The Dushanbe Diet

This diet has clearly been overlooked by the diet industry. The prospects are very good that I will have absolutely no weight gain while here. Usually when traveling I adjust by finding something that I really, really like and eating a lot of it. That food has yet to show itself. Yes, they have chocolate and bread and Coke, but nothing has, let's just say, taken up residence in my appetite and other places. There is a lovely spaghetti pomodoro at my favorite cafe when I have a craving for it. It does hit the spot.

I read an article yesterday about ratio cooking and attempted cookies that were equal parts butter, sugar, and flour. I don't have a baking sheet, so I baked them in a non-stick frying pan after chilling them. They actually kind of worked as very, very buttery thin wafers.

My first official class was yesterday. Mimi and Dee have been especially helpful in setting up my class. Mimi worked hard at getting a classroom to use at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The classes last year were taught at the police academy, which is apparently very far from the center of the city and a hardship for students to get to. I really just have to walk around the corner and down the street a bit to get there; the students have even less of a walk as they work at the ministry or across the street at MVD (I don't know what this stands for other than "formerly known as the KGB").

My students seem especially eager to be there. I broke the ice by passing around pictures of my friends and family and had them ask me questions. Of note, one student requested the phone numbers of my "beautiful friends" in the photos. Ladies, yes or no? This activity also helped me determine their skills. Then we did a practice listening test and a real test. Now I can split them up into intermediate and high intermediate classes. We meet on Saturdays all together. I'm going to use this day to teach conversation skills. I have visions of these experienced police and intelligence officers using skills like these:

Active listening--"So what you're saying, Sir, is that you're upset I pulled you over."
Open-ended questions--"Address, please.......ah, how do you like that neighborhood?"
Honest positives--"Thank you for being honest in telling me exactly how you feel."

We'll see how tomorrow goes!

I'm looking forward to some hiking this weekend outside the city with an expat group. Now that I'm more settled in and working, I've figured out it's going to take some effort not to feel isolated. This'll be a good way to meet a few more folks and see more of Tajikistan.