Snow:
This past week we’ve gotten quite a bit of snow. It’s been really pretty, but makes it tough to get around because they don’t clean sidewalks or anything. Now we’re at the point where it’s turned to ice. But still, the first couple days were great. Everything looked really pretty with a coating of snow. Plus all the kids were building snow men and having snowball fights. It was fun to see.
One of the odd things was that many of the trees still had green leaves. The snow was a heavy wet snow so there were many broken branches. But, the branches were all snapped up within hours of falling. People here use the branches I the outdoor ovens that they bake bread with so many people were collecting the branches.
Electricity:
So now that I have hot water consistently they’ve decided they will play with the electricity. The electricity supply of Tajikistan is based on hydro-electric power and in the winter it can’t let too much water out of the dams and so it can’t produce enough electricity for the country. In villages they usually have a ration of 4 hours of electricity a day 2 in the morning and 2 at night. Recently, the government has been trying to connect a new power station to the grid so it has cut the electricity rations. Last week I went out to a village and the family I was staying with didn’t have any electricity for 3 days in a row. In a few days there is a rumored nation-wide blackout while they finish the last stages of the connection. Imagine, a whole country without electricity for a few days…Thank God I have hot water
Birthday Turkey:
After thanksgiving I was telling my Tajik language tutor all about Thanksgiving. She thought it all sounded very good and decided that she wanted one cooked for her birthday which was this week. So, she got a turkey, I made some stuffing and we made a turkey for her birthday. The sad part was that the bird was so scrawny there wasn’t very much meat, but we had tons of stuffing…. So we served up the turkey Tajik style.. a big plate stuffing on the bottom, turkey meat on top, served with gravy. They all loved it and it was fun to make a birthday turkey and have taste of home.
Saying GoodBye.
Believe it or not I don’t even have a full week left here in Tajikistan. The last month I’ve been traveling around to some of the villages I’ve stayed in to say goodbye for the “last” time. I’m taking off to one more village on Friday for the day and then I’ll start packing for home.
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