Giant Flying Beetles, Waiting in the Shade and the Local/Ex-Pat Disconnect

Last week I arrived in my apartment to a loud buzzing noise. At first I thought maybe someone was using an electric, well, something on the street outside my kitchen window. I stood for a minute listening and eventually could tell that whatever it was probably inside and pounding again my window. I went, a little timidly, into the kitchen and found one of the giant-flying beetles I'd seen a few times around the city trying to escape out my kitchen window. Must have come in through the door as my windows all have screens now. Although with the noise, I don't know how I could have missed it. They've just like regular beetles, just giant and flying (and loud). Yeesh. Anyway, they're too big to squish, so after I got over my terror, I managed to trap it and throw it out the window. That'll get your blood pumpin'.
I was supposed to go the ballet last week. I went to the opera a few weeks back and thought, 'ok I can probably do a little more culture.' I set off last Sunday into a balmy 8000 degree Tashkent afternoon. I got to the theatre a few minutes before the group of people I was meeting up with and stood in a patch of shade off to one side while I waited. After about 10 minutes I thought, 'wait a minute, I'm waiting in sizzling heat, to go into a theatre, where it will probably be even hotter, to watch ballet? I think the heat's gotten to me' I turned around and left with a plan to make a lame excuse the next time I saw the people I was supposed to meet. Turns out I was the only one who even made it as far as the theatre.
I think the only real disappointment I've had here is that I haven't really connected with Uzbeks all that well. Local Russians and Koreans yes, no problem. But with the exception of a few Uzbeks who have spent extended periods in the west, it just hasn't happened. I've talked to a number of other expats and they all say the same thing. It's too bad, but I've got a bit of time left so maybe things will improve a bit.

The Honourary Canadian Consulate, The Queen's Birthday and Genocide

A few weeks back I decided to put my passport in a less than waterproof pocket while I was out in the pouring rain. It didn't get destroyed but it's certainly the worse for wear. I've been a little concerned about it. No so much for getting back into Canada, but getting out of Uzbekistan. Exit customs and passport control here are, to say the least, thorough experiences. For example it took my friend and I almost two hours to get out of Uzbekistan on the way to Turkmenistan in April. And that was with a line-up of maybe 6-7 people.
Unfortunately there is no Canadian embassy or consulate in Tashkent, only an honourary consulate. They're organizing a Canada Day reception for July 1st so I figure, well, at least they're willing to do stuff so I sent them an email about my passport and scheduled an appointment. What a weird place. Although I didn't meet the honourary consul, he is apparently a Russian guy who lived in Canada long enough to get an Canadian passport. There is actaully an office, a fairly substantial one, with the requisite photos of Harper and Michaelle (sp?) Jean on the wall. The asistant to the honoury counsel thought my passport would be fine for travelling still, so that was good. He also gave me his card to call if I have any problems when crossing the border. Just a strange experience though. Almost seemed like it was a commercial enterprise operating under the auspices of the Canadian government.
This week was the Queen's Birthday so the British Embassy hosted a reception at the Ambassador's residence. What a palace, geez. It easily accomidated the 200 or so people who attended. Unfortunately a few rain squalls blew through during the event which was held outside but they passed quickly- strange weather here recenlty. Fortunately there were lots of trees in the yard to stand under. An interesting mix of ex-pats and locals for sure.
I've had a few chats with some of the Uzbeks in my office about what they think about what's been happening in Kyrgyzstan. It can be an emotional subject. Although they're usually loath to speak strongly, in a negative way, on anything, the feeling that what's been happening is genocide or ethnic cleansing is quite strong. Can't say I disagree with them. Not too sure about future of Kyrgyz-Uzbek relations. They are going to be tough I think.

Kyrgyzstan

Well, Tashkent is in the general area but really not all the close to what's been happening in South Kyrgyzstan. Probably a day's drive away. Life here is going on as usual. I am definitely glad I already did my trip to the Fergana Valley though!

The Weather, the World Cup and the Bazaar

Geez it's been hot here this week. mid to high 30's since last weekend. It's not like Eastern Canada with the humidity, but it's still pretty toasty. I asked a guy in the office on friday, 'hey, so is this hot for you?'. He said, 'meh, it's getting warm.' Apparently 50 is quite common during July which is the hottest month. I will be living air conditioner to air conditioner.

The World Cup started yesterday. I'm fairly ambivalent about soccer...wait I mean football, but lots of people here are excited so I tagged along to watch the first game betwen Mexico and South Africa. What a surprise, it was a tie. I think Uzbekistan comes about as close to qualifying as Canada but there was a bit of pride that the ref was an Uzbek. Seemed to a bit strange to me, but, well, whatever it's soccer.

I've got a really good Saturday (sometimes Sunday) morning routine going. I get up, laze around for a while and then wander over to the bazaar which is about a 20 minute walk. The different products are all grouped together and in eachother area, after buying from everyone I've found what I think are the best people for, say, fresh fruit. It's nice. They all greet me with, 'брать, брать!' which means brother, brother, trying to get my attention. I stand firm though and just get what I came for. At least they aren't trying to scam me (as much) anymore. I then head over to the grocery store for stuff like meat, which I really prefer to purchase refrigerated....at the bazaar it often lies in the open on tables. Gross.

Futsol, Rerouting of Goods, Paying Utilities, Dancing, Cockroaches

The Asian Futsol (indoor soccer) Championships were in Tashkent recently. Myself and another expat went to the third place game last Sunday between Japan and China. Actually pretty exciting to watch. Japan was the way better team though and won easily. The game ended at about 4 and the final, between Iran and UZ-BEK-I-STAN (lots of chanting even during the third place game) didn't start till 6 so we decided not to stick around. On the way out we saw something that, well, was a good exmaple of state-society relations here, at least I thought so. We got to the exit and people were already starting to arrive for the final. Rather than letting them on, or just letting them wait outside, the police formed a barrier between the stadium and the waiting crowd. Seemed a little tense...we got out and moved along quickly.

I often see things in the stores here that make me think, 'hmmmm I don't think that was originally meant to be sold here.' It's nothing overly exciting but for example, yesterday I went to the corner store to buy sugar cubes. The only ones they had were packaged in Uzbek Airways boxes. Ah well, worked well for me.

Bills here are moistly pay-as-you-go, including basic utilities. It means that if you are not completely paid in full at the start of the billing period they will cut you off, either immediatley or within about 4-5 days. I can pay my internet bill myself but electricity, water, gas and my home phone have to get paid by my landlord. She's been very good about paying it but was out of town this week and just come back yesterday. Anyway, I met up with her last night to pay rent and give the monthly meter readings for all the utilities which she then pays at the post office. No sooner has she left than the house phone rang with a recorded message from the phone company saying the house phone would be shut off if not paid soon (I didn't catch when exaclty). I called my landlord and she said she'd pay today, and she will. But geeez, some things are quite strict here.

Last night I went for dinner with a few others at a restaurant called Sim-Sim. It's a good place, very big with large rooms that get rented out for parties. A bit expensive for here, but then I paid about $8 for a huge meal and drinks, so overall not too bad. Sitting nearby our group was a table of 5-6 middle-age teachers celebrating the end of the school year. They were really celebrating too, polishing off bottle after bottle of vodka. Eventually a band that was making the rounds between the different rooms made it to where we were siting. Pretty cool actually, they just sat down at a table in the room and starting playing. Anyway, those Uzbek teachers loved to dance, with eachother. Did I mention they were all men? I guess it's very common here, but was still definitely a site to behold.

Later in the evening I was walking back to my apartment. You can still smoke indoors in Uzbekistan so my eyes stinging a bit and I was rubbing them which I guess pushed my contacts out of place. I was walking through an underpass and thought, 'weird, the ground seems to be moving a bit.' I stopped, blinked for a few second to let me eyes clear and then I realized...cockroaches. Everywhere. I got through there pretty quick.

Halfway

Well that's half, or a little bit more than half actually. Excellent experience so far. Amazing how fast time passes. Seems about last week that I was standing in line at passport control here watching Canada win the gold medal game at the Olympics.
Hmmmmm....I'd say highlights so far have been the trip to Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, bowling (just because it seems to weird to do here) and just getting up every morning, walking out of my apartment and being in Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan.
I don't think the next almost 3 months are going to see anything too too different. I very much want to get to Tajikistan. It's the only former Soviet Stan I haven't been too. It's close, bordering on Uzbekistan, but unfortunately the regimes to not have a good rapport and so there are no direct flights. Anyway, will just mean a bit of a longer drive, something for later June or July I think. I think that's probably going to be it for big trips. Apparently Tashkent will start to get progressively to the point of being unbearably right about the beginning of June. Good thing for air conditioning.
Anyway, it's been an astoundingly cultured week this week. On Tuesday I went to the Opera. It was Tosca in Russian. Ahhhh not a huge opera fan but the singing is certainly impressive. Yesterday the French Cultural Centre put on a concert by a classical guitar player, which was excellent. I guess all that's left is to go to the ballet....we'll see.

Swimming up a Mountain

About a week ago, I finally signed up for one of the hiking groups that takes, mostly ex-pats, out to the local mountains for hikes of varying degrees of difficulty. I mostly signed up because the hike offered this week by the group I signed up with was described as 'easy'. This morning I rolled outta bed about 6 (which is not that much fun on Saturday morning) and noticed that the sky was looking a little dark. I met up with the group, which was organized by a guy from the British Embassy. We met at his house and let me just say, 'wow'. Anyway, as we were gathering the sky started to open up and we stood in a sheltered part of the guy's courtyard wondering what we were gonna do. We decided to be adventurous and set off. About 2 hours and 2 thousand metres higher we arrived at the starting point for the hiking. The entire trip out to the mountain, the rain came down increasingly harder and harder and the path we set out on was now doubling as a waterfall. We met it about an hour in, to the snowline (yeesh) when the rain and wind got so hard and cold we had to back into it. That was enough. I don't recall the last time I was so wet. Anyway, still nice to get outta the city, if even for a few, very wet hours!