September 27, 2011

Slept on the sofa in the living room to take advantage of the wall air conditioning unit. Made coffee and ate some of the flat bread I had left over with butter and jam from the airlines. I was disappointed to see that none of the current converter plugs I had purchased at Radio Shack fit into the socket in the apartment and thus I could not plug in my laptop or electric toothbrush. Set out to find the large electronics  store Tashmina had mentioned where most small appliances can be purchased in the hope of finding one.  While crossing another pretty park, I was approached by a young guy who tried to start a conversation by speaking Russian to me. When I answered  that only English would do, he replied by using the most vulgar of sign language representations for intercourse and kept tapping my shoulder  to make sure I understood.

 I looked at my attire: long khaki pants and long flowing t-shirt plus Teva sandals and found nothing provocative in it. I managed to get away from him and never did find the store I was looking for. Instead, I walked into a stationery place and bought a couple of booklets on basic Tajik and English phrases and was directed back to the Green Bazaar for the proper plug, which I found after several tries.

                             Glad to find some familiar plants for sale on a sidewalk


I went back to the apartment where I found several women taking their children out for fresh air in the barren courtyard. I also noticed an arbor structured someone had devised and from which bunches of purple grapes hung. I wonder who gets to harvest them.

Grapes hanging from arbor in the courtyard.

When I went back to the Georgian place for dinner, the young guy behind the counter recognized me and pointed at new items I might be tempted to try and which I did. The food is palatable, but way too bland for my taste buds. The man at the cash register also remembered me and greeted me warmly.