Tajikistan through Language Lessons

As I pack my things and look through all of my papers, I realize the range of themes we covered in my Tajik lessons. I was lucky to have a teacher who prepared interesting lessons for me. Though I must confess I cannot remember all of the vocabulary, I wanted to share another lens for looking at Tajikistan, from stories to culture to news.

In the beginning I read a lot of fables:

• Ганҷи падар - The treasure of father  
• A man tells his two lazy sons that there is treasure buried in their garden. He dies and the sons dig up the garden. They don't find treasure, but they plant seeds. After three months they harvest the fruit and vegetables and realize that they have found the true treasure of their father.
• Лонаи мурғаконро ваирон накунем - Don't destroy birds' nests! 
• A man wants to find partridge eggs to feed his dogs, as well as to give a friend. He goes hunting for them, and a mysterious old man hands him ten from his pocket. The man returns and gives the eggs to his friend, but the next day the friend reports that he accidentally dropped them and they were empty! He tried to find the old man again, but could not, and understood that this was a message to stop hunting.
• Боигарии аз ҳама бузург - The biggest riches  
• An old man says to a boy, 'You are very rich, but you don't know it!' The young boy says, 'You are crazy! You cannot turn my hand into gold!' but the old man tells him that the riches of gold and jewelry are nothing compared to health.
• Гурбаҳоро панд додани маймун - The monkey teaches cats a lesson
• Two cats are fighting over a piece of cheese. They want to divide it, but can't decide how. They take it to the monkey, who divides it unevenly. The cats complain, and the monkey takes a bite out of the bigger piece, then from the other, back and forth until there is none left. This is a lesson to them not to be greedy (and to solve their problems themselves).

Then other short texts with less-obvious moral lessons:

• Офатҳо - disasters
• This was nice because then I knew the words for "earthquake" and "mudslide" when I experienced them.
• Рузи оила - Day of the Family
• Because of rising divorce rates, the government has a "family day" when older couples give advice/counseling to newlyweds. I actually agree with the quoted older couple who say that family starts from love and respect - but our ideas of respect may be different.
• Абуали ибни Сино - Abduali ibn Sino
• The great scientist, mathematician, philosopher known as Avicenna in Latinate Europe. 
• Тоҷмаҳал - Tojmahal
• "But it's in India," you say. Yes, but the Mughal court was part of the Persian-speaking world, and its architects came from the Persian capitals of Samarkand and Bukhara.
• Муқаннаъ - Mukanna' or al-Muqanna
• I had never heard of this man before. Born Hoshim puri Hakim in Merv, he led an uprising against the Arab rulers in Baghdad in the 770s and 780s.
• Тўиҳо - weddings - see separate post.

My teacher was at Indiana University Bloomington, and helped put together their online learning modules, which are really great. If you go to the CeLCAR website, you can see the many themes for the Intermediate modules.

• Рамзҳои рангҳо ва ракамҳо - Symbols of colors and numbers
• White and black have the same good/bad connotation that European culture associates with them; red symbolizes health, and yellow symbolizes sickness/weakness. Odd numbers are associated with mourning and incompleteness, while even numbers are associated with happiness and fulness. 40 is very important for a variety of traditions (sitting at home for 40 nights after a birth, wedding, or death), but 13 is not bad luck here.
• Шугун ва бовариҳои мардуми тоҷик - Superstitions and beliefs of Tajik people.
• Many Tajik superstitions can be traced to Zoroastrian beliefs about the elements, including lots of ideas about nails (if you cut them in a friend's house, he will become your enemy) and hair (if hairs are left in your comb, don't just throw them away - you must put them in a hole). Then we discussed American superstitions, like if you spill salt you must throw it over your shoulder. We put our teeth under the pillow for the tooth fairy - here, they put lost teeth on the roof of the house. Breaking mirrors is bad - but here you don't have 7 years' bad luck, just that you cannot look at the pieces as you gather them up.  

In the spring I struggled through articles from Ozodi, the Tajiki service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. My struggles were not only because I didn't always do my homework, but also because Tajik newspaper writing is very difficult. My teacher has strong feelings about the journalists who "make up words" that no one ever uses. I have had students saying that they struggle to read the newspaper, because it has so many of these new Tajik words. (links go to the articles online in Tajik).

• Никоҳҳои барвақти  фоҷеаидухтарони тоҷик - Early weddings of Tajik girls.
• This article talks about the problems of early marriages, unofficial marriages, and the relationship between religion, religious leaders, religious interpretation and the government.
• Forbes тоҷикистонро дар паҳлуи Нигерияву Камбоҷа ҷо дод - Forbes put Tajikistan between Nigeria and Kambodia.
• Every year Forbes magazine makes a list of the best countries to do business; in 2012 Tajikistan was ranked 111 out of 141. I had to play a local businessman trying to convince Warren Buffett (my teacher) to invest. This is difficult as an honest salesman, given the country's rankings in corruption (128), tax burden (133), monetary freedom (126) and personal freedoms (115). I had to advise Mr. Buffett to check back after a few years.
• Тоҷикистони баъди соли 2015. Назаримардум. - Tajikistan after 2015 - in people's opinion.
• In 2015 the UN's Millenium Development Goals are supposed to be "achieved", so this article is about people's answers to an online survey that the UN created asking what people think are the major problems in Tajikistan and what they think will happen in the future. The major problems people see are corruption, followed by low salaries and the problem of job creation. People want to improve health, education, and conflict prevention. 

Getting married is like moving to a foreign country

"Getting married is like moving to a foreign country," said a Tajik friend of mine, as three of us were having a conversation about marriages and mothers-in-law. "At first you must learn the different laws of the new place." My mind raced ahead to add more facets to the comparison: you must not only figure out the unspoken laws and customs, but where power lies and what people believe; what their prejudices are and what is most important to them. You must live a new reality of the details of day-to-day life, and not waste time missing those you used to live with. The first weeks of a new bride here are like my few months have been: full of a sense that you are missing some things, unsure when you will be embarrassed by revealing this lack, not understanding why the assumptions you had at home are not working, always listening and always learning.

In one moment I thought "Yes!" and then in the next I stopped - this simile does not include me.

I am not marrying Tajikistan. I am, if you will, dating: falling in love a bit, enjoying my time now in the present, playing and laughing, but not promising to be together in sickness and in health until death do us part. It is the beginning, still, of a relationship: I am eager to make a good impression, and so I listen more than I talk and sometimes hold my tongue when I do not want to risk alienating someone.  

Of course, while dating, every so often your mind drifts and you find yourself imagining what life would be like if you did stay together for many years. What would be the things that I could not compromise on? What would be the tension points in our relationship? My friend posed this question to me when I mentioned the idea that perhaps there would be things I would do differently if I were to stay forever instead of only ten months. I have continued to mull over the question.

Mostly I stay in the present, though. There is a special frenetic energy to a relationship when there is a clear end date. That is the frenzy of summer romances. Here, my time will end as summer starts, and my encroaching leaving date makes me frantic to squeeze everything I can out of every last moment we have together before it's too late. 

Advice on Visiting Tajikistan

I started to write a long email to my friend on what he should expect when he arrives next Monday, and then decided to share it here for anyone Googling "Travel Tajikistan." Of course there is infinitely more to say, and there are websites with much more, but this is the very short what you need to know upon arrival in Tajikistan:

You are now able to get a 2-week tourist visa on arrival at the airport in Dushanbe, but I had a friend who was lucky enough to arrive in a week when there were "technical malfunctions" and so he had to stay in Istanbul for three days to get a visa there and wait for the next flight. (On the bright side, when you get a visa in Istanbul, you get a sweet tourist map and postcards of Tajikistan). [more visa details written by my friend at the bottom of the page] You don't have to register if you are staying less than 30 days (be grateful - this is an un-fun post-Soviet habit). On the other hand, the U.S. government would advise U.S. citizens to register online with their Smart Traveller Enrollment Program.

Most people from the west fly Turkish Air through Istanbul. The flight goes twice a week, Sunday and Wednesday nights, and arrives in Dushanbe at 3:45 am the next morning. Don't worry - things will be open by the time you get out of the airport at 5 or 6 a.m. 

Mosque in Istaravshan.

Why does it take so long? It is a small airport. Because the mass of people shoving towards passport control is chaotic and suffocating and there are no lines. As a foreigner, you need to grab two forms on the right when you come in. One of these is a long rectangle with the same information on the right and the left. There is a colorful advertisement for one of the phone companies on the back. At passport control they will rip the paper and keep one half and give you the other. You must not lose this paper - they will ask for it when you leave the country. I staple it in my passport. The other piece of paper you need to remember is the baggage-check slip that they gave you when you checked your bag wherever you originated - after you have perhaps waited a long time for the luggage to appear, on your way out of the airport they will collect your luggage tag. 

You will emerge into a swarm of people waiting in the morning sun. If you are lucky a friend will meet you - if not there are plenty of taxi drivers ready to relieve you of your bag. 

You probably want money - I find it is easiest to withdraw from the Bankomat (ATM). You can withdraw somoni everywhere and USD in some places (I use USD only to pay my rent).  There are also many money exchange places on the street. Credit cards are useless.

Finding things like bankomats is easiest if you take some time to learn the Cyrillic alphabet - or at least a few minutes to look it over (Learn in 5 minutes for Russian or this chart for Tajik/Latin/Persian comparison).

If you need to bring a gift for an American, coffee is appreciated (this is another way of saying: prepare to drink Nescafe for the duration of your stay). 

Хуш омадед!

Tajikistan culture visible: курта (kurta - national dress; mine is made from атлас (atlas - national fabric), дастархон (dartarkhan - table cloth/spread), кӯрпача ( kurpаcha - mattresses/beds), general guest-ing

For more:

This guy seems to have very helpful and up-to-date information: http://caravanistan.com/travel/tajikistan/

I know someone working on this website, which is trying to become a more helpful guide to Dushanbe (if you're coming for longer, read this post on everyday Tajik customs: http://menu.tj/en/posts/culture-un-shock/)

More visa info from said friend who just got his visa in Istanbul: 

1-All the Tajikistan government web stuff says that if you are coming in from a nation that has a Embassy or Consular office you need your visa prior to entry. The guy I talked to in Istanbul at the consulate said the same. 

2-You can get 30, 60, or 90 day tourist visas. The 30 day is 50 USD (only USD accepted). Perhaps the 2 week visa is still availabe at the airport. 

3-If you are trying to do this in Istanbul it is hard to find the consulate. The train station/neighborhood it is in is called Florya. But there is no train station working right now  - it looks like it is under renovation. I can put togeather a google map+street view if you want. 

4-Bring your passport and a couple photo copies and a few passport-sized photos of yourself. It also helps to print out and fill out two copys of the visa application available online after some searching.