A Framework of Understanding

The easiest way for me to learn new things is to relate it to what I already know.  Discovering the culture here in Tajikistan is no exception.  There are many cultural similarities to Kazakhstan, A larger country to the North that I visited about 8 years ago.  There are also some similarities to Turkey, but, not surprisingly, very few similarities to the US.

My first reminder that we were in a former Russian country like Kazakhstan was the large hats that the police wear.  To me they look a bit goofy, but to the Tajiks they are to be respected.  The second reminder was the visa process.  We had instructions to look for a small room to get them and it’s a good thing we did.  The door looked like it belonged on a broom closet.  We went in and found a long skinny room crammed full of people who could only use half the chairs in the room because of the large marble tables in the middle.  Down at the far end of this room were two men at desks with computers with the occasional sound of a dot matrix printer breaking the silence.  If it weren’t for someone from our flight telling us what to do we’d likely still be sitting there.  As it was we spent over an hour there waiting for a sticker to add to our passports.

Luckily it’s not all funny hats and long lines.  We met our host and he drove us to his house.  The house is also very similar to those of Kazakhstan.  The street he lives on looks like that of a village more than the center of a city of over one million people.  The pavement is rough, sewer pipes protrude like speed bumps in front of every house with that and the gate being the only way you can tell there’s a house there.  Either side of the road is a ten foot wall with gates large enough to drive a car into every 50 feet or so.  We got to one of these gates and our host got out of the car and opened it.  Inside there was a courtyard surrounded by rooms on three sides. The lavatory, wash room, kitchen, living room and our guest room are all accessed by doors to the outside in this courtyard.  While this gives a great feeling of sanctuary in the middle of the city, it also means a trip to the loo in the middle of the night requires a walk outside in any weather.  I enjoy this layout of a house, as do our hosts, but I could see why others wouldn’t.

There is a treat we’ve gotten here that I have a hard time hanging on my framework.  In the middle of the courtyard there are two persimmon trees.  From a distance they look like oranges, upon closer inspection they aren’t.  The texture is kind of like an apple, but mostly not.  I tried coming up with flavors I could compare them to, but couldn’t.  I do know that I enjoy them and so do the children of our hosts.