Intermediate Uzbek Weeks 4 & 5 In Review: Academic Life & Student Activities Plus Tempe Fireworks, Scottsdale Shopping & More

Assalomu alaykum!

Hi everyone! I'm back... Sorry I haven't posted at Uzbek Brian in a bit, it's been quite busy but a great two weeks here in Arizona at CLI. This post will cover a "week in review" for both weeks 4 and 5, which in some ways felt like one giant week (no excuses, though...!). Here we go:

The sunset from A mountain is always more beautiful each time! 

Outlook: Past two weeks have been great. I continue to love being here and at this point feel like I am in the normal life here as if I've lived here for years and do not want to leave!

The weather has been extremely hot (I think it's a record for June/July in Phoenix), usually over 115 each day, and with way more cloud coverage than last year—but still nothing near the miserable humidity I'm hearing about in many places over the East coast.

I've been feeling very productive and on track most of the time here and going through a lot of new ideas about how I want my life to unfold, whether it just be for the rest of the day or the week or summer for over the course of the next five years.

This week's workstation! Lots of computer stuff done

Class: This week was the turning point of our halfway mark so we have gotten through a lot of material as we finished our first "semester" (3.5 week) section and are now in our next semester.  Our focus of topic has been on student life, education systems (comparing UZ to US), and general university and academic vocabulary, which is quite relevant to us here.

I've been happy with results on the past three tests, all A+s, and know that what I'm learning is stuff I can actually apply and use especially if I do a study abroad in the region when in college. We did have a 6-day week due to our Friday postponed for Fourth of July weekend, but now having had the four days off, I'm grateful we got the work in early and were able to enjoy the holiday!

Enjoyed seeing the fireworks with the Uzbek crew at Tempe Town Lake!

Sat right by the water -- great view of the show

Free time: The first half of these two weeks was quite packed with homework, client work (launched a new website!), Uzbek Night (see presentations below), and even some other events like a luncheon with Uzbek classmates, but I was very excited to enjoy a luxurious 4 days off to myself for Independence Day.

The main highlight of free time these past weeks besides the fireworks and general hangout/time to get my thoughts and items together was making a trip to the Scottsdale Fashion Plaza, which is a destination mall with really excellent store selection reminiscent, if not better, than KOP.

Took a trip up there on Friday for the day and was thrilled to see what was there and always enjoy visiting my favorite luxury brands and chatting with sales associates to learn about the company and products. I visited Louis Vuitton, Prada (first standalone Prada visit), Bottega Veneta (same thing), Cartier, Barney's New York, Neiman's, Michael Kors, David Yurman, Tourneau and some others.

Visited the Scottsdale Vuitton store! 2 down, like 700+ to go! This was one was 2x the size of KOP

Trying on a watch at Cartier — this is the entry-level Tank I think I want to save up for  

Beautiful wallets and organizers with the classic woven style of Bottega Veneta

This week: This week I'd like to keep up with a good pace of learning and finishing work for class and really take in the last normal-schedule week I have here at CLI. Don't want the program to pass too fast without having really soaked it all in!

Also I want to keep up with fitness (have barely missed a day, very happy), and work on building up some business plans and finding some new clients for when I get home, particularly targeting local businesses in my area.

My three favorite foods... good avocados, mango kombucha and Evian! 

Resources:

Here are resources for this week, quite a few!

Uy Ishi June 27: "-ish" "-la" va "-lik"li Gaplar
Homework June 27: Sentences with "-ish", "-la", and "-lik"


Uy Ishi June 28: O’zbekistondagi 3ta Asosiy Universitet Haqida
Homework June 28: About 3 Prominent Universities in Uzbekistan


Uy Ishi June 29: Akademik Yili Vaqtidagi Jadvalim
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B50OtgK4oOsgcFd0TWRSNVhwRjg/preview

Uy Ishi June 29: Uzoq O'tgan Zamon Felili Gaplar
Homework June 29: Sentences with the Distant Past Verb Form


Konestoga Gimnaziyasi Prezentatsiya
Conestoga High School Presentation


Welcome to Uzbek Night Presentation


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Xayr,
Brian