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Subject:
Hallo,
Into the third month here and started teaching again, the classes are mostly OK.
Last Friday was Independence Day. I went to the Hippodrome to watch the Kyrgyz sports. There was horseback wrestling, an interminable children's horse race and "grab the dead goat".
This was what I had wanted to see. It was fast, violent and very skillful. The dead sheep or goat was fairly heavy, not easily thrown. Two teams of four fought to pick up the goat, carry it to the other end of the pitch and throw it into a pit. The horsemanship was very impressive. The players seemed to have complete control, even when they were leaning right out of the saddle trying to grab the goat from the opposition.
That was followed by a football match on Saturday night, at about a quarter to one, England playing some third rate bunch of no hopers.
Now back to school...
John
> Date: Fri 28/Sep/2001 10:36 CEST
> Subject: a very secure situation
>
> Latest from Bishkek:
> The police are cracking down on all dodgy looking foreign nationals.
> Unfortunately, that includes me. Last night I was arrested along with an American (Stephen), another Briton (Jonathon) and a Russian speaking Dutchman (Paul). We were realeased without charge after a senior policeman explained the situation to us and made sure that we had been well treated and no money had been stolen. We were driven to my flat, accompanied by the two officers. They told us that they meant no offence, only doing their job.
Life continues, I'm not Afghan, as far as I know. Situation is normal, no need to panic. (That comes later...)
John
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Sent: 11 October 2001 08:11
Subject: Latest
Hi,
War appoaching from the south,
Siberian winter approaching from the north,
snow on the ground,
students complaining there's not enough talking.
Situation perfectly normal.
John
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Sent: Sun 09/12/2001 08:54
Subject: only minus ten today
Dear All,
Weather is cold today. Minus ten and six inches of snow. It's not like that every day, sometimes it's colder.
Whilst out running I heard the call to prayer from a mosque for the first time in Bishkek.
The Planet of the Apes is a film to be avoided. I saw it on Thursday at a DVD cinema. They serve you beer and popcorn during the film. It holds about twenty people, we were the only ones there. It was for a friends birthday.
John
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� J Mehers 2005