Around Bishkek

I'm currently spending a relaxing day off in a cafe - in no small part due to the fact that I woke up this morning to find this:

Snow!! This is the view outside my bedroom window.

I've gone on a few walks around the city recently and took some random pictures.
Here's a great one of the radio station - I love the giant red man shouting out to the nations (don't need to think too hard to figure out the symbolism there):

And a Bishkek Police Lada - on the side it says it works in the Lenin district of town:

And a gym advertisement - I love how all the gym posters have crazy athletes on steroids:

We also bumped into the stock exchange (very unimpressive building) and a pretty view of what I think is one of the universities here (there are too many universities to count here):

One random fact about Bishkek I haven't shared yet, but find very amusing is that along the streets here you see people with bathroom scales - just sitting on the sidewalk. When I asked about it I was told that in Bishkek they don't sell scales for you to weigh yourself (a fact which definitely raised my opinion of this city). Instead, you pay a person roughly 5 cents to weigh yourself on their scale. So weird. I am not planning to partake of this unique cultural tradition - not only do I hate weighing myself in the privacy of my own bathroom, I cannot imagine subjecting myself to that in public. I'll save my 5 cents thank you very much :)

Monday I also had a breakthrough of sorts and walked around the city by myself for the first time. I had to walk 30 minutes to the Hyatt to the BMI airlines ticket office to change my flight date. Not only did I not get lost (okay...so i technically never had to make a turn), but I exchanged my flight all in Russian. I was a bit nervous in handing over my credit card - but it turns out I correctly specified the date I wanted and understood the fees involved. 2 months of intensive studying  = being able to say: Change. Ticket. 17th of January please. Done? Easy. Thanks a bunch.

That's time and money well spent i'd say.