Random posting

Well, as the title suggests, here's a very random posting. Sorry, but it's like life, some good and some not so good postings. (At least I didn't say "laf is lak a box of chocolates.....")

Anyways - I was really exited to have borrowed a DVD movie (to watch on my computer) that I could actually watch in English - and not have the monotone male voice doing dubbing into Russian for both the male & female parts!

So, I decided to give "Twighlight" a try. Yes - the sighs are heard around the world! Well, of course I've heard the hype but have not yet seen the movies or read the books. Having a open mind (I'm here in Tajikistan, after all), I thought I'd give it a try. Uh Hum. It's like Rory Gilmore (from Gilmore Girls) does Vampires - with BAD acting. Yikes! And, mind you - I like the Gilmore Girls!!! :) But it did remind me that for us 'older viewers' (ie have gone through puberty) "Moonlight" is much more realistic, better acting (and much better eye-candy) . Too bad that was canelled.

So, honestly, if anyone has read the books (I haven't) - are the books better than the movies? (The books are all the *rage* here). Is there a movie per book? What's the attraction here?

Meanwhile, the views of Washington State (or is it Oregon) are gorgeous - after almost 2 months in Dushanbe my body has almost a viscerally postive reaction to all the wet weather and leafy vegation. (And it looks like a really neat place, too!!)

Okay, time to get back to the movie. Since there are several more books, I don't think I need to be terribly worried about the immediate survival of the heroine or hero at this point! :)

And, certainly if anyone reading absolutely loves these books & movies - I hope I didn't offend...but do yourself a favor and read the original B.Stoker "Dracula" or at least watch some vintage vampire movies! :)

Please note the following disclaimer: "This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the INL Fellow's own and do not represent the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Program or the U.S. Department of State".

Teaching experiences

Many of you have asked for more detail on my experiences teaching.....



So here goes...!



I am here to provide teacher training (ie teach the teachers) both in English language skills and in contemporary/communicative teaching methods/methodology.



Based on my statement of work (as well as the source of my funding), I am working with English language teachers in the the Law Enforcement Community here in Dushanbe. I've come to find that "Law Enforcement" has a slightly different meaning here....I'm not necessarily working with the police on the streets. Instead, my class includes English language teachers from the Academy of the Ministry of Interior (MVD), the Ministry of State Security (I've seen it as both SCNS and KNB - recently changed from KGB (yes)) and translators/interpreters from the Drug Control Agency (DCA). I am working with these teacher on their English language skills and to give them examples/practice with using communicative/student-centered activities in their language classrooms.



It's a different group than I've worked with before, and is a great and exciting new opportunity.

Feel free to email me and I'll be happy to share more of my experiences!

Please note the following disclaimer: "This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the INL Fellow's own and do not represent the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Program or the U.S. Department of State".

Hike - Take two

I seem to have an *extremely* slow internet connect now, and it keeps giving me errors as I'm trying to upload pictures (individually - yes) from the hike. So I'm going to hold off, and try again tomorrow am, when, hopefully it will be a bit faster.

Meanwhile - if you do stop by/visit this blog....*pls* make a comment or drop me a line to let me know!!!! With the internet connection being so slow here, I don't want to keep uploading these pictures if no one is really looking at them! I'm happy to keep uploading & sharing them if you are reading & looking, but please let me know! Thanks.

Please note the following disclaimer: "This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the INL Fellow's own and do not represent the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Program or the U.S. Department of State".

Hike!

I went on the Sunday Hike for the first time today. I had a great time, and will certainly be going again - weather permitting and all that! Here's the published description of the hike - it's much better than what I could try to describe!

"Dear friends,
This Sunday, October 18, we are delighted to invite to the easy or difficult (your choice of group and distance) hike to Diamalik valley.
It's situated in 48 km from Dushanbe (50 min by city car) towards Takob town. We leave our cars in a picturesque Diamalik village and divide into two groups straight away (one for easy hike and one for difficult one).
“Easy group” will be slowly hiking by the path following small stream with few water till the shoulder top of the mountain for about 1, 5 hour and stop in the shady place to have rest and picnic, enjoy reading, meditating or just relaxing by the stream, waiting for the rest of the group to get their portion of adventure.
The “difficult group” will go faster and ascent a rather steep range (about two hours), from where is breathtaking view suddenly opening to our eyes: the panorama of Hoji-Obi-Garm plateau (where we go next week) surrounded by high, snow-covered mountains. At this picturesque spot we are enjoying the views, and after having lunch and rest, making a small loop by the ridge and coming back to our path to meet with first group.
In this time of the season, surroundings are beautifully painted by autumn colours; don’t miss your chance to enjoy it!
We will leave the city at 9.00 am and return at about 4.00 - 5.00 pm.
You should take some food, water, a cup for tea or coffee, camera, and etc. We will provide guiding, coffee, tea, cookies, beautiful landscapes, wonderful views for taking pictures and good mood. We'll meet at 9.00 at the crossroads of Rudaki and Karamova streets (near the Agriculture University), in front of billiard "Zvezdnaya noch". Transportation can be provided but cost extra. If you are ready to join our group, please let us know by mobile phone...."

ps - you may have already seen some of these pics from facebook - but, not to worry, there are new pics, too!! :)

The drive up to the starting point of the hike was itself quite amazing. We drove N. on the main road out from Dushanbe (not sure what Rudaki is called that far north). We drove along the river for a while, and saw these sights. Not sure you can really see from these pictures, but at some point (probably Soviet era) alot of work was seems to have been done to control the water flow -based on the metal works left behind. (some of the pics taken from behind a closed windown on a fast moving car on a bumpy road....)

We turned off the main road and the road was more 'rustic'....

And here are some images from the village - evidently they store hay in the 'attic'

As I sure you will have expected, I did the easy hike - which was not all that easy! It really winded me! And it was gorgeous. After leaving the cars from this area (see these pictures) we walked *up* through a village and then ascended the valley until we arrived (1.5ish hours later) at our rest stop. While resting, we encountered laden donkey going down (to the village?)and horses doing up higher into the valley. The donkeys were laden with sticks&twigs, presumably for fires.

Donkeys going down ......

....and horses going up. Evidently they were going up to watch after their sheep (I didn't see any sheep at all)

Then we headed back down the valley.....here are some images from our descent.

How many animals can you find in this picture?

(answer: 3 ....2 cows and a donkey)

And just to give you a sense of what the road was like....looking through the car windshield - which was regularly cleaned with the wipers & windshield wiper fluid....(gives a bit of an idea how bad the dust gets!)

I've uploaded many more pics to picasa. Let me know if you need help seeing the pics or need a login!

Please note the following disclaimer: "This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the INL Fellow's own and do not represent the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Program or the U.S. Department of State".

Busy weekend!

This weekend was full of outdoor adventures. I went on the Hash on Saturday afternoon and then on the day hike with Gulya's Outdoor Adventures today. I'm going to be a bit sore tomorrow!! But the scenery is amazing here, and the weather is too good not to enjoy it outside! It's been sunny and in the mid 70's during the day - and chilly at night. From what I've heard mid to late November it will get much colder although perhaps not below freezing until mid to late December. But the rains will begin around that time, too, at which time I don't think I'll be quite so interested in spending so much time outdoors!


The first few pictures here are from Saturday's Hash. We drove toward the north of Dushanbe (further north than I had been so far) and then took a turn and as before, it got rural very quickly. This first picture is from where we started (where we parked the cars). This is looking down (yes we had already gone up a bit on very dusty roads). You can see cows grazing and an immese powerline.


This next picture is looking back towards "downtown" Dushanbe.

I still am amazed at these mountains all around. Coming from fairly "flat" northern Virginia (well, yes, I have been out to see the Shannandoah Mts), and New Jersey, I just don't see sights like this too often! In a way it reminds me of the brief time I spend in Tuscon, AZ, but it feels so much different!

I'm not sure if every Hash House has its own phrase or saying, but on the t-shirts for the Dushanbe Hash, it says "Hashing on the roof of the world". Granted, Dushanbe isn't quite the Pamirs in Tajikistan (which really is the roof of the world), but seeing all these mountains - and going up into the mountains is really amazing - and puts things into perspective!

Speaking of perspective, here is at neat shot (at least I thought so), showing the cars from where they were parked at the beginning of the Hash against the mountains, from where we were along the hash.

And, yes, for those of you wondering, I do now own my very own Dushanbe Hash House Harriers T-shirt. This year they were/are lime green (almost a neon green) - which is actually good...if I fall too far behind on one of the Hashes, I'm easy to find!! :)

I'm trying to be productive with my internet usage here (my internet plan is by the minute), so while my pictures are uploading (which is really quite slow!), I'm typing my text..... so pardon the non-sequitor!

As I look at this picture again, it almost looks like sand dunes in the foreground. But no, it's hard-packed, sun-baked dirt - very dry and extremely dusty. In a way, it will be great when the rains come, as the rain should get some of the dust out the air (and out of my clothes) and I won't be tracking so much into my apartment all the time.

For anyone who clicked on the picture and looked at it larger, and might have been wondering about the different color license plates (and for the rest of you, I'm telling you anyways): red=diplomatic plates, blue=UN, green = NGO (so far, I've seen OSCE, MercyCorp, Oxfam, RedCross/RedCrescent, Aga Khan Foundation (big presence - just opened a huge new facility and "His Higness" the Aga Khan was here for the opening)).

It's interesting that the best word for it is 'dust' - but it's not like the dust that would accumulate in my apt. in Arlington (ie grey, fluffy stuff). This is very fine reddish-brown dirt that gets in *everything*!!

Great - my next picture uploaded! Here is a view again of the cars (from further away and further along the Hash). You can also see to the right of the cars a huge electrical power plant - which is also totally dwarfed by the surrounding landscape.

Okay, I think that's it for now! I'm also going to try to get some pictures up this evening from my Sunday Hike - but first I need to get dinner going.



As always, thanks for looking and listening (or rather, reading!) Please comment and stay in touch!!!



Please note the following disclaimer: "This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the INL Fellow's own and do not represent the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Program or the U.S. Department of State".

Back online!!

Yeah! After a few days of being w/o internet at home, I'm back online. The telelphone issues seem to have been resolved (evidently the construction work took out the landline to my apartment (again)!) Good news is that it was back working in less than a week! I got my business cards this week - check them out! They are double-sided (English and Russian (yes, you can all practice your reading of the Cyrillic alphabet!) :)

ps - somebody let me know if you can read and/or enlarge these photos to be able to read the writing. I'm not sure how these blog pictures work!

I have to admit - I never would have thought it, but I've actually come to enjoy sipping an expresso at a cafe and watching the world go by on Rudaki. I think that might have to be a future purchase when back home (the expresso machine, not a cafe!) Expresso grows on you - and definitely packs a caffeine punch when you haven't been drinking coffee regularly!

And to think that I can get an expresso for 7 Somoni (and it's 4.4 Somoni to the USD...you do the math). I'm not sure I could sit outside somewhere and get a good cup of coffee for that back home - (not to mention sit outside, relax and enjoy their wifi!)

Please note the following disclaimer: "This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the INL Fellow's own and do not represent the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Program or the U.S. Department of State".

Since this generated so much interest, I wanted to share with you my new broom! Handmade at the market (I watched them!) it was less than $2.

Please note the following disclaimer: "This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the INL Fellow's own and do not represent the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Program or the U.S. Department of State".

And just to keep us all on our toes....and perhaps show my admittedly very poor housekeeping skills....

Does anyone have any insight into what the second power cord is for? I know that the iron gets pugged in. But what's the second one for? There's also a plug at the end of the white plastic part (under what looks like a radio antenae)....Is that an extension cord type thing? It's been baffling me. Not to worry, I've been able to iron, though!

Please note the following disclaimer: "This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the INL Fellow's own and do not represent the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Program or the U.S. Department of State".

Went on an overnight camping trip last weekend (Sat - Sun) to Tigoraya Balka (which translates as Tiger Valley/Ravine) Evidently as recently as the 1950's there were tigers there. It's a WWF and a World Heritage site. It's located 3 hours driving south of Dushanbe - yes, for those of you with a map or a good sense of the area, it's an area one does not want to go wandering off the beaten track! :)

I'm trying to post more pictures on Picasa, and provide the link to view them....

Meanwhile, it was a good weekend, but it really made me appreciate how dry the area is!

For those of you with a good sense of humor and some experience reading signs that aren't quite right.... check out the welcome sign in the picture. What do you think the original intention was?!!?

Please note the following disclaimer: "This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the INL Fellows' own and do not represent the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Program or the U.S. Department of State".

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog about my adventures in Tajikistan! I’ll be posting (somewhat) regularly about my experiences and impressions while in Dushanbe, Tajikistan for 10 months on a fellowship to teach English funded by the INL Bureau of the US Department of State.

I'll also be posting pictures....with links to more on Picasa (if I can figure out how to do this!)

Please note the following disclaimer:
"This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the INL Fellows' own and do not represent the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Program or the U.S. Department of State".