Interesting Tales Part II

***I have just recovered from another bout of stomach flu (which is becoming a monthly occurrance and seemingly worse each time) - I ask for your prayers for my health as winter is near and I do not want to hug another toilet...I will also be traveling this week to Dushanbe (capital) and Kulyab, in Southern Tajikistan for a few days via plane/car so pray for safety as winter is looming in the mountains!***

Below are some light-hearted tales so enjoy! Love, Rachel

The daily routine of life means new discoveries and humorous memories…

How to dump your garbage in Tajikistan

When I first moved into my flat, I asked about garbage removal. With my non-Russian abilities, my coworker tried her best to explain this to me. I was told that garbage would be picked up daily at 6pm and it seemed like I would just leave the garbage in front of our building entrance. Well I went to dump my garbage and thought to double-check with a young girl who was outside my building. Sure enough she pointed to the place for me to place my rubbish and so I did. The next morning to my horror, my garbage was all over the ground as if wild dogs had torn through it. The only thing I could do was to walk past and pretend it was just someone else’s garbage. Unfortunately for days, I would see it as I walked by and I swear it was decomposing day by day until it finally got cleaned up. I really needed to figure this out quick. I really didn’t want my personal female refuse to be displayed for all to see! I finally figured out that at 6pm, a garbage truck picks up trash in the alley a few minutes walk from my apartment. In fact many just carry out a bucket of trash without using plastic bags. So that's how it's done...

Toilet paper

Everyone knows I have great toilet stories. Well, it turns out that the toilet paper here is VERY different from back home. My first TP encounter can be described as rough, thick brown paper (sort of like the ones you get in public washrooms in those white dispensers) that is stretchy. Yes stretchy like the stuff used to wrap your leg found in first aid kits. I believe there are softer versions but I adapted and it’s not so bad; at least it has great absorbency. What’s funny is I ran out of the tough rough stuff and opened my TP I bought from home; it was so weird how the TP was bigger in size and WAY softer (and white!).

How to ride an elevator

In my building, there is an elevator. I hear it rumble its way up and down the building sometimes. Cole and I swear we would never ride such a shoddy lift. I actually contributed money to fixing that darn thing when I wasn’t even going to step foot in it! Well guess what?? I was talking to another local neighbour, who lives on the 9th floor, outside our building. She told me she was going to take the lift now and asked me if I had a magnet. Well of course I don’t carry a magnet with me but it turns out you need a magnet to open the lift to use it. So she got a magnet from someone, opened the lift and we got in! You press your desired floor and voila! I made it safely to my floor. I don’t have a magnet so it looks like that might be my one and only chance at riding the lift and I would definitely NOT ride it alone.