October 8, 2011

On my way to meeting with my RELO, Caroline and Peter for lunch, took a leisure stroll through the main drag, Rudaki Avenue, and happened upon a lighting store. Curious to see if they might have a table lamp that would allow me to read at night, I stepped in only to find two floor lamps each costing more than a hundred dollars, 586.00 somonis in fact. I was simply shocked. I continued walking the alleys perpendicular to Rudaki and eventually found a shop where a group of seamstresses informed me they charged 40.00 somonis to sew the traditional kurta and pants outfit most Tajik women wear. On to the posh supermarket I had seen close to Caroline’s place to see if I could find some spices where I overheard two women speaking English and introduced myself to Mary Dean, an American working for an NGO, and Medina, a Tajik who studied in Canada and works for Oxfam.  We exchanged numbers and promised to contact each other later to learn about our respective lines of work.

                                        Fruit and Vegetable Stands

Our lunch took place at one of the outdoor eateries facing the Opera Ballet Theater where they only offered salads and kebabs. I opted for a salad and pomegranate juice only.

Ryan, the UN doctor I had met through Couch Surfing, had offered to take me to the clothing bazaar to see if I could find some ready-made outfits and some fabric. The power had gone out by the time we got there and the place was  stiflingly hot as this bazaar is just a warren of rooms stuffed to the ceiling with merchandise. There were no windows, and thus no natural light, and it was very crowded in spite of the lack of power. I did find a stall where I purchased a coffee mug and another to get some nail polish remover. I gave up on the idea of shopping in the dark and instead went to a local restaurant for some soup called “shorbat”, the same one I had had on my first day in the city and learned that green tea is called “Ceylon”. Ryan speaks some Russian, which came in very handy. We visited the train station and looked at the different points of travel and one caught my attention immediately: a four day ride to Moscow. If only I could find a travel companion willing to go with me. The fabric stalls at the Green Market offered an array of colors and textures, but all of them had glitter in them. We looked and looked and almost gave up until I found a blue/yellow/black fabric with muted glitter, but still some glitter. We’ll see what it looks like once it is turned into an outfit.

                                  Traditional dresses

Nancy, Peter, Caroline and I spent almost an hour searching for a Persian restaurant that had been recommended to us and never found it. We ended up at the cafeteria across from the park having borscht soup and bread, except for Peter who ordered chunks of chicken on white rice and was thoroughly disgusted with it. I told him about the chicken being transported frozen from the United States and then sold in chunks all over the city. Not the most appealing of sights.