Subject: Chris Baldwin
From: Chris Baldwin (plasstics@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri Sep 03 1999 - 23:03:09 EDT
Allow me to introduce myself.
I am Chris Baldwin. I taught english at Osh State University on a Soros
Fellowship last year. I was fortunate enough to meet and work with some
very talented and interesting people who created a curiosity in me as to
the workings of the FV. I travelled throughout much of northern
Kyrgyzstan, however, and so my geographical knowledge of the south is
sparse. I have had the fortune to visit Kyzyl Kia, Uzgen, Jalal Abad
and a park just outside of Nookat called Altin Beshik.
I am a Russian speaker but do not speak any of the other FV languages.
My fluency in Russian allowed me to communicate, albeit fumblingly at
times, freely and profusely with lots of different people.
I lived on Zayinobetdinova street, right around the corner from the Cafe
Kyrgyzstan and just across from the Mosque. Fridays I ate lots of plov
and drank lots of green tea.
My academic aspirations are clouded and not really obvious to me yet,
but I harbor an intense interest in Russian politics and so quite
naturally am keen to observe and discuss the goings-on in and around the
FV. Particularly now, with the Shanghai Five summit so close on the
heels of what is going on in the Chong Alai.
I have a BA in Russian and a BA in ESL Methodology from the University
of Montana and was a Russian translator for the US Army before that. I
enjoy mountain biking, dog training, really strong coffee and the music
of Billy Bragg. I look forward to joining this group and learning while
we discuss.
Chris Baldwin
Missoula, Montana
plasstics@hotmail.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2a22 : Fri Sep 03 1999 - 23:10:02 EDT