Winter Wonderland?

I am unofficially re-naming the blog  "In Tajik i stand...alone!"

As I (Sharon) sit here starting my newly (recruited) position as blogger I find myself stepping completely out of my comfort zone.  Contrary to popular belief I am a private person, I don't Facebook or Twitter.  I use technology daily and am usually pretty good, but when it comes to this kind of thing I am a Luddite.

I keep coming back to the very British "Keep Calm and Carry On", so that is what I will do.  I also have the line from Princess Bride "Remember, It's for posterity's sake, so be honest" (Jason and I always say that to each other) running through my head. So, here goes.

As most of you know by now, Jason has returned to the states to take up a position in a hospital while finishing his BSN (two years).  Moose and I will finish out the school year here then return to the states for a month and a half before Moose, Riley and I move to Krakow, Poland (two years). All these decisions happened in a three day span.  We only had a week to adjust to our new reality (before Jason left) and we realized that we had not even done the regular tourist things...just kidding there are no tourists in Dushanbe, but if there were, we felt sure that they would have done what we did.


So back to the title, Winter Wonderland.  It has been snowing off and on for the last week.  Snow is amazing, it makes all things beautiful.

Moose is out for a polar bear pee...he usually wears a sweater.

You would think he has all the time in the world, and that it was not 7 degrees.

The bench outside the door does not have the usual young couple that talk late into the evening, but you got to admit it's still very romantic.

Even the drains look better in the snow!

This  is the Writers and Poets wall that we walk by daily.  I have no idea who is who or what they wrote or waxed lyrical about.

This is a giant (they like big here, not sure if that is a left-over from the Russians or just a new country trying to show off) statue of two guys, not sure who.  Once I learn Russian I will call each of you personally with that info.

This is the new National Museum,  It is one of the center pieces of a sixty-five million dollar park.

You can't see this from the last picture, but there is this thing that looks like a tilted beer keg on the top of the building.  This is the view from the inside, it is all glass with this huge (remember they like big here) round window at the top .  That big piece of fabric is the Tajik emblem they put up to (presumably) block out the 111 degree heat in the summer.  Thoughtful planning at its best.

There are an abundant number of statues on the grounds.  Again, once that Russian kicks in I will let you know who they are.

Ditto!

Ditto, Ditto!

Ditto x3

Ditto..Oh you get the point.

Etc.

This is the center promenade with reflecting ponds all in a row, past the over sized eagle, the statue of...still don't know Russian, down to the (you guessed it) tallest flag pole in the world! This was Jason's favorite spot.  He found a better use for the ponds than reflecting on over-sized displays of stupidity.

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It was a beautiful walk and a leisurely stroll through the museum, we were mostly alone with no one to disturb us.

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But then again, it's winter and we (often) wonder why we are in this land and who is responsible for making economic decisions!

These are the road cleaning women (from Jason's last blog) on a break.  Not the great conditions of the government furnished break room.  These women will never be able to afford the 25S entrance fee for the museum two blocks down the road (they make 300S a month for back breaking work).

As is evidenced by the crowd! That's me, and that's the average crowd in every room in the museum.

This beautiful picture is looking out through the frost covered window on the bus these women will ride home at the end of a miserable day at work.

This is the bus they will ride.  Please note that the road is not sloped, the shocks are broken on one side of the bus and the tires are tilted out at a dangerous angle.

If they are fortunate enough to have access to a car they would drive on a two lane road like this one (note there are no longer two lanes) they only clear the two main roads,the rest of the roads look like this.

No one clears the sidewalks or stairs.  Unless you happen to have this gorgeous guy doing his best to make sure that you can step, not slide down.  Most stairs are beginning to resemble slides.

This is one of many under-road walk ways.  They are ALL covered in beautiful polished granite. Two steps down and Jason did an impromptu ice skating routine. 

This is part of the newly remodeled walkway.  Note the tiny leak.  This has been open less than two weeks.  The doors and windows replaced the spots where poor vendors would set up their tables.  Now they can rent the same space for a "small" fee.  All of the ones in this walkway are empty, and most are empty in all of the other locations around the city.

This is the foot path through the snow once you scale the snow slide(stairs) out the other side.  It leads in a circle around that shed.

This is the actual "sidewalk".  It is approximately 12 inches at it's widest point with cars turning the corner inches from the edge.

This is me, walking past the women on break.  Even though they are paid to clear the main roads, no one is paid to clear the walk ways and stairs.  

As you can see large amounts of the tax revenue is spent on keeping garbage picked up and removed by the city.  This is half a block from the stairs that Jason cleared for me.



And I have not idea what this is. But, like I said the snow is amazing and  makes everything beautiful!

We often wonder who is in charge of financial decisions.  They build gigantic 65 million dollar parks that the average Tajik has neither the time nor money to go to, and not a dime on improving the safety and quality of life for these wonderful people.