I always love people-watching when I visit Chorsu Market, the largest, most traditional market in the city. The sprawling complex contains just about anything one needs with different sections for fruits/vegetables and other groceries, carpets, gold, live animals, textiles, etc. Some people have the misperception that Uzbekistan is a religiously conservative country. There is no pressure on women to cover and one sees a range of dress styles. Generally, I notice younger and richer women dress more “Western” and in secular styles. We arrived at the market around 8:30 AM on Saturday which is early for Uzbeks so the market was blissfully empty. On our way home, we noticed traffic picking up around 10:00 AM. Nadia was shopping for winter plants for our garden. Uzbek women like colorful and comfortable jumpsuits. Autumn has reached Tashkent and Uzbeks have a tendency to bundle up with heavy clothing.
On Sunday we host the school’s annual United Nations Day. Our school has people from over 60 different countries and it is always awesome to see the full spectrum of humanity’s colors and customs. From India and the Marshall Islands, from China to Nepal, we have nations large and small. Some delegations are large like the USA and Uzbekistan but most are single families. I think have a wide variety of nations represented at our school softens conflict and disagreement between nations. Everyone in attendance was respectful and supportive of all cultures. It is one of my favorite days of the school calendar.
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