May 13, 2012

I was rudely awakened by an earthquake that lasted long enough to make me jump out of bed and take refuge under the door frame in the bedroom. I had quite a difficult time getting back to sleep after that. I later learned it had been a 5.7 temblor and lasted about 20-30 seconds. It sure felt much longer and scarier. I now recalled why I moved out of California back in 1990. I do not enjoy this kind of surprise, especially since I live on the fourth floor of a Soviet-built apartment complex which I doubt was designed to withstand severe temblors.

Farzona called me repeatedly while I drank my coffee probably to ask me to join her in going to her village once again, but her English is too limited to allow for such a trip and visit to relatives that don’t speak any of it.  I had agreed to meet with Munisa to go over her Statement of Purpose for the Fulbright program and she called promptly at nine to let me know she was on her way. Her essay was one of those that attempts to cover a myriad of subjects instead of focusing on just one area. We discussed the specific program she’s applying for, but I couldn’t find a page on the web addressing the specific requirements for that exchange. I gave the name of the person at the IREX program and asked her to contact him before proceeding any further.

I did the dishes and tidied up the apartment while cooking lunch for Hillary. When she arrived, we spent hours talking about everything under sun while devoting sometime to the possibility of my traveling to Russian, which I’m hesitant to do as I don’t speak the language. She, in turn, was interested in traveling through the Pamirs and on to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan.  She’ll let me know this coming week of such trip is feasible in mid-June.

Although it was a beautiful spring day with blue skies and soft breezes, I couldn’t motivate myself to go out and enjoy it since I couldn’t even think of a place to go. I was also expecting to hear from my brother-in-law about the possibility of skyping with my mother as she was going to be spending Mother’s Day at my sister’s house. The day came and went, but I didn’t receive a message to do so.