May 31, 2012

Sleeping on the couch wasn’t all that bad. I had my coffee and ate a chunk of cheese and flat bread for breakfast before getting a phone call from Tahmina saying she was on her way to pick up Beth’s old printer. I got ready to go to the American Corner hoping to catch a ride with her and not have to make the trek on foot with such a heavy bag. When she got to the flat and heard my proposition, she turned me down saying she was on her way to a doctor’s appointment and could not deviate even five minutes. No wonder I had never liked this woman. Tahmina confirmed that Corrie had texted her to say she had missed her flight and needed to cancel her classes again as she would not arrive until late in the evening. I got the same message as well.

I made my way to the American Corner where I agreed to meet Tamriz at 10:30am. The new coordinators, there is a young a woman and a young man, introduced themselves to me, but I recognized neither one of them. They were grateful for all the new books and pointed out who Tamriz was in the room. There about 8-10 young men using the computers and noticed the complete absence of female visitors. Tamriz concurred that most families would not be willing to let their daughters go to the American Corner where they know other young men congregate.

Tamriz informed me the Access summer camp in Khorog will take place at a village school because they can’t afford the fees that the camps charge to foundations such as the Aga Khan. He’ll be happy to arrange for me to stay with a family in the village in a house affording Western-style amenities for $10-15 per day including meals in the evenings since I’d be having the other meals at the camp. He’ll provide me with the name of a reliable driver and insisted I make the trip in one day, a 15-18 hour drive, instead of stopping for the night and continuing the next day. He’d love for me to stay after the camp so he can show me the rest of the region, but I told him I wasn’t sure about my itinerary yet.

I stopped by Jamshed’s office and dropped off his sunglasses. He wasn’t around which just as well. I went back to the apartment and continued cleaning up and packing until Daroush called to say he had been selected to be the valedictorian speaker for his class and needed help preparing his speech. He came over immediately and we worked on it for about an hour. When done, he helped me carry the two heavy suitcases to Ryan’s house. Takhmina, from Caritas, was not able to come by to pick up the two bags of winter clothes I wanted to get rid of and neither did Zoir. I had to carry everything to Ryan’s place thus crowding out his living room and kitchen. It’s hard to believe that one can accumulate so much junk in only eight months.

I practically collapsed on the couch from exhaustion. The landlady is showing up at 9:00am, so I need to have everything out by then.