Funny English

Since I've been back in Bishkek, I've been meeting up with some former English Club students- talking and catching up. It has been fun and it has been a while since some of them have practiced their English so some of the understandings have been forgotten. :)

One of the students, after hearing me use the phrase- figure out- didn't know what it meant so he looked it up. Starting with the word figure, which the dictionary defined it as someone's body figure/shape. Then adding the word out- he concluded the phrase 'figure out' meant for someone to get fatter. :) After he shared that he didn't understand what I was talking about, he asked about the phrase 'figure out', I explained what it meant and he told me what he had thought the meaning was, and then we all had a very good laugh!!

Back in Central Asia!!

You can tell when you're back in Central Asia when the taxi driver is inquiring and giving advise about your personal life!
Recently I took a taxi downtown, got in and the driver was a nice older Kyrgyz man who was pretty talkative....I started to put my seatbelt on and noticed the recieving end was broken and told me to just hold it accross me- this is Kyrgyzstan and anything goes. To which I laughed and agreed. So, we were talking and he said I had a good heart and kind spirit, and asked where I was from and I said America. He asks how many children I have and I say none. He then asks where my husband is and I say I'm not married. He asks how old I am, I say 33. He asks if I have a boyfriend and I say yes, but he's in America. He then goes on to say, that if he were younger he would steal me (bride stealing is traditional). He goes on to say that I'm very nice, and that I need to skype or call my boyfriend and tell him to come here quickly and marry me. I reply- I'll let him know you said so. He asks how many children I want to have and then says don't even say 2 or 3...so I said five is a good number that of which he agreed. He proceeds to tell me how old he was when he got married and started having a family and that (for a woman) having children at a younger age is better for her and the baby, etc. pretty much telling me I'm getting a late start. Fortunatley, I then reached my destination, said good-bye and thanked him, and then laughed to myself about the conversation I just had with the taxi driver. :)