Shopping

20 years ago when I had a similar sabbatical and we spend a semester in Turkmenistan, shopping for daily needs was a challenge. Lee could spend a whole morning going from place to place just to find bread. If he could find jam in the market, it was a triumph (even if it was carrot jam). Finding pasta was a cause for celebration (even though it wasn’t made of durum wheat and had the texture of glue). We should have known that a lot of progress can happen in a region in 20 years, but we were steeling ourselves for similar trails. In fact, shopping here in Dushanbe is much, much easier.

 

First of all, there is a nice little supermarket just across the street from our apartment block with nearly everything we need. And there are other well-stocked supermarkets within walking distance or a short bus ride away where we can find more. Ground beef! Frozen chicken breasts! Oatmeal! Whole wheat bread!

But abundance brings its own challenges. Which brand of bread will taste the best? If we find one we like, will we remember it the next time?

And it’s still not like shopping in the U.S. Everything is smaller. It can be hard to find what you’re looking for in a new language. And there are new kinds of packaging:

Supermarkets across the street are nice when the weather is bad, when one is a newcomer, and when one is in a hurry, but today, with blue sky and temps in the 60s, I ventured over to Shohmansur Bazaar, more commonly known as the Green Bazaar. 

Beautiful! But just looking today.