28 Days Later

It has been exactly four weeks since I arrived in Tajikistan and it seems like the only thing I haven’t done… is write! I have scribbled down notes and recorded voice bits for the later transcription of such up-coming entries as:
“Our Tajik Family: home is where the heart is”;
“Holly and the Giant Peach (Bowl)”;
“What a Nice Set of Watermelons”;
“A Poster of You (with a picture of me taped over your face!)”;
“It’s Not All Sunshine and Mountainsides”;
“Power, Privilege, and the Moo-moo”;
“The Knock-Out Wedding”, and
“I speak Tajik.”

There is no shortage of interesting material to work with and I desperately hope to share many of these hilarious, meaningful, and eye-opening events here – as I find/make time to write. While my daily routine consists of waking up at 6:45am, catching the work-mini-bus at 7:30am, beginning Tajik classes at 8am, eating lunch, and heading to work from 1-6pm – the evenings and weekends still seem to bring unimaginable and exciting surprises.

Erin and I play over-sized chess in Obigarm

We’ve been to a Pamiri wedding, a swanky Jubilee reception, the children’s hospital, the man-made lake, 2 discos, and out to “the field.” We’ve shown local men that women can play soccer, entertained visitors from Kabul, Khorog, and Kazakhstan, jammed with the Tajikistan Idol, and enjoyed a few traditional birthday dinners with “our family.” You’d think things couldn’t get more random than this – but this weekend we are going paragliding, hiking to a small glacier, and finishing it all off by dinner with Tajikistan’s AKDN Ambassador.

I remember a similar feeling when I was in Kolkata (Calcutta), India in October 2007. It was during the large Bengali-Hindu celebrations of Durga Puja that I was on two television news programs, lit my first fireworks, addressed a large public audience, was mistaken for an actress and had my jeep swarmed on all sides, and became an official judge of various community’s traditional festival decorations. At the time I blamed the insanity of the events to be simply “India at its finest,” but now I question if it’s just the reality of being a curious foreigner in a new and unknown country.

Of course life is not always so exciting – but it is the regularity of certain events that also make things mentally manageable. I shower every morning (even when the water is brown) and wash the dirt off my feet before bed. On Sundays I do my laundry by hand (even when the water is brown) and in four weeks I have halved the time this takes from 3 hours to 1.5. I put it out on the communal line to dry while I read, write, nap, clean, or play with the kids. On Monday, Friday, and Sunday nights we play soccer. I buy juice, eggs, and yogurt at the small shop a few doors down and dried apricots, pistachios, white-coated peanuts, peaches, green apples, cucumbers, and watermelon at the large market. I take the Number 8, 22, or 17 mini-bus, while I change money, buy pasta & sauce and chocolate at the 24-hour International Grocery.

How d'ya like them apples?

Even the less adventurous evenings and weekends have been fulfilling. I finally had time to finish reading a book I’ve been working on, re-write my Tajik notes, and talk to different family members about the day’s on-goings or life in Tajikistan/Canada. At times unpleasant “only-in-Tajikistan” type things happen that could seriously upset the uptight traveler. Generally when these things happen, I burst into the bedroom, dramatically tell Holly about it, and then say: “Grab the camera – this is a good one.” We proceed to the location (often the bathroom or kitchen) and make a spoof commercial for our series “Life in the ‘Dush’.”

We’ve also spent late nights with maps planning local adventures – hiking the Hindu Kush, traversing the black desert of Turkmenistan, skiing for Christmas in Kazakhstan, and even entertaining a large Middle-Eastern regional tour at the conclusion of our placements. This is still in the very early stages of formation, but the evening was strangely ridiculous as Holly and I looked at routes on the map, exclaiming “well, that country is a war-zone, they have a dictator, Americans aren’t allowed in there, the ferry strands foreigners on that shore, mmm, there’s another war-zone, women can’t travel legally alone there, and if we go to any of these countries than we can’t go to Israel…” Let’s just say the geo-politics of the region makes for some interesting trip-planning over here.

Getting a good view from the fish cultivation pond

Overall – and most importantly – I am happy. I have quickly become accustomed to most of “new” things, enjoy my work and the organization which I represent, have overcome some basic health concerns in my first few weeks, have a blossoming social life, and see clearly how this placement fits into my life and future career. Not bad!

The only thing we need now… is our visa extensions!!!