July 12, 2012

What a hectic day indeed. I slept relatively well in the cool and dark cave that is Ryan’s bedroom having turned up the A/C full blast for the night. My goal for the day was to be able to complete and mail my last expense report from the embassy along with my lengthy letter to Stephanie before returning my badge and saying goodbye to everyone for good. It took some doing to get the staff to allow me use of one the computers as one available to guests offers only Internet access and I needed MS Office to finish my report. Tahmina already has a replacement in training, Khurshed, and he was gracious enough to help me out. I received my grant money to cover the return fare from Khorog and learned from the cashier that Vali had been diagnosed with leukemia recently and was undergoing treatment. She did confirm I could find him on Facebook and I promised to send him a message.

I was able to finish the report and mail it along with the letter. When I went back to the office to retrieve my water bottle, I met a young woman from Jamaica whose husband is being transferred to Chile and who wanted to learn Spanish. Although it was too late for me to do anything for her, I promised to put her in touch with Dagma since she’s teaching at Jamshed’s institute.

I called Takhmina, at Caritas, and agreed to stop by to say goodbye and perhaps have lunch with the group. Furkat was out of the office, but Khurshed and Nigina joined us at the Morning Star Café where I had a bowl of soup and half of a tuna sandwich along with their superb coffee. The guys refused to let me pay alleging they had funds for hospitality expenses and my lunch would be covered under that line of expenses. Takhmina informed me she has been accepted by the Canadian university near Toronto she had applied to and will be going there next September. We promised to try and see each other either in Canada or when she comes for a visit to the States. Khurshed told how much he has enjoyed the albums I have posted to my Facebook pages and urged me to continue as he was learning things about his own culture he had never realized before.

Hakim, Carita’s driver, gave me a ride to the souvenir shop across from the Rohat Teahouse so I could buy a few things for friends and relatives, and then I walked to the cobbler store to ask for my handbag to be sown on the sides since the seams had come undone. The cobbler had repaired two pairs of shoes for me in the past and refused to charge for the service. I was very touched by his gesture and mimed to him that I was leaving for good the next day. He wanted to know if I’d ever be back and I said: “Who knows?”

When I got to the flat, it was time to tackle Ryan’s kitchen and the mountain of dishes left behind after he had prepared champurrado and smoked fish for the kids in the building. It must have taken me over an hour to scrape all the plates and pans and clean the stove of all the burned out crud on its surface before I could take a break and resume my packing. I got a text message from Manzura inviting me to Dil’s wedding tomorrow, one of my former students. Since the reception is at 6:00pm, I might have a chance to attend it for a couple of hours before heading to the airport. Manzura indicated that money would make a good present for the newlyweds.

After discussing with Takhmina how usurious Somon Air rates are for excess baggage, it occurred to me that I could leave one of my bags, the one containing winter gear, at Ryan’s place and pick it up at some point in the future when an assignment has been clarified for me. I emailed him and he promptly replied yes. It was time to reshuffle my bags once again. He then called me to say he was preparing a farewell dinner for me and had instructed Farrukh to buy the beef for the shish kebabs. I informed him of my plans to attend my student’s wedding and then show up here, and that was fine with him.

By the time I went to bed, I still couldn’t fit everything into the two bags and then heard from Ruth, currently in Istanbul, telling me that even with just two bags; she had to pay $120.00 in excess baggage. These airlines are all in cahoots to bleed us to death with their additional charges. I guess they know that even when we pay through the nose; it won’t stop those of us with wanderlust in our veins from continuing to travel.