با تحقیق و افراد پیر

Wrapping up my first week of classes in Dushanbe for the second semester, which means I think I’m finally in a good enough place to understand how this semester is going to go.

And holy shit, what am I doing to myself?

Now DISCLAIMER, this does not mean things are bad. Things are awesome. I cannot stress how happy I am to be back in Dushanbe after 6 weeks on the road/rail/airplane in colder-than-sin Europe, or how happy I am to be eating lentil soup, pelmini, and/or wheat (?) porridge on a regular basis. I cannot stress how happy I am to be able to walk down the street or watch the news and to be able to understand what’s going on. And my God, how I missed the naan and chai!

But this semester certainly offers some challenges. Chief among those, the research project I’m starting up. Aside from being devoted two hours of class a week (1 of 7 classes this semester, compared to 5 in the last), there will naturally be research on the side. Not so hard, right? Well, this is a language program, and when you do research in a language program, you do it in…the language of the program. So expect bilingual (in three alphabets) research, being actively translated and summarized into the other language.

Fun? Fun!

So as this isn't a complete rant, I've got updates on the family situation. Those who remember will note that when I first moved to Tajikistan, I was living with a grandfather, a “grandmother” (quotes will be explained later), a mother, four children, and a dog. So imagine my surprise when, on returning to Dushanbe, the only ones there were the grandfather, the dog, and a new woman, who I learned was the actual grandmother (making me wonder who exactly the other woman was, Tajiks don’t seem to be very clear about who’s who in the family when asked). Things haven’t changed in a bad way (food’s still good, room’s warm, bathroom still exists), but it’s certainly quiet without the kids around. Can’t say that’s an improvement. Not in the slightest.

As always: Ташаккуру Худо ҳафез.