To deal with various administrative issues, our Bishkek partner has granted me a desk in their main office. Nine other people work in this office that has tile floors and glass walls; in other words, sound bounces like crazy and it's an ideal environment to produce lots of sonic frustration.

But here's the scoop: Russians and Kyrgyz are taught to behave much more quietly than Americans. The office is astonishingly quiet. And after the first five minutes in this office, I realized I was grotesquely loud by their standards. Now I've quieted down for them. No one shouts across the room. If you have something to say, you stand up, walk quietly over to the person you need to address, and then you speak just loud enough to be heard by that person and no one else.

I have to laugh about the temperature as well. It's probably about 82°F in this room,but they don't turn on the air conditioner, and my colleague Katya has a sweater thrown over her shoulders. These are born Bishkekers.