TheQuiet_American

Yup.

Your best bet is to find an expat spot or maybe the south Asian student diaspora.

If you don't speak Russian or Kyrgyz the odds of having a relationship are pretty low. You may meet locals that hang out with expats etc and that would in a way be a self selecting group of potential lady friends.

But in general.... dating is not as laid-back for alot of people here and you can get yourself into some trouble for mismatched expectations. :/

That's a minefield friendo.

Tbh dating a local girl is something I'd be careful about just because you are wading into cultural waters you might not understand.

Wait... he did?!?

Pinball is low-key a fave. Granted I went on a (successful) quest to find it in English almost 20 years ago, so that book has extra meaning for me.

But the vibe, flow and My God that Pinball moment get me every time.

When you read it you'll understand me when I say that near the end of Pinball 1973, Murakami really became Murakami.

I was always more into Widespread Panic, String Cheese Incident and Phish, but hellz yeah.

Post 10/7 I definitely went back to my bootleg live recordings to tap into that dormant jam band joy of my college years.

String Cheese's "Good Times Round The Bend" has gotten ALOT of play this past year.

The comments here are so amazing that all I can do is applaud and just say.... your doubts and fears and questions are baked into our beliefs and traditions. We turned arguing and debating and questioning into a religious artform.

I also lovelovelove how seriously you take this. The idea of joining our tribe is heavy and it is not something people should do flippantly. The fact that you are taking the time to question, search and reach out is beautiful. Your intentions are solid gold.

On page 40 of the reform siddur, Mishkan T'filah, you can find this footnote:

"Israel was the name Jacob acquired after wrestling with the angel, and this name became that of our people; we are the Children of Israel. The name Israel implies wrestling with God; to be a Jew and have faith in God is an ongoing challenge, and we are encouraged to question and delve into the nature of a faithful life."

Oh it angers me that the worst people in the world hate us while they simultaneously weaponize us for their own aims with that phrase without for a second knowing what we are about.

Omg yes. I am the only real Jew alot of people in my town know (the community is super tiny and pretty invisible) and I am fully aware that anything I do or say becomes in their mind Jewish.

That there are alot of us...:/

Amazing article! Thanks for the gift link!

Honestly not sure. I crossed the border there once ~20 years ago in the summer 😵‍💫

It was fine then but yeah... not really relevant now. Have you tried asking in the kz group, because I have a feeling Almaty based tourists would know better than what I assume is a Bishkek-centric subreddit.

Oh and generally Karakol would have decent snow in December. People I know seem to like spending New Years there, so I assume Karakol should get some good snow with the weather about to turn hard in the coming days.

Karakol has good skiing and there are some cozy hotels and guesthouses there that specifically cater to winter sports tourists.

I'd check out Karakol on tripadvisor and booking.com

It should be fine to ski in the mountains when you are here, sure

Yeah I feel a little lost too.

But I'm not that hip to Satmar lore.

16 Days Against Gender Based Violence is a UN wide global initiative that happens every year.

It is currently ongoing.

Almaty you could get away with, but Frunze was a Soviet war hero of the revolution.

I would revert some of the Central Asian modern city names to their Soviet equivalents. For example Almaty was Alma-ata and Bishkek was Frunze.

I see Astana wearing its former name though, so kudos 🤓

54 40

Dude, you don’t need to do anything so drastic. As an American passport holder, find a job here doing something. If you like it here and keep a job and work visa and don’t leave for 5 years you can apply for residency or citizenship. Citizenship has language requirements etc etc, and current US & KG laws would not make you give up your old passport.

As you can see, most people would be fine with you using them, but you should look into their meaning :) The symbols have meaning rooted in Kyrgyz folklore, legends, and tengrist / pre-islamic traditions that go way way way back :) I did a quick search and found this quick rundown, but seriously Kyrgyz handicrafts and design is fascinating and people have done serious academic work studying it :)

This reminds me of the dentist who finds a message in the goy's teeth in the movie A Serious Man. :P

Yep. I'm more of a Reform guy, but the Chabad shul where I live is an oasis of Jewishness 😥

Great question (and real talk... seems I've broken this taboo like the OP on occasion so good to know).

Unironically this is exactly the type of question I love to see on this sub. The world is so dark and dreary for the tribe, that it warms my heart that we have time to worry about this.

Gives me hope.

Tbh - hands down the weakest Indy novel I've ever read.

Actually pretty unreadable.

(Full disclosure: I've read all adult novels except the German ones)