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!