Travels

Mostly about my Fulbright in Tajikistan, but smatterings of other places throughout the world. For those looking into the Fulbright, please feel free to contact me via the "ASK" link - leave your email and I can email you back! I love talking to potential applicants/grantees! Disclaimer: Views are my own, and not those of the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Government or the Fulbright Commission.

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Dushanbe, Tajikistan June 2014

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Happy belated Easter!! I will be the first to admit that even in America, I'm a ChrEaster person. So obviously, I didn't think I'd be going to mass at all in Tajikistan (also might be the fact that there are no Catholic churches here). However, it turns out that I missed being in touch more than I thought, so when Christmas came, I happily took up a friend's offer to go to her church's Christmas service with her.  (If I lived in Dushanbe, I might've even gone every weekend!)

The Gharm ETA, Rachel, also came to Dushanbe for the service. Neither Qurghonteppa nor Gharm has a Protestant or Catholic church, so we have to come into Dushanbe to go to service. 

And it was amazing. 

The view! The view! Look at it! Up on a mountain!

Though I became covered in bugs (heh), it was worth it, listening to the sermon and singing at the top of the mountain, with gentle breezes around me and lots of fresh air. 

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I know I said I'd post this a while ago, but I completely got bombarded with work! We had our Navruz party last month right before Navruz at the American Corner. 

The students brought one dish each, and we basically had a potluck Navruz party. We had our traditional bride (with the veil), our spring bride (with the white dress), and the husband. We also had students present about the holiday and legends associated with it via plays, songs, and dances. Unfortunately, even though it was an American Corner, we used Tajik to present on it, so it was kind of unfortunate, but overall, it was a lovely presentation. 

I got pulled into giving a "Navruz speech" halfway through and also had to dance a bunch (HORROR!). I snapped my fingers so hard for the dances that I had blisters on my hands for weeks! The students also made me wear a special form of Tajik national dress (I think it's Kulobi? Unsure) for the celebration (red dress).

It was definitely exhausting, but since I couldn't hang out with most of my students on the actual day of Navruz, it was nice to get to do a mini-celebration with them through the party! :) The students, who are of course obsessed with photos, just had to take about 100 photos. I had over 200 on my DSLR camera. Sheesh! 

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I am clearly the worst at updating my blog. But here goes! 

Last week (Friday, 21 March) was Navruz (навруз), which is the Iranian New Year celebrating the arrival of spring. It was originally a religious holiday, but in this region, it's just a Central Asian-wide celebration at this point. Alongside Kurbon and Ramadan, it's one of the biggest holidays of the year. Many girls wear an Atlas dress (Atlas is the national Navruz pattern-the photo second from the bottom on the right) on the 21st. 

Everything shuts down from Friday to Tuesday, so I had a five-day weekend! (although I didn't know that I had Tuesday off until 10PM on Monday. Oops)  Everyone goes to the city stadium early in the morning on Navruz and watches the ceremony/dances hosted by the local government. Girls and boys alike have been practicing their performances for weeks, so this is a big moment (although most girls/boys seemed to have been forced into performing by schools). 

I went with a couple of friends to the stadium, and we were lucky enough to get "guest seats," which allowed us to watch the performers from the front. To be honest, I could tell that the performers weren't that interested in performing (I saw them chatting to each other as they danced, haha). 

There were girls in Atlas dresses, boys in the iconic suits, Taekwondo athletes, soccer players, gymnasts, and so on who were performing. It's traditional for a "spring bride" to be in the show (as seen in the photo). They're dressed in beautiful wedding gowns. 

The boys sitting behind us offered us some Sumalak, which is this pasty sweet thing that Tajik women prepare the evening before Navruz. (It's the national Navruz food) I've posted the Sumalak photo as well (the brown paste thing in the red cup). Normally, I would never accept any food from strangers, but since moving to Tajikistan, it's turned into somewhat of a normality. They're just so friendly here, and the people who offer the food have no ulterior motives. What a lovely society. 

The performance lasted for three hours; after the show, some people went to watch the wrestling tournament or the locally hosted concert, while others just went to have lunch and wandered around. Apparently, girls don't ever go watch wrestling, so even though I wanted to watch it, I couldn't go. From what I hear, winners get a variety of prizes including horses, cars, sheep, and camels (!!!). The look on the faces of my male students when I said (as a joke) that I would compete in the tournament was priceless. Simply priceless. 

I ended up missing the exhibition booths set up by various NGOs, restaurants, etc that were running early in the morning near the hippodrome, but it was a good experience overall. We even got in with three people even though we only had one ticket, since no one checks the tickets anyway. Lucky us! It was definitely worth it for me to stay in Qurghonteppa, although I think other Fulbrighters spent it in Dushanbe. 

Schools and workplaces also host Navruz parties close to the holiday. American Corner Qurghonteppa had a huge party as well - it'll be the next post that I post :) 

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BABY IT'S COLD Part 2

It's very interesting to see my friends post statuses one by one about how their water has frozen and they now have no running water. I just checked the weather report for Qurghonteppa (trusty weather.com!)- lads and lasses, looks like I will be smelly until Saturday. Woo!!

Another thing about Tajikistan is that the infrastructure is not as well developed, so no central heating exists, which has become this hilarious (but not really) joke at this point. At home, I sit in my bedroom with my one and only heater (aka love of my life) so I'm perfectly content under my warm blankets. However, at work, we have no heat and it's -15C and it's just cold and miserable...

My coordinator and I just huddle next to the heater. It has become a routine of take off my hunters, put my REI (warmest socks from REI too) enclosed foot to the heater, warm one foot, do the same thing with the other. I actually got frost bitten last month when I slacked off on this process. Brrr. 

So what do I do to combat the cold? Snapchat during my breaks between classes, of course! 

Even Mr. Obama is cold! 

Until next time! 

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Brrrrr!!

Well, ladies and gents, happy one month belated New Year! (Yes, I did just seriously write that). I cannot believe that it's already February. Time has certainly flown by! The reason for my lack of updates is the fact that my computer broke twice (yes, twice) since my last update. Once, the hard drive crashed. Next, the cable connecting the HDD broke. Yup. 

Anyways, Tajikistan is cold. 

Temperature wise, it's not bad at all. It's around the 20's, or maybe the single digits. Warm, right? Especially considering my New England upbringing!! Wrong. It's cold. Very very cold. Why? There are a couple of reasons... 

First, we have no central heating. I am confined to my bedroom in my apartment (though I will say that I am lucky to have multiple rooms in my apartment) in front of a tiny China-made electric stove/heater thing. Furthermore, in my house, the kitchen has no window glass. You can imagine what it must be like right now in my kitchen. For the first time in my life, I had a kitchen sponge stick to the sink to the point that now there's this yellow fluff on the metal basin. Oh, my cooking oil froze too. (Who knew that was possible?) 

Second, my landlady and I had a misunderstanding and she turned the water off by accident, and the pipes froze. Oops. I will now have no running water at all until the pipes unfreeze. Which, by the way, will be in one to two weeks. Yay, I smell. Oh, also, doing the dishes is probably the biggest struggle ever without water. (I recently ate curry from a plastic bag. It's a new low, even for me). 

Third, the electricity goes out, especially in the winter since people use it so much to heat their house, etc. This means that what little heater you have in your house will be - how do I put it? - useless. This then leads me to go shooting back into my bed under my multiple korpachas. Boonies, yo. 

Fourth, shoveling, what's shoveling? My toes go numb on a regular basis as I slosh through the snow in my Hunters. Apparently REI's warmest socks aren't warm enough. Who would've thought? REI has met its match! 

So here I am, just hoping, hoping, and hoping that spring comes soon. It's cold and miserable to be sure, but when you think about it, it's kind of hilarious. I've learned to take it with a good attitude and just laugh about it. After all, how many opportunities will I have in my life to do my dishes from bucketfuls of water scooped out by bowls? 

Oh yeah, to all of y'all back home: do you feel better about the cold now? ;) 

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Tajiks LOVE tea.  Before coming here, I was the type of person who scoffed at any tea that wasn't Earl Grey or English Breakfast Tea. Oh the horror of fruit tea! GOD FORBID! I drank green tea and barley tea in Japanese settings, but that was about it. Anyways, I always drank tea without sugar and milk. If I did put in milk, it was rare. (Although I've always enjoyed tea with milk)>

However, since arriving in Tajikistan, my favourite flavor is LEMON. And wait for it... WITH SUGAR. My coworker and I always drink lemon tea together. I know, I know. It's like I can feel y'all's gasps of surprise. (or not)

Tajiks are ALWAYS drinking tea. Whenever I'm at work or at a friend's, I always get asked first, "do you want some tea?" It's either black tea or green tea (Choi Ciyoh or Choi Kabud). My family tends to go with Choi Ciyoh though. 

There's also a proper way to pour tea. I've yet to figure out all of the rules of do's and don't's but basically, you're supposed to pour a little bit of tea into the cup first and then pour it back into the teapot before actually pouring. It's more detailed than that, but that's the main/general idea!  Maybe it's because Tajiks believe that cold drinks get you sick (god forbid if you have a glass of ice water in the winter!). Or maybe it's because Tajik tap water is unpotable and you have to boil everything, so waiting for the water to cool is a hassle so tea is easier. Either way, tea is definitely a way of life here. I drink about 5-8 cups a day, if not more. Woo! 

I like it though! A nice (warm) change from the cold water I'm used to :) 

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I'm back from Sri Lanka!!

I spent ten days (ish) in Sri Lanka for a conference for all of the Fulbright ETAs in South and Central Asia.I spent two days in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a layover and then flew into Colombo, Sri Lanka. (My mother showed up in Kuala Lumpur!!!) 

It was so interesting to meet the other ETAs and hear about their experiences. I was particularly interested in hearing about the India ETA's experiences since they have been there for a while and had lots of teaching tips to offer. It was also SO odd seeing people whom I haven't seen since the PDO, which was six months ago. The ETA in Kazakhstan, Caroline, and I like to call our friendship "online dating" since we talk everyday via whatsapp and FB chat but haven't seen each other since June, haha. 

The seminars themselves were pretty useful- we spent a lot of time discussing things rather than listening to lectures. At some parts it became more of a ranting session, but that was good too since we were able to work through each other's problems and were able to give each other advice.   I would say that the highlight was definitely when we went to Galle, Sri Lanka on a day trip. Also, seeing everyone, of course :) We've all been talking about this conference for so long that I can't believe that it's already over! I feel like I don't have anything big to look forward to until June. Time flies!

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Taste of fall in Central Asia!  Rudaki Street, Dushanbe 29 November 2013 

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Hello, Strangers

Aka that should be you guys telling me that. Two months since my last real post, over a month since an actual post. I fail. Whelp. 

Noteworthy things that have happened that I MAY blog about. Or not. Depending on my mood. 

1. Eid Qurbon This is a day in October when the Muslims mark when Ibrahim sacrificed his son. It's basically like Thanksgiving and Halloween rolled into one, and people travel from house to house visiting friends and family.

2. Halloween Aka horror show in my book. We hosted a Halloween party and 150 children showed up. We had four pumpkins for carving. #oops

3. My birthday!  I turned 23. It was the most quiet birthday ever. But it was still fabulous, thanks to people :)  4. Thanksgiving  Again, hosted a Thanksgiving at American Corner and then went to one in Dushanbe  5. Made new friends in Dushanbe! They're Westerners. #what 

6. Electricity cuts have started. They're TERRIBLE.  That's about it for now. Oh, and I'm going to Sri Lanka this weekend for a conference for all of the Fulbright ETAs :)  I'm stopping by Malaysia on my way there for a 48-hour layover, and I'm staying with my mother's best friend. Aka YES. JAPANESE FOOD. 

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meaganmaher replied to your post“So I recently saw my friend's travel tumblr”

I am :)

So the post was actually about you! The girl in Spain was you! YOU! :) 

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killer-rhapsody replied to your post“So I recently saw my friend's travel tumblr”

I am!! Love reading your posts :)

Awww thanks!! YAY You're the sweetest :) 

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So I recently saw my friend's travel tumblr

And it was awesome (she lives in Spain, and she has this awesome writing style). And I need to update my blog too.  SO this will happen before the end of the week, before I get swamped with stuff!! I promise I promise I promise! (Is anyone even looking at this?) 

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I'm a Tajik girl?!

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Qurghonteppa, Khatlon, Tajikistan September 2013 

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The Sweetest Thing

So I wrote about how my electric stove broke to pieces after my electrical surge, right? I have been unable to cook since then, and have been eating Kulcha (fluffy Tajik bread) and ramen. Also the food that my landlady randomly gives me. So a couple of days ago, I was talking about this to my students before I left work at 530. 

An hour later at 630, I get a knock on my apartment door. I open it. One of my students is standing there with a red bag, out of breath - he'd clearly ran here. I asked him if everything was okay; he said, "I cooked this for you!" and then turned around and ran off. 

Inside was the most wonderful fried potatoes I've ever seen. It was very obvious that he'd cooked them, since the potato cuts were uneven and oily. It really touched my heart. See, in Tajikistan, boys don't really cook. Let alone 15 year old boys who live with their mothers. 

I was so touched. This boy had probably gone straight home, told his mom what was going on, and cooked it for me. And then ran over so that the potatoes were still hot when I got it. Two days later, I am still eating it because he made me so much. What a sweet, sweet, boy.  I told you. Tajiks have the kindest hearts in the world. I love the people here. 

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I am so lucky to be able to say that I love my landlady and her family. They are the sweetest, kindest people. Though the difference in culture can be somewhat frustrating at times since what we expect are different, it doesn't change the fact that their hearts are SO warm, and that they always take me in as their own -which I appreciate. They call me "apa" and "xoxar" (sister). Love. Love. Love.

Except I do sincerely hope that they don't get me fat by the time I leave (they say that they will make me very fat by the time I leave. Whelp), since I'm rather happy with my weight now. haha.