I recently returned from a trip to Paris and Brussels. Seeing my family and Koala was amazing. I loved every single day of my trip. Koala was on New York time and I was on Bishkek time, but we had fun nevertheless. I tried to understand why I hated living in Paris when I went to college there. I was sad to leave the beautiful city. Brussels was mellow and all about family. Mishka and the family went for a few walks together. She is such a smart, loyal, and beautiful dog. I wish Nanooki and Mishu would finally meet.

The coffee at a cafe at Le Bon Marche department store was surprisingly the best coffee I've had, maybe not counting places in Brazil.

I am now back in Bishkek, and it's springtime here. I am starting to feel like I have a limited amount of hours of teaching left in me. The other day I had a dream about hiding from students.

My new fun project (The Bishkek Lagman Survey) is sampling lagman (kyrgyz noodle dish) at as many different places as possible. I will publish my important findings soon. But so far Chaihana at Dordoi Plaza is number one.