I am on my way back from our
Fulbright ETA conference in Nepal. I was planning on starting a post about
Nepal with something brief about our itinerary: Dushanbe - Almaty - Abu Dhabi -
Kathmandu. How amazing and crazy it is that we can fly to three different
airports with three different non-Latin alphabets in three days. On the way
back, I began Sunday evening with tourists in expensive outdoor clothing in
Kathmandu, then flew to Abu Dhabi in order to spend 13 hours in the airport
overnight and was a little crazed despite the free WiFi, western coffee chain,
and beautifully tiled ceiling. On Monday I flew to Almaty for a 16-hour layover
- which is now extended indefinitely, since I missed my Tuesday flight to
Dushanbe.
This is definitely the biggest
travel mistake I have ever made, whether measured in time (no flight until
Friday), money ($300 to switch my flight plus the $195 visa I thought I could
get reimbursed for but cannot), or visa wrangling (in few other countries would
it be so legally problematic to miss a flight). After being gone for almost two
weeks, I had been really looking forward to arriving home in Khujand. I was
distraught.
I was most upset about the blow
to my pride. Missing the flight was entirely my fault - I was in the airport, at the gate - but the wrong gate, and I realized it five minutes
too late. The fact that the flight was held as they called my name and I didn't
hear it in their Russian announcement makes it worse. I didn't realize how much
I thought of myself as someone who wouldn't do something like this, who
wouldn't miss a flight for no reason. Pride comes before a fall.
But people quickly helped me put
this fall into perspective. I was reading The Snow Leopard on the plane, and Peter Matthiessen's quest for Buddhism and natural science in Nepal reminded me that I have to accept what
is. Others told me that I'm lucky to see another county, to enjoy the
adventure, to make lemons from lemonade, and that everything happens for a
reason. As I'm still in the lemon-squeezing stage, I'm not yet sure how the lemonade
will taste, but I know that I am thankful for the support and the time to stop
and think.
I am grateful to the many people
who have taken time from their lives - full of other things to do - to help me,
including my Fulbright coordinator in Dushanbe, the Fulbright coordinator in
Kazakstan, and the travel section at USAID who are helping me to get my exit
visa. Mostly I am thankful to the ELF here in Almaty, who has welcomed me into
her (warm) apartment and talked with me for hours about everything from teaching TOEFL
to how hard it is to shop for pants. Last night she took me to a coffee shop so
trendy that I would have marveled at it even in NYC. She drew me a
very helpful map so I can walk around and explore.
Almaty is a big city (the biggest
in Kazakstan because it used to be the capital). Cars actually stop for pedestrians. Streets are lit at night.
Women walk alone even when it is dark. The Kazak bills are so colorful. I know
no Kazak and my Russian stops just beyond 'devushka' and 'spasiba', so I have
gotten practice at smiling and making hand gestures. To use my English I
visited the American Corner, and walked in just as a discussion club was
supposed to take place and an American did not show up to lead it, so I did. They
told me about Kazak history and holidays. It felt a bit like home, since
everyone was so friendly and genuinely pleased to see me.
Today I have had the luxury to
sleep, and write, and visit the coffee shop again. It is snowing. It is
beautiful as it falls.
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