April 3, 2012

Another fabulous day to walk around the city and admire all the efforts Tajiks are putting into beautifying their city. The earth is being upturned in preparation for planting, and the government buildings are already surrounded by carefully planted petunias, daffodils and tulips. The fountains are back in business and I even noticed two older men walking around them with a net plucking any leaves or other debris from the water. I made my way to the cobbler’s first to pick up my shoes and then on to Megaphon where I exchanged some money and Firuza took care of my Internet fee.

                                        Fountains are being spruced up.

 Tulips valiantly trying to make it in temperatures ranging from 10 to 81 degrees these past two weeks.

I considered taking the trolley to the PedInst, but they all appeared mobbed with riders in spite of the beautiful day so suitable for walking short distances. I hopped into a share taxi with a very young driver who seemed to have a death wish and kept following too close or passing other cars when it seemed unsafe to do so. I gestured to him that I wanted to get to my destination in one piece and didn’t appreciate his displays of dexterity at the wheel.

I returned the resumes and cover letters the interpreters’ group had attempted to write and noted how many of them had been exact copies of others. I promised to bring in a real resume and cover letter for an interpreter position in the near future. They played the game with the dice and were very successful at it even though the longest anyone was able to speak at a time was a mere 34 seconds. I promised to bring other topics for another session and have them play again to increase their fluency.

Khurshed had called me the night before to ask me to come in at lunch time as the Caritas office was having a Navruz lunch today. I was greeted by Nigina who apologized for being in rush as she was on her way to the hospital where her sister was delivering a baby and complications had arisen. The lunch was taking place al fresco and the tapchon was occupied by a large group of middle age men while the table was occupied by a group of women. I had the usual lamb soup, shish kebabs, salad, flat bread and tea. Khurshed was the one at the grill and Furkat was on his way. Class was cancelled and as I was about to leave, Takhmina asked me if we could do some writing exercises in the future.

I waited for  the longest time to find a mini-van and they all came by stuffed to the gills. I gave up and decided to walk home on such a gorgeous day. Nilufar didn’t come by to bake a cake as she had promised and I was tired enough not to want to call and remind her about it. I gathered all the materials to take to the teachers tomorrow and worked on some more handouts for the interpreters.