October in Khujand

It's been nearly a month since I wrote!  We've been busy, a good busy.  After that initial stretch waiting on the approval of her work permit, Anna is settling in with her teaching at Khujand State University, known locally as XГУ ("khay-gey-oo").  I'm keeping busy with a variety of things, including teaching an academic writing class at the American Space and doing some TOEFL tutoring. 

In recent weeks fall has arrived.  Slowly but surely, the temperatures have dropped; yesterday may have been our last day of 70s for 2022.  As further evidence of transition, our steady diet of sunshine broke last week with a couple of gray days of soaking rain, the first in our seven weeks here.  More is in the forecast for this week.  Khujand is considered a temperate desert and I've read that fall and winter are the wetter seasons.  Last week's rain was snow in the mountains, and that, along with clearer skies, gave us spectacular views of the Turkestan Mountains to the south.  

Anna snapped this shot leaving work one day last week.

These views were a real revelation for us.  Smoggier conditions and the absence of snow meant we'd only had fleeting, faint glimpses of those mountains.  We had no idea what we were missing!

We actually got into the mountains earlier this month with a weekend trip to Iskanderkul, an eminently Instagramable alpine lake about five hours south from us and only three hours north of Dushanbe.  That relative accessible makes Iskanderkul a popular destination.  Much like our September visit to Kayrakkum Reservoir, our timing outside of the high season meant we essentially had the place to ourselves.  

Iskanderkul, named for Alexander the Great, who, yes, conquered lands even this far east.

Iskanderkul sits at about 7,500 feet and is nestled amid peaks that rise several thousand feet higher, some even exceeding 15,000 feet!  The area is one of the gateways to the Fann Mountains, a small range that I've seen compared to the Alps in tourism literature.  It's a worthy comparison, and, for another, consider that the highest peak in the Lower 48 is California's Mount Whitney, elevation 14,505 feet.  Anna and I plan to return next year for a longer visit and perhaps a proper "trekking" trip. 

Other highlights from October include checking out the local soccer scene, linking up with a local Saturday morning running club, judging a spelling bee, taking a beginner Russian class together three times a week, and, just this past weekend, attending Khujand's edition of Go Viral, a media/tech/cultural festival that the State Department sponsors across different Central Asian cities.  Think SXSW; the event itself was apparently directly inspired by SXSW as well.  It's definitely one of the seminal events of the year at American Space Khujand.  

Overall, October's been a good month.  It's been comforting to settle into some more routines, like the run club, and get a handle on some useful Russian and Tajiki.  Both are used here and frequently they are mixed together.  Let's see, other things... 

It's been a real relief to get a break from the heat.  

Our cooking has improved.  Not to brag or anything, but I made a nice butternut squash soup last week.

There really are a lot of Russians here, especially always in this coffeeshop where I'm writing now.  I don't have much more to say about it all than I did last time though.

We are also both finding more time for reading, music, and TV, both together or individually.  "House of the Dragon" has been a Monday night routine for us, although it definitely tests the quality of our internet connection!

I've got a few different drafts sitting in my Blogger dashboard, so I hope to get some more posts up before it's a month from now!  One planned post is a "daily life" type of thing.  If you have questions that you want to me answer comment here or send me a message.  As always, thank you for reading!