Those are most memorable things of the previous trip to the dacha. Of course I exaggerated about Muras’ nose.  I think he and Venera, kids from Voenno Antonovka orphanage, were just so much excited about sledding and even didn’t feel how they got couple scratches on their face.  But it gives us a reminder to look after the kids better.  For the dinner we had delicious pancakes coked by our volunteers.  To be honest I was worried that kids will be hungry after the dinner.  Usually when we cook pancakes it is much thinner and not enough for everyone J  Everything went well until we realized that we lost the keys of our van.  That was horrible!  But that was a good reason for me to stay overnight after long time of not spending time with kids at the dacha.  Finally we solved the problems with the keys.  Now I think I will be more careful J After mixed emotions day (and stressful and enjoying free time) we decide to become a millionaires!  Frieder and Salavat prepared the game to learn about our organs and at the same time earn mythic money.  Kids liked that! Thank you volunteers and interns!!!!!!!!!!

 Arianna

It’s the big night. I have decided to hang my limp reputation on the line and try to get the Alpine Fund kitty looking a little less battered. My choice for such an event, well what else does a guy with a mind for useless information (and not much else) do……. A quiz night of course!

Frieder, the master of Bishkek’s social networks, has been busy emailing for the last week. Richard the owner of the metro bar who is hosting us has likewise been harassing his clientele. Now it’s just a waiting game to see if anyone turns up.

Tim and I do a final check of each other questions. He is convinced that my music questions are impossible and I am likewise skeptical of anyone’s ability to compute his maths and engineering head-wreckers. Master Judge, Magreet, puts on her sternest face and prepares to do battle with anyone that challenges her authority. The judge’s decision will defiantly be final!
Richard and Frieder have clearly done a good job of harassing anyone and everyone as the turn out is great!

Round 1 begins……… then it stops………then it begins again…then it stops…….Finally we coax the rather temperamental microphone into life and its game on.
There if good sport between all the teams with Team Canada drawing to an early lead.

There is a challenge to one of my questions. The successor to Julius Cesar as head of the Roman Empire?  I concede and accept any of Octavian’s plethora of pseudonyms. Everyone is fallible even my Wikipedia source material!
After 9 rounds the scores are incredibly close. It the end it is a lack of knowledge of anatomy- name the body parts-  that loose Team Canada the crown.

Congratulations go to the winners and to all that had a good in good spirit. A big thank you to all those who supported the evening in particular Richard and the Metro bar staff who allowed us to commandeer their bar for the evening.

-Emrys

Since the beginning of Alpine Fund there has been a lot volunteers from different countries, with different experiences, different lives and habits and each contributed to the development for our Alpine Fund.

I want to say thanks for being a good example and teaching us different things.

Thanks for giving us an opportunity to get an education, and for paying for our accommodation.

We really appreciate your help.

We have learnt a lot of things from you, like how to tie ropes, climbing skills, hiking and skiing. We have learned more than just alpine skills, but about life, broadened our world view, and got to know and accept other cultures

Thanks for your kindness and energy.

We are always happy to see you in Kyrgyzstan, in Bishkek, in Alpine Fund.

Salavat

Yet another great Alpine Fund weekend at the Dacha. Kuruchbek, Frieder, David and myself took ten kids from Osh Bizarre CPC up for some skiing and relaxing outside of the city.  Getting out of Bishkek on Saturday morning was quite an event with cold temperatures and a fair amount of snow.  Frieder, David and myself loaded up our packs with food for fourteen and ten newly washed sleeping bags.  We looked like the crazy foreigners that we are walking the short distance to meet the kids at the marschrutka.

The two days at the Dacha were spent eating, drinking chai, skiing, ice skating, tubing and hanging out.  We took seven pairs of skis out both days for some work on turning.  Although the kids quickly learned that you can’t win “who can go the farthest” if you make any turns.   We drank enough chai for forty and eat some great meals that everyone pitched in to make happen.

For everyone the weekend was a great break from busy Bishkek life.  We had enough snow to play in for days and stayed warm in the dacha over chai and great conversation.  Thanks to everyone over the years that has made these outings such a positive experience for the kids.

-Ryan

Last weekend was my first two day stay at the Datscha with the kds from the orphanage as an Alpine Fund volunteer. I arrived in sunny Bishkek two weeks ago by plane from Amsterdam, my home town. Since I’m living in the same apartment as one of the most active Alpine Fund volunteers, I became involved quite quickly. My reasons for travelling to Kyrgyzstan are to experience this new country which I initially could not point out on a map, to volunteer with the Alpine Fund and learn Russian.

Saturday we did some food shopping and took a marschrutka to the Datscha. After the kids arrived, we decided to first take a walk with the children, which of course resulted in playing in the fresh snow at one of the nearby slopes. Then we made dinner and went for a walk in the dark with a stop at the lighted ice-skating rink.

  The next day we went back there again, but unfortunately we couldn’t go ice-skating. Instead we used some plastic bags that where left, as a sledge and had a lot of fun.  After lunch we played a lot of games at the Datscha, one of which was the new big hit: volleyball with a balloon. We cleaned up, giving the leftovers to the dog now named ‘Frieder’ and went home again. Both we as volunteers and the children had a great weekend with a lot of snow in the beautiful mountains.  I’m looking forward to my next weekend at the Datscha.

Margreet

How to Make Dacha Soup

Ingredients:

10 excitable teenagers

2 Interns 2 Foreigners

 1 Ice rink

 1 gently sloping hill

Several plastic bags

1 Dacha

Garnish with a generous sprinkling of games Method:

Ensure the teenagers are free from their usual commitments. Place them in a large car and allow them to simmer for about 30mins. When they are done release them from the car and allow them to cool by walking in the snow for a short period While this is happening place one of the foreigners in the dacha . Give him a hammer and a saw and let him cook for a while. When the children are nicely cool place them in the Dacha.

Ensure they don’t lose too much of their heat by equipping them with warm clothing. Grease a gently sloping hill with a generous amount of snow and place the teenagers on the plastic bags. Keep a close eye on them as you don’t want to bruise them. When the teenagers have been rolled in the snow for several hours return them to the Dacha and heat once more.

Set to one side and allow to congeal overnight. In the morning the teenagers should have a smiling quality. This is a normal part of the cooking process so do not be alarmed. Place the teenagers in their jackets once more and place them on the ice rink. The smiling quality should increase at this point. The slightly bruised look they have at the end of this, while not ideal, is also part of the process.

Release another foreigner into the broth and allow the teenagers to question her incessantly The soup is almost prepared. Remove the children from the ice rink and walk them until they are tired. Remove them from their jackets and place them back in the Dacha. Garnish the concoction with crazy games to taste. This cook uses games with matchboxes, coins, and charades to good effect but feel free to experiment.

Dear friends, supporters, Alpine interns, volunteers and to everyone else,

the Alpine Fund crew thanks a you a million for all the support during the last year and is

looking forward fro new activities in the new year. We wish you the very best, health and happines,blue skies,

white slopes, green hills and that your dreams may become true for the next year!

With your support we could run this year lots of activities with children beginning from Sumer Camps over

lots of mountains and climbing trips, Art Workshops, English Classes, Computer Classes, First Aid courses till Skiing and Ice Skating trips!

Take care, see you

Santa Claus :)!

Weekend at the Dacha 12/12-13/12

For the first time in a while we headed up to the Dacha for the entire
weekend with the children from CPC Osh, where I teach English. After
some warming noodles and tea we headed out to the slopes. Learning our
lessons from last times slightly chaotic ski instruction, we split the
group into two, one group going sledging with new volunteer Annikae
while Ann and I taught the other half to ski.

It was incredible to see how quickly the kids mastered the basic
skiing techniques, and it was with pleasure that we moved on to
steeper slopes where we started teaching snow plow turning. The kids
were visibly tired after two hours, but after a snack/drink break we
swapped round the groups and started over again.

Once again it was incredible to watch how quickly the children
mastered the basic of skiing, and how rewarding it clearly was for
them.

Very tired, we all headed down to the Dacha, quite a lot of the way on
skis (off-piste!), which was a pretty exciting experience for the
children (and us!).

Once we got back it was hot tea, apples and biscuits all round, and we
were slightly surprised quite how quickly the 3 kilos of apples we
brought disappeared! We then organised a quiz for the children, which
was split into 4 sections. The English and Maths rounds caused great
merriment, but the geography round, with 9 kids crowding around the
newly purchased map trying to find countries or capitals proved the
most popular!

We then settled down to a huge plov, cooked by old intern and expert chef Kuba!

Next morning it was kasha (porridge or oatmeal in English) and hot
chocolate before we headed out again to the slopes. By now Frieder had
arrived, and was able to use our contact with Ruslan, the owner of the
ski base to organise free ice skating for the kids. Anne and I took
the other half to some fantastic fresh powder, where we refined the
kids abilities to turn and descend slopes in a controlled manner.
After some snacks we swapped the groups around and repeated the
process!

We returned to the Dacha for some tasty pasta (again cooked by Kuba)
and with regret headed back into Bishkek.

The first question the kids asked me when I arrived for my English
lesson on Monday afternoon? “When are we going back to the mountains?”

David