Sunday Night - less than 48 hours left here

Its Sunday evening in Dushanbe, and we have come to the Relief International office to use the Internet connection. We waited to arrive late so we can use Skype to call home and it will be Sunday morning there. Even if we wake up our wives, we all know they are glad to hear from us.

We arrived back in Dushanbe Friday by plane, and then relaxed a little before back to work. We did some shopping at the big store that has “everything”, I’m not sure how its spelled but its pronounced ZOOM. That is where we hit the Lapis stall and made sure are wives will be content. I’m buying one of everything to make sure I got the right one, Andy buying the lightest to carry, and George knows exactly what style his wife likes so he buys based on that! It is fun because this is one of those places where price is negotiable.

That evening Andy wants to work, so George and I walk to a not too distant Chinese restaurant. Our first Chinese food in country. It was good, especially the fried noodles. We walk back and venture into a store to see what is available, I picked up some blank cdroms for 1 somoni each. One dollar equal about 3.2 somoni.

Back at the apartment, then we start working too. It rained that day, and because of the old pipes in the city water system, soil leaks in, so now our water is coming out the color of coffee or chocolate milk, its tough to decide. We don’t even know if we would come out cleaner than when we went in if we take a shower?

There is a store nearby and we buy bottle water for everything. I bought some chips there that have flavors we don’t. I got a “ham & cheese” bag and a “shish kabob” flavor. Both were GOOOOOD! I bought some type of carbonated peach drink, I’m not sure if it was alcoholic or not, it was in that section, but there weren’t any indications of % content on the bottle. For beers here, the big brand is “Baltica” and you can buy Baltica 1 thru Baltica 9. There is some variation is appearance, like a 4 looks like a ‘dark ale’, but basically the number is the % alcohol. We are generally too dehydrated to get to take advantage of the beer. That would really mess us up if we drank that and our bodies were expecting water!

Saturday we went to the museum that has the “Sleeping Bhudda”. It’s the largest sleeping bhudda in this part of the world. Our group was the only ones at the museum, so the docent would take us to a room, turn the lights on, let us look, then go to another room, turn its lights on, point for us to go that way, then go behind us and turn the lights off in last room. They actually had some very fine pieces in this museum, including some hominid skulls that were in quite interesting states. Unfortunately, no photography was allowed in museum. I scoped the place out and determined that they didn’t have security cameras, 1 point for me. So then since the docent had to come and go, I knew I could be ‘unobserved’, another point for me. I had my camera hanging on my shoulder, so anything I did would have to be shot from the waist, hopefully pointing in the right direction. So I asked George to cough and I would shoot then so his noise would cover my camera noise. We did this once or twice, got some shots, but I overshot the bhudda, so I have to be happy with the postcard I bought. It was worth a try!

Today were worked in the apartment, and then met our handler at the Chinese restaurant. George and I liked it and Andy hadn’t been, we order and shared and it was another wonderful meal. Unfortunately they were out of those fried noodles, but the steamed dumplings we substituted were great too!

I was fairly done with my Monday presentation, so my partners headed back while Susie took me to the Green Bazaar (it has green gate at entrance). Got some dresses and some “atlas” material for dress making. Also bought some fresh cherries, 5 somoni for 0.5 kg, you do the math! I ate all the cherries in one sitting, they were delicious!

After the green market we hit these two little antique shops. There was this well done, ornate, but old jacket/coat there that caught Susie’s eye. The first price we heard on it was about $110 dollars. We bought various little items, and I was excited because I found my soviet era stuff, I have been wanting, but between every transaction/negotiation, they tried to sell her that jacket. By the time we left, she got it for $40. I was happy with all the things I found, I even got a cool soviet military officer’s hat for $10. I bought some rubble coins, Lenin banner, hammer and sickle flag, and a very antique pearl necklace for a price that will never be disclosed! I even got a Soviet pin from the 1980 Olympics. I basically spent almost all the money remaining in my wallet! Not sure if that is good or bad, but I love all my purchases.

Tomorrow we do our final presentations to the Dushanbe Deaf School, as they also have an ILC there. I'll do mine primary as a photo essay on the Faces of Tajikistan. I got enough great images I need to select about 25, get nice matted large prints done, and work on getting an exhibition somewhere like the Houston Center for Photography or a local library. I also put together a short but sweet presentation on “10 things I learned in Tajikistan”. I learned other things that aren’t in the presentation, like how to sleep on the floor, how to take a shower one cup of water at a time, things like that, but I don’t have good photos for, so they didn’t make it to the final ten.

All you readers, please remember, once I am back, I will be adding so many more images to this blog, back into the existing entries; so please remember to check back often so you can see some of them.

It is very strange to feel like I have two homes now. It also is going to be very strange to apart from Andy and George. We have spent almost all our waking hours together for almost 20 days. I have been blessed be every acquaintance I have made on this journey.

If you have never been, you should consider an adventure in Tajikistan. Pack light, bring a extra bag for things to take home. You won’t need a hotel, just go meet some people and someone will always invite into their home. This is no joke. I was walking in Khujand, taking pictures of the mosque. A fellow photographers comes up to me and wants to know if I speak English (the red/white/blue bandana on my head was a good clue). We met, exchange names, a little background, next thing you know he’s introducing me to his friends and wants me and my group to come to his house for dinner. He’s known me for less than 10 minutes! That is just the way people are here. I am looking forward to the day that I come back to Tajikistan!