Winter in Tashkent

Looking down my street early in the morning.


Winter is finally arriving to Tashkent. I say finally as though I really want it to arrive, but I don't. It has rained on and off for 2 days now. The dark, overcast skies are a bit of a shock to my system... I'm trying not to get gloomy! The school has just issued us with their snow policy on what to do on days when there is a lot of snow. The school apparently never closes for 'snow days'. I can't imagine that the government does much or anything to keep the roads clear so it will be interesting trying to get to school. Actually it will be freezing trying to hitch hike a ride to school. I think that I might have to finally relent, spend some cash and organise a more regular lift to work.

Hey, hey it's Monday!

Ah I hate most Monday mornings... except today (well that is what I am telling myself anyway!). I had a wonderful 6:20am wake up call from my Mum who lives all the way over in Australia. It was so great to talk to her. She told me that the new Prime Minister of Australia comes from the wee town where they live! The next exciting thing to happen to me was during my ride to work the driver played disco music (in English) on his car radio. What a groovy way to start the week. I also just logged onto Skype and found that I have 6 messages on my answering machine! How brilliant. It is so great to hear my friends voices :-) Hopefully the rest of the day will be just as cheery. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the assembly that my class is presenting to the school goes as planned.

I'm Stuffed!

I'm still stuffed from the Thanksgiving Day feast yesterday. I had to spend the morning at work. I would say I was teaching but with 5 of my 17 students absent we really just did busy work. The students were let out at 11:30 but I stayed a couple of hours extra scouring catalogs as I have to come up with a $3,000 purchase order for the my class and a new 3rd grade class for the next school year. Without an inventory list it is really actually a bit of mission. After getting brain strain I headed outside to watch the USA Embassy folk playing a game of American Football on the school field. I then hitch hiked, carrying a huge bag of potatoes to Gita's house - where 16 of us met to prepare the feast. It was a fantastic, interesting spread of food and included a 12 kilogram turkey! It certainly was scrumptious having stuffing accompanied by curried chickpeas. Obviously there was plenty of food to go around and plates of leftovers were taken home by everyone. Unfortunately today is not a public holiday so we are back here at school. It has rained overnight and the sky is very gloomy and dark today. I wonder if we are finally going to see some signs of winter?

Happy Thanksgiving Day to You!

Hello to all my American friends who are celebrating Thanksgiving today. We have a half day of school. I am not sure why when more of my students are Muslim than American yet we didn't get Eid off work. Anyway I shan't complain and very much look forward to the feast this afternoon. I went to the Bazaar on Tuesday night (shopping in the dark is an interesting experience) and bought 20 potatoes and a bunch of garlic. I hope to roast them all and offer the dish as my contribution. Notice I said 'hope'. I am not the greatest cook. Keep your fingers crossed for me. Enjoy your day! Love Jane

wow, they've unblocked blogspot!

On the road to nowhere

(Actually... the main road between Khiva and Bukhara)

The Bridge across the Oxus River
It is actually a barge that is leaking severely and so water must be pumped out to stop it lurching to one side.

Gidday from Tashkent,
I"m not sure how I am suddenly able to access this site but brilliant... now I can update my blog.
It's the day before USA Thanksgiving. Tomorrow is a half day at school so that all the Americans can rush home and cook their turkey. I am very jealous as this is my favourite holiday of the year. I missed out on an invitation to celebrate with any of the embassy families so organised for a bunch of us to get together and have our own feast. I can't cook well at all so am in charge of the potatoes! It should end up being an interesting meal with contributions from a Kiwi, an Aussie, Latvians, Indians, Brits and a few other countries thrown in.
Although it is now winter, the weather hasn't really turned that much yet. It has only briefly rained twice since July and I haven't seen a frost yet. Some are predicting snow this weekend but currently that seems impossible.
A month ago I had a week off work and travelled throughout Uzbekistan. I trained overnight out west to Ugench and met up with friends who flew out to meet me. We travelled overland via Khiva, Bukhara and then Samarkand. I'll post a few photos to show you how beautiful this country is... and hopefully encourage you to come and visit.

Mineret in Khiva

The old city of Khiva

A fortress near Khiva

An old Uzbeki man relaxing at his fruit stall

Sunset over Khiva