Friday, May 8, 2009

Jet-lag has taken it’s toll. We were awake at 4 something this morning when the local mosque sounded their call to prayer. Yes here we are …..in a small town in what feels in the middle of nowhere…. where our friends E and J live with their four beautiful children.. It seems like all of Thursday was like an big “out-of body experience”…getting to see people we have not seen for a long time and experience places we never dreamt existed. This is a truly a very beautiful place…. extremely mountainous and therefore also very difficult to get from one place to the other…..

Anyway, let’s back up….we left Istanbul at 8 something on Wednesday evening, and arrived at the tiny little airport in the capitol city here around 3 in the morning….after customs forms and passport control, we found our suitcases…went through another x-ray for the luggage….and there were our buddied Z and E. It was so much fun to see them. We could hardly believe that it was real…..we are here…in Central Asia…We first went over to the V’s place and after coffee, snacks and some breakfast, the girls woke up. It was fun to watch them unpack some of the goodies we had brought. We had a short but lovely time of fellowship while E. did some errands in town. When he got back we packed ourselves and our luggage into his car…. together with another friend of his and off we went for the long trek over the mountains to the town where they live.

As we started into the mountains, it was beautiful…and it got more and more beautiful….and we went higher and higher….the road was pretty decent …but after the Presidents mountain villa, the road got smaller….windier and after a while longer, there was no longer any pavement….and it was really rough. There were Chinese road-workers everywhere… contracted by the Government to improve the roads here. They are also constructing tunnels here and there…to make it possible for these mountain roads to stay open during the winter and avalanche season. Because avalanches are the biggest threat in this mountain country…and we saw signs of them EVERYWHERE.

As as we got up closer to the pass…there was this 6,5 kilomer long tunnel…..and driving through that was an experience in itself. Imagine being in a dark basement….full of potholes, water puddles and ice-mountains for six and a half kilometers, well, that was the tunnel. After the tunnel and for the next 2-3 hours the road was very rough….it was super bumpy. In one village we encountered tons of trucks…a sign that the other pass going north was closed….and there is no tunnel going north…

Well, after hundreds of pictures out the car window (will try to upload some later)….and almost six hours of endless driving we finally arrived in the town where our friends live. Right now they live in an apartment right in the middle of town ..on the fourth floor…in a typical Russian built apartment building where everything and nothing works….they have a 4 room apartment that serves them well at this time. It was raining when we arrived and it is still raining. Even heard some thunder in a distance. This is home to our friends. This morning the boys went to school all dressed up in their nice black suits, white shirts and ties.

After that we got ourselves ready and went to attend a delightful piano recital by Miss Lydia at some friends house… then we stopped at the market and I got myself a local dress. J and I got to attend a really cool wedding party for women this afternoon…. all dressed up like the women around there. We sat on mats, eating and eating and eating….and watching in amazement the bride along with the other women in the extended family who had been brides that year….all dressed up in their bridal customs.
An amazing first two days here in the heart of Central Asia….so good to be with our friends…and walk life with them right where they are. Tomorrow we get to go to the neighbors here in the house….they are having a Birthday party. More sitting, more food…more people. This is sure GREAT!! And if the rains stop we will join all the locals for the Victory Day celebrations at a local park tomorrow morning...

We are 12 hours ahead of everyone back home!!