10 Things in Tajikistan I'm Thankful For

Hello again, readers!  Happy Thanksgiving from Tajikistan.  Anna and I joined the staff and volunteers of American Space Khujand for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night.

Our Thanksgiving dinner.  (Photo credit: American Space Khujand)

As we approach three months in Tajikistan, I have a lot to be thankful for.  As my good friend James observed, commenting on my last post, my time here has been "fulfilling, happy, and adventurous."  While there are certainly things I don't appreciate here, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'm going to keep things positive.  It's not by any means hard to do that.  We are comfortable here and are having a good time far more often than not.  Without further ado, here are 10 things in Tajikistan I'm thankful for:

1 - Mountain Views From Our Apartment - An easy one to start.  It also means a cool photo will be the lead on this post!  Tajikistan is known as the "roof of world" -- 93 percent of the country is mountainous.  Where we live, the Fergana Valley, is actually the lowest part of the country; Khujand sits at only 1,000 feet.  Even so, as I've shared before, we have some gorgeous peaks right outside our apartment windows.

This is from two weeks ago.  A glimpse of snow is barely visible on a ridge behind the first ridge.

We've learned that locals call these "the Mongols" because Genghis Khan crossed over them in the 12th century before sacking the city.  These peaks are about 3,000-5,000 feet tall.  The peaks look pretty rugged and not very pleasant to hike, especially in any heat, but we have taken a couple of walks in and past the neighborhoods visible in the photo.  I think there is an established trail or two out there so we'll keep exploring and asking around too.

2 - Being Near Big Mountains - You truly are never far from serious mountains in Tajikistan.  Drive two hours south from Khujand and you'll be some big peaks, namely the Turkestan and Zarafshan ranges, with some peaks exceeding 16,000 feet.  You go through this region to reach Dushanbe, about five hours south from here.  We did this once to get to Khujand and repeated the journey earlier this month for a weekend in Dushanbe.  Here's a mediocre car photo from our journey.

Some serious snow already, eh?  This is at about 9,000 feet.

3 - Not Working! - OK, I'm shifting gears on this one.  Not to rub it in anyone's face, but it's felt great not to work.  I'm immensely thankful to be able to choose not to work.  By western standards, Tajikistan is quite cheap.  Anna's fellowship also gives spouses a small stipend.  Let me tell you, when you're food and housing are already covered, $325 per month can go a long way in Tajikistan.  This whole not-working-thing isn't something I could sustain for years, nor would I want to, but after years of the grind of public school teaching, especially through covid, this has all been an extremely welcome change of pace.  

Photo Credit: American Space Khujand, via Google Maps

4 - Working with Kids - Although I don't have a job it's not like I'm doing nothing!  I teach a biweekly academic writing class at American Space Khujand and, through my time there, have developed relationships with a number of students.  They are high schoolers or university students and many have dreams of studying abroad in English, whether it's in the US, Canada, the UK, or Europe.  I'm guiding students through the Common App, reading essays, and getting to know the hopes and dreams of some of the best and brightest young people in Khujand. It's also comfortingly familiar to my recent teaching.  It's also been fun.  Reflecting on work in recent years, I've believed that I'd be OK not being a conventional classroom teacher but that I'd always want to maintain some sort of connection with kids.  Right now I'm getting the chance to test this theory out a bit and so far, so good.

5 - A Running Club - If you know me you know I like to run.  Before this summer I'd never been a Strava person--I'd used Runkeeper for years--but I made the switch to see if I could find and meet runners in Tajikistan.  Strava is probably the most used running app and has many social features.  Not long after arriving here my efforts paid off.  I linked up with the small but growing Khujand chapter of the Tajikistan Running Club for their weekly Saturday morning runs.  Anna sometimes joins too.  I'd never been much of a run club type before coming here, craving the solace of running, but here my preferences have flipped.  I still take a solo run here and there, but I consistently go out for and joy these Saturday club runs.

Smiling and looking good because this shot is from before our run!

6 - Tajik Kindness - Tajikistan has a well-earned reputation for the hospitality it shows to guests and we've certainly felt this.  Wherever we've gone and whatever we do, Anna and I are welcomed and shown just so much kindness, whether it's from Anna's work colleagues, our American Space students, or even just random strangers.  One time, after a quick chat about who we are and where we're from, a man ahead of us at the grocery store checkout bought us lollipops and wished us a happy stay.

7 - Language Learning - Tajik and Russian are the languages of Tajikistan, with the latter relatively prevalent and popular in Khujand.  (In some parts of the country Russian has really faded away.)  Anna and I been taking Russian classes at a local language center.  It's been challenging but rewarding to exercise some rather dormant language-learning muscles.  I've enjoyed taking a class with Anna; we've never done this before!  Going to this center has also connected us with fellow foreigners who teach English there.  Additionally, it's fun to interact with the kids who study there.  You truly haven't lived until you're swarmed by a pack of eight-year-olds bursting to practice their English with a native speaker.  "Hello!"  "What's your name?"  "Where are you from?"  "Goodbye!"  We're actually in a bit of a learning lull right now between our teacher moving to Dushanbe and then we each were sick with the flu (nothing too serious, thankfully).  We're set to resume our classes next week with a new teacher though.  

8 - Connecting Through Soccer - As has been the case everywhere I've traveled, soccer is truly the world's most universal language.  A little mention of "football," "Liverpool," or "Messi?  Ronaldo?" can spark a stilted conversation and forge a connection across cultures.  It also frequently surprises people to talk soccer with an American.  On that note, I'm very excited and ready to share some serious patriotic pride as our men's national team continue their 2022 World Cup journey against England.  The game kicks off at midnight for me, but you can bet I'll be watching live!

The kitten on night 1.

9 - A Kitten - Fact 1: Stray or abandoned animals are indeed an issue here, as they are in many parts of the world.  Fact 2: Anna's a real "animal whisperer," taking in many animals throughout her life.  Thus, I can't say I was really surprised when, one night, we ended up bringing home a tiny, bedraggled kitten.

Walking home from the grocery store we spotted a tiny fur ball madly dashing back and forth across the road.  It's amazing she didn't get run over.  She crawled up a man's leg, he picked her up, made eye contact with Anna, and put the kitten directly into her hands.  The man and his partner walked away.  We really wish we would've tried to talk with him and see if we could learn more.  We hung around for a bit and didn't see this cat's mother or any siblings. 

Kiku helping me write this post.

We guess the cat was about four weeks old when we found her.  We initially had to feed her a homemade formula with a dropper.  We weren't sure and remain uncertain about what exactly we want to do with her.  There are some major differences in pet culture between the US and Tajikistan.  There are no animal shelters in Khujand, a city of about 200,000, and, as far as we know, only one veterinarian.  We do see the odd person walking a dog, but it's rare.  We definitely see more stray dogs than pet dogs.  Cats are found all of the time around magazis -- think bodegas and bodega cats -- and prowling around dumpsters, but we've heard little about them being kept as house pets.  

After a week of uncertainty and some stress we did the kitten a name, Kiku (Kitten Khujandi).  We've had Kiku for about a month now and are getting seriously attached.  She's fun, wild, and adorable, a kitten, in other words.  Yes, we have thought about and looked into taking her home with us.  It would be possible.  We also might try to find here a home here.  Again, we don't know what we're going to do.  Kiku has been an unexpected part of our experience here but a very happy one thus far.  Her situation seemed pretty bleak when we found her; we don't think she would've survived on her own.  We're giving her a better quality of life than she would've had and she's bringing us a lot of joy.  That's good enough for now and we'll take it one week at a time.

Fellow American Raavi snapped this nice
shot of us at Iskanderkul in October. 

10 - Anna - I've saved the best and most important aspect of my thankfulness for last!  There are so, so many ways in which I'm thankful for Anna and our relationship.  With regard to Tajikistan though, I am immensely thankful that Anna's professional abilities brought us here.  The English Language Fellows program is specifically for accomplished mid-career ESL/TESOL professionals.  While I'm a teacher, I'm not that.  My background couldn't have brought us here.  Anna's could, and it has, and for that I am deeply thankful.

I'm also grateful to share our relationship with people we meet here.  A pair of married people in their thirties with no children is a total oddity here, as is a (heterosexual) couple moving for the wife's work, not the husband's.  While some people do kind of wonder what's wrong with us--"You'll have children by the time you leave Tajikistan!"--it's all been mostly positive and curious.  Tajikistan has deeply established social norms around gender roles and family.  People marry young and frequently through marriages arranged by their families.  Children are the norm and families are large by contemporary western standards.  At any rate, I frequently find myself in situations where I'm talking about our relationship and it's all felt very validating.  I like talking about Anna!  :-)

So there you have it: 10 things in Tajikistan I'm thankful for.  Have good Thanksgivings, all!