Spring has arrived in Tashkent! On my walk with Obi yesterday down my street, the apricot, plum, and cherry trees are starting to bloom. They come out before the leaves come out and the explosion of color is beautiful. The trees employ this strategy to attract pollinators without leaves getting in the way.
It is also spring on the calendar as March 19 was the vernal equinox which means the tilt of the earth causes an equal angle of sun to strike the northern and southern hemispheres. Tashkent is 41 degrees north of the equator and as I am writing this blog post today, March 21, it receives 12 hours and 12 minutes of total daylight. The length of the daylight will increase until June 21 when it will peak at 15 hours and 8 minutes. It is amazing the amount of information you can get online as I see in my weather app, the first light is at 5:56 AM, sunrise is 6:24 AM, sunset is 6:36 PM, and the last light is at 7:03 PM. Before the internet, you would have had to look it up on a table in the Farmer’s Almanac, which is also, now online. The sun and moon and their cycles and phases are not taught enough in science in schools.
I went for my first bicycle ride of the spring yesterday. My seat was a little sore and I noticed that I was not going very fast, especially against the strong winds yesterday. I am trying to get Ocean and Nadia out for a ride today along the Ankhor Canal. I noticed construction is progressing on the Olympic Town (photo above). Uzbekistan is hosting the 2025 Asian Youth Games. It is a huge area near the highway leading to Parkent and the Yangi Tashkent development. An Olympic Stadium will be in the center, surrounded by a “palace of water sports”, indoor training areas, and a rowing canal.
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