Food
Another early deleted scene from At Home on the Kazakh Steppe. Food is such a large part of a culture: which types of food, how they are prepared, where they come from, the level of cleanliness, how they are eaten … Read More
Nancy’s Midlife Adventures
My guest this week is Nancy Gregory, whom I met on the We Love Memoirs Facebook group I’ve mentioned before. Nancy, who now lives in Ecuador, is a returned Peace Corps volunteer (RPCV in keeping with PC practice of … Read More
The Sharwa Bazaar
I’m back with one of the many Deleted Scenes. This one is something of a hybrid — parts of it show up at a later time in the book. But here’s the original description of this amazing place, the … Read More
Exciting Times and An Empty Nest: My Book Launch
So reads the official launch announcement my publisher put together for me. It is exciting. I am excited. Truly. My rocket book is launched. For the past seven years my singular … Read More
Acknowledging My Villagers
On that trip it was my good fortune to be wrong; being mistaken is the essence of the traveler’s tale. Paul Theroux (1941- ) Riding the Iron Rooster. Isn’t that a great quote? It’s going in my book. In … Read More
Killing Our Darlings
How often have we memoirists heard that phrase? “Killing our darlings” sounded stark to me, when I first heard it, nearly five years ago now. Yet, over the ensuing years I’ve come to recognize that this is exactly what … Read More
Lunch at Cafe Aiya
Across from the Sharwa Bazaar was the café Aiya, where we’d had lunch with Zamzagul and Nariman just the day before. With them, we’d sat in the smoky back and never looked at a menu. Now, … Read More
Almaty International Airport
In honor of my first-born’s upcoming celebratory day, I post this short deleted scene, nine years later: A little context is in order: I’ve gone to Almaty on the train with Gulzhahan to attend an annual convention of local teachers. … Read More
School, Part 4
We got our official schedules sixteen days after the start of school. I had classes four days each week, rather than the six that most teachers had. On Mondays, I had a class during first and third periods. … Read More