Yesterday was the official beginign of my grant program here in Tajikistan. One pat of the program is that I can get language tutoring along wiht research help. So, yesterday I met with my Uzbek teacher for the first time. Although I was a bit rusty since I haven't spoken Uzbek in a few years, we had a pretty good chat and I began remembering a few words.
One great thing is that my teacher invited me to go to a wedding reception in her home village that was happening that evening. I had kept my week pretty free because I knew I would begining classes and so I was able to go. We took off later that evening and had a great time.
I mostly wanted to see what differences there were between Tajik and Uzbek weddings. There weren't any noticeable differences. I think any differences that were there are more regional because each town I've been to whether Tajik or Uzbek, they have their own wedding traditions, but basically all the same.
the best part was that we then spent the night at her parent's home. When I woke up I went out and explored their garden. I noticed they had melons hanging from the grape arbor. They had grown the vines up the grape arbor and the melons were hanging underneath. They even had a few different types of melons hanging there. They also wraped the grape in newspaper ot keep the birds away.
since it was the first time in a while that I'd spoken to Uzbeks I was of course remembering all my friends in Uzbekistan. I was pretty sad because I haven't been able to visit them. I was even invited to a wedding this summer, but because of the political situaiton I ahven't been able to get a visa. But I look forward ot visitign the village some more and making more Uzbek friends here in Tajikistan.
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