Dushanbe, Tajikistan!!!

We arrived in Dushanbe, Tajikistan yesterday afternoon, to be greeted by "DADDY!!!" at the airport. The flight was on a tiny 25-seater Soviet aircraft which flew us over the top of beautiful snow-capped mountains. We weren't expecting any food-service on board, after all, the back of the plane was full of our suitcases. But the attendant brought lunch: 2 hard-boiled eggs, one slice of black bread, one roll, one candy bar, one chocolate pastry, ketchup, mayo, orange marmalade, instant coffee, creamer and 3 hard candies---oh, and a juice box. The kids had never seen so much sugar in a lunch! (-;

The latest on our luggage: we are now in possession of 9/10 suitcases. The missing piece, containing the kids' favorite swim suits, and mine, will supposedly be re-routed from Istanbul to Dushanbe and delivered to the embassy.

Our home for the rest of our stay is beautiful. Another military fellow and we share a common courtyard and wooden terrace. Our home is three bedrooms and for some reason, three bathrooms! My favorite part is the woodwork---handcarved wooden doors and window frames leading into each room. The kitchen clearly reveals who normally stays there---unaccompanied military men. So I found old rice, solidified salt and some very old baking soda. Yum. Needless to say, the kids were overjoyed to "be home" and Erika declared it our "mansion."

Our dear friends Sean and Bethany invited us for dinner: hamburgers grilled over American charcoal. What a great first night.

Today Blake is at work and the kids and I are spending the day at our friends.' The last time we saw each other was in Uzbekistan, where we hosted them during their weekend in the city, their son being treated for a dog bite...These are the same friends that will accompany the kids and me on August 6th as we all fly as far as London together.

My first impressions of Dushanbe:
--it's by far the most lovely of the Central Asian capitals I've seen
--the women are the least Western-dressed of the other "-stans" Most women here still wear traditional Tajik dresses---long and colorful
--much greener and more pleasant than I was anticipating

Now lest you think it's an easy vacation here, I should add that our water is gray at best. I may not wash any of our whites again till we return to the States. We may simply wear our darks. Sean and Bethany are without water and have been since we arrived.

We're in the process of figuring out where to shop for food and perhaps hiring a trusted local fellow to drive for the kids and me for the next 3 weeks. Tomorrow morning our littlest two start Kids Club. More to come!