March 8

​I have chosen this town for my pause and Time Out because it takes me back to the setting of my childhood, a generation ago.

Here there is a combination of a Kyrgyz way of life and a Russian way. Here Russian style houses face out to the street and the Kyrgyz face inwards around their courtyards. The dwellings are still bordered by their agricultural smallholdings – with the apricot and peach trees of this region and the vegetables for self-supporting living.

There is still too a daily market; both a mosque and a Russian orthodox church; women with headscarves and women with free-flowing hair. Against this setting, I can reflect more easily on the changes in my own life and the setting in which I now live so far away.
 
My friends, back where I now call home, say that I am being sentimental, selfish, self-indulgent. Perhaps I am. I know that taking a pause and having a Time Out is a luxury. Most people never get the chance for a pause in their lives. And why should I not use my Time–Out to give space to sentiment. I have spent my student years and my professional life in an abstract world of the mind. Time for a change; don’t you agree? I came for another reason too. I will tell you about that in my next blog.