March 16, 2012

Rain was pounding the roof when I woke up this morning. Oh, how I wished I could have stayed home and just relaxed reading, listening to music and drinking coffee. Instead, it was time to gather my materials and head to the institute. While riding in the mini-van, I met a young woman who also studies there and hopes to become an English teacher. She’s in her third year and very shy about speaking English with a foreigner. While the students participated in a role play ordering food at a restaurant, I discovered that they don’t know what to call the meat that comes from different animals and kept referring to them as cow, pig and sheep. So, another teachable moment came upon me.

Erach, my star student among the future teachers, reminded me he wants to travel to Khulob with us next time we go for the teacher training workshop and have us stay at his house. He’ll even arrange for the transportation back and forth with a trusted driver. I noticed that the wheels on the space heater are already broken as many students, mostly female, gather around it whenever the room is open and keep moving it from one side to another.

I proceeded to the copy center to put together the handout for the workshop in Qurgonteppa tomorrow. Nigina came in and helped as usual even recommending a little place to eat at next door. Like many other workplaces in Dushanbe, her company has a canteen for the employees and she eats every day, so she turned down my invitation. She walked with me and placed my order for plov and salad. I turned down the tea as I find it pretty much tasteless. The little place housed six tables and the kitchen could be seen through a cutout in the wall. I was a brought a decent-sized plate of plov with shredded carrots and turnips in a smaller platter. One soft flat bread was brought in later on. I was ravenous and ate everything in sight.

I had meant to retrace my steps and go pick up the lamination, but the rain had really picked up by now and didn’t feel like walking around carrying all that weight under the rain. I took the mini-van and returned home where I promptly took a nap as the TV satellite was out. When I got up, I had enough energy to tackle my expense report, which takes forever as the program refuses to accept electronic receipts and thus forces me to photocopy every piece of paper and every approval ever received from my RELO. 

Elbek came in for his class and promised to bring me a program that’d allow me to watch the movies I copied at Marydean’s house. I continue to read the fascinating history of cancer research and treatment around the world.