آلومینیوم و پشیمانی آینده در آسیا مرکزی

Had quite a bit of time to think lately, and since that never goes well, I figure I’d write it out and see what happens.

As far as Tajikistan is going, this weekend we went on one of our last excursions to the near-border city of Tursunzoda. This city has two things going for it: it’s named for one of the most famous Soviet era Tajik poets, and it has the largest aluminum processing facility in Central Asia (and the second largest in the former Soviet Union). While this might not seem as “exciting” as watching hundreds of Central Asians beating one another on horseback for a goat carcass (Hint: It wasn't , it was still interesting to see what makes up a massive part of Tajikistan’s economy, as well as to learn that chemistry is confusing in Tajik or English, and that during the civil war, the factory kept working and even managed to win international awards.

Think whatever you want about Tajikistan, but that’s intense, regardless of location.

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Now about the thinking. I imagine that, for some of the readers, it’s clear that, while not everything in this country thrills me, I love being in Tajikistan. And to those of you who personally know, I've relished in the idea of just being outside of the US. But that time is, slowly but surely, coming to an end. At the most, I’ll be home in August, in time to finish my final year of university. This reality, of course, leads me to one very obvious conclusion.

I hate it.

I've gotten two years of an education in politics and security, so that’s something. And here I've been learning a language that, while incredibly beautiful and rich, is spoken by three countries, one of which has been a warzone for three decades, and the other which will let me in over my cold, dead body (or warm, tortured body, if I decide to take up hiking…).

But I refuse to accept that this has been an exercise in futility. Rather, I'm embracing the complete insanity of what I wanted and what I want now. Would I have been "happy" before? Maybe. But now I know more, know "better". Soon enough I’ll be back in America, my international adventures curbed for the foreseeable future. But enough of the sadness, I have good friends and my loving family at home, which are certainly more than I should really need. And it’s only April. There are still at least two months, and one massive adventure, coming up. Besides, things are so much sweeter when you've got a finite amount of time to do them all.

As always: Ташаккуру Худо ҳафез