Hello friends and family,
We have been in Dushanbe for almost two weeks now and are settling in wonderfully. Everyone is just about over jet lag and we are adjusting the kids schedule from an early to bed, early to rise scenario to a late to bed (9pm!!), late to rise (7am) scenario, as Joe is getting home from work at our usual bed time!! We have gotten on a fairly good routine with school and shopping (an everyday necessity) and getting out for some walks and fresh air. The best thing that has happened this week is that we hired a wonderful lady to help out in our home. I was really dragging my feet with regards to having someone come in to cook/clean/shop etc.... but Tanya just showed up at our gate one day and introduced herself to me with a letter of recommendation from the previous DATT. She is a lawyer and is not able to work in Dushanbe because although she was born and raised here, she is a Russian and all law is conducted in Tajik. She has worked for all 5 previous Defense Attache's and was really depending on this job. As it turns out, she is so wonderful that there is a line of people wanting to hire her in the Embassy community. She is in our home from 8 until 1 Monday through Friday and she just works independently. She is very familiar with Americans and doesn't need any direction from me! She shops with us on Fridays and is teaching the kids and I how to do some Russian, Tajik, and Turkish cooking. She cooks with Taylor on Mondays and Emma on Wednesdays. She has been a wonderful resource for me to direct me where to by meat, where not to by meat, where to go to find things, etc.... she also regularly acts as a translator for me as she speaks enough English to do well with me. What a tremendous blessing to have her, and I almost missed it because of my American stubbornness and independence!!!!
Joe's fabulous Tajik teacher in Washington D.C., Dilya, did some research for us and found a violinist in Dushanbe. We contacted her and played for her this week. She is in her twenties and is very Russian!!!! The kids weren't sure if she was happy with them or not. Emma felt like she thought they were a mess and Taylor felt that she like them, but that they were going to be a lot of work!!! It is hard to read people's minds and there is so much lost in cross-cultural communication and when you are primarily communicating in one-two word phrases and with a lot of hand gestures and pictures!!!! What I am most pleased with is that Taylor really liked her and was excited about starting some lessons. Thankfully, Mrs. Moehlenkamp had prepared the girls so well and had gotten them started on toms of Etudes and scales, and pieces outside the Suzuki repertoire. She asked about specific books and we we had most of them. She comes today for our first lesson, so I will let you know how it goes. She also has a friend who teaches cello and plays at the ballet/opera(very small) so we hope to get Matt set up with some lessons soon (as he is really missing Mr. Fowkes and is continually reminding me that I do not play the cello and therefore don't know what I am doing!) He tolerates me well though, and plays everyday.
We do not have a Russian teacher yet, but that is on our list next. The kids have learned quite a bit by communicating with Tanya and by shopping in the neighborhood. Matt is the designated bread orderer...he has the Russian down and the bread lady enjoys his efforts. Luke orders the onions as the Russian for onion sounds like "luke" - which he finds funny!!! The girls and grandpa walk to the small shops on our street for milk, juice, cookies, etc...and the bazaar, for fresh eggs, potatoes, carrots, onions, dill, parsley, etc... there isn't much fruit right at our small bazaar now but there is a larger one on the other end of town that has mandarines from Pakistan and beautiful fruits from China.
Joe and I have been out twice this week (that is going to take some getting used to!). I am about falling asleep waiting for our ride to dinner and then getting home at 11-12!! We had a wonderful time meeting people from the Embassy both evenings. There is so much to learn with regards to who is here, what there job is, who they work for, what they do, etc...There are 57 American Employees at the embassy and 32 children (that includes our 7!) It seems that most of the American couples are one native born American married to one non-native born (usually a spouse from Uzbekistan, Moldova, Russia, etc...) All who speak perfect English by the way.....a real lesson to learn. Speaking several languages opens many doors....
There is a PA at the embassy that we have seen two times for immunizations. We are getting the rabies series, as there are tons of stray dogs on the street and a polio booster, as there is a polio endemic here and typhoid, as there was a large outbreak in the spring in the water. She even had some extra Hep A and Hep B immunizations that she was able to give to my Dad. We are going to buy his Typhoid and Rabies shots from a clinic here and she will give those to him. She has been a PA for 7 years and seems to have a really good grasp on the country and how to access care if needed. She has escorted several medical evacuees to London or Turkey and said that we would be sent to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan in an emergency and Germany for routine care.
We have a couple leads on churches. Most of them are underground and we are weighing whether we should attend them and possibly bring undo attention to them or just go to the sanctioned international church. There are no "missionaries" here in Tajikistan so apparently most have a day job. Please keep us and the country of Tajikistan in your prayers.
There is so much more to tell you, but I had better run. We need to return the power cord for the computer on Monday so I am not sure if we will be in communication next week. I will keep you updated as often as possible. Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and communication!
P.S. We have a lead on some home churches in our neighborhood, we hope to investigate that this weekend and will let you know what we find out.
Love to you all, Jen
