I figured if I’m gonna do
this, I’ll end it the way I started it.
What is Tajikistan? I
mean I’ve been here for nine months; surely I’ve got some idea of what’s going
on here. Right?
Right?
Tajikistan is…amazing.
This is a country where the country itself is physically breathtaking. Where
everywhere you go has snow-capped peaks, or pristine green valleys, or barren
moonscapes. Where you can see ruins thousands of years old, as well as some
astounding Soviet-era engineering projects. Where frozen lakes still exist in the middle
of May, and it’s a damn good idea to start sipping water out of rocks.
Anyone can see those
pictures though, on Google or Facebook or whatever.
Tajikistan is…broken. It’s
corrupt, to the point that if it weren’t for the daily paying of bribes
and fees, I’m pretty sure this place would completely collapse. It’s a place
where the smells of rotting garbage, human waste, and body order all merge and
mingle together. This is where decades of mismanagement and the siphoning of
resources have made people seemingly hopeless and apathetic to their future.
Where the government, which is a bloated and corrupt monstrosity, promotes a
history that never really was, creating a medieval-Iranian Disneyland façade that
barely covers the tense situation of an unfinished civil war underneath.
But you can see or read
that in any article from any number of visitors and scholars about Central
Asia.
So what the hell is this
place?
It’s a country. It’s got
villages and towns. It’s got families who are beyond poor who will
invite you into their house or apartment and feed you like a king. It’s got
people who will rob you blind without batting an eye. It’s got drug-traffickers
and teachers; it’s got prostitutes and missionaries. It’s not good, it’s not
bad. It’s just…a country. You live here, your optimism dies, but your pessimism
dies too. Everywhere is gray.
And how could it be
anything else? No place can be all good, or all bad. A country is only the sum
of its parts, and the experiences you have there. And my God, the experiences.
There’s been crossing borders, getting detained, surprising hash, breathtaking
vistas, unforgettable friends, a few good shitheads, delicious food, diving
into a new language…where does it end?
Well, let’s say our
goodbyes:
To the staff at American
Councils (Nisso, Faridun, Khurshed, Professors Saeidi, Muhabbatov, and Boymatov):
برای همه که من یاد میگرفتم،
که من تجربه میکردم، و همه کمکشان...من فارسی کافی ندارم. خیلی ممنون!
To my host
family, Baba and Bibi, Safarbi, Rahmon, Rasul, Samina, and Zuhro: You guys will
never see this,
but you took me in as one of your own for way longer than you
were supposed to, put up with my occasional shenanigans, and fed me ungodly
amounts of food. I survived for nine months pretty much solely because
of you guys, so truly from the bottom of my heart, I will never forget any of
you.
To Joely and
Soo: The “Three Musketeers”, as we have been affectionately nicknamed by Nisso,
we had a year of intestinal problems, translation snafus, harassment from the
locals, frustration with the professors; a year of drinking too much vodka,
eating osh, seeing awesome mountains, and learning a new language and culture.
I’ve seen the new batch of students, and I gotta say, we got off pretty well.
To the ladies
and gents of AIESEC Tajikistan: I won’t lie, I didn’t help much, and you guys
have a lot of work you need to do. But the future can always be now, and
if you treat the other interns and partners like you treated me, it’ll be a
damn fine one.
To Sharaf and
Mirzo: You guys were proper mates, damn fine friends, and the two people I
probably saw the most outside of classes. I damn well better be seeing more of
you guys outside of Tajikistan, or at least seeing you guys when I come back.
To Vander, Jean,
Yasaman, Lieke, and Mehdy: The AIESEC crew. Adding the ever needed international
flair to my nine months here, I couldn’t be happier to have gotten to know you
guys. I wish you all the best in the future, and maybe we’ll see each other
again.
To Andy, Grace,
Areebah, Clement, Audrey, Umed, and people whose names I forgot because of
drinking too much: You all came to Tajikistan for different reasons, but you
were all incredibly awesome, and I was glad to meet each and every single one
of you.
به عادل، علی، و آقای باعسمت: میدونم که من این
ترم خیلی شلوغ بودم، اما برای همه کمکتان و شوخ هایتان، خیلی ممنون و مرسی!
To my students, one and all: Teaching you guys was something I never expected to love, but seeing you all slowly but sure improve in English was, without a doubt, one of my favorite parts of Tajikistan. I wish all of you the best in your future studies, and only wish that I could've helped you more...
To anyone I
might have forgotten: Please forgive me, I didn’t expect to be writing this for
a few months
more, but you were probably pretty awesome, so…yeah, sorry to see
you go!
So now we’re
done. Hopefully, at least one of you readers decides to come to Tajikistan, and
figure out
whether I’m a complete liar or not. At the very least, I promise you’ll
have an interesting time.
