Week 1: Welcome to Dushanbe!
Hi everyone!
Because I had limited WiFi in Dushanbe, I decided to journal everyday and upload blog posts / highlights after I returned. Warning: it might be a mix of at-the-time journaling with current comments I add. And don't count on the tenses being consistent; I was tired every day in Tajikistan!
I’ll be breaking these up into weekly posts, with key events or days that made my Tajikistan experience special. I’ll include a brief schedule like the one below, but I won’t talk about everything in depth - the days with * I discuss, and the days with ** are essentially full days. I might make special separate posts for certain days, like the first day with my host family! (marked with ***)
I hope you enjoy reminiscing with me on my six-week journey. I miss it already. :)
Itinerary
6/20: Fly-in to Chicago
6/21: Orientation + Flight
6/22: More Flight*
6/23: First Day in Dushanbe! We’re all tired*
6/24: First Group Travel: Hisor!**
6/25: First Day of Class!**
6/26: Shiraz lecture (Fullbright Scholar), Botanical Garden, Group Bonding
6/27: First Day with Host Family*** (separate)
POSTS
Getting Here
I flew into Chicago on June 20 and met the fellow Persian students I would spend my next six weeks with. After a day of orientation, we embarked on our long travel -- Chicago to Dubai on Emirates, then to Dushanbe on Fly Dubai. I was feeling a bit nervous to say the least -- here’s a reflection I had, on the layover to Fly Dubai: It still doesn’t feel real yet -- though I already am becoming more self-conscious of me, as an American/English-speaker/of Chinese heritage amongst the central Asian people with more traditional garb than my Uniqlo windbreaker, Loft striped pants, and NSLI-Y T-shirt. I think I’m feeling generally excited to learn and see new things, but I’m anxious about all the unknowns before me -- missing social cues, butchering the language, being left out of my NSLIY group or host family. I really want to do my best, but I’m afraid I’ll slip into that old mindset of me just shrinking back right when there’s opportunity in front of me.
6/23 - First Tajiki Meal in Dushanbe
So after landing in Dushanbe around 3-4 am and waiting AN HOUR to get through customs, we finally took a small van back to our hotel Guliston - we met Carly and Mehroj!!! They are so warm and welcoming, I’m really excited to talk to them, even if I’m a little shy. We had orientation at American Councils, lunch at a Turkish restaurant, and generally rested....
Ava and I slept like rocks right until 7 pm, almost 20 min past the meeting time… Yikes. We drove to the Rokhat Teahouse and we were literally all dead to the world. I ordered the лағмон, which was super yummy and rich. I found out that it’s Chinese-inspired noodles, and the broth/soup it was in, along with the veggies, were delicious. It’s “laghmon” - like ら麺 ramen or 拉面 la mian!!! There was also a good fruit juice called компот, I believe. And of course, bread on top of bread, but I was way too drowsy to consume all that. I did want to try манту, steamed meat dumplings, a name that reminded me of 馒头 mantou, but they said the laghmon was the teahouse’s signature dish, so I ordered that. The ceiling designs were very beautiful, and apparently Soviet-era design!
We then took a nice stroll back to our hotel, past the Arch of Rudaki and a department store called Tsum that used to be a communist store to distribute items in the Soviet era. Go figure!
6/24 - First Group Travel - Hisor!
Breakfast at the hotel was ширбиринҷ (шир is milk, rest is rice = dish!), which was sort of like a warm, milk and rice porridge! They also had watermelon (тарбуз) but no бананҳо.
We drove by some lovely mountain ranges, saw some smaller towns, and went by Putin’s cherry garden! The roads were interspersed with Tajik flags and very pristine photos of the president, and also lovely flowers. Apparently there were pics of the Belarusian president because he visited recently. We soon got stopped by the police for a bribe issue (common in Tajikistan), but it was conveniently right in front of the melon-shaped Teahouse, so we took a few pictures before heading on our way. We soon arrived at Hisor Fortress. A lot of people get married there, so there was a lot of live music, dancing, and people in colorful Tajik clothing. And of course, there were brides themselves. We took pictures around the fort, and hiked up some steep stairs and sandy hills - a lady stopped Elaine and me to take a picture with us, which was a little amusing!
We then headed to lunch at Tabak Restaurant, and we sat on these elevated platforms with cushions, with food in the center. There was bread, kompot, and salads (not that great) but also cooked veggies (like from the laghmon yesterday). Mikaela and I got chicken but there were four half-chickens... yikes!!!! I also almost got locked in the bathroom.
After lunch, we just walked through the Hisor Bazaar súper quickly, and then the Hisor Center, which was a museum with older artifacts and exhibitions about the President Rahmon! He even took a picture with President Obama. There were also musical instruments and shoes. There was a Chinese carving that said 马到成功 and Chinese currency in the museum! We soon started the drive back to Dushanbe, which took about 40 min, and rested from 4-6 pm. Rayyan showed me the radio on my phone, and Elaine chatted with Mehroj in Persian. I sorta felt jealous/inferior; I really want to learn a lot but I’m currently feeling sort of dumb and lazy and awkward. I will do my best in class tomorrow!!!
At 6, we went down to drive to Victory Park, which celebrates the heroic deeds of Tajik generals and soldiers in the victory of WWII, in the Soviet victory day in May. The monuments were quite beautiful, and we took some lovely group pictures in the gazebo with a great view overlooking the city (with the conspicuous flagpole sticking out!) We then walked to the restaurant, where everyone spoke Russian and was watching the World Cup (there was a dance party with disco lights somewhere, and also whoops whenever someone scored a goal).
At this point, I had some conversation with Mehroj and the other students! I told him about the paper I wrote about kinship systems, as well as learning about cyber security in YYGS. (quick language review: ман каме монда ҳастам means I am a little tired). He is around 姐姐’s age, which is CRAZY, and his language skills are AMAZING. I learned that “jan” is a term of endearment to add onto your name, which I remember from Kite Runner. We also talked about Ed Sheeran, possible Tajik names we’d get, and curse words ( гух is shit? He knew 草泥马！the real one). Anyways, we drank more компот, water, fruit juice, and ate some mixed grilled meats and of course, bread. And a tradition I would maintain for the next six weeks, ice cream/ яхмос! We joked around a lot, especially Abby and Rayyan about weird NJ slang that I was apparently not aware of. I was finally getting to know my companions, and they’re all talented, passionate, hilarious people. I was wary about Tajikistan at first, but this may be a sign I’ve come to the right place for me.
6/25 - First Class!
Near Cafe Safo, you turn into the small alleyway and the door is sort of decorated with curves. It opens into a courtyard of a home with very pretty flowers, trees, vines. There were grapes and other fruits growing! Our classroom was through one of the doors on the side. (Unfortunately, this is the last NSLIY program here - they’re destroying this neighborhood, so future classes, and the future AC office, will be somewhere else.)
Today, we had class together and it was MENTALLY TAXING. It’s constant engagement - learning vocab and words, taking turns using sentence structures with the teachers (Саъдулло ва Мавҷуда). The first day was mostly review of what we’ve done pre-program. If I have any recommendations, it’s to have all the pre-program material down solidly - it’s a tremendous help in laying a foundation for learning Tajiki, especially the alphabet. It started with introductions (names/where you’re from), and went into classroom items, simple demonstrative pronouns, and also members of your family with the verb to have, доштан (дор). There were a few breaks, where we saw the few kids hanging around. So cute! In the afternoon, we got our first homework (make family tree and write about them / get ready to talk about them).
Lunch was at хола’s house, a neighborhood lady who cooks for us all class days, and there was самбуса (like a samosa with veggies inside) and also veggie/meat soup, along with bread нон and tea. We had to take our shoes off! I got full very quickly because it was SO HOT. Later, we got a lecture about Tajikistan from Nona, a woman who is in charge of the FLEX program for Tajik exchange students to the US. She has lived here for a number of years, which was really interesting. She talked about corruption, economy, religion, family values, education, etc.
We had a quick group meeting, where we discussed our upcoming schedule for the week and our first impressions of the class. We all thought it was SO mentally draining, but I felt like it wasn’t too bad for our first day. It just reminded me of Calc BC class - constant engagement every second of the class, and if you fall behind, you’re dead!!!! I was feeling excited but nervous throughout the class because it’s just so nerve wracking, but in a good way, to be in such an intensive but supportive learning environment.
But after that, we walked to a photo place to get photos taken for our Tajik visit registration, and that’s when I started to feel slightly queasy and dizzy, like I was coming down from an adrenaline after class.
Tajik tummy. ‘Nuff said.
Thanks for tuning in! I'll upload my next Tajikistan blog post soon :)
