I'm currently having breakfast at кафе «То да сё». Overpriced, but close to the school with good wi-fi. I'm the only customer at this hour; Russians do not commonly go out for breakfast. You would think that with four waitrons on duty, one of them… more »

KG is the last member of this block. For reasons I don't quite understand, Kazakhstan held up KG's becoming part of the union. I believe they cites border security reasons as the primary reason, which I heard interpreted the other day as meaning that… more »

After months of stops and starts, Kyrgyzstan is finally becoming a full-fledged member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union. With that, the country has entered what boosters of the bloc hope will be a period of economic recovery. Everybody… more »

Today was my birthday: I turned the double nickle. It's pretty tough on me to spend my birthday away from my family, although I have done it for six years now. I still get really sad. So the saving grace of the day was an invitation by an American… more »