Lukin and I are down from the mountains again and beginning to make our return to Bishkek along the Southern shore of Issyk Kul lake. We have one week left here before I head East to Beijing and on to Toronto from there and Lukin heads West to Kazakhstan and London before we meet back up on the other side of the world. It's been an amazing month in Kyrgyzstan. Some of my favorite bits have been: Travelling with Lukin who is up for pretty much anything and understands the equal importance of galloping across the jailoos on horseback or spending an entire rainy mountain afternoon tucked in our tent reading so that we can finish out books and trade them in for new ones nefore we leave town, sitting down in restaurants and blindly pointing to one Cyrillic entree or another and waiting expectantly for the server to arrive and unveil what I have ordered- the results have ranged from stroganoff with mashed potatoes to a bowl of mayonnaise, and looking out of the windows of some pretty bumpy bus rides on the stunningly scenic countryside of Kyrgyzstan- the 7,000 meter peaks of the Tian Shan range, the green alpine pastures studded with yurts, and the icy torrents of glacial melt streaming alongside and occasionally across the roads.

I've appreciated traveling in theis country that is VERY foreign to me for many reasons, but one that stands out been that I can take nothing for granted here. Water may cost more that the rest of your meal combined. The family in whose yard you are camped serves you free steaming bowls of hot soup because it's been rainy and they want you to stay healthy. The twin five year olds of the family told you how to get to the stream you want to fish in actually turn out to be expert fisherwomen who know all the best holes and even dig worms for you. That there are two towns named Karakol on opposite sides of the country and it's helpful to mention to your minibus driver which one you are hoping to go to. That the man in the tucked-in Nascar T-shirt who approaches you on a random Kyrgyz country road speaks brilliant English, has lived in the States and is working on his PhD in Development at George Mason University.

Being completely out of context here means that my basis for sizing up people and situations is completely out of context as well. I've been fortunate in that this has inabled me to lay down many of the tools I use to make snap judgements at home or even those that I've acquired in China. The result has been that I've been better able to approach situations and individuals with a blank slate and with curiosity. This opportunity to be honest with myself that I have no idea what is going on most of the time and need peoples help has opened me up a bit to letting people surprise me, giving strangers the benefit of the doubt, and not assuming. I hope that this is something that I can take home with me and continue to cultivate even when I fall back into familiar routines and habbits- I hope that I let my old tools of judgement gather dust for a while.