first impressions

oh toto, i dont think we're in Kansas anymore. This was clearly evident when on the layover Dubai flight, the entire airport listened to an evening prayer call over the PA system. then, there was a scuffle on the plane: two tajik women argued over the placement of oversized, overpacked duty free bags. the bickered back and forth about how to stuff multiple bags into the overhead compartment, straight on, sideways, clearly exceeding the allotted number of bags both individually and as a group, rearranging other people's bags, yelling at other passengers over the placement of their bags. it was quite amusing during boarding. it was less amusing when they tried to collect the bags on landing.
We landed at 230am. no issues with my passport, and upon exiting into the arrival terminal i was accosted by taxi monsters. "young lady, do you need a ride? need a taxi? where can i take you?" one particular character decided that i was his and parked himself next to me and my giant luggage intermittently offering both a ride and his phone to call, free of charge of course, because what's the point of waiting. he faithfully waited until my research assistant came.
I couldn't sleep. i tried but it didnt happen. but i learned an important piece of information. You know what happens at 5am in Dushanbe? Rooster! Roosters crow. evidently, across the stress from my apartment is a private sector, where roosters live. and crow at 5 am. which is great for them, not so great for me. there was an unexpected disaster: the apartment company left me a lot of things, like a vacuum cleaner and an extra bed. they did not however, leave me a towel. and although the country is pretty hot, air drying was still odd and chilly. so then, i had a mission in the morning: to locate a towel. after locating local currency and drinking an espresso at a 'korean bakery' which mostly sold prepackaged pre-wrapped french pastries, i searched for the towel store. couldnt find one. every potential towel store ended up a 'fashion house' which sold dresses, not towels. I finally found one in a grocery store, god bless. interestingly, same grocery store carried two choices of toilet paper: green apple flavored and something else. not sure why anyone would want their butt to smell like green apple, so i went with the other one. it is TBD, so stand by.
my attempts at taking a nap also failed, so i went looking for a market. i was super proud of myself for remembering exactly where a market had been, except once i got there, there was no longer a market. it had been redeveloped into some new construction. there is a ton of new construction all over the city, more than i remember. although i am happy to report that Emamoli Rahmon is still the president. the father of tajik democracy is going strong on holding power for the last 18 years, as far as i'm counting. his face, with small little quotes and inspirational messages, appear on posters and walls of said new construction. my research assistant who met me for his lunch and my coffee, tried to coach me on Tajik survival. his pointers were: traffic is bad, so even if it's your green, make sure the cars are actually stopped; and when men approach you on the street adn try to ask you out, it is not sexual harassment. good to know. he seems to think the recruitment shouldnt be hard. but then again he tried to convince me that tajiks are mainly vegetarians, really.
i'm currently sitting at an irish pub, "the best irish pub in Dushanbe" called public pub. there is wifi. there is also veggies on the menu, as a side dish, of course. the flies are sharing my dinner, i'm pretty certain, as i find myself oddly reminded of lord of the flies. i am looking forward to my long walk home, which will be slightly cooler. and then melatonin induced sleep.