Cost of living in Kyrgyzstan

Based on my experiences (right now the exchange rate is 46.5/47 soms to a US dollar):

- Accommodations can range. Right now I live in a one-room (known as a studio apartment in the US) that is in the center of Bishkek and costs $250 a month. This includes utilities and it came fully furnished. You can get cheaper, maybe down to $150 a month, but it will be further from the center of the city. Towns outside of Bishkek are also much much cheaper, a one bedroom in Kant (about an hour from Bishkek) can go for $50 a month. For around $400 a month, expats can get a very nice two or three room apartment. For $900 a month, you can live in luxury! I know four study-abroad students who put their money together and are living very well, in my opinion.
- Water, electricity and gas probably don't amount to more than $20 a month. Cable television is about $8 a month. Internet can be expensive at home; cheap packages cost 1300 soms a month and do not come with a wi-fi router and are a bit slow, but you can get very fast, wireless internet for 3000 soms a month or more.
- Public transportation is ridiculously cheap. Using a taxi anywhere in Bishkek will cost you between 80-120 soms. Marshrutkas (mini-buses that run on a fixed route) are 8 soms within the city during the day (some go up to 10-12 soms at night), and the big city buses are 6 soms.
- Food is very cheap. A loaf of bread is about 10 soms, a liter of milk can range from 35-65 soms, a kilo of potatoes is 15 soms. There are cheap restaurants and very expensive restaurants in Bishkek, you can have a meal for under 200 soms or over $100 depending on where you go. There are grocery stores and convenience stores on almost every street corner, as well as fast food stands (shwarma, hot dogs, hamburgers, or samsa go for about 30-50 soms each). There's at least one gourmet grocery store for people who need high-end ingredients! And there are plenty of bazaars to get cheap produce and meat.
- I don't know what medical insurance costs, but medicine at the pharmacy is very cheap (a pack of antibiotics can go for about 100 soms) and when I had a doctor make an emergency house-call in the middle of the night, the whole trip, medicine included, costs 500 soms.
- I don't know anything about primary or secondary education, but university is cheap. The American university charges 224,000 soms per semester for international students. Private Russian lessons with a tutor can be as low as a couple hundred soms per lesson.
- Phones can be expensive to buy themselves, but I only have to credit 100 soms on my phone every three or so weeks.
- Price of beer can range from 30 to 120 soms depending on how nice the place is and what kind of beer. Local beer is, of course, cheaper than imported Belgian beer.
- A cup of instant coffee or tea in a paper cup can be about 10-15 soms, a cup of real, brewed coffee at one of Bishkek's fancy coffee shops can go as high as 120 soms.

Hope this helps! I'll post more if I think of it.