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???

Still in Dushanbe!

It is not OK to be scared of dogs in Dushanbe anymore. Actually, I made quite a fool of myself today. I have to walk down a relatively dark street to get to my house, and there was the silhouette of a dog half way between me and my front door. In the meantime, two girls were walking my direction, and they turned out to be friends of mine from the u.s. – They didn’t really understand my immense fear of being eaten by a strange dog on my way home from celebrating my host parents’ 25th wedding anniversary. I’ve learned to like dogs, but my fear (after being bitten in 6th grade) just won’t go away. Every night I scrutinize the situation to see what dogs are waiting for me.

I brought my host parents two ice cream logs for their anniversary day, but it turns out the father doesn’t eat ice cream. In fact, none of the men over the age of 20 touched the ice cream, so the mom wound up eating four helpings. This was after she weighed herself and complained about having gained 4 kilos. The Tajik men say only the women eat cake and ice cream.

It hailed today. Actually, it was sunny and warm, and then it rained, and then it was sunny, and then it rained, and then it was windy, and then it rained, and then it was sunny, and then it hailed, and then it was sunny. Isn’t April wonderful?! I went for my Sunday walk to the Chinese restaurant, which is about 12,000 steps from my house. I ate spicy tofu – got into an awkward conversation with a woman in the bathroom, who didn’t understand why if it was a single toilet restroom, it was either her or me in there and not both of us – and then I walked home.

On the way home, I got caught in the rain and stopped at Laura’s house for tea and mandarins. We talked about her rose garden and my possible trip to Uzbekistan with Karim in May. She and Sam might join us. From there, I continued walking home, and just as I was reaching my front door, my host mom invited me for Osh and told me to come straight away. Naturally, though, the Osh wouldn’t be ready for another three hours, and I wound up sitting at their house and getting annoyed at their children for continually asking dumb questions like “Is America beautiful?” How is it that 12 year olds don’t understand that a whole country cannot be either beautiful or ugly?

Anyway, life is going on. There is much to update everyone on....but I am soo busy with exam preps and research studies - as well as general work. I've recently gotten a grant to study Human Rights Education in Tajikistan, so I will be particularly busy in the upcoming months.