I'm so behind in my posts! Anyway, in late November Ryan traveled up to Bishkek to join me (I was up there for work) for a Thanksgiving dinner thrown by his colleague, John. We went to the dinner on a Friday night, indulged ourselves merrily, and Saturday rested and digested. That Saturday night, as fate would have it, Michigan and Ohio State (football) were playing each other. A HUGE rivalry so we had to see the game. Ryan's colleague, John, is from Ohio and cheers for Ohio State. So you can imagine how much fun it was to meet up at a pub in the city and watch the game together. At first we thought it would be a quick stop by the pub just to catch the first hour, since we were all so tired from the night before and the game didn't even start until 10pm our time. However, the game was really amazing and so we ended up staying at the pub until past 3am. Michigan won, of course!
The pub we went to has a mash of expat regulars - defense contractors from the Manas base, consultants rolling through town, expats from all over the globe who live in Bishkek, etc. It almost felt like we were back in DC at Ryan's go-to football bar called Ventnor's. Minus the rowdy, super fun crew that Ryan usually tags along with him each Saturday in DC. :) In short, a great time and a great end to the regular football season!
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| At the start of the game, Ryan clearly nervous and "praying" for Denard to come big. |
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| This was the size of the largest TV at the bar. The bar owner was kind enough to leave his live band performance and come turn the channel on this TV to Armed Forces Network when the game started, so we could watch it on the big screen. |
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| Go Blue! |
