Travel to and from the conference

The distance between Dushanbe and Tashkent is only about the same as between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. However, there are currently no direct flights (though political rapprochement means they might start up soon). Most people drive. Unfortunately, the road goes through some mountains and our current snowy weather created some avalanches--M34 was closed! Somon Air, which usually doesn't have enough business to operate flights every day, opened up some new flights and my itinerary ended up being:

Fly from Dushanbe to Khujand on Jan 31. Spend the night. On Feb 1st, take a car arranged by the embassy in Dushanbe to the border. Walk across the border. Meet a car arranged by the embassy in Tashkent. Drive to Tashkent. Hope to be in time for lunch.
Then, on Feb 5, the reverse from Tashkent to Dushanbe.
Everyone was very solicitous and made sure I had phone numbers, license plate numbers, names, etc. All those hand-offs went very well.

Crossing the border was interesting, with about four stops on each side--a soldier to look at your documents, someone to check your passport and visa, someone to check your baggage and customs form, and someone else--it's all blurring in my mind...

This is a photo from the Uzbek side.

...and there was some distance on bumpy pavement in between each of the buildings for each of these stages. Nor were there clear signs about where to stop. I almost walked past a small building with a dark tinted window until sharp rapping on the window made me turn back and hand my passport to the man inside. I don't blame him for keeping the window closed. It was very cold out!

Some of our conversations:  

Official [noticing me looking lost with a customs form]: Do you need English?
Me: yes, please.
Official [finding an English version in a drawer in his desk]: Write two.
Me: OK. ...Your English is good. [Trying to be an encouraging teacher, not a nervous border crosser.]

Official [looking at my passport]: Where are you from?
Me [thinking, I'm sure he can read. Perhaps he just wants to practice his English. In cheerful teacher voice:] America [that's easy to understand]. The United States [that's on the passport]. California [doesn't everyone love CA?].
Official [looking at my passport, now speaking Russian]: It says New York.
Me [trying to remember my college Russian]: Passport from New York. I from California. [I rustle around to pull out my drivers' license.] [I mime driving.] California!

Official: Open your bag. You have books.
[Books?  I'm trying to think what kind of contraband books people might try to sneak out of Uzbekistan. I open my suitcase and pull out the books on English teacher training I got at the conference.]
Me: I am teacher. These books for teachers.
[The official flips through the books. He asks me to read the names of one of the authors, an American. I read it, as well as an Uzbek name.]
Me: A gift -- from this teacher in Tashkent.
[Next time should I carry some small English books suitable for learners or some other good books to hand out to curious border guards?]

Here are some photos of the trip home.

Once on the Tajik side, I saw our familiar mountains.

The flight from Khujand to Dushanbe was scheduled to take off at 8 pm.

We went through a security check point and sat in a waiting room--but surprisingly no one was at a counter to give out boarding passes...till about 7:30 pm. I had to ask someone about this--who reassured me that "registration" would eventually happen.

Next we went through another security check (shoes and coats off--nothing else special) and entered another waiting room. Half of the 200 or so passengers seemed to be students returning to Dushanbe for the new semester.

The plane didn't take off till nearly 2 a.m. Even though I was exhausted and very eager to get home to Lee, it was kind of interesting to see how the crowd handled this delay. Thanks to looking around, my rudimentary Russian, and some people who spoke English (those wonderful students!), I experienced/learned:

• It was a mechanical problem.
• They dragged out the announcements: 9 pm, 10 pm, 10:30, 11, etc. After the third one, people just laughed out loud after each subsequent one. They seemed quite patient.
• Except one woman who gathered a small crowd around by shouting. Someone finally explained to me that it was thanks to her complaining ("it's been more than three hours!") that the airline officials had brought out drinks (bottled water and coke) and sandwiches (ham & cheese in small rolls) around midnight.
• There were no outlets in the room and people's cell phones were running out of juice as they explained their plight to friends and family or entertained themselves while waiting. So, quite a few people asked the woman in the snack kiosk if they could plug their phones in there. When I went up to get a cup of tea, I noticed four phones in the power strip she had the hot water heater plugged into.
• Desperate people were using the restrooms as smoking rooms.
• Everyone was very kind and helpful. The woman in the white scarf showed me pictures of her family, told me to come visit her in Hisar, and offered me her phone number. I need to learn the Russian (or Tajik) for: "You are too kind!" Instead I rather stupidly responded "Thank you. I don't know."

Home sweet home in Dushanbe now!