First Day of School

Today is the first day of school of kids all over Dushanbe.  Traditionally, all students attend the first day in their finest attire to present their teachers with flowers.  They are dismissed around 10 AM to roam around and enjoy their last, sweet and sweaty day of summer break. 

Since every kid in Dushanbe from primary school through college is expected to dress in their finest at school, the streets were filled with sharply dressed packs of university boys, teenage girls in new black heels (some of them quite stylish), prim first graders holding their mother’s hands in oversized, confectionary hair bows that plume from the top of their braids, and tidy little boys who shuffle about like ring-bearers waiting for their cues.

Walking around this morning, Kyle and I pondered what Tajiks visiting America must think when they see how, let’s say, comfortably kids dress for school. 

I was in an especially good mood because September means the beginning of the school year almost everywhere in the world.   September is my favorite month since it’s a time for setting high goals, buying new pens, starting fresh.   Back home, it’s the start of the holiday season: Labor Day, my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years...it’s one, three-month-long party. Even in Dushanbe, I feel that particular September energy.

The second week of our orientation in the Embassy took a much slower pace.  We began to make arrangements for a ten-month stay in our cities. Work at the American Corners begins on September 4.  We cannot be placed in Tajik schools as English Teaching Assistants due to the long bureaucratic process with the Ministry of Education.  In Tajikistan, the Embassy would like our help with running classes, hosting interesting speakers, and programming cultural events at the American Corners.  This is not true of Fulbright ETAs all over the world, and not all countries have American Corners.  However, I will be in the American Corner Dushanbe.

Living in the capital means I have a leg up on certain amenities.  People in the regions, particularly the south, will not have the variety of goods, apartments, and English speakers that I will.  This also may mean my Tajik will not improve as rapidly since more people tend to speak English here.  But I do think Dushanbe is a good place to access the entire country.

A few months back, I told many people that I wanted to go to Khorog, a town that was 98% Ismaili, in the geographically isolated and semi autonomous Gorno Badakhshan region in the Pamir Mountains.  My original vision of Tajikistan had to do completely with this eastern part of Tajikistan where the Aga Khan Development Network’s work is most prevalent.  However, I have learned so much more about the country since I first applied to be a Fulbright teacher.  Due to the recent turmoil in Khorog, and Tajik military intervention, foreigners have been barred from entering the region.  Thus, the decision to remain in Dushanbe was indirectly made for me.  However, now I am even more interested in local perceptions of the Ismaili Muslim minority in the capital city; Dushanbe is the capital of a country that is seems to be terrified of potential religious extremism and, dare I say, unrestricted religious expression.

I have been fortunate to meet a lot of opinionated, intelligent people in the last week, who express to me (in English) the likable, unpleasant, and loathed parts of life, society and civic issues in Tajikistan.   Interestingly, I attended an English language debate club practice this morning that took on the issue of “Hate Speech.”  I was blown away by the passion, composure and graciousness the students brought to the debate.   But it goes without saying, despite all the intelligent people I have met in two weeks, there are also plenty of people living here who I would not understand or agree with at all.

Between these little moments of enlightenment, I walk around and take in the day-to-day of Dushanbe.  Essentially, I’m trying to wean myself off of the Embassy’s warm, generator-backed bosom.  

This morning we sauntered through the Green Bazaar.  I imagined myself buying groceries, with broken but improving Tajik.  In a new country, smaller feats like grocery-shopping mean a lot. I imagined conversing with the stall owner, who recognizes me as the English teacher (this new identity is growing on me).   I also see myself coming to some conclusion about my next career goal.  I see myself surrounded by earnest students.  I see myself in some tough, awkward, and embarrassing situations.  I see myself being very lonely, but see myself making lifelong, intellectual best friends.

See, isn’t September wonderful?