Random Thoughts

I thought I was going to have great news today - that we finally bought a car. Unfortunately, nothing is so simple here in Dushanbe. The woman selling the car was missing one important document and our motor pool supervisor (who will have to register the car) will need it to get us our diplomatic plates. All hope is not lost, however, the woman is supposed to come back on Friday with all the paper work, and hopefully we can move forward.

Even if we can buy the car, it will still be awhile before we can drive it since we will have to wait to get the diplomatic registration and even after that, we will need the trench in front of our house to be filled in so that we can park in the driveway. It looks like they're starting to do it but I'm not holding my breath for a quick resolution.

I can't say I'm chomping at the bit to drive either. Sure it will be easier to not have to rely on the embassy shuttle or 'public transportation'. I mean, it's great so far as that you can ride the bus here for a little over a dime, but then again, one of my colleagues had her phone stolen out of her purse while I was standing next to her. Violent crime is pretty rare here, but pickpocketing appears to be something of an art.

But back to why I'm not so eager to drive. The people here are crazy - pedestrians walk out into the middle of the street, traffic laws are more like 'guidelines', there are lanes in some places, but no one drives in them, and as I've mentioned earlier, red lights don't mean much. It doesn't help that before a red light turns green, the yellow light comes on with the red to tell you that it's about to be green -and most people just take that to mean 'go'. Defensive driving is definitely the name of the game.

The other thing is that people love their horns in Dushanbe. They honk if you stop at a red light, if they see someone walking on the sidewalk, if they want to turn into oncoming traffic, they honk if the sun is shining or if a bird flies by. I often see them honking after an obstruction is passed - say a pedestrian steps out into traffic, the driver will swerve around them and then honk several minutes later - maybe out of relief?

The other day, walking home from the supermarket, I heard someone honking and it sounded like it was right behind me, but I was on the sidewalk. When I finally turned around, it was a guy on a bike who had wired an electric car horn to the handlebars of his bike. Excuse me for being a little slow when I'm carrying over two pounds of meat, 5 bags of frozen veggies, a 10 lb bag of flour, a 4-pack of yogurt, 2lbs of pelmeni (Russian dumplings), 2 chickens, a turkey, and a pheasant! We're stocking up our freezer in case you were wondering.

Also during that shopping trip, I found some interesting flavors of potato chip to try - roast chicken, sour cream and dill, shashlik (kind of a kebab), and caviar. Will let you know how they taste when I try them.

And of course despite the car thing not quite working out for now, the day wasn't a total loss. We tried to play tennis with some friends at the embassy tennis court after work -I say tried because none of us really knows how to play. To add even more excitement, there was a false duck & cover alarm after Stephanie arrived so I had to spend some time on the floor of my office and she ended up hunkering down in a bathroom. Again, totally a false alarm, so it was just good practice, but it sure gets your pulse racing all the same.

After our attempt at tennis, our friends introduced us to a Chinese restaurant in the northern part of the city that was very good. Best of all, despite stuffing myself, I feel fine - which I take as a sign that I'm fully recovered!

Lastly, for now, we had all of our pictures hung up today so I will try to send out pictures of our home by the end of the weekend, now that it is complete.

Nick