Dushanbe Socialites

The past few days have been rather busy and we've been getting out and about a lot. We went to an artists' colony just outside of town on Saturday morning to check out the scene. There were some interesting pieces but nothing that we really felt we had to go after. Surprisingly the prices are pretty high as well. But one of the nice things about being here for two years is being able to take our time when it comes to buying mementos and the like in order to find the right ones. There were some interesting statues around the place including some of Lenin.

After the art tour I dropped Stephanie off at the gym and headed over to the bazaar to pick up some food. Other than that, we pretty much took it easy for the rest of the weekend.

Of course, now that I've started getting up early to work out on a regular basis, the weather decided to get ridiculously cold. This is where having running buddies comes in handy since I feel like I have to go. And I'm grateful for it as I get rewarded with an extra boost of energy in the morning and some really amazing sunrises – some of the same reasons I enjoyed rowing in college.

Stephanie has been busy becoming something of a social butterfly. She created a Yahoo Group for spouses and others who want to get together for lunch from time to time. They had been doing it informally for a while, but I think Stephanie's idea is great as it makes it more of an institution. The group is called the Dush Lunch Group – which caused one of my friends to point out that it's a good thing they don't do bag lunches…

Don't fear, early mornings haven't dampened our social life. Last night, we went bowling with some friends – this time at a different place. Stephanie won both games; my performance was inconsistent as usually. Then tonight, we are going to a Scottish Dancing class to prepare for the upcoming Robert Burns charity event, where they will have a celebration in honor of the famous Scottish poet and raise money for a charity group. And that's not all, on Thursday; we are going out with a large group of the local staff to celebrate the Old New Year, which is based on the Julian calendar. I'm sure there will be plenty of stories from both of these events.
Today was a little crazy at work as aside from the usual business I had my first meeting with government officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Obviously I can't talk much more about it, but let's just say I was very diplomatic.