Gerd Mueller - GLOBAL CYCLING: December 2012

Monday, 31 December 2012

Hermann-Gmeiner-School / SOS Children's Village

We know by accident Tscholpon, an interpreter for German language and a teacher at the Hermann-Gmeiner-School in Bishkek.
(http://www.sos-kinderdoerfer.de/wo-wir-helfen/asien/kirgisistan/bishkek/pages/default.aspx)

Herman Gmeiner, an Austrian doctor founded the SOS Childrens Village (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOS_Children%27s_Villages), which are allocated all over the world.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Gmeiner).

We joined several German lessons and it made so much fun to work with the children. Honestly, they are much more disciplined than most of the pupils in Germany and they are more respectful to their teachers.
As we visited the Children's Village we were extremly suprised. So many beautiful houses, each house with nine children and a mother, a warm atmosphere everywhere and a large playing ground and space for all. the kindergarten a great location for the smallest.

On Dec.24 we joined the nativity play, which was in German language and well organized. After this performance Astrid and I showed some pictures about Christmas in Austria and Germany.
It caused surprise, especially the Christmas Market with all the kiosk for cookies, toys and the intensive lightning.

We will sponsor this village or a child and, beginning with January, we will work there as native speakers.
This will be a great experience :-)

Life in Bishkek

Russian language

Since Nov 21st we are now in Bishkek and we are feeling very well. Our guesthouse "Interhouse" is beautiful and well organized. I had a bad inflammation of my shoulder, what was really not funny, but now it is o.k. Thanks to Ruslan, a doctor from the local hospital who gave me for a period of 10 days injections and infusions.
We started to learn Russian at the London School of Bishkek. It is a very difficult language and I do not like it very much. Honestly, Astrid is much more engaged and she likes it, I do it for my pastime. In school, which is quite a long time ago, I learned Latin, but I still know some rules and they are so different to Russian, so it confuses me. If it would be Spanish or French, I would have more fun, but it is ok.

Sights

At Dec.8th, the birthday of Astrid, we visited the Historical Museum. It is not very big, but it is interesting.
A large part is dedicated to the Civil War in the year 2010 between Uzbek and Kyrgyzs people, where over 2000 people died.

see Wikipedia:
Civil War Kyrgyzstan

Contacts

Bishkek is quite manageable. In different cafes or restaurant we always meet the same people. They are globetrotters, who overwinter here, too, or from different aid organisations as the GIZ (Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit), USAID, HELVETA, Asian Development Bank.......

We meet many locals, too. One of them is a teacher for German language at the SOS Children's home / Hermann-Gmeiner-School. we joined some lessons and it made so much fun.
Please read the separate post for this topic !

Christmas

we celebrated Christmas with many people at Kathy's and Mike's apartement. Kathy is from Australia and Mike from USA. we were 28 people from France, Great Britain, Belgium, Russia and USA, Australia, Austria, Germany..... all in their home and it was great ! life music with guitar, bongo drums and a digeridoo, the instrument of the Aborigines in Down Under (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digeridoo).
Everybody brought some food and a small gift. it was gorgeous :-)

Sports

Due to my illness in Kashgar/China, I did not exercise until Bishkek. the problem with my shoulder was another item not to exercise. Beginning with our arrival in Bishkek Astrid did not exercise. Well we wait for a package from Germany, which includes our running shoes, but two days ago, we stopped our laziness.
We drove by marshrutka (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshrutka) to the Dordoy Bazaar. For me it is not so funny to drive with these small buses.Most of the time they are overcrowded and, because I am to tall for it, I have to stand stooped.
The Dordoy Bazaar is the the biggest bazaar in Central Asia

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dordoy_Bazaar) and it is amazing how many goods are offered . The "shops" are sea-containers, on the shop there is another container which is the storehouse. 20.000 people work there and most time it is cheap Chinese stuff. We searched for some running shoes and found "branded articles" for 30 USD each pair and with guarantee of three months... ;-)). It was so cold (minus 12 Celsius) and my backside was frozen. When it becomes warmer we will visit this bazaar again. Astrid has no problems with cold, but with heat (the desert was really bad for her) and I have no problems with heat, but with cold.... now not the best time for me ;-)

Yesterday we went jogging and it was so great. We estimate, that many people thought that we are aliens from outer space, because sports is not popular in Kyrgyzstan. You have to be very careful while walking or running on the sidewalks. People do not clean it or care for damages, so it is quite dangerous. there is pure ice and many times gully covers are missing...... After stretching and a hot shower we felt like a new man/woman :-)

Shop at the Dordoy Bazaar

Dordoy Bazaar

Guesthouse "Interhouse"

Christmas-Party

Sunday, 9 December 2012

Bishkek (KGZ) part II

20.11.
flight from Kashgar to Urumchi...
3 hours delay due to snow. first we landed at a different airport, 300 km far away from Urumchi. at 10:30pm we arrived in Urumchi. we had a snack at then we took a taxi to a hotel, which was already reserved. after a shower we went to bed.

21.11.
we got up very early. 4:30am. our flight to Bishkek should depart at 9:40. after arrival we were told at the check-in that our flight will depart at 11:40. we met Nura, a young lady from Bishkek, who studies in China, and we spend the morning together. at 11:00 we went to the security check. due to my low weight my trousers are very wide. after removing my belt, my trousers went down to earth and I stand only with my slip in front of the female security officer. she was really shocked.... should be the first time for her to see such a well-trained body ;-). at 1pm we departed !! at 3:30 we arrived at our guesthouse.

22.11.
we searched for the German Kyrgyz Medical Center. no success.

23.11.
we searched for the Medical Associates in the Hyatt Regency Hotel... no success
we drove to the hospital in the Kievskaya Street. Richard recommended it, because there is an English-speaking doctor. he was very friendly and made
an high competent impression. due to my illness in China now I had an inflammation in my shoulder. maximum pain during the night. he prescribed me injections. we went to the Sierra cafe where we met Somi and Soha from Iran , traveling by bicycle too. they have to travel without money because their savings are on an bank in Azerbaidschan, which closed the acounts due to the political irritations with Iran... bad luck.

24.11.
hospital again to make a blood-check and a EEC. all o.k. . brunch with Somi and Soha. and we helped them with some USD. they where so happy about our support.

25.11.-07.12.
the inflammation in my shoulder was a desaster. the five injections did not help. Richard recommended me a interpreter and we drove to another hospital. now for the next ten days 3 injections per day and 5 infusions.
the interpreter' s son in law is a doctor and we committed us that he will give the injections in our guesthouse.
since Dec.6th so much better.

08.12..
we visited the Historic Museum. first floor with the history of the last 70 years: stories about Lenin and the typical Russian sculptures, the rumors in 2010. unfortunetly only in Russian language.
the most interesting part was the 3rd floor with very old tools from more than 1000 years ago. pictures from the farmer's life and work.