NAVRUZ MUBARAK!

(Blessed New Year!). Navruz (alt.: Norouz;it literally means "New Day") is an ancient Persian celebration of the new year starting with the first day of spring. This joyous holiday, which has been observed for something like 15,000 years, is celebrated in all Persian and Turkic areas of Asia, including of course Tajikistan. We were fortunate to be able to travel out of Dushanbe into the countryside of Khatlon Province to observe some traditional Tajik Navuz activities:

In Kulob, the main celebration took place at the local athletic stadium. Leading up the entranceway to the stadium was a veritable midway of exhibitions, one from each village in the area, of local costumes, cooking and crafts. Here is an about-to-be bride having her hair carefully combed by, evidently, her mother.





Madonna and Child. She took a break from exhibiting to hold her son, which I thought was the best image of all.









All of the school children in the district took part in a costumed show on the athletic field. Here, the white tarp on the stage, which represents snow in the mountains, covers schoolgirls dressed in blue robes, representing the spring snowmelt. Below the stage, the circle of boys with the radiating arms of girls represent the cycle of the seasons.



The tarp is removed as the "snow" melts, and the rain dances over the fields, sprouting the tulips the girls hold in their hands.








These little girls giggled so hard at the sight of a Westerner, I just had to take their picture. When I showed the photo to them and their father, they were all fascinated and delighted! I'm going to get a print of this photo to them.






A long ride back over the mountains, treated to scenery like this. This is an incredibly beautiful country!

SAINT PATRICK AND SOUR CREAM

Herein, a jumble of different things that, had I the time (I works for free and I earns my money!), I would flesh out into different diary entries. Or not.

--Here in the far, far east of Ireland, the High Holy Day will be celebrated in fine (foin) fashion with a BYO party at someone's house or other Saturday night. Fortunately, and obviously in anticipation of just such an event, I brought plenty of green clothes.

--The restaurants here all have really good and often exotic soups, which I want to eat to excess, except that they insist on dropping a dollop of sour cream into each bowlful. Now, I hate sour cream, call me picky, but I have no clue how to ask them not to put sour cream in the soup, in either Tajik or Russian. Although I know the Russian word for sour cream: smetana. Yes, just like the composer. I wonder if he put sour cream in his soup...

--And this Saturday, the entire known world will celebrate (in between swigs of green beer) the glorious wedding of JAMES EMMETT MOYLAN and LESLIE ERIN GALLAGHER in the Dushanbe suburb of Washington, DC. Drinks aloft, we bid ye slainte!

--A few photos of a Saturday morning (still early) in Central Park, Dushanbe:












"Discoclub
Billiard-Club
Karaoke-Bar"








Keep on truckin'!










A bit of a baptism, after our regular Saturday expat run/walk.

TRAFFIC & WEATHER, TOGETHER

Molecules of gas move in what is called Brownian motion. The movement of any given molecule is random; there is no way to predict where it will go. Nevertheless, the movement of a given quantity of gas is entirely predictable, always flowing from higher pressure to lower. This is the traffic pattern of Dushanbe. While traffic as a whole flows in predictable directions, e.g., in the suggested direction of travel, the movement of any particular vehicle is entirely random and unpredictable: it will slow to a crawl to navigate bumps; it will make U-turns without warning in heavy traffic; it will swerve to avoid potholes but not to avoid pedestrians; it will weave and jockey, travel in the oncoming lane or stop in the middle of the street for no apparent (and possibly no existing) reason. Yet, eventually, the passenger in such a vehicle will arrive at her predetermined destination.

This is the rainy season in this part of the world. It makes weather forecasting easy. For example, as I sit at my desk and look out over the rooftops, I can accurately predict the weather: if I cannot see the mountains, it is raining. If I can see the mountains, it is going to rain!

DUSHANBE PRICES

Unsurprisingly, things are relatively cheap here, and on any given day the major (?) supermarket here, Orima, does have a decent variety of goodies available. Without difficulty I was able to find fresh parsley, garlic, lettuce and tomatoes and come up with a decent salad and linguine with white clam sauce last weekend. Even a droll tuna sandwich becomes interesting: canned tuna from Spain, fresh bread from Tajikistan, mayonnaise from Moscow, tomatoes from Iran, and beer (mmmm, beer!) from Siberia, served on a plate from China followed by a cup of tea from India.

Examples of what things cost here:

1/2 liter bottle of (good!) beer - 87 cents
250cl extra-virgin olive oil from Spain - $3.20
loaf of Tajik bread - 19 cents
can of shelled mussels from Russia, 185g net - $2.77
spring water, 5-liter bottle - 87 cents
eggs - $1.75/dozen (although they're sold individually)
apricot nectar, 1 liter - $1.02
Barilla rigatoni, 500g - $1.71
non-Barilla linguine, 500g - 71 cents
"President" gruyere cheese, 140g - $1.42
Frozen pizza from Russia (it's quite good!), 260g - $1.29
Canned tuna from Spain in olive oil, 500g - $2.00
Buitoni pasta sauce, 400g - $4.13
Can of pitted black olives, 250g - 78 cents
Large stainless-steel pasta pot w/ glass lid - $11.60
75cl bottle of Moldovan cabernet (pretty good) - $4.06
1.5-liter bottle of Jack Daniels - $63.50 (no, I haven't bought any, not at that price!)
Cab ride, one mile - $1.16
Trolley fare - 12 cents
2-bedroom modern apartment, w/cable TV and all utilities incl. tax - $850/month
Memories of my family and friends - priceless!