A Hodgepodge

The first full week back at work after two consecutive shortened weeks is bound to be tiring. This week has been doubly so because I'm finally getting back into a workout routine. Miraculously, Christmas gluttony seems to have finally put a stop to my relentless weight loss and now I find I'm packing on the pounds. Fortunately, I've made some friends at the embassy who are similarly inclined to stay fit and that definitely helps with sticking to it.

Some mornings we run outside, but even better is the fact that just before Christmas, we discovered a real gym in town. It's located about halfway between the embassy and downtown Dushanbe, and so is quite convenient. And the rates are good too - about 100 somoni, less than $25, for three workouts a week. The odd thing is that there are no membership cards or sign in. Apparently they just remember who paid.

They have a good selection of equipment, and since Tajiks abhor the idea of getting up early to work out, we usually have the place to ourselves in the morning. In fact, we usually end up waking the security guard who sleeps on the floor. Mornings are also a good thing because the place is apparently packed in the evening and it saves us for having to pay more than double for the less crowded VIP area. There are also stories about a guy who dances by himself in front of the mirror, which I can definitely do without.

The only thing that isn't so nice is the showers, which are lukewarm at best and rather…fragrant. Luckily, we have showers at the embassy that were built for the unfinished pool and they do quite nicely. Of course, this all means getting back into the habit of packing all of my clothes and breakfast the night before. From this transition, I've learned that boiled eggs take longer to cook here than at home – around 7 minutes to get them soft boiled here, vs. 5 minutes there. I think this is due to the lower boiling point of water at this altitude.

In other exciting news, Stephanie received her new computer for work this week. Her old one conked out just before Christmas. Her company shipped it via DHL to get it here quickly since the pouch mail has been slow recently. Despite the fact that we were expecting it, it's still a rather bizarre occurrence to have something delivered that doesn't come through the embassy. Somehow, we can't quite get over the fact that it's possible to send something to Tajikistan.

Last night, we also had a nice little snow storm. The rainy day changed over to snow around 4pm and by the time I went home there was a nice dusting on the ground. I spent some time at a friend's house helping him to brush his dogs' teeth – oh the things we do for entertainment around here – a process neither we nor the dogs enjoyed very much.

This morning was very beautiful. When we came out of the gym the sky was light purple and all the trees were outlined by the snow. When we got to the embassy to shower, the sun was just coming up behind the clouds and it lit them up bright pink. It was really amazing. And after all that, here we are again at the start of another weekend.