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.
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.
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…
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