? Who am I?

Moved to Bishkek for work

Back to the U.S. for last year of college

Study abroad in Bishkek, first time visiting Uzbekistan

July 2023 - present

Sept - May 2023

Jan - Aug 2003

Introduction

I spent most of the first 22 years of my life in America, and although I travelled abroad every year, I always called Massachusetts my home. My mom is from America and my dad is from Uzbekistan (but ethnically Russian), so "international" was a small piece of my identity. However, we spoke English at home and I only saw my Russian relatives once every one or two years, so it remained a somewhat undeveloped component of who I was.As soon as I began university, I jumped at the opportunity to begin studying Russian, primarily with the goal of communicating with my grandparents. When it came time for me to study abroad, I searched for programs in Uzbekistan, hoping to see the region where dad was raised. I did not find fitting programs there, so I figured I might as well go to next door Kyrgyzstan. As soon as I made that decision, it somehow felt like the right choice. My experience on-the-ground turned out above and beyond my greatest expectations. I loved the sense of adventure that I got out of squeezing myself onto a marshrutka, I lived with the best host family (I still hang out with my host sisters today), I became obsessed with weekend hikes in the mountains, and I noticed immense progress in my Russian language skills, and I felt myself growing and expanding my horizons to a degree that I wouldn't have been able to achieve in the U.S. On the plane ride back to America, I was already scheming of ways I could come back after graduation, and luckily, I secured a job based in Bishkek in May 2024. I now work here and am trying to grow roots, further improve my Russian and Kyrgyz, find community, and establish my post-student identity.

2002-2023

Lily Nemirovsky

Growing up in Massachusetts, with periodic trips to grandparents in Russia

Nemirovsky

Немировская

Лилия

? Who am I?

Лили

Lily

? What is Kyrgyzstan like? ? When are you coming back? ? Are you going to live there forever? ? Are you safe in Kyrgyzstan?

A Massachusetts girl?

? Is this my home? ? When will I have been away for long enough that this will stop feeling like home? ? How do I explain my impression of Kyrgyzstan to people who have never heard of it before?

? Why are you moving back to this side of the world after your dad moved to America?

A Russian girl?

? How would I be different if I grew up here? ? Am I Russian if I didn't grow up here and I speak the language imperfectly? ? Do Russians my age consider me Russian? ? When will this country be safe enough for my dad to reunite with his parents? ? What will happen to our family dacha when my grandparents pass away? ? Should I be Lily Nemirovskaya, not Nemirovsky?

? Was your family Uzbek?

Uzbekistan roots?

? Is my connection to this city real? ? What was it really like living in the era of “friendship of peoples”? Did non-Uzbek people feel like this was home? ? Was the Soviet Union a colonial regime? If so, does that mean my grandparents -- whom I love -- were colonizers? ? How do people here think about the Russians who lived here during the USSR? Who live here today?

? What are you doing here? ? Everyone here wants to go to America. Why would you come here?

A new Бишкекчанка?

? Is this where my future will unfold? ? Will I be able to create friendships as close as those in America? ? Why do I feel so at home in Bishkek, even without relatives and my closest friends? ? Why do I get to move freely when most people here are prevented from going to America? ? How would my experience be different if I was not white? ? Do I live here?