Season's Greetings from Dushanbe

So when I last left this blog, I was running to dinner. It is a good thing I did. My host sister, who has her own house and family, recently gave birth to a baby boy. That dinner, two weeks ago, was the baby's 40th day of life celebration. We had a huge feast at our house. It was really nice to feel like a part of the family. It was especially nice, because I had already missed the circumcision party for this kid (I went to a restaurant one night and no one told me I should just come home for the party). Also, I get the feeling that everyone is really happy the kid was born a boy. My host sister already had two daughters (8 and 10) and now she finally managed to make a boy. People are pretty stoked. So that's good.

Last weekend American Councils sponsored a trip for us to Cheluchar Chashma (literally in Tajiki: 44 Springs). The road trip there was relaxing. It's always nice to shake things up and get out of the city for a day. On the way to the springs, we stopped at a small bazaar and a historical monument/madrasah/mausoleum. Both were not super interesting. The real highlight of the trip came about halfway to the springs, when one of our two vehicles broke down. All ten of us had to squish into one van. Everyone was rather displeased, but I thought it was hilarious. Once we finally reached the springs, we had a pretty standard Tajik lunch. Cheluchar Chashma itself looked like a very relaxing place to spend an afternoon. Unfortunately for us, the rainy season hit Tajikistan about a week prior to our trip. So the weather was dreadful all day and we didn't stay in any one place very long.

I still thought the excursion day was a good time, despite the weather. When we got back to Dushanbe, the group had our monthly dinner at a fancy restaurant. American Councils pays for one of these each month for us. We went to this Chinese restaurant in Hotel Tajikistan. The food was quite close to the Chinese food I am used to back in the USA. So that was a great surprise, and we all ate like kings (or should I say we ate like shahs?). 

Since then, I've been actively trying to do new things within Dushanbe. A while ago, my friend Emily and I went to the National Zoo. It's the kind of place that you see once and never forget. The zoo is pretty poorly kept. If PETA ever got wind of the place, they would go nuts. Many of the largest animals were in some of the smallest cages, with very little room to move around. You could tell the animals were underfed. Every time we approached a new cage, the critter would get way too excited for animals that are living in a zoo in Tajikistan. There was the typical line-up of lions, bears, camels and monkeys. But the other cages were mostly filled with stray cats, dogs, rabbits and other farm animals. It was a weird and sad place. Nonetheless I'm glad we went.

A few days ago, my professor for my Conversation class took us to the National Mosque. It was interesting for us, because we had been studying the history and parts of a mosque in class. We went on a Friday afternoon, which is when Tajik mosques are typically at their most crowded. We waited for about twenty minutes to enter. We arrived right when the daily prayers were ending and had to stand there and watch every Tajik man and their brother exit the mosque, until we were able to go inside. It took a while. There are a lot of Tajiks. Finally we got in to the outdoor courtyard for a look. It was super ornate and very beautiful. I got to see the inside of the mosque too, what with me being a guy and all. The whole place was very interesting and made for another nice afternoon.

Please excuse me for reporting some real world news right now, but I think the mosque situation in Tajikistan is pretty interesting. The Tajik government is not very interested in legislating policies that appease Muslims in the country. If anything, they've alienated a lot of Tajik Muslims by restricting their religious freedom. Hillary Clinton discussed this matter with President Rahmon when she visited Tajikistan a few weeks ago. The Tajik government has already banned all women and children from attending services at any mosque. And now, armed with a new financial partnership with Qatar, Tajikistan is looking to build a new, ridiculously huge national mosque in the next few years. The mosque will be able to hold almost every Muslim man within the greater Dushanbe area, and the government will undoubtedly mandate that all Dushanbe men pray only in that mosque. I'm mostly explaining this because I don't want everyone back home thinking that the Tajik government's relationship with Islam is all chummy. Tajikistan is not like Iran, or Saudi Arabia, or any other Muslim country in the region. Tajikistan still has problems surrounding Islam, but they are pretty unique compared to other places.

And now for some lighter holiday news: Though Tajiks don't celebrate Halloween, American Councils bought a bunch of pumpkins for their students to carve and put around the office. I carved the Tajik crest on one side and the Iranian crest on the other side of my pumpkin. Pretty nerdy, but it made for a fun after-class activity. Also, this weekend we have a four day break from classes. It turns out that this year Eidi Qorbon (sacrifice day) occurs on the same day as Constitution Day. So I don't have classes on Monday (today) or Tuesday. No one really does anything for Constitution Day, but Eidi Qorbon is a big big deal in Tajikistan. 

Eidi Qorbon commemorates the story in the Bible where Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, but then he sacrificed a goat instead. We've heard the longer version of the story from people, but that's the basic gist. There are actually a few different Eid's throughout the year, but I think only two of them are celebrated in Tajikistan. For the actual day, which was yesterday, a lot of families choose to buy a goat or a sheep and butcher it on Eid and bring around the meat to their friends. Typically families are either hosting a stream of guests all day and feeding everyone till they drop, or they are going from house to house as guests and getting stuffed. Luckily, my host family chose to stuff others yesterday. Before our guests came over, I went to my Grammar professor's house with some friends and ate way too much. By the time I came back home, some of our guests were already over. It was really interesting meeting my host family's friends from around the city. We all looked at old pictures and watched old home videos together. It's reassuring to be reminded that people are pretty much the same anywhere you go in the world.

Also, while the rest of the world fell back one hour yesterday, Tajikistan did not. Tajikistan doesn't recognize daylight savings. I don't know the real reason why, but it's probably some combination of ignoring the Western world and lacking the ability to notify everyone in the hinterlands about the change.

I'm not sure what's on tap for today, but tomorrow American Councils is taking us to a Tajik comedy play. Details to follow.

More pictures below.

^ historical monument/madrasah/mausoleum

^ one of the 44 springs

^ national zoo, it's not very happening

^ me with some wildlife

^ making friends with camels

^ 'jungle cats' exhibit (they were all house cats)

^ pumpkin side 1: tajikistan

 ^ pumpkin side 2: iran

^ national mosque

^ watching the whole country file out of the mosque