Brief Interlude

Stephanie and I returned from our jaunt to China safe and sound. It was a great trip and the full story along with pictures will be forthcoming. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings - turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie - a day early and then enjoyed a nice french toast breakfast before we headed out.

Now that we're back and December is upon us, we're finishing up the Thanksgiving leftovers and gearing up for the Christmas season. Lots to look forward to with the Christmas tree, Christmas goodies, and of course, the gingerbread house!

Work is very busy compared to last year and WikiLeaks doesn't make diplomacy any easier - but I think that for anyone reading the news that goes without saying. That's about it for now, but I'm hoping to have the China Chronicles up by the weekend.

Hogwarts Comes to Dushanbe

As we approach the holidays, things are getting pleasantly quiet at work. There's still plenty to do, but with many people taking vacations, there are fewer emergencies. The weather continues to be very pleasant and warmer than it was last year. And while the start of cooler weather does bring the burning of cowpies for fuel, the constant haze it produces has resulted in some really spectacular sunsets as shown here.

One bit of interesting news is that Stephanie discovered that our cleaning lady seems to be drinking water out of the glasses she has washed and then puts it back on the dish drain. We haven't quite figured out how to approach the situation and this is yet another situation for which my Russian instruction to date has not prepared me. For now, Stephanie is just rewashing the glassware herself.

The arrival of the first avocados in over a year sent ripples of excitement through the international community. By the time Stephanie got to the bazaar to buy our turkey, however, they had been cleaned out. Fortunately some friends of ours had us over for guacamole today so we still managed to partake. But the reaction itself was amazing. You'd have thought that aliens landed or someone had announced that solid gold potatoes were discovered growing in Rudaki Park.

But avocados and poor sanitary habits aside, the biggest event by far was the arrival of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 at a local movie theater. I couldn't believe it when I heard, but a friend of mine and I went down there with his son on Saturday morning and got tickets. The theater was actually quite nice - huge really, and the seats were comfortable.

We were a bit nervous when we arrived and saw an enormous crowd of teenagers showing up at the same time. It turned out that one of the local schools came to see the 10am show as well. Given my recent experience at the opera house - with kids who couldn't stop talking for 15 seconds at a time - I was apprehensive at best but the kids were remarkably well behaved. It seems that Harry Potter casts a spell even here.

The movie itself was outstanding and with the help of my knowing the story, I was able to follow the Russian dubbing with no problem. It was just really cool that I could see the film within a day of its premier in the U.S.

Other than that, we've been getting ready for Thanksgiving, which we will celebrate on Wednesday night since we're heading to China for a few days starting on Thursday. There is now a delicious-looking pumpkin pie on the window sill courtesy of yours truly. The real trick, though, will be not eating it before Wednesday.

Holiday Road

The November Holiday Extravaganza continues here in Dushanbe. On Thursday, we celebrated Stephanie's birthday. Starting with cornmeal pancakes, eggs, and fresh bacon. We continued celebrating with lunch at the Hyatt and then it was on to sushi for dinner. To top things off, I made a dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate truffle icing. I have to say, it was pretty amazing. In fact, we ate the whole thing in just three sittings.

After trudging through Friday, (Gasp! A whole day of work!), it was on to the weekend. On Saturday evening, we decided to go to a symphony at the opera house, sponsored by the German embassy. It was a very good concert and free to boot. But the bad thing about being free was that anyone could show up. In our balcony seats, we were beset by hoards of teenagers who just could not get control of themselves long enough to stop their gums from flapping. I really raised the bar for feeling like an old man by scolding them several times in Russian. It didn't work very well.

We were further disappointed when, on the way home, we discovered that the supermarket were out of shrimp. Well, they were out of the good shrimp. Some friends of ours brought some over recently and they were outstanding. But when we got to the store, only the small, pre-cooked shrimp were left so we made do with what we had at home.

On Sunday we spent the afternoon at the coffee house that Stephanie discovered nearby. Unfortunately, they didn't have any coffee. But we enjoyed lunch and some green tea over a game of scrabble.

Now that I've made it through the hardship of Monday, (another whole day of work!), I am looking forward to having tomorrow off for another local holiday. After that I'll actually have to work for three days straight before the weekend, and another three days after that before Thanksgiving. Tough life.

Fortunately, the weather is holding up nicely so we are able to make the most of the time off.

What Do A Pirate and A Kangaroo Have To Do With Fried Chicken and Shwarma? You Tell Me.

November is a wonderful month to be working at the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe. The combination of local and U.S. holidays means that the first week in November was the only 5 day work week for the entire month! Of course, November has also brought rain to Dushanbe. It's a little late coming this year, but it's definitely arrived.

I particularly appreciated the new, wetter weather patterns on my way to work on Thursday. A little more than a mile from the embassy, at one of the traffic lights, my cab driver turned around and said he had decided to go a different way.

Now, this wasn't a regular cab, it was one of the numbered cabs that are supposed to follow set routes. When talking him into completing his route didn't work, I demanded half my money back (a whole somoni) before getting out of the car. Not that 25 cents means a lot to me, but it was a symbolic victory. So I took my 1 somoni, crossed the street and stood in the rain to wait for another taxi or Marshrutka. Other than that, I sailed through Friday and gladly welcomed the start of a 3-day weekend. Today was Constitution Day in Tajikistan.

On Saturday I made one of my periodic trips to the big bazaar. It's not unusual for vendors to offer samples of their goods, but I usually decline for health safety reasons. This time, however, I threw caution to the wind. I was hungry. I tried dried fruits, nuts, honey, pork sausage, horse sausage, and fresh, homemade bacon, among other things.

This market trip also turned up some other gems. One guy was selling locally grown oranges (I had no idea they even grew oranges here), and I was also able to pick up a large quantity of tofu from some of the Korean ladies. It's always nice to have something different.

On Sunday, Stephanie and I went up to the botanical garden to read since the weather is so beautiful. It seems that the garden has become the new hot spot for weddings because the area in front of the gate was packed with gaudily decorated cars. Inside, you could hardly turn around without bumping into a bride and her video-camera-toting entourage. One of the big wedding traditions here is to have someone follow you around and video tape everything, not necessarily the bride and groom. The film the wedding party's car driving through town, people standing in line to get into the park, other people taking pictures of the new couple, everything. To each their own I guess.

The only trouble with all the wedding madness was that it was hard to find a quiet place to sit. Many of the nice wooden pavilions were magnets for the wedding crowds, and sometimes we felt as if we were being followed (I think sometimes we were being followed). Eventually, we found a not-so-nice bench under an out-of-the-way tree and got some peace and quiet.

Sunday afternoon, we decided to treat ourselves and had a masseuse come by the house and give us back, neck, and head massages. I think she was a little tough for Stephanie, but it suited me fine.

We thought we'd cap the day off by going out to dinner at a Georgian restaurant and then take in the city at night. Things didn't work exactly as we'd planned. When we got to the restaurant we discovered that 3 out of every 4 items on the menu were not available, most of them the items that we wanted to try. Exasperated, we got our Hatchipuri (Georgian cheesy bread) to go and went on our way.

From there, I decided to pick up some fried chicken to go along with dinner, and that turned out to be an adventure in it's own right. Mayhem would best describe the situation in the fried chicken restaurant. Eventually I got to the counter and was able to order what I thought would be a simple request - two pieces of fried chicken. While I was waiting, I had time to ponder the significance of a pirate in a fried chicken restaurant. No idea why it was there.

Well, after about 15 minutes my order still hadn't come up and the girl who took it was suffering a barrage of requests from various parties. Eventually I got back to the counter and told her that I just wanted my money back. She apologized and came back with my order right away. I was so amazed by the apology that I forgot all about being annoyed. I took my food and wished her luck. It's always nice when manners pop up around here.

Fully stocked with dinner, Stephanie and I made our way along the main street. I had planned to take pictures of the city at night, but most of the things I wanted to photograph weren't lit up. It seemed Dushanbe was determined that our night out would not be what we had hoped. Nonetheless, I got some photos of the colorful lights and fountains at Rudaki park.

These "Light Trees" are very popular around here in spite of, or perhaps because of, their tackiness.

The presidential palace was one of the few landmarks actually well lit. Go figure.

I also got some nice night views of the downtown area with all of its light-decorated buildings.

And I would have been remiss not to capture the Shwarma Kangaroo next to one of the night clubs. No idea what a kangaroo has to do with shwarma either.

We got home, had our dinner and a nice relaxing evening.

Today I meant to go running in the morning but realized that I left my iPod in the gym at the embassy. Hoping to retrieve it, we went to the embassy, but the iPod was gone. Fortunately, I made a couple of phone calls and it turned out that someone was honest enough to turn it in and I'll be able to get it tomorrow. Again, people can always surprise you.

One other neat thing is that I got a shout-out in an article on America.gov, a website that talks about things the U.S. government is doing in regards to foreign policy. This one is about improving sustainability. There are some neat things that various agencies at the embassy are doing in Tajikistan. Some of the projects I'm doing at the embassy are showcased toward the end of the article. You can read it here.

And so, the long weekend is coming to a close. But we'll honor our nation's veterans (and Stephanie's birthday) on Thursday.

Scary Stuff

Happy Halloween! Well, a day late anyway. Hard to believe we're looking at November and that the holiday season has officially begun. November is a wonderful month because, between local and U.S. holidays, this is the only 5 day work week during the whole month!

One scary thing this week was the news leak that a nun from my alma mater (Iona College) was fired for embezzling $800,000 over the course of 10 years. What's really scary is that I knew Sister Susie pretty well, or thought I did. Even more scary is that the school didn't report the crime, but only fired her and another employee who was involved. A lot of the alumni are quite upset, but the school is remaining tight lipped, only saying that they got "most of the money back". Even if they got all of the money back, I think she should be prosecuted. It's a big deal and it seems that the school doesn't take it seriously. I'd call that a big problem for a school that relies almost entirely on tuition and alumni donations.

Apparently, in the rest of the world, it's also daylight savings time, but not here. No, Tajikistan marches to it's own drummer. I have to say, it is kind of interesting to watch the days get shorter and shorter - the sun comes up later each day and goes down later each day - rather than the odd jump to a brighter morning that comes with daylight savings time. And now we're 10 hours ahead of EST instead of 9. This also requires an adjustment to the TV schedule.

Halloween was fun. Just like last year, the "door decorating" contest gets everyone excited and into the Halloween spirit. My office had quite a display this year, but we were outdone by another office that had a whole extra room to decorate. Many of us questioned whether awarding the prize for the "door decorating" contest to an office that didn't put anything on their door was really in keeping with the contest, but the point is we had fun decorating (mostly).

It was also fun to see the kids get all dressed up, although one of the local staff dressed their kids up in a white robe with a pointy hat. Very KKKish, but we don't think it was intentional. It's always interesting to see the power of cultural knowledge, or lack thereof.

On Saturday, Stephanie and I enjoyed the beautiful fall weather as we did some shopping in the afternoon and Stephanie made a delicious chili. Saturday evening we got all gussied up (well I did) and went to the grown-up Halloween party. It was fun to see the different costumes, but we didn't stay out too long. I went for a Goth look, and it was well received - maybe too well received. Quite a few people told me that the look really "worked" for me. I'll let you be the judge.

Sunday was another gorgeous day so Stephanie and I headed out for the afternoon. We spent a few hours at a nice coffee house that Stephanie found, snacking, drinking coffee, and reading our books. Just as we were wrapping up, a friend called and invited us out for shashlik. It was a place we hadn't been to and quite tasty. All in all, a good weekend.

Alas, the week returned all too soon and here we go again. But with all the holidays coming up it doesn't seem too bad. And of course, while I'm enjoying the leftover Halloween treats, there was one more "trick". Stephanie and I just got our absentee ballots today, even though we requested them months ago. We'll vote, of course, but I also intend to get in touch with our local election relatives back in New York about this. You would think they'd send overseas ballots out earlier.

And now for my little soapbox piece - whoever you support, just make sure you vote.

Cool Weather, Hot Tempers, and Other Stories

It looks as though cool weather is upon us at last. While the blast furnace of Summer died off long ago, we were still getting into the upper 80s and low 90s on a regular basis. Now, highs are in the 70s at best and into the low 40s at night. Sweet comfort! The other great thing about the cooler weather is that it seems to have done in the remaining aphids that were attacking my collard greens.

Nothing too major as we roar full speed ahead into the holiday season, but I’ll share a couple of stories.

On Friday night, Stephanie asked me to pick up some bread on the way home. I walked about halfway from where the marshrutka lets me off before I got to the place we usually go. So I’m standing there at the counter, waiting for my turn but the clerk ignored me. In fact, he took two other customers who came in after me. Then, when I finally got his attention and asked how much the bread was, he told me and walked away to help another newcomer before I could even say “yes please”.

Knowing that there’s more than one place to get bread in this town, I stalked out and started heading back toward the marshrutka stop. I stopped in the first store I found and was able to get the price of bread from a clerk right away. I took my loaf up to the counter to pay and gave the guy my money. But rather than give me my change, he held on to my two somoni and started texting on his phone. Now, by this point, I wasn’t long on patience, so I snatched the money out of his hand, plunked the loaf of bread on the counter, and told him “If you want to earn money, pay attention to your customers!”. The concept seemed most surprising to him.

Finally, when I had walked almost all the way back to where I started, I found a store with prices clearly marked, went to the counter, and a young boy took my money and gave me my change in less than 15 seconds. On the way home, I poked my head into each of the previous stores and waved my bread at them. Despite the fact that I had to walk twice as far, and despite the fact that I paid a whole 20 dirham (4 cents) more, I felt triumphant. And the bread was delicious.

Not much else to report from the weekend. I went to a friend’s house for a rousing night of karaoke, performing my standard “Baby Got Back”, plus a few new favorites like “New York, New York”, “Hey Ya”, and “Painted Black”. I even branched out to a couple of Russian songs. A great time all around.

One other thing that I haven’t mentioned, but can, now that it’s made the mainstream news, are the recent incidents of violence around Tajikistan. Things started heating up in August when about 25 prisoners escaped from the main jail in Dushanbe. The government claimed that they were extremists, although here, you have to take everything with a grain of salt. The escapees seemed more interested in getting away than causing trouble, so we weren’t particularly concerned. It only affected us in the fact that we had to take the southern road back from our trip to the Pamirs because the northern one was closed as part of the hunt for the fugitives.

While we were in the Pamirs, Tajikistan had its first suicide bombing in the northern city of Khujand – about 7 hours driving from Dushanbe. The attack was clearly aimed at the government, not at civilians, much less foreigners or Americans. Shortly thereafter, a bomb went off at a Dushanbe night club, wounding 7 people. The big news, though, was an attack by insurgents, (as they are called by the host government), on a convoy of Tajiki soldiers. This occurred in a region to the east of Dushanbe and the violence has been simmering ever since. Facts are hard to come by as it appears the local government is working hard to censor information about the conflict.

For all our friends and family, there is nothing to worry about at this time. None of these events have targeted foreigners or Americans at all. The embassy is keeping a constant watch on the situation and I can honestly say that the safety of American citizens is their top priority. The embassy has been releasing information to let private American citizens in Tajikistan know of the precautions the embassy is taking, such as declaring the affected region off limits. The situation is concerning, but certainly not scary for us. Stephanie and I are able to go about our daily business without fear. We just maintain the same level of vigilance that everyone should in these times. If that ever changes, we’ll let you know.

Original American Culture

Well as they say, time heals all wounds. My legs eventually recovered from the incredible journey and life goes on. The tajik tummy stayed around awhile longer, but that too passed in time. This week, we had a nice surprise when a group of Native American performers came by the Embassy on Friday. The group had been touring the country as part of a Public Affairs program (the kind of thing I should be doing later in my career) and I guess they had some extra time. They did a really neat show demonstrating their skill with a whip – things like cutting a newspaper in half, or breaking pasta that someone was holding in their mouth. I don’t think my description is really doing it justice, but it was amazing.

Then they announced that they’d be putting on a show in front of the opera house that evening. So I arranged for Stephanie to meet me there to watch the display. It was a mix of traditional Native American dance, storytelling, and some games where the kids were allowed to play. Aside from being a great performance, it was so nice to see some true American culture on display here. I just thought it was amazing to see Native Americans dancing in traditional garb in front of the opera house in the capital of Tajikistan. It’s something I've rarely gotten to see in the U.S., so it was extra special seeing it here, so far from home.

It was also neat to see the locals’ reaction. At first there was a lot of pointing and some snickering, especially among the younger folks (it attracted quite a crowd) until they saw the performance start. I haven't noticed that local audiences to be particularly endowed with long attention spans, but this event had their full attention for the entire time. Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead, so I had to get some pictures from a friend to show you. I wish I could have gotten hold of a video.

It was a really successful program and people are still talking about it in town. After the performance, Stephanie and I went to the Steakhouse restaurant behind the opera house for some sushi. Talk about multi-cultural experiences!

The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful. We had a lot of household things to do - a trip to the bazaar, a haircut, etc... Although, on Saturday we experimented with a new form of exercise. Rather than sitting down to watch a movie, we took some DVDs to the gym and watched a movie while on the treadmill. It's pretty hard to walk for 2 hours straight, but we did it and felt much better than if we had just laid around. Not bad, eh?