Heck of a Haggis

It was a good Friday. Relatively quiet and appropriately brief. The only minor hullabaloo at work is the upcoming change of our cafeteria contract, which will be final on Monday. For most of the American staff, it is a rather joyous occasion as we occasionally experience rocks in our plov or servings of meat that are mostly bone, fat and cartilage. The new contract will also feature a wider variety of cuisine.

The hullabaloo comes from a good portion of the local staff, who feel that the prices are too high, (they're the same for Tajik-style dishes, which is all we've had until now, and only slightly higher for foreign dishes.) There has also been some complaint about the fate of the now former cafeteria workers - which is also unfounded as the majority of them have been given jobs by the new management. But even if that weren't true, it's a good demonstration of the lingering soviet mentality here - that people are somehow entitled to their jobs whether they perform well or not. The process for choosing the cafeteria service provider was open and fair and conducted by a committee comprised of both American and local staff. There, I've said my piece. Now it only remains to be seen whether there will be picket lines outside the cafeteria tomorrow morning.

On Friday night, we went out to the local Ukrainian restaurant with a group of friends from the embassy. The food was great as usual, but we had an odd experience with the mojito that Stephanie ordered. As far as any of us could tell, there was no alcohol. So one of our friends asked the waiter if they could add a splash more. This brought the bartender out to defend his mojito - rather angrily explaining that it shouldn't taste like alcohol. He grudgingly sent out a small carafe of watered down rum and charged us extra. After dinner, we received our charges for the next several weeks - we're dog-sitting three dogs for friends who are out of town. It's nice having the additional company.

On Saturday we were out and about. We went to the gym and I stopped by the embassy to check on the new cafeteria crew, which was setting up. Then in the afternoon we babysat for some friends of ours for a bit and had a pretend picnic with their daughter. We also were introduced to some delicious cookies that are reminiscent of the Girlscout Samoa's. Of course, we had to pick some up on the way home and during that shopping trip we picked up some pickled herring so I can try to make my own version of a popular appetizer where you eat the fish with potatoes and onion. I'll be thrilled if I can make it at home as good as the restaurants.

Saturday night, of course, we attended the much talked about Robert Burns dinner.

This dinner is celebrated all over the world and is the quintessential Scottish culture event. The event was fun with readings of Burns' poetry, some limericks, and the presentation of the haggis.

The spread was great. We had haggis (of course), neeps & tatties (mashed turnips and potatoes), and scotch whiskey.

The evening was also a charity event with money going to support aid organizations in Tajikstan and Haiti.

After dinner, the disco lights came on -rather unexpectedly the ceiling started flashing different colors.

And then we got to show off our Scottish dancing skills, which you can see in the following pictures.

So far, Sunday is looking rather dreary, but if the sun comes out we may go for a hike or to the embassy for tennis. And so another week passes in Dushanbe.