Dushanbe is a beautiful city. There are beautiful office buildings, museums, hotels, and cultural centers scattered throughout. It is surrounded by mountains (almost everything is here, to be fair) and sits in the only major valley in the country. There are parks everywhere, which are pretty well kept, and there are statues and monuments to be found constantly. It seems that every time I walk somewhere new, I discover another park, or statue, or both.
Also, the people here are open and extremely friendly and hospitable. Every time I meet someone new, they are excited about the fact that I am learning their language and that we are in Dushanbe. I find that people are especially curious as to how long we have studied, and how long we've been here. At any rate, people have been quick to invite us over to visit and meet their families, or to meet up to talk. Unlike back home, these invitations are not creepy, but genuine, and good opportunities to practice speaking.
However, Dushanbe can also be a bit grimey. All of the roads which we use to get around have potholes. Many of the open street drains are full of trash, and crossing the street can be like playing Frogger...with your body. Still, one of the things I've noticed is just how much of Dushanbe is under construction.
Construction is everywhere. When we visited the soon-to-be largest teahouse in the world, not one section was quite finished. Also, there seems to be constant roadwork, as well as new buildings and parks and statues cropping up everywhere. One can tell while walking around that many structures have been finished recently. Our program director, Kathleen, pointed out before we left that the monument in front of the National Library was just finished in 2009. Hopefully I can get there and get some pictures for you. (Still not sure I have a computer or internet fast enough anywhere to upload yet; I should have brought my laptop!)
I find it intriguing that there are two specific projects here in the city. One is the teahouse (which I mentioned already); the other is the world's largest flag flown from the world's largest flagpole. It is interesting to see such grand projects happening in one of the world's poorer countries, and how such projects give a sense of pride to many of the residents here. The night when we went to see the flag with our host family, we arrived late (we got there around 9:40; that section of Rudaki Park closes around 10 on Thursday nights). However, we couldn't tell we were late because it was so busy! People were taking pictures and hanging out on benches, just looking at and talking about the flag. It was a really cool experience. I look forward to seeing what other projects Dushanbe has in store for itself and for the Tajik people, and am glad I have the chance to be here now.
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In other news, we visited a museum today, and got a tour in Tajiki of the various works therein. I find that every day I am picking up more and more Tajiki, and am spending less time translating in my head. Most of the group scooted when we got to the second floor tour (we switched guides and our new guide talked about nearly every painting), but I stayed for the language practice. I found it fascinating how much I understood. (Self-high-five!) Hopefully this carries over when I get back to school!
Speaking of stateside, I am really excited for my Pacific Northwest trip with Katie when I get back. I think I'll need a vacation from this summer's studies before getting back to StL.
Tamaam shodam.
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