December 27, 2011

It was, of course, snowing when I got up this morning and I promptly dispatched an email to Caroline letting her know the outing to the embassy was cancelled on my part. She had an appointment regarding the renewal of her passport and thus no choice, but to go. In addition, she lives in the center of town and they get sand spread over the main arteries whereas I have to contend with snow and ice everywhere I go. She emailed me later on to confirm that they can deal with the passport issue before her trip to Nepal.

Started reading about grant writing in preparation for a presentation next Wednesday at a local conference for English teachers sponsored by the U. S. Embassy. I really don’t know what these teachers are looking for in terms of funding and thus it makes it difficult to tailor my message. Are they looking for money for local projects, opportunities to travel abroad, teacher exchange programs? I just don’t know.

Someone knocked on the door and it turned out to be Zoir. I was still in my pajamas and bathrobe and asked him why he hadn’t called me as we had previously agreed. He said he didn’t have any money to add to his cell phone. I asked him in offered him some of the biscuits still leftover and some coffee. He had never had real coffee, just the watered down instant version sold here, and found it extremely strong. He hadn’t been able to complete the reading lesson I’d given him the week before as his dictionary, a very slim volume, didn’t include some of the vocabulary contained in the lesson.

I had been curious to find out how he supported himself since I knew he didn’t work. I figured today was a good day to ask. My jaw dropped when he started by telling me he had seven brothers and two sisters. His tuition is being paid by a brother who went to work in Russia, he lives with another brother and his wife and yet another brother, who works for a local TV station, gave him a computer he doesn’t know how to use and covers some of his other expenses. His parents and the four youngest siblings remain in the village.

In passing, he mentioned that his group had taken their history exam that morning and some had not passed. Those students had paid the teacher 10.50 somoni for a passing grade. He begged me not to repeat this fact to anybody else. He believes exams will be over the first of January and then they’ll have a 20 day winter break and be back at school at the beginning of February.

Corrie called me while Zoir was here to let me know she’d be stopping by to bring me a book on grant writing and some materials I might find helpful. I made her a cup of tea and offered more biscuits to see if I could get rid of them soon. I shared some of the bounty I had received lately as I know she likes to cook and so a packet of taco seasoning, some chili powder and a portion of the vanilla given to me by Jennifer went to her.

We chatted for a quite while about the ex-pat community in Dushanbe, Caroline’s chances of sticking out to the end, what will happen to Peter’s cat, other possible places to get decent food, and so on. Corrie did hear about an Iranian place that supposedly makes really good sandwiches. We’ll go exploring next week.

I still have no running water, but the same trickle that’s beginning to get on my nerves. I need to go downstairs and ask Nilufar if they’re having the same situation. Pariso called to tell me she needed to see me tomorrow. I told her that if it was still snowing, I wasn’t budging from my flat. She offered to come to my place instead. I first need to know if the driver from Caritas will be picking me up or not.