I am a little underslept today, so this entry will be a disjointed collection of observations about my return to Tashkent, more on Karachi, and the random thoughts that drift through my head when I'm this tired.

…the government in Kabul has to face the fact that there are no national-level structures to govern. Afghanistan is basically functional at village level. Its cities are rubble, it has no infrastructure to speak of and the economy is all but nonexistent. There is not much to the legitimate economy beyond subsistence farming and animal herding…

"You're not young, dear. You are 26-year-old." - Gulnara

A thought from Monkeymind, one that is especially important to remember in public health. Sex is a life wish, not a death wish. Or at least it should be.

I don't know if I believe in heroes, but I'd like to.

NATO in the Midwest

People here are fascinated by the mehindi on my hands. It's not as beautiful as it was when it was new, but it's still pretty impressive. Poor Kir is horrified, though. He can't stand skin being written on, so having my hands, front and back, covered in henna designs is a bit much for him.

Poor Kir in general. I am not quite the girl I was when I left. My eyebrows are all trimmed and shaped, my arms are waxed, I have mehindi on my hands and I showed up home from the airport in shalwar cameez. He's taking it perfectly, like he does so many things. He says my arms are no more or less attractive all naked, simply different. He says my eyebrows make my face look all light and sparkly, but he missed the fanlike bit that used to be there. The mehindi, as I mentioned, just has him frightened.

Went over to Carmen's last night to watch movies. Mike and Gulnara went with us. It ended up with Ian and Carmen playing Monopoly while Gulnara, Mike, Kir, and I watched Chicken Run. The movie was a good choice - Kir and I had seen it before, but it's well worth watching twice. It's also enough fun visually that Gulnara could enjoy it even if she didn't get every word. And there was no sex, so no embarrassment in front of the nice Muslim girl.

It's odd to be back in Tashkent. It feels like being home, for one thing, which is a sensation I'm still getting used to. And I can eat almost anything here, without fear of illness. I can brush my teeth in tap water and take showers without trying to seal my mouth shut. And I can take hot showers. As often as I want. I know where to find things and I know what can be found.

There was one big change in Tashkent last week - Coca-Cola left. Coke products are being sold and inflated prices and rapidly disappearing anyway. Kir hoarded Fanta for me. No one seems to know why - some people think Coca-Cola was evacuated. That can't be true, though, because the bottling plant is run by Uzbeks, who wouldn't have been evacuated. Mel heard from the German ambassador that Karimov's daughter was married to the guy in charge of the bottling plant, and they are divorcing, and the government started hounding Coca-cola as a result. Whatever the cause, the result is depressing. Kir and my mom were addicted to BonAqua, and I was heavily dependent on my daily dose of Freska. Not to mention the way that some mornings you wake up with your head sore and your eyes shrivelled in the sockets, throat dry and feeling hungover even though you haven't been drinking and then you stagger to the fridge for some cold Coke and it flows into you like the elixir of life, restoring hope and joy. I just don't think locally produced HelloKola can have the same effect. And Fanta - Fanta comes into its own on those days when you just forgot to drink enough fluids and you come home feeling and awful and wrong and you don't know why. Then you realize you're dehydrated and only Fanta will save you. Something about the soothing orange colour and the proportion of sugar to water - it can bring you back from dehydration faster than anything but oral rehydration salts. And oral rehydration salts are just gross, not pleasing bubbly and almost orange flavoured.

I heard that stores might begin importing Coke products from Kazakhstan. I hope they do. It would cost more, but at least we'd have some.

***

Text of a letter sent from my office:

Subject: Security incident in Uzbekistan

Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 15:47:00 +0500

From: ----------------------------

Organization: -------------------------------------

To: (Our headquarters)

Dear Mr. -----------,

My name is --------------------, I am a Project Assistant/Logistics in ------------- Uzbekistan.

On behalf of Mr. -------------------, ------------------- Representative in Uzbekistan, I would like to inform you about the security incident which took place today, in UNICEF Office in Tashkent.

Around noon time, the receptionist from UNICEF Office received a telephone call from anonymous person. The person informed that the UNICEF Office will be exploded by the mean of the car with a bomb inside.

The local police office was contacted immediately and the staff members were evacuated. During investigation no bomb was found in the building as well as the car with the bomb parked closely.

This information was received from the UNICEF Office in Tashkent by the telephone.

Best regards,

---------------------------

<<|>>

You might have missed...
I’m not sure my ego has ever cycled as fast as it has lately. - 15 July 2004
shots - 12 July 2004
But that was long ago, and in another country. - 22 June 2004
I was getting bored with linear thought… - 09 June 2004
You told him we slept together before marriage? - 20 May 2004

USAID is one of many donors for the project I work for. The views expressed herein are the author’s own views and do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s employer or especially those of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. And I mean it. I probably give the US government heart attacks.