Bowling, Bolnol and Buzkashi

These past two weekends have been a little odd, but in a good way. I'll start from last week.

It was a pretty average weekend until Sunday afternoon. As usual, there were no excursions so it was up to us to find our own fun. I forget what I did on Saturday, but on Sunday I went bowling with Amanda and Chris. I had been wanting to go since last September. I don't really think we'll go again though. The place wasn't really up to snuff. We were not provided with any sort of special shoes, which meant I was bowling in the same shoes that I've been wearing around Taj everyday for the last few months. Also the lanes weren't greased. Thus, (perhaps only my parents understand this, but) it wasn't really bowling.

About halfway through our first game, a Tajik man approached us. He spoke to us in surprisingly coherent English and told us his name was Rustam (same as my host dad - it's an incredibly common Tajik name). Rustam was a director and wanted us to be in his commercial. The commercial was for a pain cream called Bolnol. All we really had to do was bowl, and react to whatever the main actor was doing. It was pretty strange. We had to keep doing the same stuff over and over again. A lot of people kept coming in and staring at us. In the end, we found out that in about three weeks the commercial will be aired on TV stations throughout Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. I'm hoping it ends up online so I can post it here. Anyhow, that was last weekend.

This weekend was similarly strange, but more exciting. American Councils took us to see a buzkashi match yesterday. Buzkashi is a traditional Central Asian sport that remains wildly popular in the region today. The main purpose is to pick up a headless goat carcass from the ground and bring it to an end zone. Everyone that plays is on horseback and is armed with a whip made from the intestines of a cow. Any male with a horse can opt in to the game. Other than that, there are virtually no rules. The game is pretty much every man for himself. Getting the goat carcass to the end zone wins you a different prize each time. Yesterday there was everything from 50 somoni (~ $10) cash prizes to traditional carpets to a (live) goat or camel.

We were about an hour outside of Dushanbe. The place where we watched the game was impressive. Everyone watched the field from high atop two large hills on either side. The field had to be huge because a lot of the time horses would go running by at a full gallop. Luckily, the hills were steep enough that horses couldn't climb up from the field. A lot of riders got hurt though. They would fall from their horses or 'accidentally' get whipped by fellow opponents. It was intense. I got the feeling that most of the participants didn't really know how to properly ride a horse too. Not that I know how, but a lot of the men on horseback and could barely control their animals. 

The event atmosphere reminded me a lot of tailgating before a big sports game in the US. Admission of course was free, and as we were walking up the hill there were tons of people grilling kabobs by their cars in the parking area. People were selling all kinds of food like shwarma, kabobs and fried egg sandwiches. It was fun. I thought it was beyond cool that out there in (literally) the middle of nowhere, I could still get a Coke to wash down my lunch. Sometimes globalization really blows my mind. The only other highlight was that President Rahmon's son was in attendance at the match. He was sitting on a large platform (known as a takht) with some cronies. No one was really allowed to walk too close to him. The whole buzkashi experience was a lot of fun. It was a good day.

Back in the city, the Persian new year, Noruz, is coming up in a few days. All the Iranians we know keep saying that they'll be celebrating on the 20th, at the exact moment of the vernal equinox. Tajiks are celebrating on the 21st though. American Councils has organized a party for us on the 22nd. And we all have off from classes on the 23rd. So I'm pretty sure we're just going to be celebrating all week. City workers have been putting in some serious efforts to clean up the place by the time the new year arrives. They've been repainting gates, rebuilding bus stops and replanting flowers and trees. We're actually supposed to get more snow here on the 19th and 20th, so I'm thinking the city will still not be looking it's best for Noruz.

The only other thing worth mentioning is that it was my host father, Rustam's, birthday earlier this week. The whole family came over and everyone had to give a toast. The food was good and the conversation was interesting. 

I suppose I'll have another post up next weekend, following all of the Noruz festivities. Below are some shots from buzkashi.

 ^there were about 100 riders at the match

^the goat carcass was hard to follow 

^spectators on the field - they nearly got trampled 

^bactrian camel was one of the prizes 

^view of some of the spectators from the hill (the riders were at the other end of the field)

 

^madness ensues 

^even the old guys got pretty into it