The Week In Review

Well, I just got home after working late, (End Of Fiscal Year Madness continues...), and having to walk much farther than usual from where the Marshrutka let me off because the wacky driver was talking on his phone, took a wrong turn, and then refused to go back to the normal route. Never a dull moment!

But now that I've eaten and am feeling a little less frustrated, I'll share the high points of the last week. On Wednesday, I attended an event at the Ambassador's residence to welcome our new political chief. As I was waiting to assist with the greeting line, I felt something plop on my head. Sure enough, I was a bulls eye for one of the birds nesting in the grapevines above. One of my colleagues helped me get cleaned up and everyone assured me it was good luck. The rest of the event went well and I made some good new contacts, so maybe they were right.

The rest of the work week mostly revolved around procurement and working on my Employee Evaluation report - which is the document that will be used to determine if I get tenured and/or promoted. The end of the fiscal year is without question the busiest time of year, but that of course doesn't stop other requirements from piling on top of it.

One of those requirements was well worth it, even though it took a great deal of valuable time. On Thursday the embassy held a live-action earthquake drill, where we simulated what would happen during an actual major quake and in the immediate hours following. It was a very useful exercise as it helped us to think about what we can do now to prepare.

One thing that was a little bit eerie, however, was that on Friday night, we had an actual earthquake. It was around 12:30am, (so I guess it was technically Saturday morning), when we were awoken to the bed shaking and the handles on the dressers rattling. It was a good sized jolt. A couple of minutes later, we felt the bed start to shake again and it rapidly got stronger, but subsided before things got too crazy. No damage, no injuries, but we were definitely glad for the exercise.

Finally, the weekend arrived and we got a chance to enjoy the beautiful weather. The end of the week was rainy and cold - a quick change from the hot weather just a few days before - but by Saturday morning, the sky was clear, the air was cool and pleasant, and the mountains had a fresh coat of snow on them. I love Fall in Dushanbe.

We stopped by the bazaar and found a nice surprise - macadamia nuts! They were in the shell and we soon discovered that the shells are quite tough. I have to beat them hard with a hammer to get them open, but it's worth it. We had lunch in the park behind the Opera House and I was able to get a snapshot of this funny advertisement outside of the Ukrainian Restaurant.

I first saw it when we went there with my parents while they were visiting, but didn't have my camera on me. It's even funnier because there's no McDonald's here and no one besides expats will understand what it means.

Wait a sec...

Yup, that's my milk and cookies calling! A man's gotta do something to shake off a tough day at work.