A traveler's nightmare!

Alright, i'm going to paint a picture in your mind for ya. Try to visualize what I'm about to tell you. I would say "close your eyes ..." but we know that won't work haha. Ok.

You have been flying around the world for about 22 hours. You arrive in a third world country that has next to none of the luxeries that you enjoy at home. You spend the next few days exploring the country, familiarizing yourself with the traditions and cultures, and trying to get used to the hole in the ground called the "bathroom". You eat the equivelant of about 3 loaves of bread a day, and spend a good 5 hours walking around every day also.
On your fifth day you are feeling pretty well adapted. You know what you can and can't do, what you like to eat and what you don't like to eat, and you are actually starting to speak both Russian and Tajik. You are staying in a traditional Tajik home for one night and you have been spending a lot of time eating bread, drinking tea, and chatting with the locals. You are exhausted and you have a MASSIVE stomach ache. You figure 'Oh, i'll just sleep it off.' and go to bed.
You wake up in the morning and you practically sprint to the bathroom. You know that if you don't make it, you are going to have to BURN your pants. For the next 8 hours you spend every 15 minutes in the bathroom "flushing away" your insides and you have no control over when it happens or how bad it will be.

Yes people, I'm talking about Traveler's Diarrhea. Pretty much the worst thing that can happen to you in a Third World Country that only offers you a dirt whole and cut up newspaper for toilet paper. That is what's happening with me. I'm becoming very familiar with the number of swirls painted on the bathroom ceiling and how long I have to hold down the "flush" button. Be Jealous :-)

Another thing that isn't exactly heaven on earth:
Being the only girl in a house FULL of guys is sorta like being a fruit amongst vegitables. You don't look or smell to bad and are generally quite pleasant, while they are really gross, smell bad, and get really old really fast. I hope that was a good analogy, or I'm going to get a really hard time from my family haha. It was all i could think of to describe my situation.

So let's get us you up to date. Yesterday we drove to the city of Sachrinar and recieved our first Bread Ceremony. It was so cool! We pulled up and there was an entire group of students and teachers waiting for us. We walked up and a girl holding a circle of bread on a plate started reciting some kind of ritual saying. Once she finished we broke off a piece of the bread (which turned out to be a really hard bread known as a "cookie" haha) and dipped it in some sort of honey substance i believe. Then a few girls gave each of us a flower. We then went into their internet center and they gave a few presentations about Tajikistan and different events that happen in their village. The presentations were on PowerPoint, and though they weren't award winning, it was amazing how much they have learned about computers in such a sort amount of time. I was impressed. After that they asked us about every question under the sun about our lives and towns and hobbies. It lasted for an hour, and i'm not gunna lie, i was getting tired of get to know you questions lol. But that's not the point.

Anyway, so then we had the biggest feast of my life. The main dish was palove which is a bunch of rice, oil, and carrots all fried up and cooked over a fire. Very yummy and extremely filling. They also had a ton of fruit, veggies, and a very large variety of beverages lol. I had water w/ gas (which is just carbonated water) and some Cola, which is pretty popular. After we ate we got a tour of their school which was the best part for me, because i got a lot of good pictures and it really openned my eyes to how lucky we are in the US to have such nice schools with such nice equipment. The students, by the way, were so excited to meet Patrick, Silviano, and I and wanted to know everything about us and the USA. One of the girls there will be at the Summer Camp that i'll go to on Sunday and she was super nice. Anyway, when we left we were all so full that the bumps on the roads were making us cry.

We got to our host family's house and layed around on the ... I can't remember what it's called ... but it's like a patio covered with rugs and a low-to-the-ground table so that you can sit cross legged, lean back, and eat at a comfortable height if you get what I'm trying to say. It's hard to explain haha. Anywho, we layed around and ate waaaaay to much. We also visited a mosque and took a butt-load of pictures. Proceeding that we sat on our butts some more ... till about 11pm haha and then i went to sleep. When i woke up, well, just read the first few paragraphs of this blog.

We came back to Dushambe at about 11am and Garth went to work to do some, well, work haha. These men came to the house while he was gone and installed AIR CONDITIONING!!!! I've never been so happy in all my life. I'm pretty sure haha. Silviano, Patrick and I crashed in the living room with all the fans on us and the AC. We then watched Alien vs. Predator, but i fell asleep at the beginning, so i still have no idea whether the Aliens win, or the Humans, but I don't want to take the time to watch the movie again.

RIGHT NOW I'm blogging, while Marty, Patrick, and Silviano play B.S. which I think is getting out of control, but I'm laughing to hard to interfere. The dudes in this house are extremely competative, but it's ammusing so I don't step in when things get out of control ... like right now lol. I've never appreciated my brother so much. I hope he's reading this. I bet his jaw just dropped *giggle*.

I almost forgot. I ate a whole chocolate bar once I woke up (big surprize *rolls eyes*) and all the boys got mad at me. I could care less if they are mad. It was good chocolate :D

Well I'm gunna go and possibly join in on this ridiculously LOUD game of B.S. wish me luck!

-- <3 austi