Yesterday night, I was sitting with some friends at the Irish Pub here in Dushanbe (yes, it exists, yes it has Guinness, and yes it does literally look like a little hobbit hole on the side of a traditional Tajik building) when one of my friends mentioned that apparently, my post on The Harvard Crimson called “An Evening in Tajikistan” made the Google News top ten stories about Tajikistan of the last week or so! If you haven’t read it, bounce on over to the Crimson and take a look! And as always, feel free to send me questions and ideas for new things that you want to hear about on here – it’s super easy using the form below!
“Wow, this internet is faster than dial-up!”
I’m actually shocked that I’ve been able to get so many blogs up this week. When we first arrived in Tajikistan, we traveled for two days without really any internet, then had some slow internet at a hostel where we spent the first morning. From that Thursday until Monday, we did not access the internet in any form. It was some serious cold turkey quitting going on. But, when we finally did have access to the internet, actually loading a page was another issue entirely. Continue reading ““Wow, this internet is faster than dial-up!””
Managing Marshrutkas
Dushanbe is a small city, but it’s even easier to get around than you might think. Everything is only a few blocks off of the main drag, Rudaki avenue, and if that weren’t enough, there is a robust network of public (and easily accessible private) transportation.
Easily most visible are the rusty trolleybuses that ply Rudaki as bus route 1, many of which have a Tajik flag billowing on a little mast above the driver’s cab. You step on at any of three doors, and pay an attendant one Somoni for the ride. As many a Tajik have learned, you then assess where the sun has been hitting the vehicle most recently. Since Rudaki runs north-south, depending on the time of day, one side of the bus is considerably hotter than the other because it’s in direct sunlight. Maybe that’s why so many people looked at me strangely for the three days I chose to sit on the sunny side of the bus before realizing on the fourth that the right side of the bus was a good twenty degrees cooler. Continue reading “Managing Marshrutkas”
A Lada Love
A few days ago I took my first hair-raising ride in a Lada. I had just meant to catch a marshrutka or shared taxi to go to a restaurant with some friends, but when the first one to stop was a black old-fashioned Lada, I couldn’t help but hop right in and smile as we began to weave our way through Rudaki avenue at 80 to 100 kilometers per hour. Given that I’ve cracked at least two jokes at the expense of this automobile, I figured it only reasonable that I write a post all about them. Continue reading “A Lada Love”
Making Sense of Somonis
Tajikistan is a cash economy, which means that I’ve handled more cash in the past week than I have probably handled in the previous four years of my life (with the exception of my international travel in the past year). There are a handful of places that accept Visa and Mastercard, but out of fear of causing a card problem, I’m hesitant to use them. I might just give it a check in the next few days, just in case.
An Evening in Tajikistan
Today the Harvard Crimson published a piece I wrote about my trip. Because of the copyright, I cannot reproduce the entire entry here, but here is an excerpt. Continue reading it on the Crimson website!
Each day, after my classes finish at the Language Center, I like to take a walk along Rudaki Avenue. The entire length of this long, beautiful boulevard is covered in a canopy of massive hundred-foot tall trees, stretching from the train station and airport in the south of the city to the small neighborhoods a few miles to the north where I live with my host family here in Dushanbe.
The First Week
It’s been a VERY long week it seems, probably because of the 15 hour-long days that start at dawn and go until well after dark. I’m definitely sleeping well, but more from exhaustion than from the bed. It is comfortable, but has taken some getting used to, particularly the part where it’s not extra-long like my dorm bed. Luckily, the temperatures in the evening drop into the 60’s from the 100’s during the day, which means I actually have to sleep with a blanket or something (usually my sweater – it’s too warm the first half of the night to have it on).
My house is nice, and understanding my host grandmother has gotten a lot easier. My host mom and I get along great; she is very warm and caring, but also very patient and willing to help me try out grammatical structures and use new vocabulary. I took it as a very positive sign (and a great practice opportunity) when today she asked me to translate a sunblock package into Tajik so she could understand it, then since she had not used sunblock really before, asked me how I would advise her to use it. She also had me translate and describe how to use foot and hand cream. I think giving beauty tips in Tajik definitely helped my language skills. Continue reading “The First Week”
Man Down
Today I fell in a hole in front of a giant crowd of Tajik students. Whoops.
I’ll back this story up to provide some context to what so far has been the funniest thing to happen to me since arriving in Tajikistan. Here there are a lot of open areas for water drainage – the rare rain that comes can cause major flooding, and so the city has a very effective system of water drainage from sidewalks and streets.
However, this results in many open holes and channels, or jubes, that are occasionally hazardous to people and Ladas alike. We had been warned that we should always look where we were going because of “open manhole covers,” as it was put to us, but having only seen one that was actually a manhole, I sort of brushed this aside as I walked along chatting with some people after class.
And then suddenly there wasn’t ground under my foot and, “like a train wreck in slow motion” in the words of one of my friends, down I went. It was noon at one of the busiest intersections in the city, and people were already watching us. I blinked for a second before jumping back to my feet. All we could do was laugh and walk quickly before I blushed too much.
Lesson learned: watch your step.
Mark, Meet Dushanbe
We arrived in Tajikistan at 3:30 in the morning a few days ago, and since then I have a lot to report, partially because I have not had a lot of access to the internet. On our first day, we spent most of the day trying to orient ourselves after having had very little real sleep for several days. After clearing customs, we were bussed over to a hotel in the center of the city to rest for a few hours before eating and having an in-country orientation. We all had thought that we would immediately pass out for the entire rest period, but many of us ended up sitting around using the internet to update friends and families as to our location and arrival (this was when I posted my last blog, assuming I would have internet the following day to post another). After finally being able to fall asleep, though, many of us regretted the decision because we were so sleepy when we woke up. After our orientation we had lunch at a Persian restaurant, and then walked around the city for a few hours. Continue reading “Mark, Meet Dushanbe”
Moonrises
On Tuesday evening we watched the moon rise over Dulles, its orange crescent form more slender than even the wings that would carry us to Frankfurt and beyond. In many calendars, including the variety of Islamic calendars, the new moon is the start of a new month, but for us it was also the start of a new journey. The next time we see the new moon, it will signal the halfway point on our journey here in Tajikistan, and will also signal the beginning of the month of Ramadan, which many plan to observe. Continue reading “Moonrises”