June 1, 2012

It might have been a psychosomatic effect, but I got up in the morning with plenty of bites on my abdomen, back and arms to make me suspect that bedbugs were now lodged into the sofa and my linens. I took a long shower enjoying the luxury of my relatively modern bathroom compared to Ryan’s Spartan shower head on a cold tile floor. I texted him to let him know I’d be coming by early to bring the remaining grocery items still in my fridge. I could hear music coming through the window and remembered the billboard advertisement about an event at the Children’s Park that day to celebrate International Children’s Day.

Takhmina, from Caritas, called to say she had access to a vehicle and was coming by to pick up the two bags of clothing I was donating. She and the landlady coincided in their arrival, and Takhmina waited outside while I went through a walkthrough of every room in the flat showing the owner that everything was accounted for and that, except for normal wear and tear, her place looked almost the same as she handed it to me eight months ago. She hugged and kissed me and wished me good luck. I took my pillow and overnight bag and rode with Takhmina to Ryan’s place. I promised to stay in touch between trips.

Ruth had invited me to lunch in appreciation for my bringing her mail from the embassy on two occasions and we agreed to meet at Segafredo’s Café at 11:45am. After I unpacked my bags and rearranged my suitcases so as not to look as if I had taken over his apartment, I made my way to the Children’s Park to take a look at the celebration. For the first time since I had first moved into the area, the place was overrun with children and their parents. A stage had been set up at one end and arts and crafts were being exhibited to one side. Even by 9:30am, the sun was hot and families were clustered under the few trees that provided scanty shade. The children were dressed in a range of styles from their usual school uniforms to Atlas dresses and for the little girls, some kind of frilly frou frou dresses that made them look miniature brides.

There was a parade of singers, both male and female, who seemed to be quite well known as the girls flocked to the front of the stage to listen and dance to their tunes while the boys hanged out on the fringes of the crowd. At least two groups of dancers performed and there was a touching number where a group of students who appeared to suffer from Down syndrome performed a dance. I was able to convince quite a few of the girls to allow me to take their photos and then everybody seemed willing to pose including some of the mothers.

I left the gathering to go to Segafredo’s where Ruth was already waiting and ordered a fresh carrot juice I saw being brought to the table next to ours and a sandwich that looked very appetizing in the picture, but turned out to be a rather pedestrian affair of plain white bread, a very small square in fact, and some melted cheese and bacon inside. I had a bottle of water to quench my thirst while we gossiped about the embassy going-ons, our immediate plans and my trip to Khujand. Ruth gave me her tour guide book to Kazakhstan since she had given up on trying to visit that country on the way out. Instead, she plans to spend time in Turkey and Israel.

I waited for Eraj to meet in front of the café and we went across the street to the Tsum Department Store to see if I could find the spoon with the name of the country inscribed in it that my brother-in-law would like to add to his collection, but we walked all three floors asking numerous vendors about it without anyone knowing what we were talking about. He might have to settle for one from Turkey since this is an item that is certainly unheard of here.

We took a mini-van to the only place where one can have her vision examined as I needed a new pair of reading glasses and knew it’d be a lot cheaper to do it here. Eraj explained that there are no private clinics or vision centers where one can have a vision exam and obtain a prescription except for the government run one. We walked quite a long way after being dropped off the mini-van before we came to a pleasant building where no one was waiting and two women dressed in white smocks set out to test my vision by asking me to indicate the direction in which several symbols were pointing by using my hands since I didn’t speak Russian. One of them then placed a pair of heavy reading glasses on me and played with different lenses until I told her I could read the maps in my Lonely Planet guidebook with no problem whatsoever. I paid 5.00 somoni for the exam and was then asked to step in the office of the ophthalmologist who proceeded to write me a prescription for an additional fee of 15.00 somoni. He commented that my eyesight was great given my age and I didn’t need to bother having it checked for another five or six years.

With prescription in hand, we went to the Sahovar market nearby and were able to buy a set of glasses right off the shelves for another 20.00 somoni including a case. I also purchased another piece of luggage for 160.00 and the last piece of fabric to have a set of black pants made with the embroidered edging on the legs. I had been playing phone tag with Corrie all day trying to find out if she was still planning on traveling to Khujand with me the next day, which I suspected she didn’t, and we finally connected while I was at the market. She effusively apologized for letting me down and wanted to make sure I’d be all right conducting the workshops by myself. I reassured her I’d be fine and would rely on Eraj for everything else. I got on a taxi to get back to the apartment and found Ryan cuddled under blankets with one of the neighbor’s children watching a Filipino horror film.

Zoir had called while I was riding in the taxi and promised to come by to get the office supplies and textbook I had set aside for him. He told me the dean had not made any comments about receiving my email asking him to give him my last salary and then added that Mr. Azam was a nasty person and that he had now learned that the teachers at the PedInst hated him for the way he talked down to them. I was not the least bit surprised by his comment.

Ryan offered to cook plov for me for dinner, but I told him I was simply dehydrated from the heat and wanted something simple to eat. I had some flat bread and cheese and went to bed.