A Series of Interesting Events

Here's another little collection of short stories from an eventful week.

A General Visit

Probably the most exciting even this week was the two day visit of General Patraeus to our little corner of the world. (this was the VIP visit I mentioned earlier). Of course, being next to Afghanistan, Tajikistan is certainly relevant to the war effort in general. I was mostly involved in terms of logistics since the motor pool falls under my jurisdiction as General Service Officer as well as other general services (ha). The General also addressed the embassy staff at large. I think General Patraeus was an especially interesting person to have at our embassy since he has played such a large role in convincing Congress to increase funding for the State Department and in arguing for a larger role for diplomacy in our foreign policy.

Halloween Wars

The other big 'to do' at the embassy is the Halloween decorating contest. I have to say, my office outdid itself and really set the bar high. But this ended up setting of an arms race of sorts that has every office on my hallway trying to outdo the others. This morning, one of the offices took a broken baby doll, skewered it on a shashlik sword and covered it in ketchup. Probably not going to go over well with the kids when they come to trick-or-treat tomorrow, but I'll give them points for creativity. Those of you who remember the party flame from our college days will be pleased to know it is being but to good use in my office's bid for the win. Hopefully I can get

some pictures (we are restricted in where we can take photos in the embassy), but either way, I'll let you know who wins.

More Driving Follies

Ok. Maybe I'm running the driving stories into the ground, but I think these are worth telling. On Tuesday morning when I pulled out of the driveway, I discovered a new set of cement blockades that now completely cut me off from the rest of Dushanbe. I asked a worker how I was supposed to get to work and he shrugged. Nice. So I took matters into my own hands and found a worker with a crane to come and let me out and asked him to leave me a way in that evening. He did, but when I got home, there was a huge pile of gravel in the driveway - larger than I was going to move myself. So I had to end up talking to the guards at the British embassy next door and they let me park my car in front of their guard booth for security. Cars with diplomatic plates are best not left unattended overnight. So far I've been able to get in and out since then, but every day is a new adventure.

On a brighter note, I finally got my own little revenge on the bad drivers of Dushanbe. The other day when I was heading to work along the crater field that is my street, I was slowing down to cross one of the foot-deep holes that run the length of the road in some places. True to form, one of the little marshrutkas (think miniature minivan) was impatient and decided to fly around me and cut me off. I guess he was too busy being impatient to see the giant hole because his front tires hit smack against the other side and there he stopped. It was hilarious. And yes, I indulged myself in a "point and laugh" session.

Oh What A Beautiful Morning

This morning on the way to work, I barely noticed the idiot drivers around me because I was so focused on the beautiful view. It was a particularly clear morning, which was great because the mountains got their first coat of snow last night. The view was incredible. The trees here are all turning golden, and behind them was the dry lower hills backed by the higher mountains in the distance all covered in snow. I'm going to try to get pictures of that too if I can leave a little early tomorrow.

Working on the Farm

One last quick one...today when I was leaving work, there was a cow grazing in front of the embassy's front fence. We aren't exactly in a rural area, so it looked pretty odd. And that's it for now.