Goodbye party?

Since november 27 the Worldbank evaluation of ‘our’ project is ongoing, till today December 6. Robert is still in the ‘wrapping-up’ meeting. I say ‘our’ since I got quite involved in its ups and downs.

 Together with the Swiss, who carry out a complementary part of this project (but have their own financing and are therefore not dependent on the Uzb government) Robert and the WB representative went on fieldtrip, from 28 november till late afternoon Saturday 1 december, to see the progress. And there was progress! Robert got a compliment from the WB that despite the difficult situation, (like f.e. the employees not having been paid by Uzb govt. for 6 months), there were actually some rehabilitation works being carried out very well. Rob said in a speech toasting with wodka, which is the custom here:  "my name (as a project manager) is on all the billboards at the projects, and I can be proud of it, since there is excellent work being done by the local contractor !" 

Meanwhile, it is beautiful weather here, yesterday up to 16degrees celsius and sunshine all the time, lovely! 

The weekend was a very social one for me. Amongst others I went, with Lili,  to the International women's Christmas bazaar in a hotel which I couldn't find at first. They sold the most beautiful things, but very expensive, so we only bought some small presents.

From Monday 3 till Wednesday 5 the French director and projectmanager of the French company joined the evaluation, also to discuss with the WB and the Uzb directors how the project should continue, in view of the problems that need to be solved, with differing views on who is to pay from what budgets. The same problems as in June actually, and since they had not been solved then, nor in september, they were the reason then for Robert to announce his retirement from the job, with a three months notice. And that is why we go home now before Christmas.

The negotiations  went on for 3 days, with ups and downs, late lunches and even later homecomings, resulting in what seems a collapse of the project on Wednesday afternoon. What a disillusion, since there actually seemed to be an opportunity to continue. 

 the party setting! 

Meanwhile, Axelle (Roberts assistant team leader) had put a lot of time and effort in organising an appreciative party, on behalf of the French company, for all the project members to connect and to ‘celebrate’ the international cooperation, on that particular Wednesday evening! So while in the Netherlands Sinterklaas was visiting homes and giving away presents, poems and suprises, we had a surprise party too.

 The idea was that all present for the WB evaluation could join, so about 50 people came. It was a beautiful setting, which Axelle and I had found after a lot of research among Tashkent city’s restaurant. The food was great! The mood was not festive, but we didn’t let it spoil our evening, so we danced and laughed a lot. I even had purchased a special dress for the occasion, with Axelle of course, in the Aloyski bazaar, and overcame for once my embarrassment to wear a short dress. It actually was quite a success!

Today (6/12), I spent almost the whole day in the post office to have my extra luggage sent home. What a shame, since it was 16 degrees outside, lovely weather, sunshine!. I even had to go to customs to get their  authorization to send the felt embroidered seat covers that I brought form Kyrgyzstan! The problem here is that every government employee is so scared to make a mistake that he wants guarantees form higher up.  Anyway, it is worth it!  I now don’t have to pay excess luggage at the airport!

This will most probably be my last blog from Uzbekistan, since I will be traveling home to Renkum on Sunday December 16. Robert will follow on the 22d. Next newses will be from Home-in Holland. Untill then!

A three day visit to Kyrgystan

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 Since Robert needed to renew his visa for Uzbekistan after 3 months here, the simplest thing was to leave the country and get the new visa on return. Th easiest country to go to in the neighbourhood appeared to be Kyrgystan, East of Uzbekistan, no entry visa required. So that’s what we did. A one hour’s flight to Bishkek, the capital, of which I had never heard before in my entire life. The country itself is quite unknowm actually, but it appeared to be just as interesting and unspoilt as what I have heard of Nepal.

 We spent three days, but it seemed a week, due to all the fantastic experiences and impressions. Friday evening on our arrival at the airport, we were awaited by a cheerful driver who spoke German, since he had been in Mannheim for a 9 months training. His name is Bakyt, meaning ‘luck’, which he actually radiates. 

Saturday started – with our English speaking guide for 3 days- with a tour of the capital. A grand statue reminding every citizen of the revolutions (!) against the presidents, as recent as 2005 and 2010. Since this is a country of nomads the people are quite autonomous and stand up to their rights. Very different from Uzbek people who have always suffered under cruel dictators and usurpers ever since Alexander the Great  and are  quite subdued since those experiences.

 We left the city in a bad fog, but it cleared soon enough - Luck being with us!- and we found ourselves driving east along a grand mountain ridge, the border with Kazachstan, to the North. Soon we arrived at the Burana tower, similar in style to the one in Buchara, a watch tower obviously and the only leftover from the city of Balasagyn XI-XIII AD. 

It stands guard over a field of burial stones, which are special as they depict guards threatening evil forces. There are also some petrogyphs.

The journey continues through the ‘Boom’ pass to a suddenly widening valley, in which lies the Issik Kul lake. The lake is 180 km long, 60 kms wide and saline as it evaporates more water than it collects. In the summer it is an attractive recreation area, with nomadic people living in Yurts along the lake grazing their cattle, but now everything is quiet, very quiet. The moslim graveyards looks beautiful in the low sunlight against the backdrop of mountains. 

 We visit the Cholpon Ata site late in the afternoon. Big  stones seem threwn around randomly, but it is probably an old gletscher bed. There are petroglyphs depicting wolves, lonbg horned ibex, goats, horese etc. We meet a sheperd on horseback taking his sheep and cattle home for the night and two guys with real eagles, for hunting. 

We stay in in the Royal Beach hotel where we are the only guests. Next morning we get porridge for breakfast; not so bad since it is freezing cold! Today we leave the wide valley for a magnificant tour through the Dolon pass at 3038 meters.

First stop is in Kochkor where we buy a fermented wheat drink at the market from two very nice women and then visit the felt workshop. We go through the process of felt making and make our own 20x20cm felt ‘carpet’. The wool is laid out on a reed mat, rolled into it, hot water poured over it and then you have to dance on it for about 20 minutes for the wool to shrink and become strong. 

So that’s what we did, guided by the  two women in charge of the community project. After that we visited their well provided arts and crafts shop. We couldn’t escape being dressed up in a traditional wolf skin (Robert) and  fox-fur lined coat (Jelleke). Even though we wouldn’t have been able to import them into Europe due to ‘protected animals’ regulations, we wouldn’t have wanted such a thing: too heavy to wear really!   But effective in the severe cold in these mountainous regions on 2000 m height. After that we are invited to an exquisite warm 3 course lunch in the family’s house.

 

The mountain landscapes are fabulous. Robert and I were astounded that not only the sheep but also the horses and cattle were grazing on the stubs in the snow with zero degrees. We stayed the night in a nice guesthouse in the mountaintown Naryn, where it smelled like in the Swiss mountain villages, of wood and coalfires. And again we were treated to a very good homemade dinner. 

 

To end with: the top of a YURT construction, as well as the National emblem in the Nation's flag. 

11-11-12 A sunday hike in the mountains

After I had tried at the beginning of this year to get in touch with “Boris” who organises hikes around Tashkent, all of  sudden I got the link last week from Maricla, our Italian friend.  There was the invitation to  join a 6,5 hours hike in the Chimgan mountains (1,5 hours drive East of Tashkent, towards Tajikistan). So off we went this Sundaymorning at 07:00 to the Chimgan mountains, by now well known territory, we thought!

 

Last weekend it rained in Tashkent, so there was snow in the mountains. A nice group of 9 expats (USA, Letuvia, Germany, Italy, Ukraine) with different backgrounds and some more experienced hikers than others. We started at Chimgan, climbed the hills to 1,800 m, where we had a beautiful view of the lake ( artificial/ dam)  as well as a pretty clear idea of how far we had to go down. 

Some serious landslides, horses roaming free, some hawthorn bushes full of fruit. 

The weather was beautiful, after lunch all jackets and sweaters were off and suntan was applied liberally. 

We made good speed and were back at the bus in time, only 5 minutes later than scheduled.  But we did feel our knees and realised that our Sunday city walk along the canal cannot stand up to Boris’s hikes.            

20/21 October, a weekend in the desert

20-21 October 2012. Robert and I, joined by Axelle (Roberts' assistant team leader) We went by car from Tashkent to Jizzakh, then parallel to the mountain range near to the Kazach border, to Yanqishlak, on friday afternoon. 

We drove from 1 - 8 pm (with a driver who knew the road) all the way through the cotton fields, then through steppe and finally arrived at the yurt camp. 
Where it was cold!!! But a good meal and friendly people awaited us. 

The next morning we first went for a camel ride through the endlesssteppe landscape... amazing, it really never ends. After that we walked. A beautiful experience, so quiet that you hear only wind in your ears and your own blood. 

 After lunch the driver took us to the desert lake, just as extended and quiet.

 The evening we spent in a small village( 12 families) in the Nuratau mountains. Cold again, but impressive the way they managed to be selfsubstainable. Sunday morning a long walk over the mountains to find the ( not so impressive) Petroglyphs. But the views were fantastic! 

And ' only' 6 hours drive back ;)

26-28 October, beautiful Weekend in Khiva

At the old city walls, built in a square around the city. Three days to discover the area, including desert forts. beautiful weather, midday around 20 degrees celsius. Not too many tourists and sufficient tea houses where we could sit and read and enjoy.

beautiful majolica patterns from around 1820-1840

and the desert castles...

And of course the city of Khiva itself, a Unesco cite.

October 7th, wedding anniversary and thanksgiving

I am here in Tashkent only a week now and it feels very much at home again. It is still lovely autumn weather with a very bright orange-yellow sunshine every day. It is cold in the nights but 20-22 degrees in the daytime. The sun is low, so our street with the 4tier appartment buildings are in the shade very early, around 4 pm. 

On Wednesday it took us the better part of the day to get registered at our new adress. In this country that is a very serious business, as they want to know from everyone where you are, from day to day. We were registered in the Alitravel guesthouse till the 2d, but since we wanted to register in our flat on the 3d, at the registration office which is  about 5 kilometers from the area we live in, we first had to prolongue our registration in the guesthouse till the 3d (for which we had to travel to the other side of town again) otherwise they would not change the registration form one place tot the other- there being an unexplicable gap of  about 10 hours, for which they do not dare take responsibility.  

All this led by our  sweet but tough landlady of 55, with her mother of 77 who is the real owner of the appartment and with help of our taxidriver cum friend Djamsheed, who speaks English good enough to translate between the officers(Russian), the landladies (Russian) and us. When we had finally finished all the paperwork, payments and signatures in the different offices ( passports to be picked up on Saturday, when they were not ready yet) we took the whole group out to the French Cafe, not too far from our  new adress, to treat them  and us to drinks and lunch. We had an interesting exchange, through the translations of Djamsheed of course. The grandfather of our landlady was a famous operasinger; he was the first to be allowed out of Uzbekistan in 1925, then part of the Soviet Republic, to erform in Paris  and  Moscow. He was acquainted with Rachmaninoff. Our landlady herself  was a dancer, also having been on international tours and is now a dance teacher. Not ballet and not folklore, so probably more like Turkish bellydancing. She  invited me to take lessons from her  so I could perform for my husband! Which might be interesting indeed.

During one of my lunch breaks I ‘scored’  a nice winter coat, pullover  and a blouse at the Mango store, a Spanish brand, where they had sales at 30 % off, so real cheap.   It felt as if I was in Europe , with all the ladies grabbing for  hot items, as if there is money enough in this world!

There is artweek here from 4-9th of October, so we tried to find the exhibitions, walking though the parks and treelined lanes, but that didn’t work out. Lack of Russian doesn’t help inquiries!  So instead we climbed the viewpoint, which was nice. We did find the photo-exhibition, which is really of good quality.

Today, to start our wedding anniversary in Paris fashion,  we had breakfast in cafe Bon, with a huge French cappucino , on the terrace in the sun, lovely! Then we were invited for lunch at Maricla’s, together wih Axelle and our Dutch friend Margreet and her (visiting) sister. They are all of the generation of our children , none of them married yet, so despite being married 35 years, we didn’t feel old in their company.  Maricla prepared Duck(very special, from a lady at Aloyski Market),  Axelle brought the wine she carried from France and we brought chocolate-cherry cake. 

 In between we got congratulations from good friends and family by email, emailcard, text message and skype,  which contributed greatly to the festive feeling, knowing to be connected through shared love and friendship. Thank you all!

Blog October 1,  2012

From september 1st onwards, Robert stayed in the Alitravelguesthouse, where we know and like the young manager, Anvar. But for the 3 months that we still have to be in Tashkent, Robert looked for a small apartment and found one! Well done! It is in the same neighbourhood  where we lived before, a quiet and green area with lots of tall Ash trees. The flat  is only just done up and well equipped, so we don’t need to buy stuff. Great!

This is the sun coming up over the desert

On arrival at the airport (september 29th at 07:00) I had to wait 1,5 hours to get through customs. Since a plane had arrived just before ours, the whole arrival area was one big crowd. Also, Uzbek people bring in lots of goods, like televesion screens, children’s  bicycles, kitchen machines,  rollerskates, all of which need to be checked in and searched thoroughly.  Then, there was only one entrance form left in English, which I hyjacked, filled out for myself and used to help other foreigners to fill out their forms, which were in Russian only. In such situations , being stuck together, people turn into brothers and sisters very quickly.   

The view from my room

Robert was waiting for me outside and ‘our’ taxidriver, Djamsheed, picked us up. He has a bigger car now, but I was not quite sure if that was a result of his business running better. Passports for registration fiorst! Then to the appartment which is good, a bit too much beige and shantung colours, very Uzbek lacy curtains and flowery patterns on the furniture, but not bad at all!

Lovely weather! I hadn’t expected that, 22 degrees Celsius! Robert , who also hadn’t had breakfast yet, and I first walked tot the ‘French cafe’ in the neighbourhoood where we could sit outside. We  had a large cappucino with muffet/ carottecake. Then some shopping for food, in the cornerstore and time for a nap.

Roberts tiredness developed into a fever that afternoon. It looks as if he suffers from foodpoisening, with a bad stomach and cramps in lower abdomen. On Sunday it seemed a bit better, we even made a walk to test his delayed birthdaypresent, a Garmin GSP, but at 12:00 the feverw as back, lighter this time, but rice, riceswater  and bouillon is the diet for now.

The house is behind the trees, first floor

Despite all that I quite feel at home already, having washed and ironed the laundry, and got some nice brown bread and fresh veggies and fruit; cooked us (me) a meal. The basics are there: lentils, rice and flour, coffee and teas, honey; milk eggs, butter; cheese and salami from Holland. So what more does one need?

Television programmes? 12 channels, but only in Russian, pity, so we will read the news on internet.  Music? I-tunes! That is the playing lists Joost put into that for me, still grateful for that! So....time to read books. I am finally getting through “ When the sky fell” about why Antarctica is the lost Atlantis. And I brought “the number FU” by Ayu Utami, presently a well knowm writer in indonesia. Not phi, or pi, but Fu.  Jan Willem, from my intervision group, recommended it to us; it is about Indonesia and its present cultural transition, but also a evry exciti ng story it seems. I will keep you informed, once I have read it.
Bye for now!

Back to work!

September 2012

So, working life started again. On September 1^st Robert returned to Tashkent to continue the team leadership, since, somewhere in August, his French employer and the Uzbek partners agreed to continue the project. Life hasn’t changed much and Robert was happily welcomed by our friends there. Only Internet is not so good anymore since the biggest provider went bankrupt.

What lies ahead in our labyrinth?   

I, Jelleke, will join Robert on th 21^st of September. For the time being Robert found a comfortable hotel to stay in. He is presently looking for a small apartment for us together, so that at least we can cook our own meals. I am looking forward to finish my book once I am back there. While still here I use the 3 weeks in the Netherlands well, a.o. to see some people I need to interview or to talk to for my book and attend a workshop about the sustainability of food-chains.  

Meanwhile, Meike started a new phase in her life. She lives now in Belgium, Hodeige, near Liege, with her boyfriend Michael. And she started a 2 year educationcourse as a teacher, nearby in the South of Holland, Sittard. Joost is urgently looking for a job as interactive designer, but it is hard with the economic situation. He will take care of our house till Christmas, and then we will see what next.  His girlfriend Emmy just started a 2 year masters programme in Breda, in graphic design, which she enjoys tremendously, but it is a bit of a distance from here. .

As always, the beginning of September brings a special type of weather that somehow ‘belongs’ to this week’s going back to study and work; I love it, with spider webs everywhere in and outside the house and lovely golden bundles of sunrays cascading through the woods.

 Dear reader, I will be back on these pages once I am back in Uzbekistan again.

Keep up the good spirits!  Until then!