Bishkek Whiskey Breakfast

First day on the job at Radio Azattyk.

We started the day off with an all-staff meeting. I was introduced and given a general Q&A by some of the reporters (why come to Kyrgyzstan?), then tried to follow the next hour of project assignments and reports - all in Kyrgyz. There were some lively debates, and some (apparently) humerous retorts, none of which I understood.

Following the meeting I was literally hauled into the staff break room, with the entire senior staff in attendance. Then Gulaiym, my mentor for the summer, pulled out a large bottle of Johnny Walker Red and a box of chocolates she purchased during a layover in London Heathrow.

It is a custom not unique to Kyrgyzstan, in fact it seems universal in my admittedly limited travels. Whenever someone returns from a trip abroad, they are expected to bring back some small treat to share with everyone. Large, or long-lasting gifts don't seem to be popular - what matters is that everyone can enjoy a little something exotic. There is certainly some parallel in American culture, but it's not as widespread or as communal. "What did you get me," with a focus on the brilliance of the gift, rather than "what did you bring us," with enthusiastic, but temporary, curiousity.

With a great flourish, the senior staff crowded around the break room table and spread the chocolates around, while Gulaiym quickly poured a shot of whiskey for all present, myself included. There certainly was no refusing such an offer, so I embarked on the first straight shot of whiskey in my life at 10:00 am on Monday, the first of June, 2009.

In a culture where Vodka shots are a casual refreshment (prohibitions on alcohol being a flexibility of Islamic law not widely enforced in Kyrgyzstan), I hoped that whiskey - albeit Scottish rather than Kentucky - might give some of them enough pause to make my timidity less apparent. When the middle-aged woman to my left finished in one gulp, my hopes dissipated. Further, when I say "shot" keep in mind these are not actually shot glasses - they're small juice glasses, filled to the brim. I sipped mine in the largest gulps I could manage without making a face. Luckily, at least one or two people found whiskey not as appetizing as vodka, so I wasn't the last one finished.

In retrospect, I don't think I'd go so far as to recommend a shot(+) of whiskey as a Monday morning tradition, but I can't help wonder how much more entertaining that staff meeting would have been if we just bumped the Whiskey Breakfast one hour earlier.