Dushanbe and Yevan, Tajikistan

Hello dear readers,

Apologies for the long hiatus. I had two back-to-back trips, and on my two days in Almaty I had to prep for three weeks in Tajikistan.

I was in Karaganda, Kazakhstan for four days. That was mining country. Everything is named after miners--stores, their soccer team, the stadium, restaurants..... Other than mines and factories, there wasn't much to see. The sanitation in the hotel we stayed in needed work, but I'd prefer to forget about that. More maternity hostpials, more pregnant women, more newborns, more data. But in one maternity, there was cognac. Lots and lots of cognac. Replete with long toasts. Over lunch. At least I was going back to a dataset and a computer. They were going back to the delivery ward. Lord have mercy.

Here in Dushanbe it's still summer. But it's nice and dry during the day, so it's pleasant and liveable without AC, and the nights are nice and cool. It was a stunning approach into Dushanbe, I'm glad I asked for a window seat. The mountains surround the city, which is tucked into a valley. Just gorgeous. And for the next three days I got the see lots of the mountains, since we were working at a site an hour outside of Dushanbe, up in the mountainside. The project has two massive LandRovers that were donated to them by Merlin after the civil war here in the early 90s. So we wound and bumped our way up to Yevan through the mountains and villages. The drive reminded me of the drive from Thessaloniki to Skopje Steve and I made a few years back, and I felt the same sense of freedom and happiness during these drives. You know how sometimes you're driving down the road and you see a dog with their face stuck outside a car window, half-panting, half-smiling at the wind rushing over their head? That was me driving to Yevan. *woof*

Alas Yevan was poor, poor, poor. No running water in the hospital, no hot water piped in at all. There is a water source right outside the hospital, and very time we came in and out there were always a bunch of kids filling up antifreeze-sized bottles with clean water, then lugging them home. It made me sad--they were no more than 6 and 8 years old and they should have been running around, playing and being kids. But instead on the drive up I saw them herding sheep, goats, riding donkeys, fetching water, farm stuff.....I know that farm kids are expected to pitch in whatever their age, but it still made me sad.

Recently the president has initiated some interesting poveryt alleviation schemes to try and help the populace. I am told that Tajiks respect tradition, and for certain events like weddings, funerals, circumsicion parties, they invite tons of people and have lots of food, drink, etc. But then they starve the rest of the time, because paying for these events wipe out their savings. So the president has decreed that only 150 people can attend any wedding. Yes, there is a person who stands at the door and counts, and when the numberof guests reaches 150, no one else can enter. Any number can attend a funeral, but only a pre-apportioned amount of plov (national rice dish) can be served. I didn't ask whether there were government employees dispatched to every funeral to weigh the plov before it was served.

I keep hearing the phrase "our Tajik men" here which is interesting. As in "our Tajik men expect their wife to have at least four children, so to have to perform a hysterectomy on a woman with only two children is a tragedy, for he will surely get another wife to bear him more children." I will refrain from further comment. But suffice it to say that whenever I hear "our Tajik men" I know that I won't like the rest of the sentence.

The Tajik language is very similar to Iranian, so it's very unlike all of the other 'Stans, whose langugages have Turkic roots. They also speak Russian with a very interesting accent outside of Dushanbe. Their grammer is perfect, but the intonation, accent, and where they hit the dominant syllable is very non-Russian. It's like listening to a native of India Speak English--they say the right words, but in such a different lilt that it's almost like it's another language. So that's been very interesting to listen to. Makes me feel like a native Russian when I talk! LOLO

My GI tract wasn't as strong as I thought it was, and I think I got a mild case of Giardia, 'cause I had a fever the other night (as well as some other symptoms I won't disgust you with). So I busted out the Cipro and after two days I feel like a totally different person. I will not contribute to antibiotic resistance, however, so will continue to take the meds for another three days. Right now I'm checking out the contraindications with alcohol, because I really, really want a beer tonight. :)

Tomorrow I don't have to work (gasp, shock, surprise!) so I am going to wander and play and explore all day. Hopefully I'll have interesting things to post for my diligent readers, including some good pictures. Mare, I went out of my way to post today, thanks to your prodding. :) Now I know at least one person is reading this blog other than mom and dad! LOL