So….. I have been lazy. I’ve been here almost two weeks and haven’t written a journal entry since the first one. I’ve had a good 13 days. I’ve spent the days working with the oral history project, catching up with old friends, and making some good connections for future learning activities for students.
Yesterday was my last day here and it captured many of the things I’ve been doing lately. After I packed up a bit (which is much easier when you only are here for 2 weeks and only have one sanduk to fill), I went over to my former teacher’s (Surayo) house. We were there a while and then left for the village.
I wasn’t sure about trying to fit in a quick lunch visit to the village on the day before I was supposed to leave, but it was a nice treat. Surayo had gathered her sisters and sisters-in-law and their children and we went to their village about 40 minutes outside of Dushanbe. Her older sister lives there still and made a great feast, including Osh for us. I brought things to make lasagna and we spent some time in the kitchen putting that together too.
Her sister’s house was great. You could see the mountains. The roses were blooming, the mulberry trees had fruit on them, and the cherries were ripe. The highlight for me was their waterwheel. Their house is situated near a stream and they had a waterwheel wet up that brought water up then there was a hose connected to the basin that brought water to the plants in their garden. I could have stood there all day and just watched it turn and listen to the water splashing.
It was definitely a good way to end the trip by getting out of the city a bit and sitting in the village with a nice family for a few hours
In the evening, after a quick trip to the pool, I went to an outdoor café and as various friends called to say goodbye I invited them to the café to sit for a while. After dinner I headed home again, set the alarm to go off early, and I’ll soon be off to Bishkek.
It’s been interesting to see all the changes in Dushanbe. They are building many new buildings and re-doing the central park. There was a really bad winter here so it was good to see my friends had come through it ok.
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