Chillin' In Dushanbe

As I'm writing this post, on the evening of President's Day, I'm looking out on a quiet snowy yard. Now, I know this is nothing compared to recent snowfalls along the east coast back home, but it is nice to finally have it look like winter for an extended period of time. Apparently it is rather unusual to have snow on the ground for more than a day or so. Actually, for most of the week it was snowing pretty much constantly, but not accumulating too much, which is perfect in my book.

On Saturday a group of people from the embassy went to the Museum of National Antiquities.
While not what you would call 'world class', it does have a pretty nice collection of artifacts showing the different cultures that have washed over this part of the world throughout history - the Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Mongolians, and others have left there mark.


Among some of the interesting items were the skeleton of an ancient princess who towered over 6 feet tall in life,

dating back to the time when Zoroastrianism was the main religion. We also saw a set of skulls, one of which had the oblong shape that some cultures in Africa achieve by wrapping the head in tight cloth at a young age.
There were also statues and parts of statues showing evidence of the presence of the Hindu religion...
stone tablets written in Arabic...
and the main attraction an enormous stone Buddha, which took up an entire room by itself.
I also noticed a painting which showed the founding myth of Rome (Romulus and Remus being suckled by a she-wolf) - which you may remember I was perplexed a statue of the same scene when I was in Khujand.
Our guide explained that it was evidence of trade between ancient Rome and this part of the world. Pretty impressive.


Interestingly, our guide also glossed over an entire section of stone age artifacts, stating that as a converted Christian, he didn't believe in the stone age. We held our tongues and enjoyed the rest of the tour very much.


After the museum, Stephanie and I took in the sights of a snowy Dushanbe and had lunch at a Georgian restaurant.
For more pictures of Dushanbe in snow as well as from the museum, click the picture below.

Museum

On Saturday night, we braved a rather heavy bout of snow to attend a Marti Gras party at the Deputy Chief of Mission's residence. Despite the weather, a lot of people showed up and we had a really good time drinking hurricanes and dancing the night away.




We celebrated Valentine's Day on Sunday by going to brunch at the Hyatt with another couple. It was a nice treat and the food was great as usual. It's certainly nice to be able to go to the Hyatt once and awhile and pretend that we're not in Tajikistan. While we like it overall, it can be trying at times.


Today was pretty cold so we mostly stayed in. Our only excursion was to go to the dentist for a cleaning. The experience was... interesting. My Russian is not well developed in the area of Dentistry and only one person spoke any English. The first order of business was to ensure safety. Our medical officer recommended that we purchase single-use kits of dental tools for hygienic purposes so we did. But then there were several instruments that were not in the kit. The dentist explained that they had been auto-claved but we called the medical officer to confirm it was ok.


With that done, the check-up was more or less uneventful. The only really painful aspect was that the water pick used very cold water - which was less than comfortable. Neither of us felt that it met the standards we are used to in the U.S. but figure it's better than nothing. Not to mention, it only cost us about $25 altogether!


And so closes another three day weekend. I've decided I like three day weekends ending in Monday better because it's easier to come off a three day weekend to a four day week than a full week.