To view my other photos, please go to the "Google Photo" link below... Wow this week has gone by pretty quick and I’ve been here for 2 weeks already! I finally reunited with my backpack and besides one broken buckle, everything was there. You can also say that I have finally bought the important home necessities and I am truly settled in my new place for the next 6 months. I am living on my own in this apt unit that is divided into two sections: one is the living room/bedroom (sleeping on a sofa bed) and the other is where the bathroom (fairly new), dining and kitchen are located. It’s perfect for me…but wait, there’s a few caveats I failed to mention…(the extra toppings to my whole cultural experience hehe)
1. the faucet in the bathroom is defunct: it doesn’t switch from the tub to the sink because the sink was built a few cms too high so it hits the side!
2. my oven and gas stove doesn’t work but at least I have two electric hotplates to use for cooking phew!
3. the kitchen isn’t really a kitchen. There are no cabinets or counter space for me to cook and there’s only one plug outlet! Thus a little creativity and adjustment is greatly needed! I prepare my meals on the ironing board =) photos forthcoming…
oh and I forgot to mention that there was a blackout my first night in the apt? It was only for 5 minutes which I’ve been told it’s nothing to fret at all.
I have been to Khujand’s main market, Panchshanbe Bazaar a few times this week. Luckily, my first experience was with Dilya (my coworker) who showed me around this amazing indoor/outdoor market that is nothing that I have ever seen. It is a totally happening place, vendors and buyers flock about, wooden carts transporting goods and so many goods! I was definitely overwhelmed and had to be dragged by Dilya otherwise I would’ve just stood there and watched the whole market take action. It is many, many times larger than the Richmond public market/St. Lawrence market and as crazy/dirty as Mongkok in Hong Kong. I was still in awe my second time there as I discovered rows of spices, fruits and all the nuts you can imagine. I even found Nutella for 8 sonomi!
On Thursday, I tagged along with some colleagues and drove out to
Istaravshan, a historic town (formerly called Uro Teppa) about 78km away from Khujand that is 1000m above sea level and over 2500 years old. We visited another NGOs’ project areas and met with several homes of individual women farmers who had received grants from the NGO to build hothouses. Our purpose was to see if these women would be interested in applying for the grant offered by MEDA and also for my colleagues to assess their suitability for our grant. It turns out that a few of the hothouses were constructed incorrectly and the feeling was that the grant funding was used elsewhere and not on the hothouses themselves. In the microfinance field, you hear of misuses of funds due to a variety of reasons and to witness it firsthand demonstrates a need to pick the right recipients for the funds and have monitoring systems in place to ensure it is used effectively. I look forward to seeing what systems MEDA has in place to ensure the funds are used with most impact.
On a side note: Congrats to Bonnie and Aaron, another pair who recently got engaged! Perhaps it’s that special age that we’re at but there’s been a ton of engagements, weddings in the past two years. I started reading a book by Ravi Zacharias and wanted to dedicate this to all couples choosing to be united in marriage:
I have been to Khujand’s main market, Panchshanbe Bazaar a few times this week. Luckily, my first experience was with Dilya (my coworker) who showed me around this amazing indoor/outdoor market that is nothing that I have ever seen. It is a totally happening place, vendors and buyers flock about, wooden carts transporting goods and so many goods! I was definitely overwhelmed and had to be dragged by Dilya otherwise I would’ve just stood there and watched the whole market take action. It is many, many times larger than the Richmond public market/St. Lawrence market and as crazy/dirty as Mongkok in Hong Kong. I was still in awe my second time there as I discovered rows of spices, fruits and all the nuts you can imagine. I even found Nutella for 8 sonomi!
On Thursday, I tagged along with some colleagues and drove out to
Istaravshan, a historic town (formerly called Uro Teppa) about 78km away from Khujand that is 1000m above sea level and over 2500 years old. We visited another NGOs’ project areas and met with several homes of individual women farmers who had received grants from the NGO to build hothouses. Our purpose was to see if these women would be interested in applying for the grant offered by MEDA and also for my colleagues to assess their suitability for our grant. It turns out that a few of the hothouses were constructed incorrectly and the feeling was that the grant funding was used elsewhere and not on the hothouses themselves. In the microfinance field, you hear of misuses of funds due to a variety of reasons and to witness it firsthand demonstrates a need to pick the right recipients for the funds and have monitoring systems in place to ensure it is used effectively. I look forward to seeing what systems MEDA has in place to ensure the funds are used with most impact.On a side note: Congrats to Bonnie and Aaron, another pair who recently got engaged! Perhaps it’s that special age that we’re at but there’s been a ton of engagements, weddings in the past two years. I started reading a book by Ravi Zacharias and wanted to dedicate this to all couples choosing to be united in marriage:
“Marriage is an extraordinary relationship.
It is a commitment from which you dare not take a vacation.
It demands nurture and care, and like a tender shoot,
the better the care, the better the blossom.
But to be sure, it is hard work.”
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