May 16, 2012

Another lazy morning spent around the apartment trying to settle down dates for the remaining six weeks I’ll be spending in Tajikistan. I came to the conclusion that I should vacate my apartment at the end of this month and try to bunk with someone else for the few days I’ll be in Dushanbe between trips to Khujand, Almaty, Istaravshan and Khorog. Hillary came to mind and I dashed her an email asking if such possibility existed. She said yes, but is still waiting to be relocated after an Afghan guy stalked and harassed her outside of her apartment. She’ll let me know as soon as she hears anything about another flat.

I went to pick up my lamination and walked the rest of the way to my class at Caritas. I ran into several of my first year students leaving the campus and saw Oigul, still wearing mourning clothes, who told me Farzona is still intent on having me visit her village. We had a good discussion about slang phrases and proverbs at Caritas and I informed them that we only had two more weeks of classes before I get on the road. Khurshed has been a fount of information on routes to take and even promised to find me a reliable driver for the trip to Istaravshan, which happens to be his hometown. Takhmina suggested we plan a picnic in the Varzob area, which sounded perfect to me as long as we could include at least a short hike as part of it. She also wanted to know if there would be another EFL during the summer who’d be interested in continuing the classes, but unfortunately, that’s not the case.

The skies threatened rain when I left their building not before getting Takhmina to cut a few gorgeous roses for me to take home. I got some flat bread at the grocery store and headed home hoping to avoid the daily downpour. While I was trying to find my keys in my bag, the tenant across the landing opened her door and offered me help with the flowers. Her name is Simi and she speaks English and wanted to invite me in, but I desperately needed to use the bathroom and put the flowers in a vase. I promised to call on her later and introduce her to Maryam as I’ll be leaving soon and she’s probably looking for friends in the building.

Elbek didn’t show up for his classes for the second time in a row. I didn’t bother calling as he knows the days and time and frankly, I needed the spare time to work in yet another expense report. This one must include the per diem for the two cities we visited recently and the government certainly makes it difficult for you to find out how much they owe.

Spoke to Corrie at length about our upcoming trip to Khujand. We decided to fly on the second of June as I’ll be staying with her or Hillary the day before. I need to get going on packing and/or giving away the things I bought here and no longer need so the apartment is ready for the landlady on May 31.