November 1, 2011

Still more rain this morning and a very chilly kitchen in which to make my coffee. Retreated to the living room and caught up with the news online in the absence of my usual sources, the BBC and Al Aljazeera. I was surprised to find the trolley relatively empty and instead of riding standing up, as I usually do, there was a seat available for me. The cafeteria across the street from the PedInst had longmon noodle soup today, one of my favorites, and I had a bowl and two slices of bread with it. My first class contains 27 students sitting at miniscule desks in equally sized chairs in a dark almost oppressive space. The students on the right side of the classroom are unable to see the blackboard and must get up periodically to copy whatever I have written on it.

                                              Intricate mosaic work advertising a disco club

During my break, Pariso and I went to the Human Resources office to clarify exactly what kind of documentation I needed to provide in order to continue teaching at the university. The first requirement: I needed to buy the black folder within which my personal documents will be archived. At 15 somonis, it’s not an onerous purchase, but does seem a little silly. I was told once again that I needed to provide letters of recommendation, copies of all my college diplomas and a letter from my landlord, someone with whom I cannot even communicate. All of this paperwork is needed if I want collect my salary of about 50 somonis a month, or about $12.00. The dean, who seems not to have the slightest sense of humor, laughed when I told him I had been kept awake at night thinking about the possibility of losing out on such lucrative source of income.

Managed to convince the dean that my allergies to dust made it necessary for me to use a whiteboard and he finally made the decision to assign classroom #3 as my permanent classroom. The whiteboard, the only one I’ve seen at the institute, is really tiny, but better than the scarred blackboard I’ve been using so far. Only one light bulb worked, some broken chairs were pushed against the wall and the bookcase had broken doors and was full of dust. When I asked about getting the light bulb replaced, Pariso answered that I needed to collect the money from the students to buy it.

I stopped at the stationary store and bought the binder, some markers and a new eraser for the whiteboard. I’m not sure yet if I can claim these items as expenses related to my teaching. Met with Caroline and Peter to try out a new restaurant only to find the place full of smoke. I refused to go in and we proceeded to try another place nearby, which was smartly furnished and quite cozy, but once again the cloud of smoke made us turned it down even when the waiter tried to convince us that the non-smoking section, behind a flimsy curtain, would suit us just fine. With few options open to us, I suggested trying out one place I had seen earlier in the week which had an open sitting porch up front. Peter was familiar with it having been there once just for a beer. The place in question offers an English menu and purports to make New York-style pizza. The dining area, very small and containing only five tables, was still smoky despite the “No Smoking” sign on the wall, but there was only one other table occupied and they were not smoking yet. The pizza Margharita we ordered did not contain mozzarella cheese or basil, but at least the crust was thin, there were slices of tomato and some melted cheese along with some herb that tasted like cilantro. Eaten along with a cold Baltika beer it was passable.