November 14, 2011

Woke up to the sound of heavy rain on the rooftop. At least it wasn’t snow as we feared. Zoir and Glaso did not show up for the tutoring session they had arranged with me and it was fine as I could use the time to relax before heading to my conversation class.

When I approached the dean to find out which classroom I was reporting to, he was busy talking to someone else and motioned for me to wait in his office. Two of the morning English teachers debated who was entitled to have me and, since I couldn’t remember where I went two weeks ago, I went with one of them. The topic for the day was money and it allowed me to learn a lot about my students. None of them has a bank account or a credit card, of course. Only three are gainfully employed, two of them as elementary school teachers, and most students carry on them about 10-15 somonis, or less than three dollars. Only two admitted to gambling on soccer games and most of them said their religion prohibits them from asking to be repaid for money they have lent to friends and relatives. None of them were familiar with the concept of having a budget for weekly or monthly expenses.

Called Zeinura and agreed to meet her for lunch at the Russian cafeteria where she was already waiting in line with another six young women, two of whom spoke English quite fluently as one had lived in London and the other in Ohio. Zeinura is still interested in studying with me to prepare for the TOEFL examination.

Proceeded to the American Council and finally met Rebecca, the American woman who recruits, tests and prepares high school students to spend a year studying at an American school. Rebecca decried the fact that students are not taught to think for themselves, but also conceded that if a student aims to stay in Tajikistan, creative or critical thinking would only marginalize that person making it more difficult to complete their studies or obtain a job thereafter.  She’s only here until January and offered to share her vanilla and molasses with me so I can do some real baking. She participates in a book club and promised to send me the link so I can take part in it, too. She was on her way to the Education Week event taking place at the Bactria Center, the one Tahmina could not quite explain how I could get there. She had a car and driver and it felt great to be out of the rain and in a warm vehicle for once. At the center, I ran into Sandy, Tahmina, Corrie and Caroline. The room was only slightly bigger than my living room and several universities had set out pamphlets on the tables for potential students to grab. There was nowhere to go and we decided to step out under the eaves and then Sandy approached us to inform us that a discussion had been going on around the office regarding our prospective travel to Iran and the consensus had been that we would not be given permission. She did say we were free to travel there in June after our assignment was over.

We repaired to Caroline’s place, which was just one and half block from the Bactria Center, and drank tea, ate pastries and crackers and had some really relaxing conversation. Nigina cancelled plans for dinner and rescheduled for Wednesday.

On my way home, I stopped at a street vendor who fries stuff that looks and smells very similar to our “empanadas” and bought three different kinds for three somonis. The streets were plastered with hundreds of fallen leaves making for a treacherous walk. It didn’t stop raining for one minute.