All Quiet on the Home Front

Unfortunately, it seems that declaring my cold over was premature. I've spent most of this week with the snuffles, although now it seems I'm finally getting over it. Fortunately, I had the perfect week for being sick. Work was the quietest it's been since I got here so I was able to mostly hunker down at my desk and work quietly.

I don't know if it's the new year approaching, but I've noticed that people (both pedestrians and drivers alike), have been worse than usual. Monday on the way home, I stopped at one of the poorly-placed crosswalks on the highway because someone was crossing. It turned out to be two slovenly teenage girls - walking so slowly they might as well have been walking backwards - and eating cheetos. Not a care in the world. Being sick, I was in no mood for that crap so as they were passing in front of my car I gave them a nice long honk on the horn. It was great -cheetos in the air and everything. Of course, it didn't make them move any faster but I felt better for it anyway.

What's scarier is that I barely avoided hitting some kids twice on the way home tonight. It's dusk and they just came running across the road, not even looking. It's a good thing that the first thing you learn about driving here is to be alert.

Not too much else to report, although today I had to return 'gifts' from some of the local cell phone companies. In my position, receiving gifts is hard to do ethically anyway, but in this case, since we're contracting for cell phone service, it was particularly important not to give the impression of unethical conduct.

Very much looking forward to another long weekend. This is probably the last post for 2009, so HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Had Ourselves a Very Merry Christmas

First, I'm pleased to report that Stephanie and I had a VERY Merry Christmas. Even though we missed out on the white Christmas we would have had back in the U.S.

The week at work was a bit hectic, between the usual madness and trying to write a cable about the Ambassador's trip to Khujand, but blessedly short. Thanks to President Obama, we only had a half day on Christmas Eve and got to start the long weekend early.

On arriving home, I thought that the house across the street was on fire, but I think they were only re-tarring over an open flame... *smart*.

With that distraction taken care of, I was free to turn my attention to Christmas time.

Christmas Eve was the culmination of all our baking for the month and Stephanie had been working overtime to put the finishing touches on the feast: quiche, hummus, tapenade, spinach dip, chicken satay, meatballs, and chips with french onion dip (my secret recipe), along with sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, chocolate crackle cookies, rum balls, gum drops, sugar spiced peanuts, M&Ms, and chocolate chip cookies were all spread around the gingerbread house. Coupled with a big pot of mulled cider, it was quite a festive display.

We had about a dozen of our close friends over and spent the evening talking, eating, and generally making merry. It was a great time and a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas.

On Christmas Day itself, we had a great time opening presents, skyping with family, and having dinner with friends. We both agreed this is one of the best Christmases we've had (out of 3 so far!).

Unfortunately, the day after Christmas I came down with a cold. It wasn't my first choice for how to spend the weekend, but it gave me a good excuse to stay in bed and watch some of our new movies, play some new games on the Wii, and pig out on leftovers.

Today I was feeling better so we met up with some friends at Victory Park to play with their dogs. We hadn't been to Victory Park before even though it's not very far from us. It's a big memorial commemorating the USSR victory in WWII. It's situated high on a hill and has great views of the city and surrounding mountains. I'll have to go back with the camera on a clear day.

Alas, now our long weekend is coming to a close, but at least we have another one coming up for New Year's.

Trip to Khujand

Disclaimer - this one's a long one! If you want to skip straight to the pictures, here's a link. There are more pictures in better quality here, so even after you read the blog, I'd recommend checking them out.

Khujand 2009 JPGS

The trip to Khujand was a nice surprise when the Ambassador suggested it and it certainly was a great learning experience. But as usual, I'm going to stay away from the business side and focus on the experience. This was my first time travelling within Tajikistan so it was quite an eye opener. Of course, travelling with the Ambassador probably made the trip quite a bit smoother than it would have been if I had been on my own.

At some points we weren't even sure if the trip would go off due to iffy weather forecasts. In fact, if we hadn't sent some of the support vehicles through Uzbekistan, we would have had to call it off because the vehicles that tried to go through the passes in Northern Tajikistan got stuck for several days in heavy snow.

(Thanks to one of my friends who was one of the ones stuck up there). Fortunately, the vehicles that went through Uzbekistan made it and it was only raining when we left Dushanbe.

I've never seen a plane like the one we flew on. Of course it was small, but the novelty was that we had to board through a hatch in the rear. What was funny was that they checked my luggage, then wheeled it out to the plane and left it sitting in the rain until it was my turn to board, at which point they gave it back to me to carry myself. No cargo hold under the plane. No overhead storage. I essentially had to rest my bag on my and the Ambassador's knees. It was a bit embarrassing because everyone else only packed duffel bags, while I brought a garment bag - but I had no idea space would be that limited.

Other than that, the flight was uneventful. We were in the clouds the whole time so there wasn't anything to see out the window. I almost forgot to mention that on the plane, we met up with the British Ambassador, who joined our Ambassador for most of the meetings. It was quite the trip. Khujand is located in the northern part of Tajikistan, separated from the south by two rather large mountain ranges.

The weather was noticeably colder when we got off the plane, but not enough for snow.

We were greeted by some folks from the regional governor's office, which spared us from the normal airport hubub, but left us a bit at their mercy. They welcomed us to Khujand and then explained that they had a whole itinerary for us. This was fine for Wednesday afternoon as we didn't have any firm plans, but we later had to explain that for the rest of the trip we were on a tight schedule. Once we saw some of the traffic in Khujand, we were grateful for the police escort. First stop was the hotel - the nicest one in Khujand - called the Sughd hotel. More on the hotel later, but it was interesting that their logo looked suspiciously like the Sheraton logo.

After checking in, our hosts escorted us to the local museum, which was actually quite nice.

There were some dioramas depicting the early history of the region.

The guide said that this was a new form of display invented by a local artists, but I could swear they had something like this at the Smithsonian when I was a kid - maybe she meant it was the first of its kind in Tajikistan. Next we saw a series of murals depicting the life of Alexander the Great, who swept through the region on his path of conquest to India.

The murals were quite nice, and made of locally mined stone.

Khujand is more than 2,500 years old, and the upper floor was dedicated to more of it's history, including an example of the ancient style of dwellings,

and an impressive statue of Temurmalik - a great historical figure best known for his heroic effort at fending off the Mongols as they came crashing through Central Asia.

When we came out of the museum, we were treated to a break in the clouds and some great views of the mountains in the distance.

After the museum, we took a trip outside of the city to the Arbob Palace. This building was build during the soviet era (as evidenced by a statue of Lenin in front and the hammer and sickle motif above the door),

and is surrounded by a rather large orchard. This is also the building where the 16th session of Parliament named Mr. Rahmon president after the civil war - a post he still holds today over 10 years later. The front of the building is adorned with Mr. Rahmon's picture on the left and a portrait of the father of the Tajik nation in antiquity - Ismoili Somoni - on the right. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but Somoni's picture bears an amazing resemblance to President Rahmon - focus on the eyebrows.

General consensus is that this is not a coincidence.

We were treated to a tour of the palace, which is something of a museum today, visiting the auditorium where parliament was held

and seeing the impressive ceiling paintings which were done by 4 men in their mid-seventies (the guide likened them to Michaelangelo painting the Sistine chapel).

From the palace it was on to dinner and then back to the hotel to rest and prepare for the next day. Interestingly, I learned that in Tajikistan, people make their beds with only one sheet. I was even less concerned about the single sheet when I learned over breakfast that the Ambassador didn't have any power in his room the first night. That, along with the large cockroach that sauntered across my bathroom floor gave new meaning to the title of 'the nicest hotel in Khujand'.

The second day, we started out with a tour of the central mosque and the Panjshanbe Market. The mosque was quite beautiful especially with the mountains in the background.

The stone madressa off to the side was build in the 11th or 12th century, while the mosque was only built after independence from the Soviet Union.

The Panjshanbe Market, really put the markets in Dushanbe to shame.

Aside from being covered, it was well organized and had a great variety of foods.

Again, travelling with the Ambassador had its benefits as we were treated to samples of honey on fresh, warm bread as part of our tour. An interesting side note - Panjshanbe means 'Thursday' in Tajiki, whereas Dushanbe means 'Monday'.

The rest of the day was devoted to meetings with government officials and other organizations. Since I can't talk about the contents of those meetings, I'll share some pictures from around the main government building in Khujand.

It was really nice to see all of the Christmas trees (New Year's trees here).

And in front of the building there is a golden statue of the national emblem.

The other surprising feature of Khujand is the prevalence of soviet decor

- the hammer and sickle are all over the place, whereas in Dushanbe, I can't remember ever seeing them.

I have to remark on Thursday's lunch - it was the best plov I've had since I've been here. Where plov usually consists of rice, lamb or beef, and shredded carrots, this plov had beef AND lamb, and chicken and sausage, and veggies, and dried fruits. It was really great. People in Dushanbe had said that Khujand makes a great plov, but this was really something. After lunch we also got to see the city stadium

- pretty impressive for a population of less than 200,000 - and an impressive statue of Ismoili Somoni.

I was even able to catch a snapshot of a giant statue of Lenin as we drove by.

We spent Thursday afternoon and evening visiting with local alumni from various US programs, like the Fulbright program, and learning about what they are doing now. It was really nice meeting with them because they have had actual experience with the U.S. and were all so grateful and positive toward America. It was nice to see the positive impact our programs have overseas.

On Friday, we had a few more meetings before lunch - among them was visiting the old industrial section of the city, which was bleak, but somehow captivating.

After another delicious lunch - this time with some rather tasty shashlik - we had about 20 minutes to walk around and snap a few more pictures of Khujand.

I was particularly interested in a statue of a she-wolf nursing two young children.

I'm not sure how or when the myth of the founding of Rome made it's way here, but it was kind of neat. We made it all the way down to the river before we had to head back to the airport for our departure.

We were waiting in the regular departures lounge when our friends from the governor's office showed up and offered to escort us to the plane, which was quite welcome after our experience in Dushanbe. The plane wasn't the same as on the way up, but I was able to get a picture.

This plane had it's own charm as my seatbelt was held together with a staple and was not adjustable - if only I hadn't lost so much weight!

Not to mention, the whole thing shook like one of those vibrating motel beds on crack. The windows weren't very clear, but I did manage to catch some glimpses of the beautiful snowy mountain ranges below as we passed over - unfortunatlely, no pictures. Despite being shaken like a set of maracas, we landed in Dushanbe safe and sound. The most amazing thing was that it felt like home. Watch out, I'm going native! Overall, it was a great trip and I feel fortunate I had the chance to go. Apparently there is a huge lake not far from Khujand that they call 'The Sea of Tajikistan'. Maybe a nice summer destination for me andStephanie...

Stunt Driving and The Best and Worst of Christmas Concerts

The biggest news is certainly my trip to Khojand with the Ambassador, but since I just got back today, I haven't had time to get the pictures ready so it will have to be later. Of course, there's always something to report, so here's some other recent goings on...

As expected, this week was pretty busy given the ongoing work related to the house fire and getting ready for the Ambassador's trip on Wednesday. To make things even more exciting, I got to play 'Dukes of Hazzard' on the way to work on Tuesday. I was breezing down the road to work when all of a sudden, a car decided that it no longer wanted to wait in line at the left-hand u-turn and begin driving slowly across the street in front of me. I only saw one way to avoid an accident so I took it, swerving into the bus pull-out and making a huge splashdown in a mud puddle that went completely over the top of the car. I hadn't even had a chance to slow down much and I noticed that the idiot had caused a big traffic jam, so I took advantage of the other drivers' misfortune and cut back out onto the road at the next exit and continued on my merry way. It doesn't sound as impressive when I write it out, but Boss Hogg wouldn't stand a chance with my skills.

On Tuesday night, Stephanie and I went to the Indian Embassy for what was billed as a Christmas concert/sing-along. There were some Christmas songs and there was some singing along, but there was a lot of other stuff too. There was an operatic French singer who was actually quite good. They also had the loudest flute player I've ever heard in my life. Thunderous fluting sounds like an oxymoron, but this lady was belting it out. Then there were the two other performers - and I use the term loosely. I'm not sure if I'd liken it to bad karaoke because bad karaoke is at least entertaining. They attempted a wide variety of songs including some Beatles hits and other random tunes like 'Summertime', 'Down By The Riverside', 'Misty', and 'The River of Babylon', and weren't entirely successful. The best parts were definitely when the crowd got to join in and drown them out and when they made the French Ambassador come up and sing - because he was quite good. On the bright side, Stephanie and I had a good time snickering and the event did raise money for a group that assists disabled kids in Tajikstan, so in the end, I'm glad we went.

I was in Khujand for the rest of the week. Since that will come later, all I have left to report is that when I got home tonight. Stephanie suggested a concert at the Opera House. I was dubious since she was the one who suggested we go to the Indian Embassy, but this sounded promising.

I'm so glad we went. There was some ballet featuring a few bits from The Nutcracker, along with some others. The orchestra also played a few tunes. Then, the choir from a local Catholic church performed very good renditions of 'Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring' and 'The Hallelujah Chorus' with the orchestra's accompaniment. Then they did a very interesting medley of songs from 'Carmen' mixed with some John Phillip Sousa -which was surprisingly excellent. The choir finished with 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing', which got a standing ovation and brought tears to Stephanie's eyes. It was really nice to do something Christmas-y outside of our own home.

The only funny thing was that since the choir was composed of some locals, there was a pretty strong accent. So during the last song it sounded like, "Peace on earth and mercy meeld, God and sinners reconceeled." If anything, it enhanced the experience and although tired from the trip, I was very glad to have gone.

On the way home, we made our way to a fast-food restaurant and picked up what turned out to be a rather passable pizza. Not bad for little old Dushanbe.

Never a Dull Moment

For being in the middle of nowhere, I have to say this place isn't short on drama. On Thursday night I got a call from the Regional Security Officer about a possible fire at one of our residences. So I abandoned our plans for the evening and hustled over there.

The resident, who was away, had a friend house-sitting and when the friend got home from work they discovered the house full of smoke and called the embassy. By the time I got there, the fire trucks (yes, they have them here), had arrived and the firemen were entering the house. I checked in with the house-sitter to make sure she was alright and then worked on getting more details as well as coordinating with different relevant folks from the embassy.

Fortunately there wasn't much in the way of fire, just a lot of smoke, and the situation was quickly under control. Although, when they opened the upstairs, thick black smoke came boiling out. And when the firemen were done, When we went inside and it looked horrible. The whole house was covered in black soot on the inside, even inside rooms that were closed off.

There had obviously been some significant heat as well since the molding melted off around much of the ceiling. Thankfully, it looked much worse than it was. Since there wasn't much in the way of fire, the firemen didn't have to use much water either.

By around 10:30pm, it was clear there wasn't much else to be done so I headed home. Friday was mostly consumed with organizing the clean-up and reassuring the resident that we didn't think there would be much loss and that we would work on getting the mess cleaned up asap. We're still not sure exactly what caused the issue, but it appeared to be electricity-related. That's no surprise given the energy situation here, but it is certainly a reminder that we need to be extra careful.

I have to say, the coordination from the embassy was great and very efficient, which was heartening. What was interesting is that we were warned to steer clear of the local fire department because they apparently try to find someone to blame for a fire and then bring charges/fines, rather than to actually discover what happened.

Of course, the fire didn't preclude the need to do everything else that had to be done on Friday. Mostly it was just a crazy busy day, but there was a nice point when we went for a tasting with one of the restaurants bidding on the cafeteria contract at the embassy. We were treated to a rather tasty brunch as we got to sample a full day's worth of menu items from the proposed menu - including dessert. It's always nice to have a few perks.

It's feeling very wintry here. While not very cold, it seems to snow every few days or so without really amounting to anything on the roads, which is very pretty to watch out the window during the work day. I'm also still having fun with the concept of 'barf' being the Tajik word for 'snow. So when the white stuff comes down it's barfing, and you might slip on some barf, or sometimes I use my 4WD if there's a little barf on the road. You can tell someone they have some barf in their hair. I can, and sometimes do, go on and on about it.

On Saturday, however, it was just rainy and cold so Stephanie and I Decided to stay in and enjoy some Christmas movies and snack on various goodies we have around the house. It was a very nice day, with Frosty and the Little Drummer Boy, and other classics. There were also some not-so-classics. Like 'Frosty Returns', which isn't the one where he gets a wife, but is a story that revolves around a mad businessman who develops a product called 'Summer Wheeze', that melts snow instantly. Frosty and friends have to battle public opinion, which demands the removal of all snow. It was a bit of a stretch.

Saturday night, we went out to dinner at the Ukrainian restaurant with some friends. It was nice until one of the drunk guys at the table started wiggling his tongue at one of our friends, which her husband didn't particularly appreciate. Fortunately, we were already done so we just left.

Today we did some shopping and were pleasantly surprised to see that there are a few signs of the season outside of our living room.

We were also surprised to see a 'specialty pasta' that has a certain...unsavory resemblance.

I don't think the locals realize it, but it's pretty hilarious or us.

I was also finally able to catch a picture of the old man who rides his donkey up and down our street.

Now, time for a relaxing Sunday afternoon with some cookie baking and maybe some more movies.

Wintry Weather and a Hot Mug of Grog

Last Friday we had our first snow. It was too warm to stick to the roads, which was great, and just a dusting on the ground. It felt very seasonable and was nice to see. I'd hate to see what it's like if the snow piled up on the roads because people didn't improve their driving at all. If anything it was worse because the pedestrians walked in the street more than usual to avoid walking in the snow.

At any rate, the snow was gone by Saturday morning and Stephanie and I headed out to do some shopping. We started by visiting a craft fair at the Hyatt, which was nice, but we didn't buy much. Just a couple of ornaments for our tree and a freshly woven bread basket.

We saw a lot of other things that we liked, but decided to wait and see if we can find the same items elsewhere during our time here. It was at least nice to get some ideas.

Then we picked up some fruit a the bazaar and headed down to the wholesale area near the train station to restock on beer and get some apple juice for making cider. Lo and behold, the three boys who followed us around last time were there loitering in front of the store. I guess it's their thing to 'help' people and then charge them for it.

This time, they told us there was a better place to get beer and wanted to show us. I asked straight out if we had to pay for this service and they said no, so we went out of curiosity. Of course, the prices were higher at the suggested locale and the selection no better, so I declined and went back to the place we were before. Our unshakable entourage followed along doggedly.

On the way, I tried to explain to the kid that we don't need help, that Americans like to do things for themselves. It didn't take. When we got to our regular shop I started talking with the guy and asking about the beers and their prices and the kid kept interjecting. I think by that point I had already shown myself quite capable of negotiating beer purchases in Russian, but he persisted.

We ended up with a deal we liked and started carrying the beer out to the car. The kid then had the nerve to ask for money. I told him no, that I didn't ask for help and I had already told him we weren't going to pay. But that didn't deter him because every time we walked past with a case of beer, he asked if we wanted help - despite the fact that the 30 feet of walking between the store and our car was clearly not a problem. His friends seemed to have got the point some time before this, but this kid didn't go away until we had finished.

From there we went about getting the apple juice and on the way found fresh mushrooms and something that looked like the Italian dessert they call 'lobster tails' - basically a rich cream filled pastry shaped like a fluffy cannoli. It was both unexpected and yummy.

No one drank the beer, but the cider was a big hit when we had a few folks over for Christmas cookies and such on Sunday. It's always nice sharing our decorations and what not. The gingerbread house went over well too. All in all it was a great weekend.

This week has been rather busy at work as we have a team from the Overseas Building Office in town to work with us on some construction work that we're doing. It's interesting stuff and I find I really like planning and executing the various projects, but visits take a lot of time away from day to day business, which continues to be very busy.

Tonight we went out to dinner with the team at a local restaurant where I found grog on the menu. When I see grog I think cave man drinking a foully alcoholic drink from a giant stone mug. So of course I ordered it. It turns out that grog is a rather pleasant drink with rum and fruit and cloves. It was perfect with the wintry weather.

On the way home, I was negotiating a taxi for our visitors when the cops started freaking out and blowing their whistles and waving their lighted sticks (we call them 'padjalusta sticks' -padjalusta means 'please' in Russian). The road cleared of cars almost instantly - which was amazing in itself.

The nearest cop started yelling at the taxi driver so I wrapped things up and sent them on their way. Then I got to see the president's motorcade flash by at autobahn speed - a group of about 10 cars just flying willy-nilly down the main street. Apparently, this is the only way he travels. I can only assume he was on his way home from the palace. But that's just another day in Dushanbe.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Following our Thanksgiving feasting, we dedicated our weekend to getting the house ready for Christmas. It was nice having enough space to do it right for a change.

I got a tip from some friends and was able to pick up an old Santa Clause matroshka from a shop that sells soviet era memorabilia for Stephanie. I say it's Santa, but it's probably supposed to be Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost), who plays a similar role to Santa in Slavic traditions. The set includes, Snegorchka (The Snow Princess, who is his granddaughter), and a snowman.

Here's a link to an article about Grandfather Frost on Wikipedia for those interested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ded_Moroz

So we hauled up our Christmas stuff from the basement and decorated...

And baked...

Our living room looks very festive!

Of course, one of our major traditions is always building the gingerbread house. I design it and bake it and then Stephanie helps me to assemble and decorate it.

Each year I try to out-do the last, but at this rate, I'll be building life-size gingerbread houses by the time I'm 40, so I'll have to figure something out.

Monday was a local holiday, so I had the day off. And of course, it had to be ruined with another bout of tummy trouble. This time both of us took a hit and were up all night Sunday night and couch-ridden all day Monday. As usual, we were both feeling well enough to work on Tuesday so the only day we lost was a holiday! We're still not sure what took us out, but it was pretty rough.

On the bright side, and I may be jinxing tomorrow's commute as I'm writing this... THEY OPENED MY STREET!!!! The concrete barriers are gone and they've turned on the traffic lights again. As far as I can tell it's open for good. If so, what a great Christmas present!