March 1, 2012

I was up before 3:00am as I heard the floor boards creak under Caroline’s feet as she was getting ready to head to the airport. I made coffee and small talk until Corrie showed up with the taxi driver and started to cart her luggage down the stairs. Unable to fit her traveling mug into her luggage, she handed it for me to keep. I was able to take another nap and then got dressed to stop by the lamination place before going to the PedInst.

My students informed me today that this was the first day of spring apparently based on the fact that the country officially announces the end of winter on the last day of February. I wonder what they’ll say when they see snow next week as it’s already forecast. As it is, there are mounds of snow everywhere, the dirty brownish kind one gets sick of looking at after just a few minutes. Even Tahmina at the embassy ended her email inviting Corrie and I to participate in another ETM program in April by wishing us a happy spring day.

I started my class with only six students and when I asked the class monitor where everybody else was, she said the class had been split and the other half was with Nigora. I wanted to play the “Find Someone…” game and needed as many students as possible and thus asked Nigora to combine the two classes, something she was more than happy to do. She kept staring at the handout and read each line slowly and carefully with the piece of paper practically touching her forehead. When I asked her if she needed reading glasses, she said no and neither did any of the students at the PedInst. I had noticed that no one seemed to wear spectacles and had been meaning to ask about it. Nigora tried to imply that their eyesight was superb, but I don’t believe that an entire population could be genetically gifted so as not to have anyone near-sighted or short-sighted in it. I’ll have to look into it further.

A student, who was present for the first time in this class, was quite fluent in her English and she mentioned she had traveled abroad. At the end of the class, she mentioned she had studied at Gym #74, the school where Caroline had originally being posted to, and she had had Rick Hawkins, the previous ELF, as her teacher. She indicated he tutored her so she could participate in a debate competition, which she won, and she got to travel to London to represent Tajikistan. I was demonstrably touched by this tale of success, by her pluck and worldliness in a sea of country bumpkins, and above all, by her enthusiasm and unbound energy. We exchanged numbers and tentatively agreed to have lunch on Saturday after my presentation as she had some comments to make about the situation Rick faced at the gym, too.

As I was walking to the copy center to print my handouts, I ran into Aziz, Berutz and Alioush who were done with their classes and had decided to go play billiards. Aziz wanted to know, again, in what other ways he could get to the United States. I rehashed the usual ways and then left.

I picked up the handouts and the laminated materials, called Elbek for his lesson and then packed up a few things to go to Marydean’s house for my first house sitting deal ever. I had difficulty finding the house as I thought her car would be parked outside, but it wasn’t and all the white fences started to look alike. I was carrying my laptop and another bag with a change of clothes and was feeling pretty tired when I finally saw the number 25 on top of this one fence. I’ve only seen one of the cats so far, but I was told one of them likes to spend the night outside sometimes so I’m not going to worry about it.

There is no reading light by my bed, so that’s going to be a problem. I’m glad I ate at my place before getting here for the fridge is pretty bare and I don’t feel like cooking. I hope I’m able to get a good night sleep tonight.