Aush and shopping

Thursday June 24
On Monday in Tajik class Diana asked our teacher, Zarrina, if she could teach us how to make aush. She agreed and told us that we could all come over to her house and we would cook. So, today was the big day! We finished Farsi class at 12:45 and then walked with Zarrina to her house, about 15 minutes away. We cooked aush on a fire outside and had salad and the most amazing bread and vodka and tea and campote (which is this amazing drink of water boiled with fruits) and cookies...ahh, kheli ba mazast bood (it tasted really good).
The weather today was perfect for such a wonderful afternoon outdoors. It rained earlier this morning and cooled everything off so that it was actually comfortable to be outside instead of just bearable. And later tonight after dinner there was another thunderstorm with lots of lightening- my favorite!
Oh, back to the campote for another second- I was asking my host mom how to make it and she offered to teach me so I think we are going to make some soon. I am excited to learn how to cook all these different foods- hopefully I will be able to reproduce them when I get home.

Friday June 25
Best class ever. So far at least. We had Tajik class at 8:30 then a break, then Farsi class. Our teacher showed up to class with a watermelon which I cut up and we all ate while giving our speeches. How awesome would it be if professors in the US showed up with watermelons! We have been eating a lot of watermelon lately, I think it is the most popular fruit for the summertime.

Saturday June 26
Today was the start of a long weekend- Monday is a national holiday so there are no classes. A small group of students, 9 people, had decided to take a trip on their own to Panjakent and Khujand. I decided to stay here in Dushanbe and had the opportunity to go to Hisor Fort, about half and hours drive out of the city.
The fort itself was small but interesting- the gate was built in the 16th century but the original walls were much older and have been around for thousands of years. We climbed up the hill/small mountain next to it and had a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside. We were able to see down the valley and overlook the fields and small villages nearby. After climbing around on the fort and taking adorable pictures in large quantities, we walked across the street to visit a museum. The museum is inside an old Islamic school and contains clothes and pottery and tools and other such things from the people who used to live and work at the fort.
When it was time for dinner I came out and found that we had a guest- my host father’s brother had come to visit. We all sat down to eat and then someone else knocked on the gate- his other brother! So I met some more of the family. Of course, any kind of gathering in Tajikistan must be accompanied with vodka and toasts so the men had several shots and I had a few small glasses of mulberry wine. After dinner I was talking with my host mom and she asked if I was planning on going to the exhibition and bazaar from Afghanistan that was in town for the weekend. I told her that I had planned to go with Kyle and Gaby on Monday but she said that the last day for it was actually tomorrow, Sunday, so we changed our plans and decided to go then.

Sunday June 27
This morning at 10am my host mom, sister, little brother, Kyle, Gaby and I set off to go to the Afghan bazaar. It was the last day so some of the stalls were not open anymore but there was still plenty of merchandise available and things to look at. I ended up getting a wallet/clutch and some jewelry and Kyle got a few presents for friends. My host mom was able to get a couple of things as well to save for birthday presents and other such random gifts.
After we got home I was pretty exhausted so I helped make lunch and then went to rest. I read for a little bit and then ended up falling asleep until dinner time! I am also wondering if I have some kind of sickness because my upper legs are strangely sore even though climbing around on Fort Hisor and the hill was not all that strenuous. I think I will just wait to see how it goes tho and then maybe take something for it if I don’t get better.

Are we on vaca?

Saturday June 19
Today we had an excursion to Varzob for a day of mountain climbing and swimming. The view was amazing, the drive there, the scenery from the top of the mountain, looking down across the valley, it was gorgeous. We were going to this recreational area/private park where you can rent out little places, like cabanas, along side of the river to relax and eat lunch in. We brought food with us and the staff there cooked it for us so we had salad and aush. The entire day was nice and relaxing. We arrived around 9:30am and immediately a group of us set out to climb the mountain. Of course the boys leading it chose the most difficult path and so we were climbing up a mountain of sand and rock at about a 65 degree angle. Gaby and I went up to the first peak of the mountain and then decided that it wasn’t worth it to go all the way to the top so we leisurely made our way back down while the rest of the group continued upward. When we got back down we were hot and tired so of course we decided to jump into the pool! The water was freezing! We estimated it around 45 degrees. They had filled the pool just a few days before we arrived with water from the river. The river had one of the fastest currents I have seen and was almost overflowing because of the melting snow from the mountain tops. So, sustained swimming was just too painful but we jumped in a few times and then sat out to warm up and then would go jump in again when we got hot. After lunch I went swimming again for a little while and then laid down to read and nap. All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable day away from Dushanbe, as if we were on vacation instead of being halfway around the world going to school.
Saturday night I went to SegaFredo’s to meet up with friends and upload more pictures. I stayed almost until they closed at 11pm with Brett and then we took the bus home together.

Sunday June 20
Sunday morning I slept in a little bit. When I got up, everyone else in the house had gone except for Nodira. Nasiba and Dilshod and children always go to visit Nasiba’s mother on Sundays and my mom and dad had gone to the bazaar. So, Nodira and I had breakfast and then I asker her to show me how to use the washing machine to do my laundry from the past two weeks. After being told that we wouldn’t be able to do laundry, being able to was quite a pleasant surprise and I did not mind the difficulty of using a third world washing machine. The washing machine is divided in half. All the first half of the washing machine does is jostle the clothes around in the soapy water. Then the rinsing must be done by hand in the bathtub. Then you put the rinsed clothes back into the other side of the washing machine and it spins them to get some of the water out. Then the rinsed partially dry clothes go out on the clothes line to finish drying in the sun. After almost two hours, I now have clean clothes!
The rest of my Sunday afternoon I spent around the house, helping make lunch, doing some homework, took a shower, read a little bit, watched a movie, and then went to bed, ready for school on Monday.

Monday June 21
I realized today that it is June 21. Firstly this is significant because it is the summer solstice and normally we have a party at my house which, obviously, I will be missing out on. The second reason this is significant is because I was shocked by how close it is to the end of June. This is much more pertinent to me as it means that I have exactly just eight weeks left before I will be home! And only seven weeks of class/being in Tajikistan left, the week in Paris and Barcelona doesn’t really count. This was quite relieving to me. After thinking about that length of time with the mindset of how quickly my time here has been going by, I think I’m going to make it.
I stayed late at the office to try and catch up on email and picture uploading. The internet connection is much faster at that time of night because there are less people around trying to use it. At other times of the day the connection is just too weak to accomplish things that need a lot of bandwidth.
For lunch we only had a short break and Rob and I had an even shorter one as we had planned to meet with Jake about our externships before our afternoon classes started. We headed over to the Morning Star Cafe for a quick bite. Rob and I had to rush back to talk to Jake and the woman we would be working with. We are going to help out for a day or two at a summer camp for 14 and 15 year old Tajik kids. The woman organizing it wants us to talk to them for a short while about our community service experiences in America and ways that we are involved in our own communities. We also are responsible for organizing some activities to lead the kids in such as touch football and a ropes/obstacle course of some kind. The purpose of the camp is to further the kids’ knowledge of how to work in teams, how to be leaders, that sort of thing. So they want the activities to promote those concepts in some way or another. I think its going to be fun- the camp will be one of the last two weeks in July and be in the mountains so hopefully it will be a little bit cooler up there. I’m excited for it and also a little bit nervous. I will have to prepare my speech ahead of time so that I know all the words I’ll need to explain myself properly and also make up some vocab lists to familiarize myself with so that we can teach them how to play the games we are organizing.

Tuesday June 22
Today for lunch we went to the Turkish restaurant on Rudaki street, Merve (Mer-vay). We had gotten ice cream from there before but never real food and so we decided to give it a try. It was pretty good- Kyle and I got cheese pizza and marinated chicken and shared both. Then we got ice cream! I’m glad that we found a spot to get ice cream that doesn’t make us sick because I think we are going to be getting it a lot this summer. AND! Bonus! Its only 50 cents (US) per cone! Its the small things like this that are gonna make living here more fun.
When I got home after school I had another surprise waiting for me. Remember my little sister’s bad haircut? I thought it couldn’t get any worse but nope! It did! She is now completely bald. They shaved her head. She really does look like she is in a concentration camp now. Or a convict. Its so strange, I am very glad that that is not a custom in America.

Wednesday June 23
We went with another guy who is here studying Uzbek to a Russian cafeteria that is right across the street from us. The food was good (I was expecting it to be terrible since it is a cafeteria after all) and very inexpensive so we will probably go back sometime. Walking into the building tho I was not entirely sure if we were allowed to be there because the outside of the building looks very official. The inside is a long hallway with a carpet running down the middle and plaques on the walls above locked white doors on either side. I am pretty sure it is some kind of government office and the cafeteria is there so that they don’t have to leave the building for lunch. Twas a little intimidating but no one said anything about us being there and the RD said that it was a favorite spot for previous students because of its proximity to school.

Cuture shock!

Thursday June 17
I didn’t have class today until 10:45 but I went to the office early to post more pictures. The internet here is struggling because so many people are trying to use it at one time. This is frustrating but I guess I should just be happy that we have Wi-Fi here at all.
For class today we just had Persian composition. Or was it conversation?...The classes are almost exactly the same so I have no idea which is which. But either way, our teacher corrected our homework in the workbook while we wrote our speeches for tomorrow and then she corrected those for us too. Its good that she is being so particular and correcting us on everything because none of our previous teachers have done it like that and so we have gotten used to consistently making the same mistakes.We finished classes for the day at 12:45 and decided to go to an Indian place that we had heard was pretty good. The outside of the building was wild looking- like something out of a theme park. I wasn’t very impressed with the food there and it was kind of expensive as far as Tajik standards go so I don’t think I will go back. At least I won’t order a full meal again, I would go for just a drink and dessert or something. I ordered the orange chicken (they had mexican, chinese, indian and mediterranean food) but instead they gave me lemon chicken. I know what you are thinking- they are both citrus so whats the difference? But they are NOT the same lol.
When I got home I helped my host dad make aush for dinner. I am beginning to wonder if I will ever eat enough to satisfy them. Tonight I ate SOOO much food! And STILL my host mom said to me when I finished “tut tut, you didn’t eat anything!” Ok so she didn’t actually say “tut tut” but whatever she did say was totally equivalent. But honestly, I simply can’t eat anymore!

Friday June 18
Had class today, hooray for fridays! It was a long day because we had four hours of straight classes, two hours of Tajik and two hours of Farsi, then a break for lunch, then back for film class for two hours, then our meeting with Jake at 5pm. So my day started at 8:30 for class and finished at 5:30. For lunch we went to Southern Fried Chicken for lunch. It was so good. As soon as we walked in the door it smelled like home because it was exactly like Chick-fil-a. Very comforting. I now have another place to go when feeling homesick- SFC and SegaFredo’s which is the European style coffee bar.
I decided that I am going to start a list of all the good places to go in town to pass along to future students who come here. It will be like the little black book of insider secrets that gets passed down through the classes. Everyone can edit it and add new places as they discover them.
After I got home for dinner I looked on in horror as my host family shaved the head of the little girl, Amena. Tajiks think that if they shave off the hair of little girls, it will grow back faster and thicker. I believe the thicker part, but faster? You just chopped off two years worth of hair! I couldn’t believe they were doing that to her, she now looks like a boy. And even worse, they did it with a pair of scissors so you can clearly see each part where they chopped it off. So not only does she look like a boy, she looks like she just got out of a concentration camp or something. I was completely horrified while they were doing that but I couldn’t do anything and was to stunned to say something so I just stood there watching as they held her down while the grandfather went to work. After a few minutes of sitting in front of him on a stool she got tired of it and wanted to get up. But they weren’t done yet so the grandmother and her mom had to hold her down and clamp her head in place so he didn’t cut her or something. She was crying and trying to get away- she is only 1 so she had no idea what was going on. So upsetting- I’m so glad I got pictures before they cut her hair off! But I guess thats part of the whole point of coming here- to experience a new culture! And I'm sure I will get used to her new haircut- she is so adorable how could anyone resist!?

Settling in

Saturday June 12
Today being Saturday, I told my host mom that I didn’t know what time I would get up and she encouraged me to sleep in if I wanted to. Of course I took her up on her offer and got up at 9 to shower and eat before heading to the American Councils office to check email and publish pictures and a note on Facebook. As I was eating breakfast, Azamat came in with his blocks that his grandmother had gotten for him the night before and dumped them all on the floor. But instead of playing with the blocks, he decided to throw the box around the room, almost knocking over piles of dishes and the teapot. So I got to practice all those commands for “Stop! Don’t do that! Don’t touch that!” He didn’t listen. I wonder if I am saying them wrong or he is just being difficult and pretending to not understand me…
A couple of us were wondering what was happening in Iran today because it is the one year anniversary of the election and start of the protests last summer. I guess nothing huge went on because there was nothing on the news and we didn’t hear anything about it. The government was probably really cracking down on anything that was scheduled to happen to keep the situation under control.
For lunch I went with some of the kids from Cali to an Iranian restaurant called Fast Food. I’m not sure why its called Fast Food because it is a sit down restaurant. But they have good kabobs. I got vegetarian pizza that came with peas, corn, peppers, tomatoes and mushrooms on it. I thought the peas and corn would be a little weird but it was surprisingly good. After lunch we met up with the rest of the group and Jake who took us to show us where to buy cell phones, sim cards, and the little ATM like machines to put more money on your calling/texting plan. These machines are amazing, I don’t know why someone hasn’t thought of them in the US because you can do so many things in one convenient location including put more money on your phone plan, pay your water, gas and electric bills and even pay your taxes!
After that I came home to get my computer and then headed to a European style coffee bar that had Wi-Fi with Kyle and Rob and Diana and Tommy to try skype and upload pictures. It was really nice inside with leather couches and cool lamps that reminded me of Starbucks. Jake said some of the previous students recommended going there when we start to feel homesick and I can see why- its has a very western feel to it. I ended up leaving by myself because I told my family that I would be home by 8:30 and it was already 8:45 when I left the coffee bar. It was also just after sunset so I decided to take the bus back so that I didn’t have to walk alone. The busses here are very convenient and are only 60 cents in Tajiki money which is like 20 cents US money. They run up and down the main road so you just give the guy your money, jump on and then get off whenever you want to. Usually I try and have exact of very close to exact change but Jake said that if we don’t have coins then we shouldn’t worry about not getting our change back when we get off because the money collectors have an amazing capacity for remembering who they own and how much. Even when there are 5 people getting on and 5 people getting off at the same time, they always give the right change to the right person.
When I got home my family immediately pulled together a bunch of stuff for my dinner which was totally unnecessary because I can only ever eat about half the stuff that they put in front of me. They also caught me up on what I had missed that day which included the little girl, Amina, saying her first words! She said “Mi Ohm” which means “I’m coming!” It was terribly exciting, I’m bummed I missed it.
I was going to stay up late and watch the USvEngland World Cup match but none of the channels that I get on the tv in my room were showing the game. Oh well. I went to bed instead. Extra sleep won’t hurt me any.

Sunday June 13
This morning I accidentally slept until 10:30. I guess all the walking yesterday made me really tired. I just turned off my alarm and went back to sleep, a little longer “snooze” than I intended but oh well, I won’t be able to sleep in all that often after today because classes start tomorrow at 8:30am.
Kyle and Gaby and I went to the Bazaar Shahmandoor to check it out and I wanted to get some dried fruit and possibly sandals.

I was successful concerning the dried fruit- I got banana chips- but left the shoe shopping for another trip. We met up with Tommy and decided to buy a watermelon to share. So, armed with dried fruits, watermelon and a knife we set out to walk back to the Opera Ballet to sit outside and carve our booty. While we were sitting at one of the tables at the outdoor restaurant in front of the Opera house, we saw the old man who walks around the city with a bear! He keeps the bear on a leash and has a cane that he uses to prod the bear to do tricks such as stand up on two legs to pose and roll over on the ground as people watch and take pictures. So many random things that would just never happen in the US…
After eating our watermelon Kyle and I decided to head home as, at breakfast, I had promised to be home early to learn how to make Ash Pollo with my host dad. I got online to check my email really quickly and ended up being able to video chat with mom before she went to church! We talked until my computer died (I have to go sit in the street to get a wireless signal from the american councils building lol) and then I went in to learn how to cook. My host dad had already done mostly everything but I watched as it was cooking. Then he went to go and get drinks and I sampled mulberry wine and two different vintages of wine (from grapes). I tried to ask if he had made the wine from the grapes that they grow in their courtyard but I don’t think he understood my question. It was just three of us for dinner- my host mom was at a wedding and the son and his family had gone to visit the wife’s mother as they do every sunday and they were gone all day. After dinner I finally got to do something useful and helped the daughter clean up and wash the dishes. We talked for a while over tea and dessert which was a lot of fun because I hadn’t spent much time with her until then.

Monday June 14
Today was the first day of classes. Before we left DC and at the orientation when we arrived here they told us that since we had already taken the test for American Councils, we didn’t have to take any placement tests because our schedules were already set. However, this was not the case when we showed up for our Tajik class this morning at 8:30. Our Farsi teacher told us that we needed to upstairs to a classroom to take the placement exams and that our Tajik teacher wasn’t coming that day. After dealing with all that confusion, we ended up having to take 4 placement exams in reading, writing, listening and something else that I have forgotten already. Incredibly frustrating but I guess thats what they meant about a sense of humor and flexibility being necessary.
For lunch we went to Morning Star Cafe which is very close to the offices, maybe a 5 minute walk. I had a Greek Wrap which was shredded chicken, yogurt sauce and diced cucumbers, tomatoes and olives.

It was really good, I will probably get it again while I am here. They also had really good bean salad and waldorf salad if I just want something small and light instead. It is a little ridiculous how inexpensive everything is here- today 12 people had a nice lunch for less than $50 and on our first day here when Jake took us to the Tajik restaurant, 33 people ate there for less than $100.
After classes finished around 2:30 I skyped and caught up on my picture-uploading and Facebook posts, saving finishing my journal for later. After I got home, I changed into the clothes that my host mom bought for me. When I walked outside into the courtyard everyone was surprised and said “You have become a Tajik!” I guess I kind of do look like it, maybe half Russian or something European. My skin has gotten a little darker from being in the sun so much so it is mostly just my hair that is different looking. I had dinner with the family except that my host mom was still at the office working on the class schedules for tomorrow. Dilshod, my host brother, took Azamat to get ice cream and brought back one for me too which was really nice of him. I am still waiting for a dinner when everyone is home at the same time to give them their presents that I brought from the US! I promised my host dad tonight as he was cooking that I would make an American meal for them one night so now I need to research and see what kind of ingredients the grocery stores have here. I was thinking maybe macaroni and cheese as that is kind of a southern comfort food. I know they have macaroni pasta here because we had some for dinner tonight but I’m not completely sure about what kinds of cheese they have...I’ll have to find that out before I get started. After we finished eating and cleaned up, my host mom was still at the office working, so we took Amina and Azamat over to play ping pong while she finished up and then walked back all together.
One last note before bed- its kind of funny, everyone told us that it never rains in Tajikistan during the summers so we should be prepared for it to be incredibly hot and dusty. But I think it has stormed every afternoon that we have been here...not that I am complaining- I love storms and they definitely help to keep the dust down and also lower the temperature- two very good things here! But still I find it slightly amusing. I think that once it gets further along into the summer months tho then the rains will stop.

Tuesday June 15
I didn’t have weird dreams last night! I had a normal dream. Normal for dreams that is. I dreamed that I was in the grocery store buying cheese. This may seem pretty weird but actually I sort of expected to dream about that because I was thinking about shopping for cheese right before I went to sleep. Again, weird? Nope- I promised my host dad that I would make American food for dinner some night and was then pondering what I would make and if macaroni and cheese would be feasible. If you have any suggestions for what to make let me know!
Today was our first real day of classes since we just had those placement tests yesterday. Our teacher seems like she is really good, hopefully we will learn a lot this summer. We had our afternoon free so we decided to head over to Fast Food, the Iranian restaurant, for lunch and then go next door to get our sim cards and cell phones. The guy at the counter was really difficult to communicate with- I tried speaking as much Tajik as I could and he didn’t understand anything I was saying but he would reply in broken English. But when I spoke English he couldn’t understand me either… I guess he spoke Russian and some English and some Tajik but I still have no idea why we had so much trouble. There was a lot of pointing at phone plans and gesturing in lieu of talking. But, cell phones acquired. All in all a successful afternoon. Now we will be able to communicate.
I got home and had dinner with most of the family except for my dad and brother because they were both working late. Afterwards I gave everyone their gifts. I had been trying to wait until everyone was all together but, seeing as it has been almost a week and that still hasn’t happened, I gave up on that plan and decided to just give them to the people who were there. Everyone really liked them I think and its a good thing that I went with the bigger size flip flops because those were the ones that fit them! I still have one bar of chocolate that I will probably save for dessert some other time.
When Azamat first got his coloring book and crayons he was really excited and started playing with them right away. But when I gave Amina her rattle, he started to throw a fit because he wanted that instead. So they gave him the rattle and her the empty crayon box to play with. While he was figuring out how to use the rattle, they were trying to convince him that it was a baby toy and he was too old to play with that toy and that he should play with his big boy toy instead. Their tactic was successful and he soon went back to playing with the crayons. I got to help teach him colors which was fun- he still can’t remember any of them yet but maybe he’ll get them down by the end of the summer.
After dinner I did some homework and then went to bed- I was pretty tired from all the walking that we did earlier today.

Wednesday June 16
Today was a pretty chill day- we had Persian class for two hours and then were all done for the day. A few of us went to Morningstar Cafe to grab lunch and then came back to the center to use the internet and talk to people back home.
I got a little bit of homework done and then went home when the center closed at 5pm. When I got home they were starting to make dinner- we were having dumplings!

I helped make them and took a lot of pictures and some videos. They were soo good.
After dinner I helped clean up and then played around with the kids for a little while before heading to my room to rest and do homework and try to catch up on my journal. I don’t know why I am so exhausted today because I didn’t really do all that much…

The arrival

June 10
We have arrived. After many months of preparation and many hours on a plane our entire group of 33 people safely arrived in Dushanbe. In typical Emily fashion I got sick on our first flight as we were landing in Frankfurt. I knew the yogurt was a bad choice but no, I just had to eat it anyways. Good thing Kyle doesn’t have that gag reflex thing or we would have been in trouble. Then I got slightly dehydrated cuz I lost all the water I had drank on the plane as we landed in Frankfurt at 7am. Trying to learn from my mistakes, I decided not to eat anything on our next two flights to save myself all that pain and agony, and spare all the people sitting around me of course. Instead I just drank water and Coke. So, our next two flights went much better. When we got to Istanbul we were all completely exhausted and a bunch of us slept on the floor at the gate in the terminal for about 3 or 4 hours. I’m sure it was a comical sight, about 8 people all lined up fast asleep in front of a huge glass window. But the sleep didn’t cut it and I was still completely wiped out when we finally got to Dushanbe at 3:30am local time. After going through immigration, waiting to claim our bags, and going through security, the 33 of us crowded into 3 vans called mashrutkas and drove around the town to drop everyone, all 33 of us, off at their host families one by one. As you might have imagined, this took quite a while and, of course, I was one of the last ones to be dropped off. But my host family was very nice and welcoming and was pretty understanding that I was tired and therefore incapable of speaking coherently in English, much less in Tajiki.
After I dropped my bags in my room my host mom showed me where the bathroom was. There is an indoor and an outdoor bathroom. My host mom, Savriniso, made it very clear that I am to use the inside one which is a western style toilet and bathtub, and not the outside one which is only for the family to use. I’m curious to see what the outside one is like tho but I haven’t peeked inside yet. I had some difficulties taking a shower because there wasn’t a stopper for the bathtub but there wasn’t a shower curtain to contain the water from the hand-held shower head either. In an effort to keep the water from spraying all over the floor, I ended up awkwardly kneeling in the tub and washing my hair upside down. I’ll have to work out a better system for the future. The rest of my morning was pretty peaceful, had some breakfast and then napped for about an hour and a half before I had to meet up with the group at the American Councils office. Of everyone in the group, I live the closest to the offices and where my classes will be. I live across the street lol. So, I will be able to leave my house and be sitting in class in three minutes.
My host family is comprised of a mom and dad, their two children, a daughter, Nodira, who is 25 and a son, Dilshod, who is 27, a daughter-in-law, Nasiba, who is also 25, and their two children who are 3 and 1, a boy, Azamat, and a girl, Amina. The little boy is incredibly energetic, as I guess I should expect a 3 year old boy to be, and talks almost not stop. I can understand some things that he says but normally he talks too fast for me to catch it and also he can not pronounce the letter “R” yet so instead they come out as “Y” or “W” which is pretty confusing. While I was in the shower my first morning he was banging on the door to be let in and I could hear his mom and grandmother trying to sush him saying “No! You can’t do that!” My section of the house is also where they used to store things, including his juice boxes, and so he kept asking last night after dinner to go in to the “juice house.” The little girl is absolutely adorable and stares at me pretty much constantly. She doesn’t talk yet but they are teaching her sounds and small parts of a children’s song so she can say “lai-lai-lai-lai” and dance to it. They also have a dog named Filya who stays in the courtyard he’s not allowed into the house. Last night after dinner the little kids were playing in the street and when they opened the gate to go out Filya ran out behind them. So then the daughter and daughter-in-law had to go after him to bring him back. They caught him as the son was coming home from work. He is a car driver, I’m not sure if this is a taxi driver or if his car is rented for day trips or something.
The house is comprised of three buildings that surround the courtyard which has a flower garden and a pool (unfortunately its empty) and then a large area with a grapevine canopy covering a small outdoor kitchen and a place where they eat outside. There is one building with a small kitchen and eating room which is where I have breakfast in the mornings. Then there is the main house with the bathroom, family room, kitchen and their bedrooms upstairs. The third building is mine and has two rooms, one is empty of furniture except for a bookcase with a tv and then the other is my bedroom. When I first was shown my bedroom my first thought was, “Wow, that bed is really small. Am I going to fit on that?” The bed is possibly half or 2/3 the width of a normal twin bed and much shorter. When I lay with my head on the pillow and stretch all the way out my feet hit the end of the bed. But I have a closet and dresser, nightstand and desk which is very exciting because I was not looking forward to living out of a suitcase all summer.
When I went to go meet up with my group at 11am local time, our resident director (RD), Jake, talked to us for a little while about more practical info that we would need to function in a 3rd world country. The most important piece of information being that you can not flush toilet paper down any toilet that flushes! Instead the toilet paper is placed in the trash can next to the toilet. I’m fine with this because thats how it was in Mexico but everyone else seems to be having a hard time with this because stuff keeps ending up in the toilet! After he finished talking we went on a brief tour of the main street, Rudaki, and our RD, Jake, pointed out a good place to change money, a reliable ATM, a supermarket and land marks in case we ever took taxis so that we could tell them where to go. We all had lunch together at a restaurant with traditional Tajik food. The menu was in Tajiki and the English translation was more comical than anything else so Jake, the RD, gave us a few simple options, all of which involved mutton. Is there anything on the menu that doesn’t involve mutton? I chose the least of the evils presented to me and ordered a dish with noodles that was like of like a soupier version of chou mein with meat and vegetables.

After lunch we walked back to the American Councils office where several people’s host families were waiting to walk them home as not everyone has figured out exactly how to navigate around alone yet.
I crashed and slept for over an hour after going back home and woke up to my host mom knocking on my door saying it was time for dinner. I was warned that most of the traditional Tajik food is pretty solid and greasy but I was not prepared to eat such greasy rice! And of course it is part of the culture to urge everyone to eat as much as possible, especially the guests, because it is a sign of hospitality. So my small portions were commented on numerous time as well as my avoidance of meat and how I only had one cup of chai (tea). But finally they left me alone, probably giving me up as a lost cause. After dinner I sat and talked with the mom for about an hour and then went to bed at 9pm. All in all a successful first day.

June 11
Today is Friday, my second full day in Tajikistan. I woke up this morning feeling much more optimistic about being here. I think I’ll survive for two months but my plan is to take everything a week at a time. Today our instructions were to meet at the office at 9am for more info on the city and then we went for another walk, this time a much longer one. We walked the other direction on Rudaki and saw the national theatre (where opera tickets are about 50 US cents) and the green bazar which has lots of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as almost anything else that we could want to buy. Then we went to lunch at an Arabic restaurant where I had chicken kabob and Rob and I shared hummus for an appetizer...yummy.
After lunch we took a bus all the way back in the opposite direction to go and visit Prospect Medical Clinic which is the best doctors office type thing they have here- best meaning most like western medical facilities. The doctor there is german but everyone in the office speaks english, tajik and russian. So, if we get sick, thats the place to go. Apparently ending up in a Tajik hospital is very undesirable so we are supposed to go to the clinic and avoid serious illnesses that would require a hospital visit. The doctor gave us some guidelines for staying sickness free during our time here. If we followed his instructions to the letter, we would all have to become vegetarians and not eat soup or drink chai at all. He was saying that meat is risky because you don’t know if it has sat out in the heat before it was prepared so it could be spoiled. The reason for not drinking chai is because the tap water is not filtered or cleaned in any way, its just made to look pretty so it doesn’t come out brown. The water that I have been drinking from the tap was boiled first because we were told that would be safe, boiling it would kill all the bacteria. But the doctor said that there is still a possibility of heavy metals in the water that obviously won’t evaporate with boiling.
The other interesting thing was that he said to not take our malaria pills. The risk of contracting malaria in the city is so low that it isn’t worth taking the pills and dealing with all their side effects. I had heard this point before but figured that, since I have the pills, I might as well take them. However, ever time that I have taken one I’ve gotten sick so I guess it won’t hurt for me to stop trying to keep them down. It would have been a good weight loss program tho! As for the water tho, I am going to just drink the boiled water, everyone else who has come before has not had a problem and I don’t think that drinking boiled water every so often for two months is going to cause serious heavy metal poisoning or anything. I’ll avoid using tap water when brushing my teeth tho and be careful when showering so as not to swallow any.
A couple interesting things- there is a water conservation conference going on in the city right now. However, to show off, they have turned on all the fountains which drains the water pressure for everyone else. So the city looks pretty, but no one living anywhere near the fountains has any water in their houses!
Last night over dinner my host dad was trying to get me to participate more in the family conversation. I appreciated his attempt but his method of drawing me in was rather awkward as he was asking me how old I thought he was and if he or his wife were older! He thought it was pretty funny tho as I protested and tried to escape from answering his questions. He also almost went into cardiac arrest when I told him that I don't eat lamb. I'm pretty sure he now thinks that I am insane!
More pictures to come later but for now, I remain your affectionate foreign correspondent.