November 27, 2011

It continued to snow throughout the night and this morning the view from my window was of a continuous blanket extending past the horizon. My apartment has zero insulation, so typical of the Soviet-era built apartment blocks, and thus I can only heat up the area where the space heater is located. I try to make a conscious decision as to where I’m going to spend the most time that day and then move one of the space heaters there. Caroline came over this morning and found the electric bill tucked in my door. It’s for a whopping 63.00 somonis or about $13.00 and Peter offered to show me where it should be paid. At least he reassured me that the power won’t be turned off if I happen to be late in paying it.

I offered to cook black-eye peas and rice and to add the leftover meat to a ratatouille with whatever vegetables I happened to have at hand. I still had three slices of pie left. Caroline and I ate first for one never knows when Peter would make his grand entrance. He brought a small chocolate-covered cake whose texture reminded me of those insipid cakes made at the Publix supermarkets in Florida.

We spent the rest of the afternoon figuring out how to organize the teacher training workshops and upcoming training for all the English teachers in Tajikistan who will convene in Dushanbe in January.  I’m excited about finally participating in some actual teacher training as opposed to just teaching English to beginners.

I was able to complete my report to Georgetown, with Caroline's help, so I can be reimbursed for the purchase of the textbooks for my students. I plan to mail the report directly from the embassy so as to insure its prompt delivery stateside.