Friday July 9
Таҷикй мишавам (I’m becoming Tajiki). Its true. Diana and I wore our Tajik clothes to classes today so that we could take pictures. They are surprisingly comfortable- I thought that they would be really hot because almost all of your skin is covered up and you are wearing pants and a long dress but the fabric is really breathable so its not actually all that hot to wear. I also had my first mosquito bite sometime this past week, up until then i hadn't had any problems with bugs. Rob and Dan almost went into shock since they have had so many bugbites. "Are you actually Tajiki? How have you not had a bugbite until now?" "Yes, yes I am."
Saturday July 10
Today is Rob’s birthday and, since there have been a number of other birthdays in recent past, we decided to go back to Varzob, the same place as last time, Goli Meida (Little Flower) for a day of rest, relaxation, swimming, eating and, of course, drinking. The whole day was a lot of fun- the pool was slightly less freezing than last time so I was actually able to stay in and swim for a few minutes instead of jumping in and immediately climbing out.
I took a taxi home with Gaby, Dan and Jeremy in time to change my clothes and get ready to go to a wedding reception with my host parents and uncle. Dilshod came along too, to drive, because my host dad was planning on drinking at the reception. Its kind of funny how responsible they are about drinking and driving when normally they drive at incredibly high speeds and completely disregard traffic regulations. I definitely appreciate how conscientious they are about it.
The wedding was pretty interesting and in a very pretty private banquet room at Chai Khaneh Rohat. We got there and moved tables three times because the mother of the bride kept asking us to switch tables to make room for other relatives/guests. Once we were settled in, we sat there for a few minutes before a rather loud sound of trumpets was heard, announcing the arrival of the bride and groom. They walked into the room proceeded by a group of drummers and trumpet players. This was pretty much the only unusual part of the evening or, the only thing that was different from American wedding receptions. The only other thing was that, while people were making toasts and dancing, the bride and groom would stand up for almost the entire time and the bride would put her right hand over her heart and bow constantly to show her respect and thanks to the guests. I felt sorry for her after a little while because they would be trying to eat their dinner but then her dad would get up to make a toast/speech and then they would stand up. They they would sit back down but in a few minutes people would start dancing again so they would stand up again. Up down up down, I am glad that is not a custom in the US.
The other notable thing was how much food there was! The tables were loaded with food and I thought that that was going to be the dinner so I tried to eat everything that my host family put on my plate
Sunday July 11
I slept in a little bit today, tired from hanging out at Varzob and the going to the wedding reception the night before. Then Gaby and Dan and I went to the bazaar because I really wanted to get more dried fruit and take some pictures. After the bazaar we hung out in Rudaki park for a little bit to wait for Kyle and then went to DBD, another Iranian restaurant, for lunch. I thought it was pretty good altho a little bit more expensive that Fast Food but Dan and Kyle didn’t like the jujeh kabob so they said they probably wouldn’t want to go back there. The only nice thing is that they have gourmeh sabzi if you call ahead and tell them that you want them to make it so we might do that sometime before we leave.
I went home to try and skype with mom and dad at 4 but they didn’t get my message that I was online so it didn’t work out. Plus it was really hot sitting outside on the sidewalk so I gave up after about 20 minutes of waiting and went back inside to rest before dinner.
Monday July 12
Class as normal...not much interesting happened.
Tuesday July 13
Michelle and Sarah are finally here! Their flight got in early this morning I believe so they will probably rest today and then come to visit classes tomorrow. They are also going to come on our excursion this weekend to Iskandurkool. I’m getting really excited about it- we are going camping and the scenery is gorgeous, its going to be a lot of fun.
Wednesday July 14
Boo, Michelle missed her flight so she has been stuck in Turkey for the last 3 days. I think that she is going to be here tomorrow tho. Sarah came in today for a little while and then went to the meeting with all the teachers this afternoon.
Our midterm for Meisam was due today but he was sick so I emailed it to him again. Its rather frustrating typing things in Pages on my Mac and then having to export them to a word document before I can send them to anyone else. All the formatting gets messed up and sometimes, like today when I tried to print it out, it switches so that it reads from right to left (backwards) and all the letters become disconnected. There has got to be some sort of solution to this, people type in Persian all the time- does everyone have this problem?
After dinner tonight I talked with my host sister, Nodira, for a while and she was telling me about her job, what she does and all. She had a long work day today because she had to finish some reports and deliver them to the President’s office. We also kind of got back onto our conversation about marriage and all from a few weeks back. She was saying how she wants to be able to support herself before she gets married and would expect her husband to be in the same position. She doesn’t like the way it works now, guys getting married while still living with their parents. But she doesn’t make enough money at her job to be able to support herself, even though she has graduated from college. Even with that education, she only makes 330 som per month which is about 75 USD.
Thursday July 15
Michelle is finally here! She came in to the office after our first class with Meisam was over. Sarah sat in on our class today which was a good day for her to do that because we played the memory game again but with body parts instead of objects. It was fun, and helpful because now I know more body parts than I did before but also was a little creepy. We all groaned when Gaby said she put ten eyes in the boat.
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