Back to the routine stuff.
on Pam Kerruish (Tajikistan), 16/Jun/2010 13:57, 34 days ago
-but now in considerable heat. Mirzo reckoned it is in the middle /high 30's today - I hope so as it means it won't get much hotter . He told me that when it gets to 45 you only have to work a 4 hour day - irrelevant to me as when it gets to 45 degrees I wont be able to get out of bed! The sunrooms are a blessing for the children and staff in Degmai , as is the breeze which Khojand continues to benefit from most days.I have read that India is having a heat wave - hope it doesn't come this way. We have had two big storms this week. One when we were out on Friday. You could see the storm coming - I thought rain was on the way - but it proved to be dust. The building we were in ( by the river ) shook as it was buffeted and there was some pretty good lightning. The second was a "normal"storm ,pelting rain and thunder and lightning.They are great to relieve the heat.It seems that the extremes of heat and rain are doing the crops good.There is loads of fruit on the trees and its fun to see the children in Degmai get covered in red juice as they scavenge cherries from the trees on the walks. ( actually quite a few pick up grotty old fruit from off the ground. I have no objection at all until they very kindly try to stick it in my mouth! One girl, Farangis, is very keen on feeding me - apricot stones, squashed cherries , anything -and she is so insistent that they are often in my mouth before I know it . Builds up the immunity, I suppose)Apricots- and Sour Cherries.There are really sweet apricots in lots of gardens so its pretty much a land of plenty for a short time. I have been talking to a lad called Shrukrullor a couple of times a week for the last few weeks as he begged me to help him with his English . ( loads of people ask you but he was particularly insistent. ) Any way he is going to go and start studying in Russia on the 24th June and so he asked me round for tea on Monday. Afterwards he went and picked apricots from his family's trees for me - can't beat it.When I got back from my travels with Annie and Co. I started to tidy my room in order to find a place for all the new goodies that the gang brought me - toys for the kids , books etc for me and I was suprised when Raboorhoiee offered me the use of a vacuum cleaner.I didn't know they had one here. The delight didn't last long tho as I'd only just started hoovering when the electricity went off.Damn!Its end of term here and Firuza, "girl next door"showed me a video of her last day. They make a very big thing of it here. Everyone wears sashes and they take each other presents. There is a display of some kind and in her school it was of some martial arts - very good, -an army cadet display and some break dancing . It was very lively and I liked the pupil contribution. Certainly different from our days of "40 years on ....."It was interesting to find out that a lot of people had watched the England /US match when I was out and about next day.It confirms my view that footballers are the global figures + a few film stars and pop stars .(I'm suprised when I hear people comment "Pamela Anderson " when they hear my name tho - maybe Baywatch was /is on here.)They are pretty switched on to the commercial possibilities of the football worldcup - see the team flipflops. I suppose these are at home but I was suprised to see them here.There were some England ones on one stall as well.There are the usual ups and downs at Degmai but I had a wonderful moment when out walking on Friday. I showed Hamida , a little girl who I believe was traumatised by coming into care there ( because she hadn't spoken since she arrived over a year ago although she had speech before ) a flower and she said "gul" - flower. I was amazed and delighted. I talked to her about how I didn't know much Tajik saying "Tajiki come come " - a little Tajik -and she said "come come " back to me . It was really lovely. Also there have been signs of thawing hearts in that the Doctor is trying to befriend a new child and Galia with whom I have a love /hate relationship is showing some affection to the children.I sometimes think I am clutching at straws but I have to to convince myself its worth staying somehow . I felt otherwise this morning when all the stuff I'd set up yesterday so the lying down children could be properly positioned had disappeared.They are doing up a new building in Degmai so that the overcrowding which exists now ( some children are 2 in a bed.) would be eased . We have 85 children.However the doctor said today that they may be sending 40 children from a big Internat of 200 children in Isfara to Degmai to bring down their numbers . So if this comes to anything bang goes the chances of the children's lives improving significantly.Thursday 17th.Well , I was dreading today as I made the mistake of looking at the weather on the computer last night and found it was likely to be 36/37 at 11.30am! However there was a lot of cloud cover today and a nice breeze so I survived OK. In fact I seem to be managing better than the Degmai Tajiks. They are saying it too hot to walk ( why am I not suprised?-after all in the winter it was too cold -) and wilting at the slightest thing. I am drinking loads of coke . If it was diet coke I would definitely come home thin as I sweat about a pound a day I reckon -but then it all goes back on with the coke.I am really pleased today as I have been invited to so some training at the big EU training in Dushanbe . The week after next.It will do no harm to my reputation in Degmai as I am regarded as a Lackey with a lot of the staff - because I will put on the children's shoes coats hats etc , take them to the loo if they need it - and in their eyes anyone of any importance would never do that.( you would never catch the director touching a child! )I have had the good luck to have had help from Nathan , the Dutch OT who evidently impressed the doctor and who had no qualms about touching children , about carrying them or helping generally and it seems to have accelerated the doctors attempts to be human.I get little bits of news about Kyrgyzstan but probably not so much as you. The British Embassy phoned tho' to check that all is peaceful here so that was nice.They want to be sure as we are close to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbeckinstan and it seems that it is the Kyrgys and Uzbecks who are doing the fighting. It is peaceful, you wouldn't know there were any problems and I havent heard any comment at work.Saturday.19thI had dinner with Philip last night - he is the new guy in Agriculture up here.He made me laugh by telling me that he had been to see one farmer who sat him down to talk and then went to sleep. Then the interpreter went to sleep too! How to look after your guests ! He was fine with it though. He is working in the outer villages - where there are no facilities. He is sleeping on the floor in a kind of Church hall and he loves it. He has a civilised flat to come back to at the weekends tho. He even has air-con which is luxury here.I had my hair cut today. I really like going to my current hairdresser. There is non of the pretentiousness that you sometimes get at home, but they are very good hairdressers from what I can see. When I arrived my girl had a head full of rollers.She did her own hair in between mine and another client and it was generally very social. There is a lady who plucks eyebrows with a cotton thread too, which I find fascinating. I would love to watch close up but I think its probably too intrusive . You will be interested to know that "my"hairdresser thought I'd tipped her too much and gave me a lot of the tip back! ( the tip I gave was just over a£1 on a £18 ( very expensive ) hairdo )After that I took Saodat and her daughter and niece out for tea . They were about 25 minutes late , but not a bit concerned. Afterwards they took me to see Saodat's new grandchild - where we were offered another tea- even though we said we had just eaten .Despite our protests we had to go through the motions - crackers. The baby was lovely but I was just as taken with these tea pots. When I remarked at there being a lot, Mastona-the young niece who always acts as interpreter, told me Tajiks give a lot of people tea!Sunday 20thWent to the Sunday market with Philip to show him the stock market section today. As we were walking about I saw these underpants. They are obviously not so squeamish as us about the "f" word in somewhere in the world . Its in Roman script so its for a western market.I was invited to a birthday party for tonight today but I dont know the birthday girl so I decided not to go. Its too hot.All for now . Pamx