February 6, 2012

“Ignorance is bliss” is the apt way to describe the fact that having no access to the Internet; I had no idea that the temperature was a chilling zero degree outside when I made my way to the teachers’ training center. I did know that it was in the single digits and added another sweater to my long-sleeve thermal t-shirt and turtleneck sweater ensemble. Most of the teachers showed up and we proceeded to set up in pairs by searching for adjectives and their opposites. The younger teachers didn’t know the meaning of their adjectives and walked around for almost ten minutes until I gave up and gave them the answer. The warm up called for them to describe their favorite inanimate object, they seemed paralyzed. Even when giving them a synonym, lifeless, they still could not come up with an object. When I did the bingo game by calling the opposite of the adjectives in the list, no one called “bingo” until it was almost time for the blackout portion of the game.

Some of the teacher had brought in sambusas, piroshkies and flat bread to consume during the break and I was given a bag to take home and another for Caroline. I then reviewed the different categories of pronouns by trying to elicit a definition for subject, object, possessive adjectives, possessive pronouns and reflexive ones, but not one of them could come up with a single definition, only examples. Sanifa stated that their Russian textbooks didn’t include definitions for these terms and when it did, it’d be in Russian. I provided all the definitions and gave them time to copy them on their notebooks before proceeding to give them a letter containing lots of mistakes in the use of pronouns. There were a total of 30 mistakes, but some of the pairs gave up as soon as they’ve found as little as five of them.

I went back to my flat to unload the bags with food before heading to Caritas and I was delighted to see that the Internet service had been restored. After the conversation class, Takhmina offered to give me a ride home. She’s going to bring me a local Tajik dress on Wednesday to see if it fits so I can wear it to the conference presentation in Nepal. We also talked about having a potluck luncheon at my place for all of them. I get the feeling they feel they ought to recompense me in some way for providing these classes free of charge, but they are such a thoughtful, delightful group that I don’t mind at all. I’m, in fact, learning about their culture as much as they might be learning about mine.

Ruth called to say the embassy was demanding she gives up the hotel room, where she’s paying $80.00 a day, and will be moving her to another place tomorrow. She’s extremely dissatisfied with the way the embassy personnel has dealt with her since she came as they have made no attempt to help her find housing, her own cell phone or ways to get around. I commented on the fact neither Sandy nor Tahmina has contacted me further to set up an appointment to meet with the dean, and only today did I get an email from my RELO asking about the outcome of that meeting. I have in fact decided that I won’t be reporting to the institute until after I return from Nepal as the weather and the amount of snow out there is not for the fainthearted.

Corrie called inquiring as to whether I had gotten any word on renewing my post and I said no. She had been to the Georgetown website and seen that they had posted six new positions for Tajikistan including both of our jobs. She doesn’t have any water either and only hopes temperatures will go up enough to defrost the pipes later on this week. Caroline couldn’t have chosen a better week to be out of Dushanbe.