First post/Family daytrip

So I'm back in America for 2 weeks after spending the last 10 1/2 months in K-stan. Below is the last mass email I sent out a couple weeks ago.

The most prominent feature of Osh city's landscape is the craggy peak called Solomon's Throne. Long considered a holy place, it has been a place of pilgrimage for Muslims seeking healing or fertility. Daily, hundreds make the trek up the 760 stairs. Atop the rock sits a tiny mosque, originally built in 1497 by the 14-year-old newly-crowned king of Fergana Zahiruddin Babur (who would go on to found the Indian Mughal dynasty).
I've been meaning to make the hike since moving down here in September, but just never got around to it. Luckily, my host family decided to take me on a family day trip to Osh last weekend – the trek up Solomon's Throne being the day's main activity. When I'd imagined going up the mountain, however, I didn't exactly expect to do it with three children under the age of five in tow…or with my parents clad in nice suits (I have no idea how my apa made it up wearing back-less high-heeled sandals). But, having done it, I wouldn't have had it any other way. From holding the kids' hands and helping them up the steep stairs to admiring the spectacular view to smiling as my host dad explained to an incredulous Uzbek man that I was his 'daughter' (my favorite quote from that conversation was: "But where the hell did she learn Kyrgyz?"), the day was just fantastic.
After the hike, we ate at a Kyrgyz outdoor café and drank 'kymyz' (fermented mare's milk – tastes kind of like tart milk) with 'kyimak' (yet another fried bread incarnation). During this meal, my family was like, "Well, if you haven't climbed Solomon's Throne or gone to the three-story yurt or the museum, what have you done in Osh?" I felt a little sheepish, not wanting to say that I usually just pretend that I'm in America again, eating pizza and drinking beer with other Volunteers. In any case, I think that my family was really proud to show off their city to me (which, in my humble opinion, is the best urban space in the whole country). Kyrgyz people are very proud of their "beautiful nature;" in random conversations in taxis or mini-buses or the bazaar, the third or fourth question (after "Where are you from?" and "Are you married? No? Well, I've got a son…") is whether I like Kyrgyzstan and its nature, to which I reply, "Of course, especially in the South."
I'll leave you with the words of Sultan Babur (1483-1530), who described Osh in his memoirs:

Orchards follow the river on either bank, the trees overhanging the water.
Pretty violets grow in the gardens.
Osh has running water.
It is lovely there in the spring when the countless tulips and roses burst into blossom.
In the Fergana valley on town can match Osh for the fragrance and purity of the air