Hike #3 - Luchob Valley

Today the weather was sunny and mild, perfect for an outing with HikeTajikistan. Our group of about 15 from the U.S., Germany, India, etc drove out of Dushanbe, through some villages to the northwest, to the Luchob Valley.

Our hike took us across a stream, up a rocky road, to a village set among boulders. 

We walked along grazing land, small plots of land ready to be planted, and old orchards.

This man was plowing with two oxen and his wife was following behind, sowing seed.

  We stopped for lunch.

 And some of us climbed a little higher for an extra view.

We circled back via goat paths, following a stream.

Here are some village scenes:

A few of the people we passed on our way: a grandfather and a man carrying milk cans on his donkey

Sheep

Three little girls (and a white calf) grinned at us as we passed their yard

These baby goats butted heads against the door until this girl came out

A load of firewood

 Not pictured: men fishing in the stream, beekeeping, small boys running ahead of us, a girl in a red velvet outfit carrying a bowl of yogurt.

 

Here are some of the wild flowers we saw:

Wild crocus, anemone, or pasque flower

wild iris

wild iris

 We are so thankful for this opportunity to get some exercise (7.5 miles worth), see the country, and chat with the interesting expats who were part of our group.

A typical (?) week for Kitty

Monday is usually my day off, but this week it included a special task for the embassy. Having read a pile of applications for a program in the U.S. for secondary teachers, I spent the day with a State Department official doing phone interviews of finalists.

Tuesday--teachers braved the rain for our methodology class at MGU.

Wednesday - Lee and I wrapped up our four-part series in the American Corner on Family Life in the U.S. with a presentation on taking care of elderly parents. American mobility and independence and the resulting variety of options for elder care that we talked about are a bit hard to comprehend for a traditional Tajik, especially a son. He expects that he will bring his wife home to his parents' house and they will all live together.

Thursday - back at the American Corner for a special event--a city-wide spelling bee. I was one of the judges.

Friday - academic writing class for students at MGU. Here they're working on an essay about expected behavior in a cultural event, and making sure their ideas are well organized.

Saturday - I start with my volunteer class is at the American Corner. It's a group for teachers and future teachers. Today we had a big crowd. The topic was teaching from stories. We did listen and sequence pictures, listen and fill in a time line, put yourselves in order, prediction, and types of discussion questions. We had a great time with the story "The Lost Son" as told in Eric Taylor's wonderful book published by Cambridge, Using Folktales.

My official class is at MGU, with some dedicated teachers who are learning more about teaching academic writing. We meet in the English teachers' room; here they are working on giving feedback on a sample essay.

It was a great week--especially after the end of the cold rain and the arrival of beautiful weather today!

Snowy peaks behind one of Dushanbe's ubiquitous construction fences.
At least this building project included a little park in front. Love the tulips!

Women's soccer in Tajikistan

Tajikistan isn't a place known for women's sports, but they are hosting a qualification tournament for the 2018 Women's Asian Cup, a precursor to the World Cup. Since our daughter played soccer in high school we've enjoyed the game, and we're always curious about various aspects of life here, so after work today we went to see Tajikistan play against Bahrain.

The Tajik team is in green. Sadly no goal in the minutes around this photo.

 Unfortunately the weather was giving us one final blast of winter and it was very cold and drizzly. But there were still a few fans in the stands. This one shows the single cluster of female fans. There were other clusters of guys elsewhere.

Also unfortunately, the Bahrain team outplayed the Tajik women.

The final score was 4:0.

In spite of all that, it was good to see this evidence of opportunity for female athletes in Tajikistan.

Public transit in Dushanbe

It's pretty easy to get around in Dushanbe.

There are nice new buses that run along the main boulevards, like Rudaki.

Some routes even have electronic signs that indicate when the next bus is coming

There are trolleys on main routes too--some a little older, and prone to the wires sparking out, but still pretty good.

Going out to the poorer sections of town, the buses tend to be older, but at least they exist.

A Tajik acquaintance of ours who had spent a high school year in the U.S., told us that the hardest thing for her to get used to was the lack of public transit and needing to ask her host family or friends for rides.

On the secondary routes throughout the city, and out into the areas surrounding Dushanbe, there are minibuses.

On the big buses, there's a conductor at the center door. He often shouts out the route, looks for potential passengers hurrying to board so as to wait for them, and takes the one somoni (less than 15 cents) fare. On the smaller vans, passengers help each other with the sliding door or with sending the fare up to the driver and passing the change back. You might have to get out to let the person next to you disembark.

Anything that goes on a fixed route is a "marshrutka." In addition to the minibuses, there are--or rather were--unofficial taxis. Drivers (anyone with a car and no fixed employment, needing a bit of extra income) would hold up a card with the number eight on it, or flash three fingers up, and you knew that car was driving the #8 or #3 route. You could stand on the side of the road, really anywhere on the route, and flag down such a car. It cost three times as much as a bus or trolley (three somoni, less than 40 cents), but it tended to get you to your destination faster. (Lee doesn't like them, compared to a bus, because he has to squeeze his tall self into a small car, but they can be quite convenient.)

I'd heard about periodic crackdowns on these informal taxis--which don't pay for a license--and one just started a few days ago. I realized that something had happened while standing in the pouring rain and wondering where all my usual transit options were. "The mayor decided to 'improve the quality of life' in Dushanbe," I was told. "Plainclothes police are flagging down drivers that flash numbers and then levying heavy fines on them."

Now the buses are much more crowded than they used to be:

People are not sure about that quality of life.

One more thing about public transit: Tajiks are very polite in terms of offering their seats to the elderly, women with children, or people with packages.

These school boys offered a seat to the "grandfather."

Carrying a "torte" to a celebration

I should also add that there are no transit websites or route maps in English. The expat community passes on information to each other. Or one could just get on a minibus and ride--seeing where it goes.
 
Readers who want to learn more about the mayor and other changes he's instituted for public transit might enjoy this article.

Spring in Dushanbe

Spring has been lovely in Dushanbe this year. I am reveling in refreshing rain showers, times of sunshine, balmy temperatures, and lovely flowers.

The tulips planted in front of classic buildings are in full bloom.

Parliament

Opera Ballet

 The trees (chinar? plane? sycamore?) lining the walkway on Rudaki Blvd are starting to green:

Just six weeks ago this was the scene there:

Less than two weeks ago the plum trees were in bloom in Rudaki Park. Now those petals have fallen and the the magnolias and forsythia are out. Walkways have been planted with pansies and tulips.

March 22

April 2

April 2

But, I must add a note of realism to all this beauty.

This is also a city where repairs to fountains can leave hunks of concrete and open holes in the middle of a walkway on Sunday afternoon.