Woke to beautiful sunny but cool weather in Bishkek. Regretted not bringing a sweater with me as we walked. Were extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to tour the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) which is a Liberal Arts University that is accredited in the US. Financial backing for the AUCA is via George Soros. As such, AUCA has a relationship with Bard College in NY. The new President of AUCA (in place only three weeks) was the former Dean of the Graduate School at Northwestern Univ. 1,200 day students matriculate at the college and we had the chance to speak to a few. They were quite a sophisticated and intelligent bunch. All classes are taught in English. Scott stopped in at a math/economics class, which was great! The instructor was doing a linear algebra problem at first, then segued into a supply and demand curve, plotting data points and then cycled back to the math with a least squares regression on the data, all at rapid pace, with nobody seeming to be lost! We both made a new friend in the computer lab (where by the way they have WiFi) named Beka whose Kyrgyz parents lived outside Washington, DC where he was born. Beka holds a US green card and hopes to return to the US after he gets his degree in business. One major problem facing Kyrgyzstan is the drain of young talent from K. to other countries (primarily Russia) due to lack of employment opportunities. The system seems to favor friends and family in the old-fashioned Soviet way. This needs to change before K. can make significant strides forward.
Afterward we stopped in a local department store for a taste of local color. It was interesting to see the ground floor full of electronics (including ipods), the second with makeup and clothes... I always enjoy seeing what goods are available for purchase. I bought two felt hats with flaps that hang over the ears (a la Cocoon) that I look forward to wearing in winter when the wind whips through Central Park.
Our last stop before heading to the airport was a Russia Orthodox church. It was full of very Russian-looking babushkas singing and praying. We learned that services are conducted in a language called Old Church Slavonic which few people are able to understand; they merely recite and read. This explains why a woman near me had so much trouble following the text and needed to repeatedly ask a neighbor where to pick up the text.
Took an evening flight to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Were told to expect long customs and immigration delays but once again got pretty lucky and arrived at our Intercontinental Hotel (where there is beautiful WiFi in the lobby) around 10pm.
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