It’s been almost two weeks since the shooting of security officers in and around Dushanbe. Since then confrontations between law enforcement and militants have been ongoing in the mountains. Again, no Americans were involved, and no Americans were ever targets of these attacks.
That doesn’t mean it hasn’t affected us. The first few days it was frightening since we didn’t really know what exactly was going on. The next few days got lost to a week of holidays: Labor Day and Tajik Independence Day. This was the first normal week in a while.
Except it wasn’t normal. Though nothing was going on in the city we were still advised to stay away from large crowds and out of the mountains. Most of our CLO events were cancelled or suspended or postponed. While this was a bit of a nuisance the last thing I’ll do is complain. To be blunt: I’d rather be bored then dead.
Even before our cautious posture, I felt restricted. I didn’t realize how much I’d come to rely on a car until I didn’t have one. We have buses, yes, but it’s so so much easier to just jump in a car and go. Especially for grocery shopping. It’s not unusual here to run to multiple stores to get everything you are looking for. Trying to do that on public transportation is very difficult.
I’m also restricted in my own home. I can’t make a lot of my favorite foods because I simply do not have the right tools. Smoothie? Nope. No blender, food processor, mixer, hand blender, mortar and pestle, nothing. All I could do is smash some fruit with my fists and stick it in a glass. Cookies? Ha. Don’t make me laugh. I can’t get all the ingredients, nor could I mix them, and then I can’t even take my incomplete, poorly mixed batter and put it on a baking sheet because guess what?! I don’t have one.
Our household goods, in theory, should arrive next week. Maybe. And you can bet it will be a glorious month of smoothies and cookies and absolutely no regrets.