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.