Talking Tajik: This Is Getting Real

While there have only been a few noteworthy events since my last post, this experience is finally getting very real for me. This past week mostly consisted of me getting used to going to class five days a week. I have a full schedule, but it all helps with the ultimate language learning goals. Twice last week I met with my peer tutor. We had two interesting hour-long conversations in Farsi. Azimjon is a Tajik but he knows Tajiki, Farsi, Uzbek, Turkish, Russian and English. The oddest thing is that in this country, Azimjon is not so much of an exception. He is 24 and is already married with a baby boy. Again, this is not an exception to the normal flow of life over here. Azimjon told me that he really wants to move to New York in a year or two and make a life for himself and his young family in the United States. I will be meeting with Azimjon three times a week just to converse in Farsi and build up my proficiency. And that's about the extent of the excitement that transpired last week.

Yesterday was much more interesting. American Councils gave us all the day off, so some friends and I decided to go on an adventure. We met early in the morning and paid a marshrutka (just a big van that drives people from town to town for cheap) driver to take the five of us up to the town of Varzob. The plan was to get in some quality hiking time. After paying the driver 3 Tajik somoni each (roughly 60 cents) we settled in for the hour drive north. It was surprisingly easy to just go off into the mountains from Varzob. There were no fences, no park rangers and no real trails to guide us. We got up pretty high into the mountains and got to see some spectacular views.

The most interesting part to me, though, was that there was absolutely no one else around. Climbing random Tajik mountains is nothing like hiking in a park in the US. It's not like anyone was looking out for us or had any advice on where to go. We just had to explore the wastelands on our own to find the coolest places. It was intriguing to think about how few people must have climbed the mountains that we climbed. Barely anyone lives around Varzob. It's not much of a tourist hotspot either. By the end of the day, I was exhausted, but I also had an odd feeling of liberation, having survived going out into the country without any supervision.

Saturday, during the day, was just great. But then the night time brought some very different feelings. I think I ate some bad tomatoes for dinner. I'm not 100% positive, but either way I got food poisoning. Getting sick in Central Asia is absolutely no fun. I got so sick that this morning my RD took me to the local medical clinic. The doctor is the quirky little German man, who speaks fluent English. The clinic itself is a Western-style one, meaning it is very clean and safe. The doctor told me I probably have some combination of foreign germs and parasites in my stomach. He gave me a shot and four different medicines to take rigorously throughout the next 48 hours. I'm already feeling a bit better, but I haven't tried to sit down to a real meal yet.

Luckily, my host family is used to having host students get sick, so that wasn't a big deal. They have been comforting and supportive, but not overbearing, since I got sick. The strangest thing about the family is that they rarely leave home, except to go to work. Their whole world revolves around the home. I have tried to tell them about going to Varzob, or even local cafes in Dushanbe, but they rarely recognize the names. It seems like most of the places to go in Dushanbe are for either young Tajiks, Tajiks with kids, or foreigners.

Other tidbits that I'd like to pass along:

-It finally stormed here a few days ago. So the streak of perfect weather has ended.

-A lot of Tajiks have poor oral hygiene so they end up getting false gold teeth. It's kind of off-putting to speak with an elderly lady that only has gold teeth. But such is life in Tajikistan.

-A week from yesterday, American Councils is taking us on the biggest excursion of the year. We are going to roadtrip around the state of Badakhshan. This will be a week-long trip along the Afghan border through the incredible Pamir mountains. Everyone is really looking forward to it. Pictures are sure to be amazing. Personal hygiene and wifi accessibility are definitely going to be lacking. The Pamirs go up to 14,000 feet though, so we may have some decent cell phone service.

Anyhow, that's about all the news that's fit to print. Below are a few pictures from the first few weeks in Tajikistan.