We're Moving to Tajikistan: One Week to Go

This summer I quit my job of six years.  In recent weeks my wife, Anna, and I have schlepped the contents of our house into a nearby storage unit.  A week from today I'll turn 34.  I'll celebrate by getting on plane and flying to Tajikistan, the place we are slated to call home through next June.

It's all a bit different, huh?

I'm joining my wife, Anna, abroad on her assignment through the English Language Fellow Program (ELF), a State Department exchange program. In April she was matched with a position at Khujand State University. Khujand is Tajikistan's second largest city, with roughly 180,000 inhabitants. It is an old Silk Road city in the Fergana Valley, a ribbon of green and agricultural importance shared with neighboring Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

A nice shot of Khujand. Photo Credit: Neu holland, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Now, digging beyond this literal level, I suppose what we're doing is shaking things up. After seven years of public school teaching I don't mind the change of pace one bit. I truly have no qualms about, temporarily at least, stepping away from that career. It'll be there if I want to go back to it. My job? None right now, and that's just fine with me. To that end I'm grateful for savings and Tajikistan's relative cheapness. I'm also genuinely glad that my joblessness is fine with Anna!

A friend recently taught us a new term: "trailing spouse."  The idea is right there in the words.  A trailing spouse is someone who accompanies their partner abroad for work.  Historically speaking, I have to think that most trailing spouses have been women, and that a fair number of those women were also mothers.  I'm neither female nor a parent. 

So what will I be doing?  Well, this writing is one thing I want to do, that's for sure.  It's been years since I've done any sustained writing.  I miss it.  I think.  I'm ready to shake off the rust, learn about Tajikistan, and share that here.  

When Anna and I first learned about her match with Tajikistan we were excited but also struck by our own collective ignorance.  We just knew so little about the country.  Yes, even me with my relative geography prowess.  Going into this, I knew that Tajikistan was a country, used to be Soviet, and was maybe mountainous.  But that was it.  (Turns out Tajikistan is crazy mountainous!)  We knew that ELF could take us anywhere in the world but this was really off of our respective mental maps of things.  So, yeah, here's Tajikistan on the globe.

Image credit: UN, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Over the summer we've attempted to learn more about Tajikistan.  Our reading lists, YouTube histories, and podcast downloads all reflect some sort of effort to expand our limited knowledge of Tajikistan.  We've made efforts, rather sporadic, at learning Russian and Tajik, the country's two main languages.  Russian is on Duolingo but not Tajik.  Tajik is on Transparent Language though, which we get through our local library.  It lacks the addictive gamification of Duolingo but at least it's something. 

How am I feeling?  Here's some feelings, probably not in much of a logical order or anything.  I'm excited for lots of new experiences.  Tajikistan looks beautiful.  Learning Russian is hard, Tajik even harder.  I'm so, so fine about not working right now.  I'm not missing teaching.  I'm more than a little anxious.  Packing is stressful.  It's nice having furniture.  Cancelling subscriptions is annoying.  Researching ex-pat medical insurance is not fun.  I'll miss our cats.  We're leaving them behind, albeit in good hands with Anna's brother.  Not seeing family for so long will be different and challenging.  I think I'm ok with this "trailing spouse" idea.  

Overall, Anna and I were wanting a change of pace from our lives in Dayton.  We've already got that and we haven't even left yet!  But seriously, this will, going back to something I said earlier, certainly shake things up for us.  Finally, two feelings that only grow stronger and stronger is pride and gratitude.  I'm proud of Anna for getting this job and I'm grateful for the opportunity this job presents for us a couple.    

This has probably been a rather rambly read.  It sure was a rather jumbled write.  I'm thrilled to have an opportunity and some sense of purpose for writing.  I would keep this blog if just for myself, however I'm eager to write for an audience.  If this writing finds some readers beyond family and friends that's great.  If it doesn't that's fine too.  I'm still not exactly sure where I want to take this blog going forward, however I keep coming back to that concept of ignorance.  I hope to change this perspective for myself and my readers.  I think it's a safe bet that I'll also write about the whole "trailing spouse" dynamic a bit too.  Expect some soccer stuff too for sure.  Khujand is home to not one but two teams in the 10-team Tajik Higher League, the country's top division.  

What comes next?  Our first stop in Tajikistan is its capital, Dushanbe.  We'll be there in a hotel for a week for Anna's orientation before getting driven up to Khujand.  I hope to get back on here during our time in Dushanbe.  Thank you for sticking with post number one!