How to Do Laundry

Hissor Fortress

A couple weeks ago I was invited to Hissor, a town about 20 minutes from Dushanbe, to see the famous Hissor Fortress (in Tajik, Kalai Hissor). A teacher I know lives in Hissor, and she took me to the fortress, museum, her school, and the homes of several of her family members.

According to my trusty copy of "Tajikistan and the High Pamirs," (p 121 for those who have it), the site has been inhabited for thousands of years (since the Stone Age). The actual walls of the fortress were destroyed 21 times by armies from Alexander the Great to the Red Army, and the current gate is a reconstruction. Across the road from the Fortress are two former medressas, or Islamic religious schools, one of which is a museum. The medressa was a large square courtyard with small rooms around it where the students would stay for a couple years during their studies. By the end, if they were successful, they were able to recite the entire Koran. The wooden piece of machinery in the picture is an old water powered wheat grinder--cool, huh? The other wooden log thing is an oil press--for flaxseed oil as I recall from the tour guide's explanation.

One room in the museum had some posters to commemorate May 9, "Victory Day" for World War II. The pictures were of veterans (I assume from the Hissor region) who were honored during the 60th anniversary celebrations in 2005. Imagine being an 18 year old from the poorest region of the USSR who had never left your valley before, traveling thousands of miles to fight, maybe to return, maybe not. Similar stories of that war are told in different languages and with different names from nations all around the world. "My grandfather, great-grandfather, father, uncle..."

After visiting the fortress and museum, Shahlo (another Shahlo, not my counterpart at the university) took me for a lovely lunch outside where we sat and ate on a "cot" overlooking a river. That was the beginning of an afternoon of eating, since we then went to another place for dessert and then to two relatives houses for tea and snacks! I'm wearing the Tajik dress that my students gave me for teacher day. The dress is called a "corta" and the pants underneath are called "azor".

Thanks for reading--as usual the Department of State and the English Language Fellowship program have nothing to do with the ideas and ramblings presented here :)

How to Carve a Pumpkin in Tajikistan

Step 1: Go to the bazaar and find a pumpkin "kadu" in Tajik. (In my case, this was the only pumpkin I've ever seen in the market that was shaped like a American pumpkin. Most are like giant butternut squash).
Step 2: Amuse the seller by your over the top enthusiasm at finding said pumpkin, and laugh while your friend takes your picture with the seller and the pumpkin. (That picture is still in her camera, I think).
Step 3: Take the 9 kg (20 lb) pumpkin home in your backpack.
Step 4: Cut the top off the pumpkin and try to remove the cap. Since the flesh is so think, cut a nose hole so you can try pushing from that angle.
Step 5: Pry the cap off the pumpkin using a knife and spoon.
Step 6: Take a victory bite. Just kidding!
Step 7: Clean the inside (note how thick it is).
Step 8: Go upstairs to your neighbors' apartment, since you had invited yourself over to demonstrate pumpkin carving. (Three people in the Tajik family in my building speak English, so that's how I communicate with them. I also practice my Tajik phrases on them).
Step 9: Ask the neighbor girls' advice on eye and mouth placement, and practice Tajik words for eyes, nose, and mouth.
Step 10: Carve the pumpkin as the whole family watches in amazement and excitement.
Step 11: Give the finished pumpkin a name. The grandmother thought this one should have an English name, so the girls named him "Tommy."
Step 12: Light a candle inside the pumpkin and applaud with the girls at the face glows.
Step 13: Eat soup, bread, cookies, meat and salad and drink homemade juice while talking with the family.
Step 14: Go back home with the pumpkin (he's going to a Halloween party hosted by an American couple) and reflect on how great your neighbors are.

Norak--The Hydropower City

A week and a half ago I had the privilege of visiting Norak, the home town of Shahlo, my "counterpart" at the university. She was assigned to help me navigate life at the university, and she teaches the "A" half of our group of students and I teach "B." I can't describe how thankful I am for this woman. She spent hours trekking from office to office helping me fill out paperwork in Tajik so I could be an official employee of the university, came to my apartment to check on me when I was sick last week, and took me as her guest to her hometown. She exemplifies Tajik hospitality. Seriously, the level of hospitality in this country is amazing.

Anyway, about Norak. It's a city of about 45,000 people (but feels much smaller) about an hour drive from Dushanbe. It is home to one of the largest hydro power stations in the world, according to Shahlo, and it powers much of Tajikistan. The plant was built during the Soviet era. Note the old mural on one of the apartment buildings in the town. If you click to enlarge it, you can see that it features a "Rosie the Riveter" style illustration of a woman with a power plug. During the Soviet era, the town itself was occupied mainly by Russians, while the surrounding villages were home to the Tajiks. Shahlo's family was one of only 2 Tajik families in their apartment block in town, so she speaks Russian almost like a first language.

Norak's square still features a large statute of Lenin. The Lenin statute in Dushanbe wasn't around long after independence. If it's too dark to see the Lenin statute, one only needs look to one of the mountain peaks to see a lighted silhouette of Lenin's head at the top of a mountain.

My Apartment

Here's a video tour of my apartment! I said in the narration that the cat's name is Vasha--I can't remember his exact name, but it's something like that. Enjoy!

'Tis the Night Before Eid

Tomorrow (September 21st) is the holiday of Eid-al-Fitr, or the end of the month of fasting for Muslims around the world. "Eid" means "festivity" in Arabic and "Fitr" means "to break the fast," (Wikipedia). Here in Tajikistan, people generally refer to the upcoming holiday as "Eid-i-Ramazan." Tomorrow, schools and offices are closed. I don't know about the markets, since this holiday involves a lot of eating. Those who have family in other cities or villages have traveled to visit them if they were able.

I know many people who observed the fast, and also many who didn't, either for specific health reasons or because it is too difficult. For those who fast, it means no food, drink or other indulgences (smoking is one) doing daylight hours. At the end of the day, families break the fast together with the Iftor meal (pronounced Iftar in some countries). I was invited to an Iftor meal combined with a birthday party for a coworker this week. The other guests and I were ushered into a room with a long table laden with food: salads, bread, tea, fruit, vegetables, sambusas, jam...and that was just the appetizer. Then we were served soup with dumplings and vegetables, foil packets with roasted meat and vegetables, and cake. My friend's mother and other women in the household had surely been cooking all day long. It was delicious. As we were leaving, her mother asked us to come again, and my friend walked us down to where we would take minibuses to our homes. Part of Tajik hospitality is making sure that the guests get all the way home safely. The next day, 4 different coworkers who were at the party asked me how my journey home was, and I live a 5 minute bus ride away!

Eid is celebrated for 3 days, though the only school holiday this year is the first day. People go from house to house, visiting friends and family and sampling their spreads of food. Tomorrow I will go to another Tajik friend's house to celebrate Eid-i-Ramazan. She invited me, telling me to come at 9:30 or 10:00 AM, because her mother would have the soup ready by then and she wants me to be their first guest! I think I will also visit my neighbor's apartment too. I borrowed a traditional Tajik outfit from an American friend and I will wear it for the festivities. I love the Tajik clothing. Pictures of that to come!

Pedagogical Institute

This is my first week teaching at Tajik State Pedagogical University (aka Ped Institute or Teacher Training University). The first picture is not from the Ped Institute; it's a weekly discussion club at the Embassy-sponsored American Corner. I don't have pictures of my classes yet, but will post when I do. I'm working with 2 groups of 3rd year students, teaching grammar and "practice," which is a combination of reading, grammar, and other skills. There are 13,000 students in the university as a whole, and more than 1,000 in the English department, according to the department Dean. It doesn't seem like that many to me, but the classes are on 2 different floors, and 5th year students are gone on practicum.

The students are very friendly and generally eager to learn. When a teacher or administrator enters a classroom, the students stand until they are given permission to sit down. My classes are figuring out that this is not an American custom, so only some of them stand when I come into the room, which is fine with me. Women usually wear traditional Tajik clothing, and men almost always wear white shirts and ties. The students couldn't believe it when I told them that some American college students go to classes in their pajamas, basically--sweatshirts and sweatpants, and that male students almost never wear ties to class.

Though this is a teacher training university, most of the students I've talked to don't actually want to be teachers. They dream of careers as interpreters, translators, or local staff working for a foreign NGOs in Tajikistan. They see English as their ticket to the world--travel, studying abroad, etc. Students ask me how they can improve their English and beg me to visit their classes or help them individually. I tell them I can't be their individual tutor, but I will be helping to organize some discussion clubs they can participate in. If any of you want to come visit me, students would be THRILLED to meet more Americans. There are apparently direct flights to Dushanbe from Frankfurt and Riga, Latvia now...(hint, hint...)

I'm going camping with some new friends this weekend, so look forward to pictures of the mountains!! I can't wait.

The opinions in this blog are not the opinions of the US State Department or the English Language Fellowship Program.