Giant Roaches Work at Night

Seriously, giant roaches work at night under the tress outside my apartment building. I almost stepped on one, and then another, and then another. They were carrying large pieces of unidentifiable black stuff to an unknown location.

A German man decided to bring his dog into the Chinese restaurant tonight. It started napping under the table, but when the waitress came, it got startled and let out a horrific bark and jumped towards her. The Chinese manager came out and complained, but the man could only justify his actions by saying that the dog always goes with him wherever he travels. Martyna jumped in and asked if he dares to bring his dog into restaurants in Germany. He didn't answer. Anyway, I thought that people tie up their dogs outside when they go into a restaurant...but this dog wasn't even on a leash.

I'm currently battling fleas in my apartment. We did a huge spraying a week ago, and then I stayed at my friends' places. But it seems the problem has not gone away. Today I decided to ask my downstairs neighbors if they have such a problem or if the building is somehow infested. The lady downstairs - whose apartment is being repainted and cleaned out - and so I thought to talk with her - was the rudest woman I have ever met...
she yelled at me and pointed her finger in my face saying that if there is a problem in the apartment building it is solely on account of ME. It was horrific. I've seen crazy people, but this took the prize. I have never seen a Tajik person who is rude...In fact, I'd have to say that she must NOT be Tajik at all.

I met a high ranking mullah today from Khojand. He is an affiliate of our Project. He has given us access to "all" of Khojand for our interviews on law and religion. I plan to spend a few days in Khojand at the end of the month.

On another note,
Only in Dushanbe would a taxi driver with a route number on his windshield turn to you and ask, "where is my destination?" He had no idea where to stop the route...

Back from Uzbekistan

So, Two weeks ago I went to Uzbekistan ... and came back. It was a quick five day trip.
And what has been delaying me from posting pictures and crazy stories of car rides, bribes, sleazy Uzbek officials, and horrible hotel rooms? - MY INTERNET CONNECTION HERE IN DUSHANBE IS HORRIBLE! Anyway, overall, we had a wonderful time in Uzbekistan. I mostly traveled with Karim - but met up with Zohra and Daniel and some other Americans in Samarkand.
What I hope to do soon is get the photos off my home computer so that I can post them...in the end, I may wind up getting high speed internet at home (something I was trying to avoid...although for no apparent reason whatsoever). Oh, and the other distraction from posting has been the infestation in my apartment of various gross insects. (fortunately not roaches, but it seems to be fleas and various kinds of beetles).

Anyway, Friday was really bizarre - I saw these two boys and a girl playing outside my apartment building. They were probably 7 years old. The game, however, was not amusing at all. The two boys stood some distance apart. Next to each was a pile of rocks...quite large rocks in fact. The aim was to see if either kid could manage to hit the other with one of the rocks. In the middle of these two boys was a girl, who seemed to be a kind of referee. She would move just as one of the boys would launch the rock at the other. I stared angrily at the three of them and got a nasty look from one of the boys for interrupting their summertime game!

FLOODS?

Well, today was an amazing day!! After cleaning the house for three hours in the morning (I have various insects trying to stay as guests), I agreed to go to Laura's house for lunch. On the way, it started hailing. But this was not just any normal hail but the second day in a row of hail after nearly a month and a half of rain. Within twenty minutes, the main street in Dushanbe was a river - as the drainage was completely clogged. There were no pedestrian pathways because the whole boulevard was a river - more than half a foot deep. We managed to drive through the main street, but Laura's house was on perhaps the worst side street in town. The taxi driver at first refused to take me onto that side street. Instead, he pulled over, turned on a DVD player and told me we would wait the weather out. But then our friend Samvel got on my phone and told him that he couldn't leave a woman in such weather without getting her to destination.

So, a few minutes later, we ventured into the side street where Laura lives (near the Korean embassy and the Youth Theater). The car couldn't get through so much water and it stalled twice. After ten minutes, we were 10 yards from her house, and the driver just refused to go on. He pulled over to the side of the "river" and turned another movie on. Laura and Sam were not willing to let this ruin our lunch. I looked over and Laura was attempting to walk through the flood to our taxi. I desperately tried to get her to stop with wild hand movements from inside the car. Eventually, Sam stopped her and instead put on some girly flowery flip flops and walked through freezing mud water to get to the taxi. I don't know why!! Anyway, after a few more minutes, the driver pulled up the side of the house. The landlord - a 70 year old man - gave me a pair of rain boots and then on top of it offered to put me on his back so I could make it 2 meters across the water. (Obviously that was a crazy suggestion!) When I stepped down, the water only made it half way to my knees but it had a relatively strong current.

In any case, eventually we all made it inside. The funny part was that on the way Laura didn't even know there was a river outside her house. I kept calling while we were trying to get through the water complaining that it was inappropriate that she should be asking me to go to her place under such circumstances. The best image I saw though was the head of a stuffed bear traveling down the main street nearly faster than the cars! I really wished I had had a camera.

There was so much hail on the streets I thought the city looked like a salt mine. - Later, we walked home after the flood had disappeared. All that is left now is a 3-4 inch spread of mud everywhere. On the way to my apartment, I saw this wonderful wedding dress. Outside the bridal shops here they place a sample wedding dress, and apparently one shop hadn't taken their dress in when the river of mud water was coming down from the mountains. The dress was its normal pretty shape - but up until the waste it was the color of mud.

Hot water

The weather has finally turned pleasant - after 20 days of rain, rain, and more rain! But I am not convinced that the sun is here to stay. Anyway, it was absolutely fascinating - but two days ago my friend wanted to take a hot shower at my place, and once again there was no hot water. This was - for me - the last straw! I have spent the last two months trying to fix the water problems in my apartment. First I woke up at midnight to neighbors banging on my door because I had flooded the whole building when a hose broke off the filter to my washing machine. The next week, the sink in my kitchen broke (another cheap Chinese hose) and I again flooded the downstairs neighbors. Then another pipe in the bathroom was leaking - and all the while the hot water boiler in the shower was leaking rust. Finally, I decided to suck up the price of a new boiler in the case my landlady won't replace the broken thermex when she returns from vacation (as she was originally arguing that since I am living in the apartment long-term, it's my apartment and I am responsible for any and all repairs). The "santeknik" (plumber) put in a new thermex and after that for a week, I would have hot water one day and cold water only the next. Finally, my friend, who wanted a hot shower, had a brilliant idea and turned on the hot water faucet(tap) running between the thermex and the shower head. BUT WHAT KIND OF santeknik, who knows I want hot showers would leave it closed???