May 9, 2012

I woke up at 2:30am and couldn’t go back to sleep, so got up and fired the laptop to catch up on different tasks. I then went back to bed at 5:00 and woke up close to nine to feel like someone who had been heavily drinking the night before. I had agreed to go to the botanical gardens with my student, Manzura, at 10:00am and was hoping that she had forgotten or changed her mind. Instead, she texted to say she was on her way to the PedInst to meet me there. I had to scramble to finish my coffee and get on my way.

As I was walking toward the mini-van, I noticed lots of families walking in the opposite direction and remembered that today was a holiday, V-Day, and many were heading to Victory Park to enjoy a military parade. The PedInst was desolate even though the gates were open. Manzura joined me and I told her about my fitful night of sleep and my need to eat breakfast before we went to the gardens. She found a large canteen next to the medical college, the only one open that day, and I had a bowl of lagman noodle soup while she drank coffee. There were no signs indicating where to turn for the gardens; however, we could see many groups of students and families heading to the right of Rudaki with large packages covered with tablecloths. Manzura told me the gardens were a favorite place for picnics and also for lovers.

The entrance fee is only 2.00 somoni thus leaving little money for maintenance or the addition of new trees and flowers. Apparently, there used to be a conservatory for tropical plants, but it was in obvious disrepair and closed to the public. Through the glass doors, I could see a tall palm tree in a corner. There were few blooms to admire or gaze at, just lots of intricately carved gazebos and other structures where wedding parties gather to have their photos taken. The few shrubs sporting some blooms were not properly identified, but I found plenty of young women nattily attired who didn’t mind my pestering them for photos. We had ice cream on the way out and parted ways near the PedInst and Manzura promised to have my latest outfit ready for tomorrow.

The only thing I wanted to do for the rest of the afternoon was to take a shower and then a nap. Instead, I got a call from Jamshed, whom I had promised to call more than two weeks ago and hadn’t. He told me how lonely he felt without family or friends on a national holiday and how much he wanted to come over and have a cup of coffee with me. I didn’t have the heart to turn him down and despite my exhaustion, I told him to go ahead and come. He hadn’t eaten either and I offered to heat up my leftovers for him as I already had a dinner invitation to go to Aireen’s house and couldn’t ruin my appetite. We had coffee and then I got a text message from Aireen indicating dinner was going to take place at Ryan’s house instead. I asked is Jamshed could come along and she said yes.

                                       
                                          Dinner at Ryan's

Dagma and her now boyfriend, Patrick, whom I had met at Yoomie’s farewell party, were there along with Aireen’s family. Her Tajik boyfriend, Adili, joined us later. She had cooked a bland mixture of pasta, ground beef and quail eggs and served it with salad and flat bread. I had a little bit of it, but it was barely palatable. I was really expecting Filipino food, lumpias, adobo, fried fish or other Chinese-like dishes. We took the laptop and speakers outside and played music for all to dance apparently never bothering the neighbors. Even Jamshed jumped in and tried dancing lambada, the swing and salsa. Ryan was the usual show-off demonstrating his sensual moves and fast turns with Anna Marie and Linda.

I gave up after a while and told everyone how much I needed to see my bed. Jamshed walked me home and told me to call him anytime I was bored, which would never happen, or had nothing to do.