You Never Can Tell

Another whirlwind week has come and gone. Between squaring up our budgets for the upcoming end of fiscal year, working with a specialist who visited to help my procurement section, and the usual hub-bub of keeping the embassy running, there's barely been time to breathe. Stephanie has been similarly swamped with work, so the 'ships passing in the night' idea probably applies here. I guess that's the price you pay for seeing the world.

And of course, it isn't ALL work and no play. On Thursday we took my colleague (we'll call him the 'other GSO', out to lunch for his birthday. Most of our staff came along and we had some really excellent grilled lamb.

The good thing is that time not only flies when you're having fun, it goes somewhere close to light-speed when you're working hard and now we're already enjoying another weekend. Last night, we went to a party where they miraculously had lobster tail, and some of the best pork chops and steaks I've had anywhere, much less here in Tajikistan.

To top it off, they had a local live band that played something other than local music. Actually, the band was fantastic and they played a mix of music that had everything from Elvis to Nirvana, including Hotel California. It was the perfect way to unwind after such a long week.

Today I made a trek to the big bazaar. We try to go once a month to get some things that they don't have at the smaller, more convenient markets and also to take advantage of the greater variety. I really had a field day too, bringing home buckets of black currents, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries. Plus I scored some very rare green beans and several varieties of pork sausage.

It's amazing what can become a 'great find' when it's in short supply. As to the berries, it's way more than we can possibly eat, but we'll freeze the majority for the winter. Our experience last year taught us that berries do better with freezing than most fruits.

Also at the bazaar, I saw something bizarre, (almost a pun)... One of these gypsy women came up when I was buying the berries to beg for money and as usual I ignored her, not wanting to encourage the behavior. Usually, vendors will just shoo them away from customers, but this time, the vendor's little boy came running and started hitting the lady with a small spoon. I was shocked, but so was his mother (the vendor). It was interesting to see parenting in action here. When the boy didn't listen, his father swooped in to carry him off. It was an interesting exchange on several levels - both to see a young child attack another adult with a spoon (which says something about the status of the gypsies I think), but also see the quickness of the parents' reaction given the status of the gypsies.

This evening, we're going to another cook-out at a friend's house. Next week we're planning our own little party - so the summer season continues to be plenty full.

On a not-so-good note, we were reminded about the down-side of 'anything can happen' when a drunk driver, speeding down a side street, failed to turn at an intersection and plowed across the ditch, through an iron fence, and ended up on the steps of the supermarket down the street for us. Unfortunately, one of our friends was going into the store at the time and was hit. He's being med-evac'd to London to get better care for his injuries, but should be ok.

I was on my way home from dinner with colleagues on Thursday evening and when my marshrutka got stuck in traffic near the supermarket. I decided to just walk from there and that's when I saw the damage from the accident. Everything had been cleared away, but I ran into one of our local employees and got filled in. The only bright side of this terrible incident was seeing how the embassy community rallied around our friends and was willing to provide support. It's nice to know that such a safety net is there.

Now, we're just hoping our friend is ok and that the driver isn't rich enough to buy his way out of trouble. Cynical, I know, but with good reason.