18 April entry

Basic Facts about Nina's school:

Lyceum #1 in Chkalovsk (about 20,000 people in town)
1. It used to be secondary school #5, named after famed Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. He was the first person to orbit the Earth.
2. Almost 800 students in grades K-11.
3. 35 teachers (28 women, 7 men). They have all graduated from pedagogical university. They have categories of seniority that determine evaluation protocols: teachers with 0-5 years of experience are evaluated by the Ministry. Those with 6-10 years of experience are level 2; those with 11-20 years are level 1. 20+ years is the highest level. Teachers do not automatically move us in seniority categories, but must meet certain criteria of performance. There are official accolades for teachers whose students achieve high levels (on standardized exams) within their subjects.
4. Subjects taught: history, Tajik language, Russian, English, geography, many science and match classes, computers, "labor training lessons (cooking, sewing, painting, etc.), art, music and others. This is not an exhaustive list.
5. Students wear uniforms: navy or black suits for the boys (including dark ties) and white blouses and blue/black skirts for the girls. In winter girls wear pants, and in the spring the boys sometimes leave their suit jackets at home.
6. Lessons vary by grade: K-4th grade: 3 or 4 classes a day; 5th-11th grade: 5 or 6 lessons a day.
7. Most students take 6 or 7 classes, and the classes are yearlong.
8. Classes are 45 minutes long with 5 minutes break in between.
9. Many students have extra lessons in different subjects after the regular school hours. Students contract independently with teachers for this. Nina estimates that more than 50% of the students take extra lessons, but she says before exams all of them do. I'm hearing the average they pay for extra lessons is about 20 somoni/month (a little less than $5, but about 10% of a teacher's monthly salary). About half of this goes to the teacher, with the other half going to the school for maintenance, electricity, etc.
10. Classes are held Monday-Saturday, 8:00-1:30. Extra lessons start after that.
11. Final exams run from May 30-June 25. They are usually written, but some are given orally. Nina says the Ministry of Education changes the procedure regularly.
12. There is a dining room with food cooked on-site: pies (savory), salads, soup, tea. Nina says lunch typically costs 50 dirams (1/2 a somon)...about 12 cents. She says sometimes it costs 1 somon (25 cents). There is also a reduced fee lunch program. The principal has a small budget to cover this (and extra classes for some students). There is also a municipal fund to help in these cases. Nina things this applies to about 40 kids a year. It says a lot that families here struggle to meet these expenses.

There are 7 schools in Chkalovsk, so students typically go to the school nearest their home, although they are free to go to another one. There are 2 gymnasiums, 1 lyceum, and 4 secondary schools. There's a music school too but it's outside the purview of the Educational Department. The lyceum is more math oriented, and the gymnasiums are more humanities focused. The secondary schools have many of the same curricular attributes, but without the extra classes. All students wear uniforms.


About Nina:

Teachers seem to be held in very high respect by the community. That is certainly true for Nina. She's a celebrity, it seems. She attended this school when it opened and has now been teaching there for 39 years. She was the principal for 10 years, but she really likes being back in the classroom. She teaches 4 days a week, with Fri/Sat off. The perqs of seniority!

She was also elected to a term as a local "deputy", a person chosen by the people in the neighborhood to help them with their problems. These might include finding free medicine, lowering electricity costs, getting subscriptions to newspapers, or even getting their kids into kindergarten. She's a busy woman.

She's been participating in the TEA program for 10 years now. She has hosted 2 American teachers already, spent 6 weeks in Lincoln last year, and is getting ready to apply for a grant to fund a library in her school.


18 April: the day

Today began a little too early for me. I woke up at 4:30 and was so excited that I couldn't go back to sleep. Bummer. Just as well, since this was our big day for the school's official welcome of me and the students' presentations. Words can hardly capture how delightful it was. We had to hang out at home a little longer than expected because some of the local dignitaries were running behind. When we finally set out we were met by the principal, an adorable Tajik man who communicates with me in a charming Tajik-Russian-French hybrid. Then two really charming, smart women arrived (their official positions are so complicated to explain that I'm skipping that part. They are city officials responsible for education and the more senior of them has an especial interest in supporting international learning and exchange. She is a really poised, lovely woman, and her two sons study and work abroad.) Nina, her 5 student helpers, and the other officials and I walked through 2 lines of students holding Tajik flags and saying "Zdrastvuiyte!" or, for the daring, "Good morning!" They were so totally cute and in earnest, I almost melted. I greeted each one and I smiled so much I thought I'd get face cramps. Three young ladies met me at the door with a graduated stack of freshly baked round loaves of bread, topped with a small container of salt. After an impressive recitation, they invited me to sample their gift. I tore a piece of one of the rounds, dipped it in the salt, and ate it. This is a Tajik tradition to welcome guests, especially those from far away or of particular importance.

More adorable kids, more greetings, a delightful song and dance by the kids in the 4th form (10 years old) and poetry from the younger ones. Too, too cute. Then more formality (with lots of smiles) as we walked through the school, up the stairs and into Nina's light, bright 3rd floor classroom. It was a tightly orchestrated lesson showcasing the benefits of dynamic, interactive collaborative teaching. Nina and I both wish we'd had more time, as we had to rush out at the end. Dozens of kids wanted me to sign their notebooks. I am eager to do it--we just need an hour or two.

Then the school hosted us for lunch (including some of Nina's homemade wine and pickles--yum!) The librarian made osh, which in Russian is plov. Meat, rice, chickpeas, small grape leaves stuffed with meat, raisins, carrots...it was DIVINE. Fruits, sliced vegetables and the ubiquitous round bread. Apparently the meal packed a zillion calories. All the older women smiled through their gold teeth and, patting my hand and laughing, told me not to worry about it. (When in Chkalovsk...!) I will leave looking like a Buddha, that's for sure. After gift-giving (me to them, thankfully) we came back for a nap--yes! Then off to a student's house for dinner. Nina has a core group of graduates to whom she is very close. They consider her a socond mother. These kids have been helping us out at every step. We ate tonight at Daler's house. He is a tall, gregarious, intelligent young man with a ready smile and a thirst for knowledge. His mom made one of the most delicious dinners I've ever eaten. Unfortunately, I mistook the abundant appetizer spread for the whole dinner and ate my fill of salads. She must have chopped and sliced for hours. There were herb and radish salads, beet and cabbage salads, potato and pea salads, sliced vegetables, fried cauliflower, deviled eggs, sliced meats, cheeses and of course bread. It was with mild dismay that I realized the "real meal" was yet to come. I had to beg off with small helpings of stewed meat, onions, and potatoes (although she'd salted the potatoes perfectly, I must say). I skipped dessert entirely: 3 kinds of fancy chocolate, 2 kinds of cookies and sliced fruits. I told them, I'd have chocolate and cookies literally coming out of my ears if I ate any more. They gave me a traditional hat (can't remember name) and fabric. Daler's mom is actually going to sew me a garment before I leave. Un. Real. I had such a pleasant time--what fabulous, warm-hearted people. They live in a Russian-style apartment complex much like what I'd seen in Vladimir, Moscow and other Russian cities. The family fills it with such warmth, though, despite the fact that Daler's dad is is the Emirates for work (another indication of low unemployment locally). He's deeply missed, but the evening was so full of laughter and camaraderie, I got the strong impression this is a family with love at its core.

The walk home was extremely pleasant, with conversation flowing easily between pairs of us as we skirted the large holes in the sidewalk. Everyone wants to practice English, but I'm managing to speak more Russian than I have in years. It's fun and we're all learning. These kids have ambition and drive. And they're so NICE!!!!!

Nastia, Mamura and I are planning a girls night of watching sentimental old Russian movies in our pj's. I can't wait. Not sure when it'll happen, but how totally fun!

27 April in Dushanbe again

Hello all! Up at 5:00 this morning to leave Nina's at 5:45. Her house is literally a 10-minute walk from the airport. Got there to find the flight'd been delayed for an hour. Lovely, thanks for making up your minds at the last minute. So the tires on Tajik Air are NOT bald, I can report, just a little...um, uneven in tread. I made sure to get a window seat and snapped lots of pictures of the gorgeous snow-covered mountains...probably just under 10,000 ft. but I'll have to check. Apparently the tallest ones are in SE Tajikistan, near Kyrgyzstan/China/Afghanistan. Got in at 9:00, Malik The Great met me and hauled the heavy suitcase to the car. To Michelle's for a blessed shower--aaah!--and off touring with Malik. Dushanbe from the air is big. In the city center, I get a totally different feel, as of a very small, contained capital city. As I've said in other posts, my first impressions are just those, and often reformulated with more exposure. Duh. (If only I could remember this more in my regular life!) So Malik and I went to the national museum, which takes up 3 floors of a long building. It's part natural history, modern art, Tajik history, and agrobusiness. It's really interesting. I wish they'd had a bookstore. Then to the very cool indeed Botanical Gardens. I don't know why, but I always think those are going to be boring, and they rarely are. This one has lots of walking paths and a dozen (?) open pavilions made of gorgeous carved wood. They're not small, and they're a perfect retreat from the broiling sun. It is HOT in Dushanbe, and it's only April. The women seemed to have switched to their summer outfits, matching pants and an overdress, usually in a bright pattern, often with high heels. And the men are still in slacks and leather shoes, although some have changed over to cream-colored leather. I have been noticing the decorative range of men's shoes here...quite something. I think American men would look pretty snappy in leather shoes, fewer tennis shoes. But I wonder how I'll feel in a week or so.
I saw schoolboys walking home today, and some of them still had their navy blazers on. Wow, that's discipline.

Malik and I stopped for tea (and ice cream...a bizarre flavor, the only kind this place makes, and they're famous for it) before meeting up with Michelle. She and I did some shopping, lots of walking, then met two of her colleagues for dinner. We're both stuffed and exhausted now, back at her place. What a wonderful and generous woman. She is offering me Tajik outfits, but I'm too spent to take on more luggage weight. Turkish Air's website was tough to decode. The charges tomorrow will be a surprise!

24 April: Nastia's house

I spent the night here at the Limonova apartment, about a 10-minute walk from Nina's. Like Nina, they are Russians, although both Nastia (20) and Liza (17) were born here, and their mom Tatiana was born in Uzbekistan. It's a curiosity for me at this point, 10 days into my stay here. The people I meet take pride in the multi-ethnic character of their nation, but they identify personally along mono-ethnic lines. I don't want to misrepresent Tajiks, and my impressions reflect my limited experience. There's always a danger of misrepresenting a complex society by generalizing about "how people are". But from what I've gathered, people tend to marry within their ethnic groups (obviously, there are exceptions). Even Russian Tajiks here seem to maintain conservative dress. Nastia says the Russian Orthodox community is pretty small, and Armenians and other Christians go to her church. Khujand, the 2nd largest city in the country, is about 15 minutes away, and Nastia's family went to midnight Easter services there.

There is great incentive here for Tajiks to speak Russian (and almost all do in this region) because of the economic opportunities in Russia. There is a lot of labor migration to Russia...in fact some of Nina's friends have suggested that labor migration has made a sizable impact on the population. Unemployment is a huge issue here, and many people head to Russia for work. It seems every other person I meet has a family member abroad (Russia, the US, the Emirates) trying to earn money.

Liza attends a Russian university 30 minutes away in Kyrgyzstan, and our friend Mamura is applying to the American University in Bishkek (the Kyrgyz capital). People here believe that English is a critical skill for economic advancement. No one I've met studies Mandarin. In fact, they speak in disparaging tones about low quality of the Chinese goods that are everywhere here. Still, people acknowledge that the few roads of high quality are often due to Chinese labor.

I should devote a blog entry to the potholes of Chkalovsk. They're something to behold. Cars weave a serpentine path down city streets to avoid the large and/or deep ruts. It's kind of comical, except for the speed at which some of these guys drive. For every Russian Lada, there's a second-hand Mercedes. I've even seen a Hummer, and Nastia says there are two Porsches in town. There's some suspicion, obviously nothing I can confirm, that people who have those cars get them through illicit means involving agricultural products from regions further south. No country is free of this problem and its nefarious effects of end-users and their communities.

We're going to head out for errands in a little while. It is usually well above 80 degrees by 10:00 a.m., and I can only guess at the daily highs since I've spend most mid-afternoons indoors thusfar. I say, bring on the heat.

20 April...great dinner at Mamura's

20 April
2:30 p.m.

Just back from trip to Khujand in car with Nastia and her mom Tatiana. It took 20 minutes to get there by car. Busy main road, beautifully paved and very wide, with one- and two-story stores lining each side. There was a rim of tall, rather serious looking brown mountain framing one side of the panorama. We drove through acres of apricot trees, toward the Arbob Palace, which is modeled after the Winter Palace of Peterhof. Strange, considering it was built as the cultural center of the area’s collective farm during Soviet times. The elaborate tiered fountains are in disrepair, but the pastel edifice still recalls the power and beauty of imperial Russian buildings. Today I noticed more and more statues of Lenin. The guy remains popular. We went to the public library in Khujand, a city of about 170,000, to the “American corner” to use their internet resources. No news from DC regarding my documents. Still too early. Nastia and I bought 2 Russian primers (1st and 2nd grade) so I can work on my Russian and maybe feel competent (smile). Tatiana pointed out all the out of work men in the road (not every road). So many people have left Tajikistan to work in Russia, America, Israel or other places, because there are no good jobs here. I’d love to see statistics on this so I could better understand the scope of the issue.

We had shashlik for lunch--or at least Nina and I did. Nastia and Tatiana have 4 more days to go in their Lent fast--no meat, dairy, eggs or…I can’t even remember. I just feel bad for them considering how much good food there is to eat around here. We washed our hands with a bucket and soap dispenser tied to a tree. Can’t wait to develop that picture. Maybe we’ll do that for the White Party??

About Chkalovsk: during Soviet times (many explanations begin this way, I’ve discovered) this was a major site for uranium extraction and refining. In fact, uranium was brought here from several sites across the former Soviet Union for refining. Radiation levels remain high in this area, particularly in Chkalovsk. This activity brought Germans, Israelis and others to this part of Tajikistan, and Tatiana was telling me you can see it reflected in the architecture (see how this was built by Germans?) but I’ll just take her word for it. So many buildings in this town are way past their former glory. Nastia pointed out the old university, a grand edifice with peeling paint and broken windows. It is no longer in use, and it looks like a big, tired, rumpled guest at a fancy party, one who knows no one but isn’t sure how to make a graceful exit.

Got home around 10:00 or so from Mamura's house. Wrote to Mom, Dad and Chris about the wonderful ambiance, food and conversation of the evening. Definitely my favorite social event so far. The men drank a whole bottle of vodka, a considerable feat considering there were only 2 of them. It's quite unusual for these two men, which made the event all the more remarkable. Nina and I liberally sampled the homemade wine. I'm never going to be a sommelier of Tajik wine, but I'm no longer a novice.

21 April...blah day

21 April
2:45 p.m.

We just finished a late lunch of “cutlets” (like mini-meatloaves), fried potatoes and rye bread, followed by tea, stewed cherries (yum) and pistachios. Nina’s friend just dropped by to bring some sausages from the market. He’s a lawyer in town, sick as a dog right now, and his youngest son is getting married in two days. He’s funny and overtired, and I am kind of glad I’m not in his shoes right now. He listened to Nina recount our tribulations and explained that, in some ways, I should feel reassured. “We’re sure we’re Tajiks when something is going wrong…if everything goes smoothly, we worry.”

We spent the morning at the bazaar, a giant warehouse with stalls of all manner of cloth, home goods, ready-to-wear clothes, shoes, etc. By stalls, I mean shipping containers. Hundreds of them. Each had its wares hanging along the wide walkway, with meters of fabric flowing down from hooks and hangers. There was underwear, wigs, accessories…many Chinese goods, some Turkish, some Tajik. We determined that I should say as little as possible to keep prices down. No problem. We bought enough footwear (slippers) for me to open my own shop, practically. I ran out of gas way before Nina did, but then got a second wind just as her energy failed. Of course I will get home and wish I’d bought more. Oh well.

We are home now--3:00--and I’m not sure what we’re up to for the rest of the day. Nothing new and substantial from the DC office, although I’m not sure what they can do from there. I think we’ll take a long walk this evening, but for now we’re hanging here. Nina is preparing for the cemetery tomorrow. We’ll go and clean gravestones, put flowers on the graves, and tidy the spaces important to her. I am really happy to help her. It’s frustrating to sit around.

No electricity since 9:00 a.m. The water went off shortly afterward.

22 April...at Nina's kitchen table

22 April

We went to the cemetery this morning to clean a few gravestones in preparation for Easter. Nina does this a few times a year, for Easter, after winter and sometimes when her kids come from Siberia. We pulled weeds (Chris, Ruby and Mom, thought of you!!) and swept the earth nearby. Nina mixed cement to anchor the artificial flowers that she put into coffee cans. She wet down the stones and swept those too. Each stone showed the face of the deceased, plus his or her days of birth and death. I’m always fascinated by cemeteries, particularly Russian ones. The headstones are almost as tall as I am, often. They are imposing, serious, indeed…grave. We got out early and were there by 8:15. Good thing too, because by 10:15 it was getting hot. And of course we were in long pants and double layers on top. I did not bring a long sleeved t-shirt, and my tank tops are completely inappropriate out of doors here. Almost all women here wear traditional dress, and that means covering most of the body.

Very interesting discussions with Nina about gender roles. Not to type now. Mamura has just arrived with her laptop and internet connection. Greetings with 3 kisses.

Time to connect!!

Later in the day we "painted eggs" by boiling with onion skins. I learned not to touch them.

19 April: Day of setbacks

I have 3 posts written on my notebook (small laptop) but I saved them in the wrong format and now cannot upload them from my flashdrive. Grrrr. So you'll have to wait another day to hear about the last few days in Chkalovsk. The other news is that I'm in Official Document Purgatory. Somehow the letter from the Ministry of Education in Dushanbe did not reach the requisite officials in Khujand, so I am not allowed to visit any schools until that matter is cleared up. My counterpart is beside herself. She has a carefully planned, fully packed agenda and she is PEEVED that somebody dropped the ball. Add this to the visa and registration hoops we've had to jump through, and you have a full-on crash course in navigating post-Soviet bureaucracies. Some things work brilliantly; others, not so. Guess it's the same all around.

Hope everyone is well. I'll try to upload a few pictures--this process has been giving us a problem though. Look for a more comprehensive post soon.


Here's one of the posts from that day:

Quick update: paperwork problems! Nina and I sat in on 3 lessons today: 11th form History, taught in Tajik; 3rd form English (with singing, story translations, etc.) and 8th form English (covering the 6 heroes of Tajikistan...very enlightening). We were about to embark on the second part of our day when Nina contacted the regional head of education in Khujand and found out that the Ministry in Dushanbe had not sent to the necessary letter to the regional office. This means I am not officially permitted to visit any schools in the area. Nina operates by the letter of the law, so our plans are shut down for now, and she is fuming. She has made over a dozen calls to various agencies in Dushanbe, and now...we wait.