Good things:
Sorry that I haven’t reported in for a while or put up new pictures. My last trip I went to two places I already visited to talk with parents and teachers for my research. So I didn’t necessarily have any new pictures to put up. I’ve been in the city for a while catching up with language classes and I am hoping to collect some interviews here soon. But, most importantly I thought I’d write a nice email about good things that have happened recently.
Early Fall:
It is still quite warm here during the days, but the evenings are cool and the days are about the perfect temperature. The trees are just starting to turn golden here and drop their leaves. I like the sprinkling of golden leaves on the sidewalks.
Raspberries:
The other day a friend gave me some raspberries that she picked up at the market. The very next morning a lady came around the neighborhood selling more raspberries and I decided to buy some more. I had only wanted a pint or so, but the lady only sold them by the bucketful so I bought a bucketful of raspberries for an expensive 7 dollars. I brought them home and was wondering what I should do with them. Then I decided I should make jam. My Uzbek language teacher soon showed up and told I should run out and buy 5 lbs of sugar before the raspberries spoil. So I ran right out and bought 5 pounds of sugar. She poured the sugar on top of the raspberries and told me to let it sit until evening and then boil them for a bit. So I did that and then the next day the neighbor lady asked me how my jam was coming along. She was worried that I might ruin it so she took my pot of boiled raspberries and promised to finish cooking them and then we’d can them together the next day. So, today I boiled the jars and lids and she put the jam in them and I gave their family what was left in the pot and now I have raspberry jam. (you can probably guess it has a bit too much sugar, but it’s ok…).
Water:
I think most of you are under the impression that I’m living here without very much water. I used to have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to make sure to collect enough to use that day. Then, there were weeks when they didn’t even give water early in the morning and I would have to go to a neighbor’s house and fill up my jugs (about 20 5 liter bottles) and hall them up to my 4th floor apartment… Since about three weeks ago I have really great water pressure and I consistently have water now. My new problem is my leaky faucet that runs constantly…. It’s funny because I have to adjust to having enough water before I sued to take a bath, wash my clothes in the bathwater, then run the dirty clothes water down the toilet to flush it really well…. It’s hard for me to finish with my bath unplug it and let the water run down….
Silk Road Development Project:
Many of you know that I’ve been trying to do a project that helps schools in the area. Since my research involves going to schools to see what problems they have, I thought I might even decide to do something about it too. Well, I started my first project here, which was to provide a couple for stoves for the local school. How it came about was a heart-warming story:
So, I visited a village school and noticed that they do not have stoves in each of the classrooms for the winter. (There is no school here with central heating, the systems that were there have all broken, or were poorly designed and most classrooms now have some type of small wood burning stove to help keep the classroom warm in winter). Well, after seeing the school, I went to interview some parents about school issues and problems they face. In one of the interviews a father mentioned that he is out of work now, but he builds thing like stoves for families on order. After the interview finished I asked him how much it costs to build an oven and he said a reasonable amount so I ordered two stoves for the school. But I made him promise not to tell the school director who ordered them. So, the best part is this father who had no work can now feed his family of 6 children and the school children will have heat for the winter. I think it was a great project and I hope to get back to the village in December to see how they are working. Thanks for everyone who has been supporting the project and I am excited about doing more in the future!
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