When off teetering around in some foreign place I do my very, very best not to do something to shame my fellow American citizens.

I may have failed last year.

While hanging out in Khorog, Tajikistan last year at a restaurant with my guide/translator and some Czech people we had met a few days earlier, I noticed some mold on the bread I was about to dig into. After hiking up and down the mountains the last few days I was the walking definition of famished. So I wanted the bread, but I couldn’t possibly eat bread with green, mossy, fuzzy stuff lining the crust. I had my guide send it back for some fresh bread. This type of behavior surprised our Czech tag-a-longs. Sending food back no matter how good or bad was just something they expressed was not too commonly done in the Czech Republic and they had to get used to American’s ways. (Not exactly how their comment went, but something along that line.)

“BUT,” I said. “The bread has mold on it.”

!MOLD!

M-O-L-D!

M for Mold
O for Old
L for Late
D for Decay

“We can’t eat that bread,” I finished.

I truly thought I had done nothing wrong. I wasn’t rude or over the top. I just wanted fresh bread. The waitress didn’t seem offended. What if it had been under cooked chicken? Everyone knows you can’t eat under cooked chicken. It could kill you!!! I would have sent that back too. No second thoughts either.

Well last night when I was out having conversation with a nice gentleman from Finland who is presently working in the Tampa area for a few months, I recounted this experience because it struck me as odd. He basically told me it would also be very Un-Finnish to EVER send a plate of food back to the kitchen. Excuse me? In fact he told me that in most cases if you didn’t like your meal you would just push your plate aside and tell the waiter YOU’RE SORRY, but you just can’t eat it. You would kindly thank the waiter (I guess for bringing the dish out), apologize more (I guess for getting a meal you dislike or that isn’t prepared properly) and then if you were still really hungry or whatever you could try to work something out in regards to getting another better prepared dish or a different one. I completely understand working something out with your waiter, but I wasn’t totally clear as to whether you still have to pay for the first dish if you ended up sending it back. Perhaps I didn’t get a clear answer because my Finnish guest had never sent a meal back.

So my question: Was I an “Ugly American?”

Seriously, I mean it when I say I’m not picky or a picky eater. If I were a guest in someone’s home I would try to be as delicate as possible if it were something I COULDN’T eat. In a restaurant in Tampa, Turkey or Tajikistan – I’m a paying customer. I want food I can eat. I am paying for it. This isn’t eating me up (no pun intended), but it just makes me wonder is that a European thing? Luckily, I have only sent two or three meals back between the U.S. and Central Asia, but what do other cultures do?

Is it rude to send a dish back to the kitchen in say, South Africa? What about Korea, China, Yemen, Australia, Peru, Italy, Nigeria or any other country in the world? Has anyone out there ever had a similar situation?

Food for thought?

It began with a tropical breeze and will close with the Mid-West freeze. As I get ready to depart for Chicago where I will spend New Year’s and the first two weeks of 2007 I sit here thinking of how blessed I’ve been this year. I was so sure sometime during 06′ that I’d wake up and this never-ending adventure would come to a screeching halt. It never did. Stored somewhere inside my mind I have some thousands of words for every experience, every new person, new challenge or feeling that I encountered this year, but my reflecting on this one year alone could take a lifetime. So I offer you these photos which I hope will speak in a one million and seven more ways than I could ever muster up.

Self-portrait. Pampa, Texas. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Trinidad & Tobago – Carnival 2006

I took off in February for a three week stay in Trinidad & Tobago mainly to participate in Carnival, but all that would not have been possible if it were not for my dear pen pal, Alicia. For 11 years we have exchanged handwritten letters on life, love, and current events. Anyone that knows anything about TnT knows Carnival is always a current event. Photo: Kyron

Carnival booths line the Savannah. In just a few more days half-nude male and female hedonists and Carnival regulars will dance through the streets of Port-of-Spain while on-lookers take snapshots of the revelers in their finest moments. Winin’ uptown and downtown… Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

How I fell for the melodic sound of the steel pan I have yet to discover. On this second trip to Trinidad I had the opportunity to go yard hopping and check out the various steel pan bands, as they prepared for the big pan finals approaching. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Fete – a party. I can’t tell you how many of these I went to or which was the most memorable. The crowd energy is an experience in itself. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

I love the little one totally working the camera. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Beautiful and haunting… This is by far my favorite photo from Children’s Carnival. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Hanging with Darryl and his bro Denzel. We were being persuaded to join a Jouvert band at the time we took this photo. Photo: Unknown

Yes that is me in paint. Karen Walrond joins me for some early morning bacchanalia in a Jouvert band. There is something so refreshing about running around covered in paint from 3am-6am. Photo: Mr. Walrond & Adrienne C. Wilson

After a good scrub down it is time for the pretentious part of Carnival as local Trini painter, Jason Jarvis, likes to think of it… For me I got to wear a beautiful beaded costume and headpiece under island sun. Can you say fun? Photo: Lily Otolorin & Adrienne C. Wilson

Tres muy bonita Poison masqueraders. Photo: Merlana Henry

The President of Trinidad & Tobago joins Merlana and me for a photo. This was only after Merlana uses her tourist friend (Me) as an excuse to get a photo with the Pres. I’m not complaining. I’m just sayin’… Photo: Merle Henry

Ladies of Poison’s Ricco Soldato – Rolling in the Money. Photo: Merle Henry

After all the long hours of dancing in the street to Destra, Shurwayne, Machael, and Allison Hinds it is time to unwind, chill, or lime on Trinidad’s sister island – Tobago. This is moi on one of Tobago’s many soft sandy beaches. Photo: Jackie Williams

The view from Fort King George. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Do I look confused here? Is that water really that crystal clear? Tobago’s Bucco Reef, a must see for all touring individuals. Photo: Dotun Akingbala

Boats in Bucco Reef.

Adrienne, Jackie, Merlana, & Monifa at Speyside. Photo: Dotun Akingbala

Tobago sunset. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Walking my way across America with Steps Across America.

Before my walk across the land really kicked off I had the chance to catch up with some of my very beautiful homegirls Becky and Jaci. As you can tell taking pictures in NY subways is never a tacky activity for us. Photo: Metro passenger

Ready to kick butt and step across America, the beautiful! Can you dig it? Photo courtesy of Edelman.

All geared up for an early morning walk. Photo: Jordan Neistat

After who knows how many steps, my partner Aundrella and I make it to the Arizona state line. One more state to go and our walk is over! Photo: Alina Tan

Aside from stepping along neighborhood sidewalks and county roads we also walked with the youngins. From elementary school to middle school we went encouraging children to take part in the President’s Physical Fitness Challenge. Photo: Valerie Peron

Ken and I chat with school students about the importance of leading an active and healthy lifestyle. Photo: Valerie Peron

Me with my new friend who proudly shows off her Sportline pedometer. Photo: Valerie Peron

Getting my bone density scan at a Wal-Mart in Pittsburgh. What else should I be doing with my summer? Photo: Kam Flynn

Aundrella, Adrienne, Jaime and Tanya hold up the SAA Proclamation for Grove City, OH. I had just read it moments earlier to the local news crew. The feeling of being on TV was just exhilarating! Um, yeah. Photo: Charlie Smith

The walkers watch and hang around as some of the others gear up for a fun round of sumo at Mike’s Pub. Photo: Unknown

Don’t mess with the birthday girl or she’ll crush you!!! Celebrating my birthday in Olney, IL in a sumo suit. I had a blast! Photo: Unknown

In Pampa, Texas we discovered a carnival right outside of our hotel and very strong winds. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Running like mad. Running free in Quartzsite, Arizona. Photo: Richard D. Johnson

Desert rude gyal! Site! Photo: Richard D. Johnson

When all the sightseeing, educating and hanging out with the spectacular sponsors it was time to bring the walk on home to California! Our final destination was the Santa Monica Pier. Photo: Unknown

And the final number of steps taken across America are finally revealed. No more how many licks to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop… Think how many steps to walk across America! Photo: Prentice Sinclair Smith

Habitat for Humanity Global Village Build: Dushanbe Tajikistan

I think Richard is pretty groovy and I think he feels that I’m equally groovy if not more groovy than he is… Here we are as I prepare to depart to Istanbul out of JFK. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Askin is a friend of a friend who was kind enough to scoop me up from the airport in Istanbul and escort me around the city during my 5 hour layover. It was rainy and cloudy, but Askin still managed to show me almost all the major attractions. I still have to go back. Photo: Tourist

Istanbul city shot. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Our global village mission begins! Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

The team works under the hot Central Asian sun at the second worksite. This is going to be the home of a doctor, his wife and their 16 year old son. Photo: Fanny B.

Still shoveling and filling buckets. This was the type of task we did on most days and while it seems like only a little – a little goes a long way. Considering our team was composed of 7 women and only 2 men, we did manage to impress the Tajiks by showing them women are hard workers and can handle heavy mud filled buckets. They say in Tajik culture women never do this kind of work, but one has to wonder if they wouldn’t mind picking up a shovel occasionally. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

A posed worksite shot with Nats (Team Leader), Me and Ann. Photo: Unknown

Making concrete was one of the hardest tasks bestowed on the team. This truly worked my arm muscles and my back. By the end of the day I was sore to the core. Photo: Christina Bridger

Ann shoots, Christina goofs and Khurshed tosses up the peace sign. I love this picture! Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Towards the end of our build the women of the third household were wonderful enough to make a dish known to Dushanbe and not so much to other parts of Tajikistan. This is Kurtob and it is absolutely delicious. I have the recipe, but there is an ingredient that still puzzles me. I am not sure of the English word for it. Photo: Fanny B.

Here Allie, Khushvakht and Nats work the upper bucket line. The buckets were filled with a mud mixture that would placed on a pulley and taken up to the roof where it was then smeared across the wooden boards and cardboard. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

GV girls rule! Christina and I pose in the doorway of the third home during one of our breaks. Photo: Unknown

The first Dushanbe GV team: Top (L-R) Ann, Allie, Fanny, Nats, Saiali, Kate, Khushvakht, Adrienne, Diego, Khurshed. Bottom (L-R) Furkat, Michael, Godfrey, and Christina. Photo: Unknown

Local Tajik children swing by the worksite to giggle and laugh at the strange American & European GV builders. They were so terribly adorable and friendly! Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

On one of our R&R days we went out to the Romit Valley to relax by the Romit River, play soccer and spot wildlife. This vibrant flower is only a small sample of things to see in Romit. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Dushanbe’s only mosque and one of the largest in Central Asia from what I understand. For a Muslim country the people are very relaxed and don’t pray five times a day as many people think of all Muslims. Just after I had taken this photo a young boy (a budding comedian I assume) runs down the mosque stairs to tell I am not allowed to take photos of the building. I turn around and point to one of the clerics who had just given me a nod of approval to photograph. The trickster was disappointed and later tried pretending he was poor and without food. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

September 9th is Independence Day in Tajikistan. To celebrate we went to the stadium where our presence (especially mine) generated a lot of looks. Women wanted to take photos of my hair and many people assumed I was African (Ethiopian mainly). These teenage boys were just a few who wanted to snap away with their camera phones. I told them I was Alicia Keys and the rest of my team nearly died of laughter. No one in Tajikistan knows Alicia Keys. She needs to build her fan base to reach Central Asia. My pretending can only go so far. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Our visit to Hissar Fortress was one of the last as a full team before Fanny and Diego departed. This is a popular location for weddings. It was wedding season while we were in the country and there were at least 4 weddings during our visit to Hissar. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

After building with the team I took off down to Khorog to meet with Teo who would lead me into Tajikistan’s Wakhan Corridor. On our way into Ishkashim (a Tajik & Afghan border town) we road down a dirt road next to the Panj river which separates Tajikistan from Afghanistan. Across the river you could see many Afghan homes like this one here. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

No, I am not a hostage. The Czech people who had joined us wanted a photo with these Tajik soldiers checking passports and I followed suit by requesting one of my own. They were bored and quite nice even if their guns seem otherwise. Photo: Teo Kaye

A Pamiri villager from this group offered to take our photos with the rest of his group. My guide Teo is to the far left and I am the one sporting the “Bob is my Hero” hoodie. I know how to blend in so well. Photo: Villager

The women pictured here were kind enough to let Teo and I crash at their home after wandering up and down the mountains that day. We arrived after dark and even then they were so welcoming. They also had some of the best (least oily) food in the entire area. Photo: Teo Kaye

Guess where I am? Photo: Teo Kaye

Young girls tend to the sheep as they run down the mountain. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

A walk through the Botanical gardens in Khorog ended up being surprisingly nice! Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Road Trippin’ with Richard: Midwest to Northwest

NOTE: As of February 14, 2007 Richard and I are no longer on speaking terms. It is not in my nature to go back through each entry and delete him from my life as though he didn’t exist, but in moving forward he is nothing more than a dark memory. He is nothing important in my life anymore.

When Richard asked me to go on a road trip with him around the Midwest and Northwest I thought he was out of his mind. I told him real-life was waiting for me, but real-life ended up being on the road. It always seems to land somewhere out yonder. We wanted to explore parts of the country neither of us had really seen which included Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Seeing it in person as opposed to my grade school texts was an awesome experience! Photo: Tourist

Visiting the Badlands in South Dakota was by far one of my favorite stops in the entire state. The landscape is unreal! Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Visiting the birth site of Malcolm X in Omaha, Nebraska. The historical marker is the only thing really there right now, but stay tuned for future developments. Photo: Marshall

Persian Cornflower in the Omaha Botanical Gardens. Omaha, Nebraska. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Checking out Jackson, Wyoming. This was the first time we’d really seen snow on our excursion. Photo: Richard D. Johnson

A cloudy day in Teton National Park, Wyoming. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

I wasn’t ready, okay I lie. I was born ready. Photo: Richard D. Johnson

These are things people like to do in Vegas. These are also things I casually stroll by, snap a photo and keep on truckin’. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

From Vegas we took a quick detour by flight to Detroit where I successfully completed my first marathon. I ran a time of 4:34:50 in the Detroit Free Press Marathon. This is a shot of Detroit as seen across the river in Windsor, Canada. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

The Ambassador Bridge was on the course of the run and connects the USA to Canada. Running over the bridge was fun, but running in the tunnel was better! Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Windsor, Canada as seen from across the water in Detroit. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Oh, and here is a photo of me crossing the finish line about to die as the 77 year old man trails me and Richard prepares to check his watch for the results. Not a great photo, but you get the point. The finish line is at the Ford Field in Detroit. Photo: Unknown

After we returned from Detroit we hung around Vegas for another day and took off for Utah. Here in Zion National Park I look in awe over water drops on leaves. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Red rock in Zion. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

A bird in Zion. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

In Boise, Idaho we made a stop at the Human Rights Memorial and got a dose of some very inspiring quotes. The Anne Frank memorial isn’t huge, but what is there is worth visiting by all means. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Seattle’s famous Pike Place Public Market. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

The biggest tourist attraction of all is the fishmongers and their very big catch. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

Then I stopped to enjoy the very simple joys of life, like sweet, fresh fruit… Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

The Present: Working on the road with the HP Colorworks Tour!

Once driving around the country with Richard came to a wrap it was time to get back to semi-reality, get a job and high-tail it to the Northeast where I’ve been working since November and will continue working until end of April 2007. Look out for me on the road. Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

This year has been a real blast and as I make way into 2007 I can only pray for more memorable moments. I hope too that all your days be merry and extra blinding sorta bright in 2007! Rock out, have fun, be healthy, stay safe, behave, be bad, do new things, take comfort in the old, make new friends and keep in touch with those you already know. 2007 is yours and mine both so put your foot on the gas and let’s GO! Photo: Adrienne C. Wilson

With Love, Adrienne

Anyway, I was standing there waiting for the super-jam-packed marshutka from Khorog to take me and the rest of the passengers down to Dushanbe when I saw an American man snapping photos away at the bazaar. I shot him a smile as to say, “Hey! You’re not from here either.” He walked over and said the same thing I had been thinking only seconds earlier and from there I found out he was in Tajikistan on an assignment for National Geographic! No way, I’m thinking! Way… My guide Teo started probing for some additional information, but first he asked whether it would be too much for them to taxi me down to Dushanbe with them. If I didn’t mention the ride down before let me do so now. The ride from Khorog to Dushanbe is long. Think 16 hours of rough, rocky mountain road with a vehicle packed with 15 passengers or more all praying the marshutka doesn’t tip over or slide off the cliff. It can be an adventure to ride one, but there have been many unfortunate tales of travel as well. To my luck they said I was welcome to join them and off came my bags from the original marshutka onto theirs.

Just because I went down the mountains with the Americans it didn’t mean the ride was any less bumpy, but it really was filled with hearing all their amazing tales from working on the Genographic project in places like Chad and the South Pacific. I think the two Dave’s I was riding with both agreed that Chad was one of the most dangerous places they had ever been. I took it all in. Long story short I had met some people doing some very heavy duty research in the world of genetics and the journey of man. To think I had met Dr. Spencer Wells (brainchild of the project) and David Evans (photographer extraordinaire) in a place as remote as Tajikistan’s Pamirs is one of those things I can’t easily shrug off. Why? What does it mean? Anything?

Yes. Since I still had a little time left in the nation’s capital I decided to go down to the National Geographic Explorer’s Hall to pick up one of the kits. They were on back order online, but after opening up communication with David Evans and some others at Nat Geo I learned I would be getting one this weekend after all. Once I send everything off on Monday it will take about eight weeks for my results to post online due to extensive lab research. When they are revealed you can sure bet I’ll be blogging about it here for anyone else interested in learning or participating in the project.

Adrienne

David Evans as he photographs our Tajik driver and his companion on the ride out of the Pamirs.

This is a Afghan home as seen on our ride up from Ishkashim into the Wakhan Valley. The Panj River divides Southern Tajikistan from Northern Afghanistan. While the drive is quite bumpy it is worth the trip.

Bored and friendly soldiers with big scary guns and myself. They were sitting at a little desk on the side of the road waiting for vehicles to come by to check passports. The road probably doesn’t even see more than 100 cars a day, so I imagine they were bored and happy to have their photo taken. At least I was. (Taken by Teo.)

As the drive into Ishkashim continued I managed to nab this photo of the high-low afternoon sun over the land. We were on our way to check out a small shrine nearby.

The following day my guide Teo, took me on a long and arduous hike up the mountain to check out the valleys, shrines, stupas and ancient forts. While the hike was very tiresome for a person like myself who is used to being horizontal rather than vertical it was worth the climb in numerous ways. Plus, I got to make some new friends.

These young girls were only two of many running down the tiny mountain trails with sheep. Teo and I both wondered the one in white managed to stay so clean.

More mountain people and me. Can you spot me?

I took this shot on my 16 hour ride out of the Pamirs into Dushanbe. The National Geographic fellas that let me hitch a ride with them stopped to get some footage of the area. I’m sure their shots look a lot better than my own.

The older guy on the left was the owner of the house I stayed at my first night in the tiny village of Vrang. The other gentleman came wandering into the house the following afternoon as we were lunching. The right side of his lip was bloody and he looked as if he had been drinking all afternoon and spoke like he had. He repeatedly told us all the languages he spoke which included: Tajik, Russian, German and Arabic. He also repeatedly said that while my skin is black my heart is white, meaning pure. According to him I will have two sons and one daughter in my lifetime.

The second family I stayed with lived in the village of Yamchun near the Bibi Fatima hot springs. They were a house full of very beautiful and kind women. The food they served was much better and had a lot less oil than the previous family. I left one of my favorite Body Shop perfumes with them. It’s called “Exotic.”

Two Tajik Twins from the village of Yamchun.

Seeds in the window at the Pamir Botanical Gardens. The seed room is one of the coolest parts of the entire gardens.

You can’t see them all here, but there are 13 trees planted for each of the Soviet Republics. In 1948 when they were planted there were only 13 republics.

Another favorite tree of mine in the botanical gardens.

My attempt at macro photography. I know, a far stretch.

This was one of the last pictures I stole in the gardens. The mountain views among many others were simply beautiful.

I asked this woman if I could take a picture with her as an attempt to keep her put for the Nat Geo guys who wanted to capture her with the child. She was happy to have her photo taken although I think the child was camera shy as she looked away. The woman later came to me speaking more and more Tajik than I could understand. I smiled and told her in my very best Tajik that I spoke only a little and did not understand.

This young man was the sidekick to our driver on the long ride back into Dushanbe. He was 18 years old and laughing here as he heads back up to the front of the vehicle. We stopped to wait on the second van that had gotten far behind us. We suspected they stopped to check out the men in blue suits searching for what appeared to be landmines.

Photo of the Aga Khan that was hanging in the driver’s window. Even after three weeks in Tajikistan, the Aga Khan and his workings still remain mysterious to me. It will take a good amount of time and extentsive research before I fully understand.

An old Tajik gentleman who hitched a short ride up the mountain to small village.

Me and the young Tajik kid sporting a huge blonde wig.

Read about the Pamirs in my Gadling Hidden Gems pieces:
Hidden Gems: Pamir Botanical Gardens
Hidden Gems: Tajikistan’s Pamirs and Wakhan Corridor

All photos taken by Adrienne C. Wilson unless pictured in them where they then taken by Teo, a Nat Geo dude, or a villager with decent camera skills. – 2006

My let’s get serious about poverty housing self-portrait…

Rocky and one of the construction masters doing???

Okay, so this made me giggle. When was this water bottle packaged – the 80′s?

Moving the old window frame.

Working on the door frame…

Working on the new frame…

GV girls rule!!!

Best slacking picture ever!! Tehe. I’m only kidding!

Furkat interviews Fanny on the final day.

Peace!

(Updated and Uploaded October 5, 2006.)

On a more personal note – today wasn’t as active as the team would have liked it to been, but we made good use of down time thanks to Ann! I had the opportunity to play a game I hadn’t played in decades easily – M*A*S*H!!!! Yes, sir! Can you believe it? For those who aren’t as M*A*S*H savvy as the rest of us, it’s a game played normally by young women in say, junior high school or maybe even elementary. It helps you predict your future husband, home, children and sadly the way you’re going to bite the dust. M*A*S*H stands for Mansion, Apartment, Shack and House. It’s rather intense! Okay, not really. Here were my results:

I’m going to live a happy beautiful life in Algeria with my husband Matthew McConaughey and our 13 children. When we are not spending quality time in our apartment we’re either out cruising the Africa soil on our Harley or I’m busy with my work as a Tour Guide.

I know you’re all jealous. That’s tough. Anyways, I truly recommend reading the installment over at Gadling to get a better idea of the work we did. Yes, we did work! Here’s the pictures to prove it!

Christina calls it quits in the room with the (coughs) loony construction guy. Apparently he was panting rather hard and getting mud all over the place as you can probably tell.

Getting out of dodge or the mad mud room!!!

Ick!

So fresh and so clean….

Well, well someone has two very different personalities now? Don’t they?

Nats and Michael looking at who knows what…

Nats, Me and Ann

(Updated and Uploaded on October 5, 2006.)

Here’s a few photos starting with the third homeowner’s home a.k.a our new job site.

An empty water basin used to wash hands and arms after getting muddy or just plain dirty!

Allie posing pretty for the camera.


No clue what the ladies are discussing, but it’s probably none of my business anyway.

Anvar and moi. This was the third homeowner.

Our volunteer Fabio leads us in a Tajik song on break.

Fabio and the homeowner’s son work on creating a scaffold.

And another team photo!!! I think we’re starting to get the hang of this.

(Updated and Uploaded on October 10, 2006)

-First there was a large amount of uphill/downhill. Having trained in Florida where it is flat, I was not really mentally prepared for this kind of run for my long run.
-I was supposed to run 15 miles, but ended up doing only 11.25. When I looked at my watch and realized It had taken me 2 hrs and 34 minutes to make it that far I felt defeated and just came to a halt. I thought my legs were going to give and even as I walked back up the huge hill to get to my apartment every part of me seemed to be dying. My spirit was hurting that day.
-My fuel pack rubbed deep into my shoulder area making it raw and sore.
-A bird dumped on my head.

What more could go wrong?

Luckily, Kate was also training for a marathon having her around made the short and long runs much better. On build days and weekdays we ran for 40 minutes in the morning. This put me off the Hal Higdon training schedule, but I was working with little time in the morning to get my run in. We had to meet for breakfast with the group at 8ish everyday. Having Kate around really proved beneficial on my second go at long distance running in Dushanbe. Kate needed to get 20 in and I only needed to get 16 miles in. (ONLY 16 miles sounds crazy – btw.) We ran all over the city and made much better time than my last run. At 11 miles we were at 2 hrs, which was perfect for me and I was still feeling fairly decent. It was around 14 or 15 that I really started to give. Kate took off at 16 to get in another two, but once I reached 16 I walked my way back to my apartment. I was happy to have completed the run. I felt good.

Now my next big concern is running down in the Pamirs. It’s ALLLLL mountain down there.

Pictured above is the path by the river and below is the Dushanbinka River in action -rolling while we’re running.

(Updated and Uploaded on September 23, 2006.)

So after breakfast we head off to Sitora. Upon entering the main of Rudaki District it seems as if Dushanbe suddenly transformed into this fairytale like town. Tree-lined streets with people strolling along laughing and catching up with one another – something in the air or just on this particular day made everything feel so alive. I’ve found Dushanbe pretty boring with the exception of our work schedules. This was a nice change of scenery. After making our grand entrance (our line of cars were the only ones driving through the blocked off streets) we walked into Sitora and noticed a table loaded with fruit, beverage and food was soon to be served. None of us were prepared to eat a second meal less than an hour after breakfast. Considering we still had some sick tummies in the group it felt overwhelming and unexpected. Surely if we had known a second meal was on the way we wouldn’t have eaten that much at breakfast.

Anyways, we took our seats across from people who seemed very important, but still no clue who they were. No matter though, next thing I know vodka for toasting is being distributed and I’m quite uninterested, but you can’t refuse a vodka toast. I took the first one and decided no more. I didn’t want the liquor to dehydrate me and mess with my running. More and more drinks came and I took tiny, tiny sips of them all so not to be rude, but not to get pissy drunk either. I think it was happy medium especially with some drunk individuals already in the room. (No one on the GV team.) When we were asked to dance the keyboard player/singer started showing his true colors and acting a fool. He started dancing with me and twirling me and was having a real ball, however some other people told him to cool it and he didn’t which got him excused from the keyboard and the lunch. It was the alcohol, I understand. Dancing was fun though and I really began to work up a sweat as I tried mocking the moves of a very gifted Tajik dancer. She worked her shoulders and with a graceful jerk of sorts would turn the opposite direction, but not without flashing her gold teeth in a huge smile. I wanted to sign up for lessons, but I enjoyed the moment and settled back in my seat promising no more dancing, yet I was summoned to the floor once more by our volunteer friend Khushvakht.  The dancing part was my fav…

Me and my new creepy piano playing friend.

A dynamic group of four…

Learning to dance Tajik style!

Ann wigging out or acting like it…tehe

Me and our two fantastic volunteers. They look nice, but they’ll crush your knuckles if you mess with me or any of my Habitat pals. I’m only kidding. They wouldn’t hurt a kitten.

Group dancing…

Dancing with Tajik man – he could really move!

(Short video from Christina’s cam.)

What turned out not being my favorite part was a shared feeling throughout the group. This mayor fellow decided it would be cool to show us his horse stables where there were also deer and let us ride the horses. I probably would have been interested if I had the right clothing on, but I was wearing my cute little orange dress and these were sport horses. Diego, being the Texas cowboy he is, jumped right on board. He took the horse around about three times before getting off. We left the horse stables and went to see the locked up Tajikistan wolf and tethered browns bears. This was sad. The bears were the first thing we saw and there was one large one and one baby bear. The baby bear was moaning and making so much noise from lack of water and the heat. Surely the chain was causing him some trouble. Having a bear in Tajikistan is a status thing and they obviously weren’t aware how unimpressed our group was in seeing these bears treated like such for their personal pleasure. Same thing went with the wolf. An older woman and a young boy about 11 or so opened up this shed and the boy tugged on the chain to pull the wolf so we could see it. The wolf didn’t wish to see us. He probably didn’t want to see anyone with a life like that. We were happy to leave.

Diego gets ready to ride off into the wind.

The larger of the two brown bears chained up… Sad.

The smallest was the hardest to watch.

A very unhappy Tajikistan wolf.

I thought we were heading back to our apartments by this time for sure, but we had one more pit stop at the International University. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t overly exciting. We chatted with some folk for a short time and finally left to go towards the apartments.

Time was of the essence now because our long day was nowhere close to being over. Furkat managed to get us tickets last minute to the HUGE Independence Day celebration at the stadium. We had about an hour tops to rest and soak in everything we had done already before hitting the road to the stadium. I was taxed, but ready to see how the country celebrated in one central location. The scene at the stadium was like a madhouse. Crowds of people were hanging around the gates either waiting to get inside or not go inside at all. We stood back until Furkat instructed us to proceed. On the inside we found our seats, which were behind the major action, but I found there was major action for all at the stadium that day. Their firework show was one of the most impressive I had ever seen and I’m sure Russia could hear the explosions. Other points of interest – the Pres of TJ and Iran were both in the house; I generated quite a large number of stares and later told some cute Tajik kid that I was Alicia Keys. Nats almost died of laughter, but the kid had no clue who Alicia Keys was. (Note: Alicia Keys – time to extend your fan base to Central Asia.) Times at the stadium were fun and eventful and by the end of it all I was just pleased to see the bed in the apartment.

Trying to get a shot of the raining fireworks from behind, but it was too late.

The fireworks just minutes before we missed them.

The fans.

Me & on of my fans. I do it all for the fans.

Aren’t the fireworks pretty?

Happy Independence Day Tajikistan!!!

Can somebody say “SUPERSTAR?” LOL….

(Updated and Uploaded on October 16, 2006.)

Movin’ on up, movin’ on up…. to the Eastside. Not quite? Okay, yeah so we here we are bringing the mud from the ground to the roof.

Working with the homeowner’s son Vali and team in mud.

Mud on the roof – can you tell?

Fabio and moi posing. This is a pretty bad picture of me. Ick!

Part of the team captured in B&W working hard or hardly working? You decide.

Fanny heads up to the roof! She’s a brave one.

(Updated and Uploaded on October 10, 2006)