February 11, 2012

When I got to the American Corner at 9:45am, I saw many of the attendees milling around in front of the building and suspected that Bakhtyor had overslept. I called him, and he indicated he was on his way. Caroline got the teachers into group by carrying out an activity in front of the building while I followed Bakhtyor upstairs and arranged the snacks and drinks.

Corrie showed up and we chatted in the other room as Caroline was showing clips from the “Shaping the Way we Teach English” DVD and didn’t need our help with handouts or crowd control. Corrie happened to mention that Tahmina had told her she had been confirmed to stay for another year teaching the journalist students. I couldn’t help but comment on how the embassy didn’t seem to offer information on an equal basis and left it at that.

A young woman approached me to inform me she wanted to become my “assistant” whenever I’d be required to make presentations on behalf of the embassy. She received a master degree in ESOL last year form a university in India and needs to do some teaching here until the next school year begins. Once I disavowed of the notion that I was working directly for the embassy and could offer her volunteering work, Nehry still wanted to work with the ELFs. We exchanged numbers but don’t see what good would come out of it. Ruth came in and we caught with each other’s news while waiting for Caroline to finish her presentation. Nancy and David joined us later on. They finally have their OVIR registration, airplane tickets and apartment lined and will be heading to Khujand on Monday.

Since we had been so pleased with the Praga Restaurant last week, we all trooped over there to find it empty except for one couple. I guess the kitchen couldn’t cope with eight diners and we waited more than 1.5 hours for our food. I had had a very early breakfast of just bread and hot chocolate and quickly got extremely irritable for the one waiter kept going by not even looking at us and of course, here they don’t offer you bread or any kind of appetizer for you to munch on. At one point, I asked Corrie to please check with the kitchen or I’d leave since I could have walked to my house, cooked a meal and eaten by then. When my food came, it was cold and only the French fries were hot. The bell peppers, which had come in different colors and a very crisp texture last week, had disintegrated this time along with some tomato slices. They had been cooked separately, so the meat had no seasonings or color whatsoever. I was tempted to fling the dish at the waitress and be done with it. I’m definitely running out of places where I can even attempt to eat in this city.

Caroline informed she had another bag to bring to the house and I went home to do the dishes and clear some space in the fridge so she can store whatever groceries she might purchase. I started to pack and revise my list of documents. Both Corrie and Caroline will take a mini-van to the airport while I plan on hiring a taxi to take me there directly.