My first earthquake

This night I woke up at 2 o’clock in the night because my bed and my closet were shaking. As my mind became clearer I realized that the whole house was shaking and I remembered my colleague telling me about a very strong earthquake in 1992, when many houses has been destroyed.

I went to the living room to look outside whether the people started leaving the houses but everything seemed to be calm. So I put warm closes and my passport next to the bed, just in case and went to sleep again.

As I just red on the news, the epicenter of the earthquake was in Tarkesei-Alatoo, on the border of Naryn and Issyk-kul oblast, about 140km south-east of Bishkek. In the epicenter the earthquake reached a magnitude of 7 on the Richter scale, in Bishkek itself it was about 4-4,5 points.

The earthquake brought up a big discussion on the Kyrgyz web on whether or not to link it with the current political situation in the country. With the government having resigned last week, the big opposition against the HIPC-initiative, and the overall dissatisfactions with the president’s policy there’s no wonder the now God too expresses his disapproval on what’s going on in the country – via an earthquake; this at least is the opinion of one part of the Kyrgyz web community.
On the opposite side, the more rational fractions asks himself, how then to judge the frequent earthquakes in Japan or California, where there’s no HIPC and the population’s dissatisfaction with the government does by far not reach the level of Kyrgyzstan? Even more, they see the earthquake positively as an instrument to reduce the tensions within the society, before something serious happens. So, what do you think?

Betriebsausflug

Like in every good German agency or company, once in a year there's something what each employee in GTZ looks forward to: BETRIEBSAUSFLUG - the annual works outing! That means, funny teambuilding games, dancing, fun, some vodka and the possibility to get to know people you're working with in a funny and relaxed atmosphere - in our case in a small guest house Kashka-Suu high up in the mountains about two and half hours drive away from Bishkek.

The only way to get there except with an old good Russian Niva is to take a Kamaz, like the one you see in behind, because the roads are not asphaltic.

For that you really get a very beatiful view in the mornung and the feeling of beeing far away from the world and everything.

But to the core: Teambuilding-games!

First with chairs, then without -

Every whole can be used only once -

or how to get to the other side if you can only walk on the dishes, the dishes cannot move back and you loose once you step off the dish?

And as you can see at the exemple of my colleagues, the teambuilding works also when you don't have to play it as a game!

X-mas Time in Bishkek

Es weihnachtet!

While it's looking more and more like Weihnachten/X-Mas outside


the "Bishkek International Community" enjoys the X-Mas parties

and a Sunday brunch at Bishkek's only 5-star-hotel (Hyatt Regency).

Sometimes you just need this stuff when you're so far away from Lebkuchen und Gluehwein (*schnief*)