When and Irish lady becomes and English Lady.

Hi Folks,

Well yes I sorry to admit it but it’s just easier to say that I am ‘English’ and from London. The other choices are American or German so I played it safe!! To be honest most people here have never heard of Ireland. Which is fine, as I had never heard of Tajikistan before arriving here.  When I say Ireland it’s generally just blank faces all around.

I was in a Tajik’s house trying in vain to explain about Ireland.  So then I had a ‘eureka’ moment and mentioned U2 thinking this would work. But no, more ‘blank faces’ and then I said Bono a few times. This struck a chord and one of ladies faces lit up and she said ‘ah Boney M’. Oh god I was bent over laughing, and the more I looked at their puzzled faces the more I just could not stop laughing. The image of U2 and Boney M doing a duet – priceless!!!

My Neighbourhood:

Well it’s great for the first few weeks everyone just stared and stared again but now they are all used to me. And dare I say I am becoming very much accepted. The other night there was a group of older woman who I ended up chatting to for over 1hr. I was given food and tea and generally we had a great time. Not this is view of the fact that they speak no English and I speak pigeon Tajik. But it is amazing how you can communicate via sign language etc. It turns out that they own the flat I live in. But yes have now loads of dinner invites. So they are my new buddies – and naturally they introduced me to everyone on the night. I suspect they are the local ‘gossips’ for they seem to have a word about everyone in the vicinity.

But it is great – I feel very safe here and everyone is so friendly.  What’s very common here is literally every few hundred yards you will find a tiny shop. Usually, just a wooden shack with basic products – but very handy when your gasping for a cold drink. I wasn’t too sure when I first came what to do with my rubbish until I came across these two skips (see picture below). You basically just chuck it in, but thankfully it is collected regularly. There is no re-cycling to speak of but I leave plastics/glass to the side as I heard that older men look through the skips for this stuff.

Local Kids:

They now know my name and every time I head out I am greeted with a chorus of ‘hello elaine’. I allow myself an extra 10 mins so I have time to chat with them. The toddlers still just point at me and burst out laughing!! There is no computer games here folks its back to basics. There are no green areas at all so they play hop scotch and football (usually with a burst ball) and chasing.  It’s lovely to see them all playing there is such a strong sense of community all the older kids look after the younger ones and they all look out for each other. Anyway see picture below – the little fella in front with thumbs up is my little buddy.

Tajik Lessons:

Well had the one lesson and unfortunately didn’t go well. We had ‘creative differences’ and I didn’t care for the attitude so yep she was side lined.  I organised another lesson yesterday which went well. We just started with the alphabet using children’s teaching materials. Not sure if I will ever fully master this language am struggling already with the damn alphabet it’s just so different and I just can’t pronounce/say some of the letters. But in time who knows???? Anyway when I finish this blog its study time for me!!

National Foods:

One of the staunch favourites here is ‘Kurut’ which sort of looks like a toffee bonbon. And this thought was in my mind when I tried one. Oh dear god lads I nearly got sick. I was so embarrassed I had my hand over my mouth gagging. So yes well suffice it say it sure as hell didn’t taste like a toffee bonbon. It is basically very very sour yogurt. Everyone eats them here from a very young age. Anyway didn’t feel too bad about my reaction – all the expats that tried one had a similar exp.

Another favourite is ‘OSH’ it is basically rice, meat, carrots and meat cooked together. Like all foods here it’s unbelievably greasy. I actually like it, especially when I can get through the grease to taste the rice etc. They say it is cooked for ‘special occasions’ which does seem to be pretty much every night.

Unwritten Rules:

Ah yes Khujand is not unique in that there a lot of ‘unspoken rules here’ that really you just have to break and then try and understand what you have done.

For example the other day when taking a marshrutka there was no room in the back so I climbed in the front. Straight away I felt a vibe. Turns out that woman generally don’t ride in the front!! So yes lesson learnt but I don’t care in this heat it is just torture to have to crouch over in the back.

Having lunch the other day I broke off some bread for my plate and then didn’t finish it. So the waitress when she picked up my plate muttered something and I just knew I had done something wrong. So turns out it’s considered very disrespectful to leave bread on your plate. Wheat is one of the national symbols along with cotton. They have a have huge respect for bread going back to soviet times when wheat prices were high and bread very expensive. 

Movies:

Thanks to K+B I have a fine selection with me and enjoy a flick 2/3 times a week. Personal recent favourites Blood Diamond and I have to say ‘Borat’. Now I would never have watched back home but for some reason sitting in Khujand I was roaring laughing. There were parts that honestly I could relate to having lived here now for 1 month!!

Oh another favourite – the TV show ‘The Shield’ addictive viewing.

Facebook: 

Oh god never really used it in Dublin but am addicted to it. Think I am becoming a cyber space stalker. Just love looking at other people’s pages and photo’s so folks be warned!! However I suspect that I am not the only one suffering this predicament!!

Camping Trip:

Well it’s a long weekend here coming up and I’m flying to Dushanbe Friday. The plan is to go camping to a place called – Iskander-kul. It’s a mountain lake about 3hrs from Dushanbe and happy days very cool only 25 degrees and much cooler at night. I’m really looking forward to it and the chance to see more of Tajikistan.

So hope your all well from Khujand to Dublin good night!!

Lainey xx