TravelStream™ news feed for member meaganlandry on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/meaganlandry en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 15 Dec 2003 20:11:04 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1068963300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1068963300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1068963300/tpod.html Mon, 15 Dec 2003 20:11:04 -0500 My adventures in Uzbekistan

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Tashkent, Uzbekistan

It snowed last night! Not very much, just a dusting, but it's still cool. It usually doesn't snow here until January... or maybe it just doesn't snow very much until January... I don't remember. Anyway, it's very pretty from a distance... just don't get too close-- rain and snow make Tashkent even dirtier than it normally is (or maybe it just seems that way.) Plus, the rain is really nasty (there's definitely salt and acid in there-- I accidentally tasted some the other day, blechh, very salty... since the salt probably comes from the Aral Sea, I don't even want to think about what else might be in there) so the snow is probably even worse. Oh well. I have some pretty pictures I will post soon, and you can see the prettiness from a cleaner location. ;-)

Other news... um...

- Anna went to Samarkand yesterday to bring Karen her box (yay Karen!)

- Scott arrived from Osh, Kyrgyzstan, yesterday for his Tashkent visit

- Ildar has been in Moscow for about a week, and apparently his new job is going well.

- I had a very good language day yesterday! I understood and was understood at the supermarket, the bazaar, and one of my cab rides (the one in Uzbek... the ride with the Russian driver was of course a lost cause, but at least I got home! I love that pointing is a universal language, and he was as eager to use it as I was!)
Ok, so Hulkar (the girl who comes to clean my apartment once a week) taught me how to cook a really yummy pumpkin yesterday (you stuff it with ground beef, onions, potatoes and a little rice, and put the entire pumpkin in the oven for an hour or so). So, I went to the supermarket to buy the good beef, and successfully got good steak ground into beef uzing my Uzbek skills- yay! I was very nervous about doing this right. I decided to be frivoulou and take a cab home because it was pouring down rain, and I understood 90% of what my driver said! I successfully bargained for a lower fare, and then had a conversation with him all the way home (it does help a little that everyone always asks me the same questions, so I get used to recognizing and answering "Where are you from? Why are you here? How long are you here for? Are you married?") When we got to my apartment area, I stayed for a few minutes to make sure I sucessfully explained something, and when it worked, he said he was really glad to have talked with me and my Uzbek was really good, and knocked 100 soum off my fare. :) Then I went to the bazaar for the vegetables and stuff. I understood everyone and everyone understood me! I was shocked! I find it more difficult to understand men than woman, and the Uzbek I learn in class is different than what is spoken on the streets of Tashkent (Tashkent has its own lingo, although people do sometimes try to make an effort to speak more literary Uzbek when they know you're a foreigner who's just learning). So, this was a very surprising and welcome development! When I went to buy a fruit whose name I forget (I don't think there's any American equivalent, and it's probably not even available in the States, at least in most places... it's both sweet and bitter, since it contains a lot of iodine, but there's one "chocolate" variety that's smaller and sweeter... I bought and tried that kind for the first time yesterday), the vendor was really really pleased with my Uzbek (by the time I got to him, I had already had a lot of practice that morning!) I went back this morning to buy some more, and found out that he has adopted me! He said that he has four sons and no daughters, and I'm sort of his American daughter now. goodness He's a very kind, gentle man, so it didn't freak me out. ;-) I'm finding that I'm being adopted by an awful lot of people! He said that I spoke Uzbek with no accent, which I don't believe, but it was nice of him to say. :) I also visited Rahima and Scott last night (the Korean soap opera Kish Sonatasi (Winter Sonata) is finally in Uzbek, and is being aired from the beginning! Oh happy day!) and spoke a lot of Uzbek with them... I love that it's getting so much easier to have conversations with people, especially people like Rahima-- there's so much I've wanted to talk to her about, but I'm just now becoming able to. :) Thinking in Uzbek is becoming easier, and I've been dreaming in Uzbek for a while now (not the entire dream, but little snippets of conversation amidst the English).

Oy, I think that's all for now. I'm going to try to upload some pictures, but I might have to do that later (not sure if this comp has a usb port, and here aren't any others available right now.

......................
Ok, I unexpectedly was invited to Ruslan's Mom's birthday party, which was so much fun! Thank you Ruslan and Ruslan's Parents. :) I have pictures to post of that, as well. Enjoy!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1069929900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1069929900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1069929900/tpod.html Mon, 15 Dec 2003 16:22:05 -0500 My adventures in Uzbekistan

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Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope it's a good one!
We're celebrating Thanksgiving in Tashkent on Saturday, and we're all really looking forward to it. Poor Mavjuda is going to have an invasion of American girls! (This is incidentally the first year there has been a group of girls in Uzbekistan-- usually there's only one at a time, if any... now there's 5!)
My only other big news is that I'm coming home early. I don't know exactly how early (still waiting to find out what day I can change my tiocket to, and all that will entail) but it has to be within the next week or so. Even though I'm enjoying my time here, and tried to extend my program (to return after the holidays), my health just can't take anymore right now. I can return later, before or during grad school, so I'm not upset. It's time to come home.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1071023520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1071023520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1071023520/tpod.html Tue, 09 Dec 2003 21:38:54 -0500 My adventures in Uzbekistan

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Fairfax, Virginia, United States

I made it back home Friday night, safe and sound, and although the trip was kind of a nightmare, everything worked out for the best. Now I'm hibernating, trying to rest and recover from the fun combination of gluten and all of the previous weakening epidodes I experienced in Tashkent (amoebas, bacteria, viruses, etc... Isn't this a pleasant conversation topic? Heheheh.) Anyway... I'm using this time to reacquaint myself with my home and my family (and rediscover what drawer we keep the forks in), and to catch up on my emails and travelpod entries. My apologies to anyone who hasn't received an email in a while. It's not that I haven't been thinking of you, and I promise to get one out soon. I will also post the promised pictures as soon as I figure out how the memory card reader interacts with my home computer... I don't have the energy to fight with it now.
Anyway, I hope to be back on my feet soon, but I have absolutely no idea when that will be. I'll keep you posted.
Be well!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1066560780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1066560780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1066560780/tpod.html Mon, 10 Nov 2003 04:56:35 -0500 My adventures in Uzbekistan

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Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Ok, I think I'm going to start this entry in bullet form, since it has been intimidating me and I need to get it written in some form. Maybe it will evolve into something more coherent as I go on. Let's see...

- Went with Karen and Anna to the Places Where the Cars Leave for Bukhara near the Samarkand TsUM (Soviet Central Department Store that has evolved slightly to keep up with the post-Soviet times... I think there's a TsUM and a GUM [GUM is roughly the same thing as TsUM] in every major city in the former Soviet Union, although Tashkent's GUM no longer exists... TsUM is pronounced tsoom and GUM is pronounced goom). Got ripped off on the price of the trip to Bukhara, but we had zilch options-- the timing for the train was completely off, and there were no buses marshoutkas or less expensive cars going.

- Spent the entire ride to Bukhara reading stories about evil emirs,dancing boys and tragic falls from minarets in our guidebooks and plotting future adventures to Shakrisabz, Ferghana, Nukus, and Places I Have Been Forbidden to Visit.

- Arrived in Bukhara and were told that where we were planning to stay was a bad idea (it was $5/night but according to our cab driver (not the guy who drove us to Bukhara-- he would take us no further than the edge of the city, where the Place Where the Cars Leave for Samarkand was, grr) it was a dangerous dive, and we should stay at Matluba's Mekhmonhona, which was $10/night but safer and provided breakfast. Knowing full well he was getting a cut from Matluba, we decided to go for it. Good call.

- Visited Laubi Haus, an old pool surrounded by mosques and an outdoor restaurant. We went to the mosques and the restaurant as well. I wish I had the pictures, dammit! Grrr.

- Visited many other mosques (they have kind of blurred together in my mind), and the old covered markets.

- Were continuously assaulted by questions about where we were from. That got really old. But Bukhara has become a tourist mecca, and you can see the difference in how Bukharans interact with foreigners as a recently hot destination and some other parts of Uzbekistan. Everyone speaks a little English, and isn't afraid to use it. I think they're used to mostly obnoxious tourists, because most vendors seem not necessarily aggressive but definitely very outgoing... and we did see plenty of obnoxious tourists. Anna definitely benefited from that, though-- we entered a market area right as some obnoxious Americans were leaving. Enter us with our varying proficiencies in Russian, Uzbek, Tajik, Persian and Turkish, and our basic courtesy. We were stars, and Anna got an amazing deal on her earrings for it.

- The Russian guy who sold Anna her earrings (Karen decided that she thinks he has spent time in Russian prison because of all his tattoos, but he was really nice) had a lot of "antiques" as well. They might actually be antiques for all I know. Anyway, before I really realized what was going on, Anna and Karen were dressing me up in a beautiful robe, necklace and headpiece. I WISH I STILL HAD THE PICTURES!

- Another dress up opportunity: Picture Charlie's Angels with huge furry hats-- we tried on Turkmen herdsman hats. Very cool. I will spare the repetition of the above missing picture comment, but you know I'm thinking it.

- The guy with the furry hats was also very cool. Each vendor in the mosque was allocated a tiny room that was formerly a student's cell. While we were looking at this guy's merchandise inside his cell, we started asking him about what certain architectural elements inside it were, because some of the original carvings and ornamentation was still there. We ended up getting a better history lesson from him than from most tour guides! He was a very nice guy.

To be continued...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1068122340/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1068122340/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1068122340/tpod.html Sun, 09 Nov 2003 04:14:59 -0500 My adventures in Uzbekistan

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Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Central Asia, Land of Broken Hearts... doesn't that sound like a smashingly successful new tourism slogan? Yeah, I didn't think so. ;-) Anna, Karen and I had joked in Samarkand and Bukhara about how the only people who seem to get into this field in the first place are either running from a broken heart, suffering a broken heart as a result of being in the field, trying to fill a void with research and field work, have nothing to lose, have everything to gain, or any combination of the above (Anna being the only exception I know of). Plus, we're also all just a little nuts. We reaffirmed this theory when Karen visited Tashkent last weekend (it was actually a very fun weekend, not a depressing one, although it might sound like it ;-). We also reaffirmed our realization of how small and interconnected the field is... we started playing Six Degrees of Central Asia in Bukhara after toasting Stoddard and Connelly (whose fine traditions we are trying not to continue) and it was pretty scary. It was even scarier when Anna, Karen, Rahima and I had dinner with Ron and Stacy, two other Central Asian Scholars whom Anna knows from the Indiana University Uzbek language program-- turns out that Karen and Ron know each other, but didn't realize it until we all met at the Indian Restaurant. We shuddered as we added another branch to our little 6 degrees map. ;-) But at least this broken heart theory makes sense to my Uzbek friends (at least, it does after a little red wine)-- they already think we're crazy for being here (and look at me a little funny when I agree with them), but now there's something to back that up... unless, of course, it's completely wrong... I'm starting to ramble, so I'm just going to post the pictures of friends and miscellaneous pictures of Tashkent.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1066993680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1066993680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1066993680/tpod.html Tue, 28 Oct 2003 09:36:39 -0500 My adventures in Uzbekistan

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Tashkent, Uzbekistan

I'm being lazy and procrastinating about finishing my Samarkand and Bukhara posts (there's so much to say I don't really know where to start) so I'm going to post some random stuff.

My neighborhood doesn't look like much at first, but it's actually really cool. The buildings are kind of shabby on the outside, but they also have beautiful mosaics. There are communal rose gardens, several mini marts, a produce stand, and a mini bazaar in the courtyard in the mornings. I've started taking some pics to show you, and I will continue to add to them. I hope to get some of my guzari tomorrow. I also have some more from goofing around at the internet cafe. I hope you enjoy the randomness until I get my act together on the other posts. :)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1067351220/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1067351220/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1067351220/tpod.html Tue, 28 Oct 2003 09:32:21 -0500 My adventures in Uzbekistan

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Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Nothing much new going on, just wanted to add photos of Anna and her host family. Enjoy!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1067252880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1067252880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1067252880/tpod.html Mon, 27 Oct 2003 08:44:43 -0500 My adventures in Uzbekistan

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Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Dilfuza and I went to the Museum of Applied Arts today. At first, I was reluctant to go because I've pretty much had my fill of museums and was really tired, but I was really glad we went. There were lots of beautiful exhibits, and I was able to take pictures of some things that I photographed in Bukhara and have since been lost in the great Mistranslation Photo Deletion Debacle. I hope you enjoy.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1065435660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1065435660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1065435660/tpod.html Sun, 26 Oct 2003 05:23:20 -0500 My adventures in Uzbekistan

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Tashkent, Uzbekistan

First of all, IT'S RAINING! YAY! After a few cool days (following my "Autumn Arrives in Tashkent" announcement, it has been pretty warm again overall. But it has been aining for the past few days, and is pretty chilly now. Yay!

As for the frustration... I can understand if internet here was always sketchy-- then I would expect problems and not rely on it. Usually, though, it's pretty good. Today, however, has been a terrible day for internet connections! I really wanted to try chatting with Mom and Dad in the Travelpod chat room, but both internet cafes I tried failed me. Grr.

Hmm... other things... not much going on really... I might go to Bukhara this weekend, if I'm feeling up to it, so that's pretty exciting. I'm planning on going to a concert of German music with Sayora tomorrow (not today, I got the date wrong)... that's about it right now. Sorry this isn't more enlightening, but the internet problems have kind of overshadowed any creativity (why I bothered posting at all, I'm not quite sure, aside from not being able to email and still wanting to communicate with the outside world... oh well.)

I hope to have interesting things to say about Bukhara next week!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1065352140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1065352140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/meaganlandry/uzbekistan/1065352140/tpod.html Sun, 26 Oct 2003 05:22:28 -0500 My adventures in Uzbekistan

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Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Ok, a combination of feeling physically better and getting hit by homesickness like a ton of bricks today, despite staying busy and social, is going to result in a long entry. Brace thyselves.

Ok, so yeah, I'm feeling lots better, as of Thursday night, so I actually felt god enough to go to my birthday party Friday- yay! Thanks for all of the get-well emails! They were really nice, and I appreciate them lots. It sucks to be sick in a foreign country, but feeling cared about from people at home and people who are actually around you in aforementioned foreign country make such a difference.

Speaking of people in Aforementioned Foreign Country, it occured to me as I was having lunch at my Mahalla Guzari that I should talk a little more about the people I know here. Basically, "Mahalla" is "neighborhood" and "guzari" is a restaurant/meeting place... mine is really close to my apartment, which turned out to be really useful when I was sick. I didn't have any food at home because I couldn't get to the store (even though it was across the street) or Anna's house, and I didn't want to eat, anyway (the medicine is great but makes food taste bad and sometimes creates nausea), so I was getting really weak. My teacher was coming to my house for lessons, and eventually dragged me to my mahalla guzari and basically force-fed me osh (really good rice with chickpeas, bell peppers, meat and sometimes other random stuff.) It turns out that became the only thing I wanted to eat until I was feeling better, so I would show up every day at 1:00 for my osh fix. Now I'm a hardcore junkie, an everyone there knows me. Although my teacher sort of introduced me to a few people, I was pretty out of it, so I introduced myself again on Friday when I was feeling lots better, so I might actually remember people's names. I sort of do, but not everyone. Anyway, when I was doing that, everyone was sort of arranged in a way that looked like a promotional photo for a new fall sitcom, and it occured to me that life here sometimes does feel like a TV show, and I could introduce the people I know as a cast of characters. So here goes:


ACCELS STUDENTS

Myself

Anna: Anna lives with the Niyazovs. She recently graduated from college, and studied Uzbek at Indiana University over the sumer, so she speaks it really well, and is also pretty fluent in Russian, as she has spent quite a lot of time there in high school and college. She has acted as my tireless translator. I don't know how I would have gotten this far without her help with language and when I was sick!

Joseph: Joseph previously spent 2 years in a small town in Uzbekistan as a Peace Corps volunteer. He's now studying Tajik in Samarkand.

Karen: Karen has previously spent time in Russia and Kyrgyzstan, and is also studying Tajik and little Uzbek in Samarkand.

(EXTENDED) HOST FAMILY

Mavjuda: Mavjuda is a former government economist (Soviet-era); she is now Accels' premiere host mother for the past 10 years. She seems to know everyone in Tashkent, and is just generally cool. She really busted a move at my birthday party, dancing to the rap in her head (imitating her sons) and playing air guitar to a cd of Anna's friend's punk band.

Abdulla: Abdulla is Mavjuda's husband, an engineer of some sort, and my very own handiman... whether I like it or not! Actually, he's been great about fiing things in my apartment when they inevitably break down. His current pet project is my TV (whih is broken again).

Rahima: Mavjuda & Abdulla's daughter; lives with them and is very cool.

Akbar & Sobir: Rahima's younger brothers; are now in New York

Scott: An American student doing PhD work in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan; leaves Tashkent to do his field work soon.

Mary: An American librarian doing some kind of assessment of an Uzbk library; returned to the States a few weeks ago.

Bahodir: Akbar's best friend and my babysitter; essentially a third son in the family and Uzbekistan's Enrique Iglesias.

NEIGHBORS:

Sveta (pronounced Svyeta): My retired Russian next door neighbor; lives with her dog, Daisy

Nastia: My 22year old Russian neighbor upstairs; is a teacher and wants to hang out with me to help her English

TEACHERS:
Mekhrabon: My Uzbek teacher at the University of Wold Economy and Diplomacy and a eally nice lady; she took goo care of me when I was sick. She's married with 2 small children.

Gulnora: Anna's teacher at a local semi-private high school; friends with my teacher, and also very nice.

FRIENDS:

Dilfuza: Ok, I feel bad about previously calling Dilfuza my rent-a-friend. Well, she sort of is, but not exactly. The Accels staff has mentioned both hiring a girl to help me out with things because I'm a Special Case (celiac and no Uzbek skills when I arrived), and getting both Anna and me grad student tutors to hang out with us and go places to help with Uzbek skills. They failed to mention that Dilfuza was sort of both, and since Anna didn't get anyone (I guess she didn't want anyone), I assumed Dilfuza was the former, not the latter (especially since I didn't seem to have much choice in the matter.) Anyway... Dilfuza is a linguistic grad student, and very very nice. I like hanging out with her. She's going to help me go rescue my birthday care package from postal purgatory Tuesday. Yay!

Sayora: I really randomly met Sayora on the metro, and I'm really glad I did (sometimes sticking out like a sore thumb is actually a good thing!) She interns at a local NGO, and has introduced me to some cool people.

Roman: A friend of Sayora's; he's starting a MUN in Central Asia, and is letting me help train delegates.

Mirzo: Roman's friend; also involved in the MUN start-up

Hulkar: The cleaning girl who I was convinced to hire (another matter in which I had little to no choice). But she's really really cool, and hand it to Mavjuda to hire someone who is also a certified massage therapist! :)

MAHALLA GUZARI PEEPS

Yergash: Yergash makes the shashlik in front of the guzari, and is the first person I met there. He's a very nice kid, and wants to know why I'm not coming in for lunch if I walk past without coming in roughly around lunchtime.

(?): I forget his name, but he is a waiter/sound system fixer. He seems lik a pretty skittish person, but he seems to be getting used to me already. I'v already imposed on him for homework help ("Excuse me, I have a question." "The shashlik is 550 soums, and you can pay Yergash." "Yes, thank you, and how do you spell this word?") We also discussed my possible menu choices after I told him that the beefshtecks (sort of like a hamburger with no bun) made me sick-- THERE WAS MACARONI HIDDEN ON THE PLATE!) I think these quirks are actually endearing, thank goodness. I consider it a survival skill to endear myself to people respnsible for feeding me safe food. Actually, I think all the Guzari staff consider me that quirky American, and treat me with a great deal of patience and humor. What a relief!

(?) Osh chef who looks like a middle-aged version of this guy Andre I used to know at GMU. His name kind of sounds like Nickelback.

(?) Lady at the cashier who is taking a liking to me, and already knew what I want when I come in (OSH AND TEA!) after just a few days.

(?) Tea man; looks like a characature of a cadaver; very nice man, who already knows that I want black tea, not green (although I like green as well)

Gala (?): Makes some of the other food that I don't really eat

(??) Russian, Uzbek and Korean waitresses whom I haven't actually met yet


INTERNET CAFE PEEPS

Ruslan: Works at the internet cafe near my apartment; I started going there when I was starting to get sick because I couldn't make it to the Hotel Koreana. I thought he only spoke Russian, but it turns out he also speaks Tatar, Uzbek and a little English. Yay! Someone else to help me with homework! :)


So that's about it for now, I think. My circle does keep getting bigger, which is a little odd to me, since I'm not usually a social butterfly. It's cool, though, and keeps me busy. In fact, if I can reach Sayora on the phone tonight (the phone system here really sucks), I might be going to a concert with her and some of her friends tomorrow, an might give a speech at an English language study center that she goes to sometime later this week and meet some more people. So that's good, but it's getting hard to keep track of names!

But, regardless of meeting new people and doing cool new things, I am getting homesick (maybe because I'm hitting the month mark), so I'm going to be pathetic and beg for more emails. I'm behind right now from being sick, but I think I'll be caught up on replies soon. I love getting news from home, however random or trivial! Please keep them coming!

Over and out.
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