We completed Teacher Work Week (we need a better name for the prep week) and are ready to receive students next week. I am trying to get back into long distance running and am trying out different routes in the city in the early mornings. Saturday we ran the 1km loop at Eko Park. The track is in good shape and provides enough shade and green to make it a pleasant run. I find it a bit tedious going around in a 1km circle, but working on my speed and then combine it with running outside of the park makes it tolerable. After a week of running, I am starting to feel my groove again and recovering from the bike accident in June. The stretching of yoga has helped and need to do more of it.
We went for breakfast at Breadly afterwards and then shopping at Kanishka, a high-end leather shop on the boulevard of the bakery. I bought a new wallet and computer bag, as my current bag is over 20 years old and is falling apart. The prices for leather in Tashkent are inexpensive and hopefully, it will last as long as my last bag. I love walking in that part of the city close to NBU stadium. There are lots of mature trees and old apartment blocks with interesting facades. The Uzbek sunshine creates beautiful lighting. The extremely high temperatures of last week (100F+) are cooling this week and as I write this at 8:30 AM, it is a perfect 72F. I drove Oliver to his friends and back, did some grocery shopping and took Obi for a walk in the late afternoon.
Bicycle Storage in the Window 
Neighborhood Somsa Restaurant 
Plastic Recycling
I appreciate life in Tashkent and am trying to capture moments in my regular day. There is a small bakery and somsa restaurant (middle) that I walk by on my way to school in the mornings. We buy bread there and when it is fresh and hot, delicious. I spotted this car hauling plastic and paper for recycling. Because of the low incomes in Uzbekistan, plastic and paper recycling is viable and you see people collecting in garbage areas all over the city. A Luli (Roma) family was in the car (right) and it is a vital source of income for many Luli. The Soviet era apartments are quite small and people need to be creative to maximize the space. I liked the bicycle storage in the windows of the third floor.
I end this post with a photo of the Sacred Heart Cathedral (aka The Polish Church) at night. I usually only see it in the day and didn’t know that they light it up in the evenings.
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