out into the living room at our new bookcase.

The apartment was fully furnished when we moved in. The only thing it was lacking was a place to put books. I could have bought a few, but for now, this one is doing what needs to be done, and I am very happy with it! Thanks for getting it for me, honey!

Thankfulness Jar

Today was my first real foray into canning, Central Asian style.

I have canned before, quite a bit in fact, in the US. The process and lids here are a bit different and so my friend, Magevney, came over to help me out on my "first time." I'm glad she did. During the process we ended up with a few cracked jars, tops not adhering and popping off on us, spaghetti sauce on the floor, wall, and unfortunately, Magevney's shirt.

But, we got several jars of spaghetti sauce and some apple sauce done, so I was happy with that.

Here are the jars, cooling. They are liter size jars, bigger than I usually used in the US.

You buy them here in the bazaar, piecemeal. Each jar is a bit different, they are all "used" and you just pick and choose from different vendors and wash them up when you get home.

During the "cracking" jars stage today, we had to throw out a few. One of them just got a little crack in the bottom, not all the way through. It isn't good for canning now, but rather than throw it away, my mind instantly went to starting a "Thankfulness Jar"...a thought I have had over and over again during the past month we have been here.

As we've experienced life, not just here, we can be so quick to complain and grumble when things get tough, and to repeat it over and over again. We may be thankful when an event happens, but do we dwell on it, repeat it over and over again and relive the gratefulness that we have for what He's done for us?

I wanted a way, a visual way, to remind us all of the many things we have to be thankful for.

Just last night I stopped everyone in the hallway and we said a prayer of thankfulness because I had noticed that our toilet had been working right the past couple of days. 

When we first moved in, and for the first couple of weeks, it would just run and run unless you took off the top and adjusted the levers. We had tried several different things to fix it, but I had finally come to grips with the idea that we would just have to deal with it and reset it after every flush...ugh! I can't tell you the number of times I have walked past the bathroom to the sound of water running in the toilet and then had to remind everyone, "Remember to fix the toilet after you flush." 

Without us doing anything new, it is working right now...wonderful, thank you, Lord! But, had I mentioned it more than once, like I had complained on numerous occasions about it not working? Was I as thankful, or even MORE thankful than I had been when it wasn't working?

My prayer is that when good things happen, when we see the Father's hand in our life, that we will stop and take a moment to not only pray and be thankful, but to write it out and put it in the jar. Then, when things are tough, or even when they're good, we can go back, take a paper out of the jar and read it and remember all of the wonderful things and "altar" moments we've had with Him.

This isn't just about it being November, or coming up on Thanksgiving or the holidays. I intend this to be a new thing for us...it's kind of my version of the "Pollyanna Glad Game."

Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Psalm 105:1