February 13, 2012

I tossed and turned while listening to planes take off and land and was up before 6:00am with a pounding headache. I knew there was no way I could wait until 8:00 to get my caffeine fix and devised a plan to get the receptionist to offer me coffee. I came down with my bottle of Benadryl and told her I needed a cup of coffee to take my pill for in fact there wasn’t even a single glass in the room. She started to say that breakfast started at eight, but I countered I wasn’t hungry and only wanted coffee. She caved in and pointed me in the direction of the restaurant where I found no cooks or servers, but a cart with plates and utensils along with coffee granules and sugar. I had already seen the hot water urn lit, so I figured hot water was available and I would survive. I had a cup of coffee just standing there and got a refill to take to my room.

At 8:30am, I knocked on Caroline’s door and found her still asleep. When we made our way to the restaurant, we found another woman who looked American and it was Sally, who is the only ELF serving in Kirgizstan. We shared a table and our respective stories while we waited for our omelets, which came with no filling whatsoever or any sauce for that matter. I had a small cup of muesli and convinced the server to toast my bread. We all decided to stick around the hotel as it was still snowing lightly outside and the hotel seemed to be located in an industrial area surrounded by a shantytown. The hotel had been arranged so that we pay for a 12 hour stay a total of $68.00 and since we arrived at 3:00am local time, needed to be out of the room by 3:00pm. My room stank to high heaven and no one came to look at the problem. There was only one channel broadcasting in English, the BBC, and they continued to cover the death of Whitney Houston every 15 minutes. I turned to my book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, the fascinating story of the African-American woman whose cancer cells were collected in 1951 and are still reproducing thus allowing researchers to make significant breakthroughs on different diseases. It’s a mesmerizing tale and hard to put once one gets started.

Harry showed up around noon to make sure we were all together and knew how to get to the airport. Caroline reminded that I wanted to ask Harry about my chances of extending my fellowship at the PedInst and left to give me some privacy. Harry tried to be polite about it, but it was clear that my request for an extension had been denied and he wouldn’t tell me why indicating that I needed to speak to Tahmina at the embassy when I got back to Dushanbe. I felt as if someone had punched me in the stomach and knew, with 99.9 percent certainty, that the decision had to do with my skin color and ethnicity. Tahmina and I had never clicked and she was the deciding factor in this decision, so I’m convinced she wants to get another white, hopefully blond and blue-eye fellow at the institution where she studied, taught for three years and where she continues to have a close relationship with her former classmate, the dean. Harry tried to reassure me that I could have a chance to continue my fellowship by applying to one of his posts in Kazakhstan as he not been able to fill all of them and this year he has eight available. I went up to my room to avoid crying in public. Caroline was beside herself when I told her.

David, another ELF in Kazakhstan, joined on the way to the airport and there we met Gabrielle and later on Valerie who raved about living in Almity and how upscale everything was. She complained about being underutilized at her post, a feeling similar to mine, but feeling fulfilled because she gets to do a lot of cool activities at the American Corner. Our flight departed on time and we were served fish for dinner with a substantial salad and dessert, so Air Astana gets rave reviews from me. Arriving in New Delhi was a pleasant surprise for the airport had been remodeled and featured great colors, fabulous artwork, lots of fresh plants and many upscale shops. The hotel had sent a driver and we were whisked to a rather unpleasant part of the city even if the Radisson Hotel was nearby.

Since only Caroline and I had been in India previously, the rest of the group wanted to at least take a walk before going to bed. There were no sidewalks and lots of vendors trying to squeeze their little stands or quioks anywhere possible thus blocking the way for pedestrians. It was already 10:00pm, but I agreed to do so anyway so I could stretch my legs after spending so many hours cooped up at the either the hotel or airport. Corrie seemed to be extremely excited to be in New Delhi and wanted to buy some souvenirs, I guess to prove she had been there. We ended up going to the Radisson Hotel, and through a security screening similar to the one at the airport, before we headed to some shops where Corrie and David bought some items. I recommended heading back to the hotel as it was nearly 11:00 and they wanted to have dinner there. I promptly took a long shower and went to bed exhausted.