Disconnected - reconnected
Strangely, today was the first day that this website was accessible to me. I could not post previously because I was told that I could not access it from school probably due to censorship by the Uzbeki government. Today suddenly I have access. I am going to post some writing that I had earlier, as well as pics. Today is my first full day of internet at home. Hopefully I will be able to continue to add messages.
August 2nd
I packed all four bags, my carry on and the boys’ backpacks. The complicated part was packing the boys’ two bags so that they would have about a week’s worth of clothes while at their dad’s house. It took most of the day, and we then went and ran my last errands, and then came back and carried the heavy bags down the stairs (at least I did). Leaving the apartment I left a bell on the mantelpiece. I had received it at my goodbye party, and Inga had recommended that I leave it so that the bell would call me home to Latvia. So for those of you visiting Mara, Joel, and Adam, please think about picking up the bell below and ringing it, so that I am called back home.
I met with one more friend at my mom’s, the boys were picked up by friends and taken to Todd’s house, and then on to Tuja. I stayed the night at my mum’s, rested, and prepared for the next day’s flight.
August 3rd
This was the day that I flew out to Tashkent. I met E and I again at the airport. E and I were on the same flight, which made the trip that much easier. Uzbeki Air was having problems with tickets purchased through Air Baltic – including mine – and we had to wait for an hour until everything was sorted. The next problem was the excess baggage… We went and paid for that, and by the time we got back were the last ones to check in. It was interesting that as I checked in the last seat for the economy section was taken and I was upgraded to business. E couldn’t convince them to let her do the same, and I sat on my own during the flight.
On the flight I met a woman from Lithuania who was returning home to visit her mother for the first time in 15 years. I was surprised to find that I could communicate with her in Russian – bad Russian with a good bit of English – but she spoke in Russian the whole time. I learned she has two adult children in Lithuania, and that she comes from the Ferdana valley, she works in a factory, and she learned where I come from. We spoke a bit about our children. I am beginning to realize how much Russian I understand passively. I am looking forward to my week of basic Russian lessons where I will be able to review necessary nouns, verbs, verb formation and sentence order.
Getting off the plane we had to get into a bus, and first of all had to figure out the right one – either the transit bus or Tashkent bus. Of course I needed the Tashkent bus. E had warned me that it might take a good two hours to get through customs and receive our luggage. Strangely enough it took only a half hour. While we were waiting in line our luggage already had come out and the school’s director (K), who has a diplomatic passport, was already collecting the baggage for us. We got through customs easily, and then went out into the hot night.
I was suddenly surrounded by so many people from the school. The head of the PTA just happened to be there, the head of the high school (M) was picking up E, the Business manager (G) was there, as was the General Services officer (A). All of us drove to my apartment. I was hustled into a Soviet block building that made me cringe as I walked in. The apartment was hot, huge, and overwhelming. In came E, K, G, A, and the landlords, who were there with their children. I was walked through every room, becoming a little less animated with each space, and realizing that I was not going to be able to say anything about it because of the number of people there. I was told that if I did not like it that I would be able to choose something in three months. But I wanted to say something right away.
K, and the landlords left, and E offered to take me out to dinner. A helped me lock up, told me my code, and drove together with G to E’s apartment, which is in a typical Uzbek style home. A beautiful space with wooden floors, a second floor, and a huge contrast to what I had just come from. I then took the opportunity to tell G that I would definitely be looking for something else within the next three months explaining my apathy for Soviet block apartment buildings – the apartment really was OK, it just wasn’t for me. I don’t like living in the busy center, I have no need to be close to everything, and I really do not see myself living in one of these buildings. Let alone the boys – where would they play, there are no parks nearby, just the busy courtyard! G listened and promised to speak with A about beginning the search for somewhere new.
We then drove to M’s house and picked up E’s luggage (her car was full with boxes from a special order store), and M had taken her luggage home. M’s house was also very nice. All Uzbek homes seem to have an inner courtyard, and your front door ends up being the gate that closes the home to the street. This way you have ultimate privacy as the walls surrounding the courtyard are high, and your house is the other wall. The ceilings tend to be high, and they are relatively cool. Courtyards generally have a water feature. M’s had a wonderful fountain in which E and I dipped our feet to cool off.
We talked about the apartment again, and they began to understand my concerns more. E and I then went to dinner, and chatted. By the end of the meal I was exhausted. E came up and checked that I could get in. We said goodbye and I tried to settle in to a hot apartment. I turned on the air conditioners, which didn’t really cool anything down. I tried to open the windows to get a cross breeze, but the air was not moving at all outside. I decided finally to go to my bedroom and close off the room because it had an air conditioner. The phone rang and it was E saying that she and G had talked and decided that they would take me to a house in the morning. The house was to be a temporary location for another teacher while waiting for her home to be completed. They decided that since it was to be temporary, she might as well use the apartment, and if I liked the house, that I should take it. The goal of the school is to make all staff as happy as possible before beginning work so that everyone is focused on their jobs and not all the other details. (What a great approach!) I was very excited at the prospect and looked forward to seeing it. I was so nervous the entire night that I only fell asleep around 3am.
August 4th
G came and picked me up in the morning around 9am. G warned me that the reason they had not originally placed me in this house was that they were not happy with the decor, and that it was so far from town. They were a little worried about placing a single woman so far from town too. Knowing me now, I think they understand that they had little to worry about.
When we arrived at the house I was warmly welcomed by the landlords, and I looked around. I loved it the first moment I walked in, all the wood floors in the living area, and in the kitchen dining area there was wonderful tile. G said that they had improved numerous things, and the house looked better than the last time they had shown it to them. The landlords live right next door, so if there are any problems they are there immediately available. The funny part is that the living room has the exact same wallpaper my living room apartment had when I moved into the apartment! Anyone remember the roses before I redecorated? It was almost like walking into my own home. The landlady wanted to be my housekeeper too. I immediately agreed to take it, and happily so.
We went to school and I got my first quick tour. I saw my room, and was duly impressed with the facility and the room. I quickly checked my e-mail, made a call to the boys, and then G and I drove to pick up my belongings. I quickly packed, and we moved everything over to the new house.
My first hour was spent in searching every nook and cranny to see what was there. Then I unpacked quickly considering how heavy my baggage was. I have lots of closet space, lots of storage area. There is also a basement where I can store items that are not being used – for instance winter clothing! The landlords will be moving in the second bed soon, and that will set everything up that I need for life except the internet that I have to wait for until I have a stamp in my passport.
I went for a swim, sunbathed, and relaxed the rest of the day. I think it was a long deserved rest after the craziness prior to leaving.
August 5th
My landlord took me shopping at the local bazaar. I was overwhelmed by the smells and sights, and could barely concentrate on how much everything cost. I have added some pics of a bazaar to give you sense of these things, although they are from a different bazaar.
August 6th and 7th
Tashkent Tummy – miserable two days of stomach cramps, diarrhea, nausea, and fever. The positive – was forced to stay home and rest.
August 8th
This was the first day of work for me. I met all the new teachers today, and there are a lot of us. As our Director said, because there are so many of us, he fully expects us to change the school with our experiences and input.
The new staff is very diverse. We have teachers from all over the world: India, Holland, the US, New Zealand, Ireland, and of course Latvia. I still have to meet others.
I began the morning with my first visit to the health clinic to get medicine for my stomach bug. The clinic is really very nice, the doctors are professional, and quick. I was checked, asked about other medications, and I was given a travelers antibiotic to help with whatever it is I have. By the end of the day I was feeling game enough to eat egg on toast.
The whole day was long, with lots of information, a tour of the school. We ate lunch at a traditional Uzbek restaurant, really a wonderful interior and a must show for those of you who come and visit. Although I only ate rice, the food looked wonderful, and everyone else was very enthusiastic.
The day ended with a tour of the city. We went to the site of where the 1966 earthquake began, looked over the city canal and park, saw the new mosque that was built two years ago, in this mosque the oldest Koran in the world is housed, saw an older part of the city that was not destroyed by the earthquake, and went to an artisan’s market. Below you can see a lot of pictures of the mosque and the older part of the city, and the park.
The perk of my day today was to come home to a clean house, my laundry washed, dried, ironed (even the t-shirts!) and put away in the right places. Everything in my drawers was refolded too to make it neater.
August 9th
I had planned on joining a trip to Samarkand this weekend, but due to the stomach bug I decided against it. I will organize another trip in the future.
Today was a work day with us going over basic things about the school; we got our schedules, and began discussing the curriculum. We also got an overview of the school’s history, and future plans. We went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant today. The first real meal I had eaten in four days! Delicious food and real Chinese food in comparison to what I have had in Riga recently.
We also had our culture shock discussion after lunch. It was interesting because I know I have had the culture shock at various times in various places, but I don’t ever remember it being that bad. Here I already feel like I will have an easy transition because so much of it reminds me of Latvia about ten years ago. To get anywhere you can flag down any car as a taxi. My trip to the school costs about 1000 suom which is about 80 US cents, to town 2500. But I can also take a tram from my house to the center for about 250.
Tomorrow the teacher with whom I will be working together teaching both grade 5 classes and I, will begin sharing a driver who will drive us to school for the first time. We are sharing the driver until each of us can find a car that we are happy with. I may keep the driver a bit longer, but we will see. The driver has a red lada (zigulis) I can’t remember the number right now, but he seems like a nice enough guy. The key thing to see is if he can pick us up on time in the morning.
August 30th
Wow, what a whirlwind few weeks. It seems like it has been such a short time since I last typed any thoughts in, but I look at the discrepancy between the dates, and realize it has been three weeks, and on September 3rd I will have been in Tashkent a month.
August 2nd
I packed all four bags, my carry on and the boys’ backpacks. The complicated part was packing the boys’ two bags so that they would have about a week’s worth of clothes while at their dad’s house. It took most of the day, and we then went and ran my last errands, and then came back and carried the heavy bags down the stairs (at least I did). Leaving the apartment I left a bell on the mantelpiece. I had received it at my goodbye party, and Inga had recommended that I leave it so that the bell would call me home to Latvia. So for those of you visiting Mara, Joel, and Adam, please think about picking up the bell below and ringing it, so that I am called back home.
I met with one more friend at my mom’s, the boys were picked up by friends and taken to Todd’s house, and then on to Tuja. I stayed the night at my mum’s, rested, and prepared for the next day’s flight.
August 3rd
This was the day that I flew out to Tashkent. I met E and I again at the airport. E and I were on the same flight, which made the trip that much easier. Uzbeki Air was having problems with tickets purchased through Air Baltic – including mine – and we had to wait for an hour until everything was sorted. The next problem was the excess baggage… We went and paid for that, and by the time we got back were the last ones to check in. It was interesting that as I checked in the last seat for the economy section was taken and I was upgraded to business. E couldn’t convince them to let her do the same, and I sat on my own during the flight.
On the flight I met a woman from Lithuania who was returning home to visit her mother for the first time in 15 years. I was surprised to find that I could communicate with her in Russian – bad Russian with a good bit of English – but she spoke in Russian the whole time. I learned she has two adult children in Lithuania, and that she comes from the Ferdana valley, she works in a factory, and she learned where I come from. We spoke a bit about our children. I am beginning to realize how much Russian I understand passively. I am looking forward to my week of basic Russian lessons where I will be able to review necessary nouns, verbs, verb formation and sentence order.
Getting off the plane we had to get into a bus, and first of all had to figure out the right one – either the transit bus or Tashkent bus. Of course I needed the Tashkent bus. E had warned me that it might take a good two hours to get through customs and receive our luggage. Strangely enough it took only a half hour. While we were waiting in line our luggage already had come out and the school’s director (K), who has a diplomatic passport, was already collecting the baggage for us. We got through customs easily, and then went out into the hot night.
I was suddenly surrounded by so many people from the school. The head of the PTA just happened to be there, the head of the high school (M) was picking up E, the Business manager (G) was there, as was the General Services officer (A). All of us drove to my apartment. I was hustled into a Soviet block building that made me cringe as I walked in. The apartment was hot, huge, and overwhelming. In came E, K, G, A, and the landlords, who were there with their children. I was walked through every room, becoming a little less animated with each space, and realizing that I was not going to be able to say anything about it because of the number of people there. I was told that if I did not like it that I would be able to choose something in three months. But I wanted to say something right away.
K, and the landlords left, and E offered to take me out to dinner. A helped me lock up, told me my code, and drove together with G to E’s apartment, which is in a typical Uzbek style home. A beautiful space with wooden floors, a second floor, and a huge contrast to what I had just come from. I then took the opportunity to tell G that I would definitely be looking for something else within the next three months explaining my apathy for Soviet block apartment buildings – the apartment really was OK, it just wasn’t for me. I don’t like living in the busy center, I have no need to be close to everything, and I really do not see myself living in one of these buildings. Let alone the boys – where would they play, there are no parks nearby, just the busy courtyard! G listened and promised to speak with A about beginning the search for somewhere new.
We then drove to M’s house and picked up E’s luggage (her car was full with boxes from a special order store), and M had taken her luggage home. M’s house was also very nice. All Uzbek homes seem to have an inner courtyard, and your front door ends up being the gate that closes the home to the street. This way you have ultimate privacy as the walls surrounding the courtyard are high, and your house is the other wall. The ceilings tend to be high, and they are relatively cool. Courtyards generally have a water feature. M’s had a wonderful fountain in which E and I dipped our feet to cool off.
We talked about the apartment again, and they began to understand my concerns more. E and I then went to dinner, and chatted. By the end of the meal I was exhausted. E came up and checked that I could get in. We said goodbye and I tried to settle in to a hot apartment. I turned on the air conditioners, which didn’t really cool anything down. I tried to open the windows to get a cross breeze, but the air was not moving at all outside. I decided finally to go to my bedroom and close off the room because it had an air conditioner. The phone rang and it was E saying that she and G had talked and decided that they would take me to a house in the morning. The house was to be a temporary location for another teacher while waiting for her home to be completed. They decided that since it was to be temporary, she might as well use the apartment, and if I liked the house, that I should take it. The goal of the school is to make all staff as happy as possible before beginning work so that everyone is focused on their jobs and not all the other details. (What a great approach!) I was very excited at the prospect and looked forward to seeing it. I was so nervous the entire night that I only fell asleep around 3am.
August 4th
G came and picked me up in the morning around 9am. G warned me that the reason they had not originally placed me in this house was that they were not happy with the decor, and that it was so far from town. They were a little worried about placing a single woman so far from town too. Knowing me now, I think they understand that they had little to worry about.
When we arrived at the house I was warmly welcomed by the landlords, and I looked around. I loved it the first moment I walked in, all the wood floors in the living area, and in the kitchen dining area there was wonderful tile. G said that they had improved numerous things, and the house looked better than the last time they had shown it to them. The landlords live right next door, so if there are any problems they are there immediately available. The funny part is that the living room has the exact same wallpaper my living room apartment had when I moved into the apartment! Anyone remember the roses before I redecorated? It was almost like walking into my own home. The landlady wanted to be my housekeeper too. I immediately agreed to take it, and happily so.
We went to school and I got my first quick tour. I saw my room, and was duly impressed with the facility and the room. I quickly checked my e-mail, made a call to the boys, and then G and I drove to pick up my belongings. I quickly packed, and we moved everything over to the new house.
My first hour was spent in searching every nook and cranny to see what was there. Then I unpacked quickly considering how heavy my baggage was. I have lots of closet space, lots of storage area. There is also a basement where I can store items that are not being used – for instance winter clothing! The landlords will be moving in the second bed soon, and that will set everything up that I need for life except the internet that I have to wait for until I have a stamp in my passport.
I went for a swim, sunbathed, and relaxed the rest of the day. I think it was a long deserved rest after the craziness prior to leaving.
August 5th
My landlord took me shopping at the local bazaar. I was overwhelmed by the smells and sights, and could barely concentrate on how much everything cost. I have added some pics of a bazaar to give you sense of these things, although they are from a different bazaar.
August 6th and 7th
Tashkent Tummy – miserable two days of stomach cramps, diarrhea, nausea, and fever. The positive – was forced to stay home and rest.
August 8th
This was the first day of work for me. I met all the new teachers today, and there are a lot of us. As our Director said, because there are so many of us, he fully expects us to change the school with our experiences and input.
The new staff is very diverse. We have teachers from all over the world: India, Holland, the US, New Zealand, Ireland, and of course Latvia. I still have to meet others.
I began the morning with my first visit to the health clinic to get medicine for my stomach bug. The clinic is really very nice, the doctors are professional, and quick. I was checked, asked about other medications, and I was given a travelers antibiotic to help with whatever it is I have. By the end of the day I was feeling game enough to eat egg on toast.
The whole day was long, with lots of information, a tour of the school. We ate lunch at a traditional Uzbek restaurant, really a wonderful interior and a must show for those of you who come and visit. Although I only ate rice, the food looked wonderful, and everyone else was very enthusiastic.
The day ended with a tour of the city. We went to the site of where the 1966 earthquake began, looked over the city canal and park, saw the new mosque that was built two years ago, in this mosque the oldest Koran in the world is housed, saw an older part of the city that was not destroyed by the earthquake, and went to an artisan’s market. Below you can see a lot of pictures of the mosque and the older part of the city, and the park.
The perk of my day today was to come home to a clean house, my laundry washed, dried, ironed (even the t-shirts!) and put away in the right places. Everything in my drawers was refolded too to make it neater.
August 9th
I had planned on joining a trip to Samarkand this weekend, but due to the stomach bug I decided against it. I will organize another trip in the future.
Today was a work day with us going over basic things about the school; we got our schedules, and began discussing the curriculum. We also got an overview of the school’s history, and future plans. We went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant today. The first real meal I had eaten in four days! Delicious food and real Chinese food in comparison to what I have had in Riga recently.
We also had our culture shock discussion after lunch. It was interesting because I know I have had the culture shock at various times in various places, but I don’t ever remember it being that bad. Here I already feel like I will have an easy transition because so much of it reminds me of Latvia about ten years ago. To get anywhere you can flag down any car as a taxi. My trip to the school costs about 1000 suom which is about 80 US cents, to town 2500. But I can also take a tram from my house to the center for about 250.
Tomorrow the teacher with whom I will be working together teaching both grade 5 classes and I, will begin sharing a driver who will drive us to school for the first time. We are sharing the driver until each of us can find a car that we are happy with. I may keep the driver a bit longer, but we will see. The driver has a red lada (zigulis) I can’t remember the number right now, but he seems like a nice enough guy. The key thing to see is if he can pick us up on time in the morning.
August 30th
Wow, what a whirlwind few weeks. It seems like it has been such a short time since I last typed any thoughts in, but I look at the discrepancy between the dates, and realize it has been three weeks, and on September 3rd I will have been in Tashkent a month.
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