Little known facts about apples (assuming that they are true)

I do not have to teach on Fridays so decided to turn up to school a bit later and do some preparatory work at home instead, which I did and on the way back I planned to search for some little gifts to encourage the children and the Mosque.  So it was a relatively easy day.  One interesting thing is that I am beginning to hear smatterings of English already. One of the little girls who has totally charmed me for instance said bread and she was also doing all the moves to Bob the Builder Big Fish little fish today. So my hope that just hearing English would make a difference seems to be working, unfortunately my head was not around to hear it.

I left about 3 and headed off towards where I had spotted the Mosque.  Given it is Friday I thought to see signs of life, it looked quite dilapidated, especially at the back,  and most unusually there did not even seem to be water around in which to wash, but I did not go in as I was not sure if it would be appropriate.  I mentioned the Mosque at dinner tonight and was told that there was a move financed from the Middle East to build Mosques in every village.  We do hear the muezzin call floating across the valley (unlike Senegal where it blasted away tinnily, distorted electronics) which sounds very evocative, but faith here seems personal and relaxed, rather than political. Next door to the Mosque was a bigger shop than I have seen before and here I managed to buy balloons and erasers that I might try and use to congratulate good behaviour. I also bought a drink that I was told was not alcoholic but tasted very like fizzy brandy so yuck.

When I got back I decided to pick up some of the apples in the orchard that have just fallen to the ground. Fruit is really plentiful and apart from scrumping boys no one seems fussed to pick them, so I wanted to see what they were like. It tasted nice but had a texture unlike any I have seen before.  So looked up Kyrgyzstan apples online only to find out that this quintessential English fruit actually originates from this region.(I seem to remember that Alma Ata, now Almaty, means something to do with apples, so there may be something in this)   I have spoken with the manager here tonight and asked his permission to see if some of the apples can be stored over winter or used in purees as it would be nice to have a little project and if it works show my thanks to the family for all their kindness. He tells me one of the types of apples that they grow it should work with, so we will see. The American websites I have been checking tell me I need something called parchment paper on which to freeze apples.  Now I wonder if my little store sells that!