Bill's Blog

It was quite exciting yesterday due to the arrival of the much-hyped snowstorm and extreme cold temperatures. The rain started Monday evening and it turned to snow in the early morning hours. It continued to snow all day long, finally stopping around 5:00 PM on Tuesday. I measured in my front yard 16.5 centimeters, which is almost 7 inches of snow. That is a lot for Tashkent and the city does not have the plows and quantities of salt or sand to clear most of the roads. We had school and the students had a great time playing in the snow. The one negative was the possibility of large branches falling because of the heavy, wet snow. We safety-taped off areas under the trees to avoid any possible accidents. Two large branches fell during the day with no one being injured. This is the most snow I’ve experienced in my 3 and 1/2 years of living here.

This morning it was -17C which is a bit warmer than the predictions of -21. The weather app on my iPhone is showing lows below -20 all week through Sunday. A concern for officials is the natural gas shortages. I hope our neighborhood and part of the city can maintain electricity service through the many cold days. We canceled school today due to icy roads and we are evaluating how the city is clearing roads and what the traffic patterns are like. Many high school students wanted the snow day, my kids included.

Whenever we get snow, it reminds me of my childhood and growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I love the white snow and ice-covered roads, the thick snow in the trees and the quiet blanket the snow gives to everything. I loved walking my dog last night and watching people pulling sleighs. Snow brings out the kid in everyone!

The Winter Break is coming to a close. Thursday was a beautiful, sunny day in the 50s that felt almost like a spring day! There is an extreme cold front expected to arrive next Tuesday so it was like a gift from the weather gods and a fleeting reprieve from the winter. We took advantage of the warm weather and played tennis at the Olympic Tennis School. As my readers know, we love tennis and it was pure bliss to be on the courts again with my wife and son. Owen defeated me 6-4 and then he and Nadia hit the ball around a bit. We later went for a late lunch at Breadly Cafe and I got my bike tire rim repaired. I noticed the school is renovating the indoor courts and I later learned that they are hosting a Davis Cup tie between Uzbekistan and the USA on February 3-4. I need to get tickets for one of the two days. The singles matches and first doubles will be on Friday, February 3, and then the reverse singles on Saturday, February 4.

Friday it rained the entire day and I spent most of it planning for the upcoming cold front that will be arriving on Tuesday. The Uzbek government is extending the Winter Break for local schools to limit the spread of colds and flu. There are also natural gas shortages here and I also think that this may have played a role in the decision. We had a warm Saturday so I went for a bike ride. I stopped by the Ilkhom Theatre, the famous avant-garde theatre that continued to put on plays during USSR times and was a beacon of free expression throughout the Karimov years. It was mostly destroyed in a fire and they are asking for donations to rebuild the theatre.

I guess I should be happy just to be able to still play basketball! I played Tuesday afternoon with the current and former TIS Owls players and survived the games without injury. I still have my shooting touch, court vision, etc., but I’ve lost what little speed and quickness I used to have. One also becomes clumsy in their 50s. I went for a rebound and saw the ball coming down, but couldn’t close my arms fast enough to grab it and the ball hit me in the glasses. Earlier in my life, I would have been able to make the catch and rebound.

It was a wonderful day on Wednesday. I drove Oliver, Owen, and 4 of their friends to the Amirsoy Resort for a day of snowboarding and skiing. 3 hours of conversation in the car with my sons and their friends were so delightful. It always gives me hope for the future of our society to speak with young people. These young men are pursuing their studies and will be starting their careers in a couple of years. I was impressed with their ambition and eloquent description of their lives.

There was a snowstorm in the mountains on Tuesday and resort employees were dealing with the excess snow. This is the New Year holiday time here and so there were many sightseers coming to the mountain to take the gondola to the top. There are more tourists than actual skiers. Owen reported that the top runs were not well groomed so I am glad I decided not to ski yesterday.

I rented snowshoes instead ($6 per day) and went for a hike on the west side of their property. The snow in some places was 2-3 feet deep which made it difficult to move in the woods. I finally made it to the snowmobile trails and walked to the camping areas in a secluded canyon. The cold air and fresh snow were invigorating. I love the simple things in life as I get older. Spending the day in the snow and fresh mountain air is fantastic. I was thinking of the early American pioneers (thanks, Yellowstone) and how they feared the onset of winter as they traveled from Texas to Oregon. Fighting my way through the deep snow, I understood why they feared it so much. Without asphalt roads and plows, deep snow can be deadly. It also made me sympathize with those poor folks who died in the recent Buffalo snowstorm.

Macintrye had no access to MI6’s archives, which remain secret. But he has interviewed all of the former officers involved in the case, who tell their stories for the first time. He spoke extensively to Gordievsky, who is now 79 and living in the home counties – a remarkable figure, “proud, shrewd and irascible”. The result is a dazzling non-fiction thriller and an intimate portrait of high-stakes espionage.

The Guardian Book of the Week Review – September 19, 2018

Historian and author Ben Macintyre tells the story of Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB (Комитет государственной безопасности – State Security Committee) agent who was giving MI6 Soviet secrets in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the Russian counterpart to the famous British double agent, Kim Philby. I love books about spies, partly because they are set in foreign countries and spies are usually expatriates. I also like the action and political intrigue. This is a non-fiction book about a real-life double agent and it was fascinating to learn the spycraft techniques of the MI6 and KGB during this time. The book describes details of how the agency communicates with spies, including meetings at safehouses, signals such as arriving at a busy bus stop with a Safeway bag on a Tuesday at 1:00 PM, etc. It was tense reading if Oleg was going to get caught as a “mole”.

I wonder how facial technology, the internet, drones, almost ubiquitous cameras, and other technology have changed spying. It was comforting to know that the CIA accurately predicted or knew when and what the Russians were going to do in the lead-up to their invasion of Ukraine.

The part of the book with the most insight for me was the description of the Soviet Union and the KGB. I am fascinated by the experiment of the USSR, probably growing up during the Cold War had something to do with it. I always remember the Olympics were a battle of East vs. West, Communism vs. Democracy. I also remember my middle school social studies teacher, Dave Carli, explaining the importance of the Salt II nuclear arms limitation treaty and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. All this made quite an impression on me growing up. Some items I learned about the USSR and the KGB are below.

• I never heard of the 1932 Sovietization of Kazakhstan. The Soviets expropriated food from farmers to feed Soviet armies and cities. Over 1.5 million people died in the resulting famine.
• The KGB used the acronym “MICE” to guide them on what people to target to turn them into spies for the USSR. 1) Money 2) Ideology 3) Coercion 4) Ego. There also was the romance of it, the opportunity to live a second, hidden life.
• “The Soviet Union was in effect an enormous prison, incarcerating more than 280 million people behind heavily guarded borders, with over a million KGB officers and informants acting as their jailers. The population was under constant surveillance, and no segment of the society was more closely watched than the KGB itself: the Seventh Directorate was responsible for internal surveillance, with some 1,500 men deployed in Moscow alone.”
• “Gordievsky had secretly detested all that his father stood for – the blind obedience to a cruel ideology and the cowardice of the Homo Sovieticus.”
  

The book also had some great quotes and descriptions of espionage and intelligence gathering.

• “Espionage attracts more than its share of the damaged, the lonely, and the plain weird. But all spies crave undetected influence, that secret compensation: the ruthless exercise of private power. A degree of intellectual snobbery is common to most, the secret sense of knowing important things unknown to the person standing next to you at the bus stop. In part, spying is an act of the imagination.”
• “We are politicians. We are soldiers. And, above all, we are actors on a wonderful stage. I cannot think of a better business than the intelligence business.”

And as always, I would like to add these to my writing and speaking vocabulary.

• avuncular – regarded as characteristic of an uncle, especially in benevolence or tolerance.
• philistinism – a materialistic attitude accompanied by ignorance of artistic or cultural matters
• unctuous – excessively ingratiating or insincerely earnest.

I took the photo above yesterday of the former KGB office here in Tashkent. It is now up for sale and developers are eying to turn it into residential apartments or a shopping mall. I toured the former KGB office in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2011.

SPOILER ALERT

Gordievsky did escape but decided to do without his family. He felt his wife was a committed Soviet citizen and would report him to officials and it would have been difficult to escape in a trunk of a car with is two young girls. They were separated for six years and it eventually led to a divorce. In my opinion, I would choose my family over ideology and although his information did help the UK/US and may have sped up the end of the Cold War a bit, the USSR was not sustainable and ended 4 years after Oleg defected. The government lost the revolutionary fervor of the Bolsheviks over the century, which I also am seeing in Cuba and in some part, China today. The leaders of revolutions get old and retire and new people come into power.

I asked ChatGPT to write a book review and this is what is came up with.

Spy and a Traitor by Ben Mcintyre is a thrilling and well-researched book that tells the true story of Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB colonel who became a double agent for the British during the height of the Cold War.

The book is a page-turner from start to finish, as Mcintyre weaves together the complex and dangerous world of espionage with the personal story of Gordievsky’s motivations and actions. It’s hard to believe that this story is true, but Mcintyre’s extensive research and access to primary sources makes it all the more compelling.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the book is the portrayal of the inner workings of the KGB and the intense loyalty that was expected from its agents. It’s a testament to Gordievsky’s character that he was able to overcome this loyalty and risk his life to work against the KGB and the Soviet Union.

Overall, Spy and a Traitor is a must-read for fans of espionage and Cold War history. It’s a gripping and informative look at a little-known piece of history that has had significant consequences for the world we live in today.

I was looking forward to the Winter Break to exercise more but on the first day of the holidays, my right calf tightened after a run in the park. Yesterday, I ran 7 kilometers in the morning and it did tighten again, but not to the extent two weeks ago. I think I’ll be able to run again. I am not sure what is causing this, although I suspect it is my inflexibility as I age. To combat this, I started Travis Eliot’s 30 for 30 Yoga. A friend recommended I try his workout and it has been so helpful for me. It is one of my top health priorities to increase my flexibility. Eliot puts us through a variety of poses and every workout has a different focus. I feel better, younger, and more flexible. Not only does it help with my body, but it also is a great stress reducer. I highly recommend yoga practices to anyone in their 50s.

My calves tightened even more in the afternoon when I took Obi for a walk. It was a beautiful day and I took some photos of architecture in Tashkent. Since getting a dog, I walk daily and often visit different parts of the city. It is Obi’s highlight of the day and I enjoy it too.

As you can see in the photo above, the Intercontinental Hotel is opening on April 1, 2023. It joins the Hyatt and Hilton as large “luxury” hotel chains in Tashkent. The building is under construction and is located very close to the Hyatt, Wyndham and City Palace hotels a block away from Amir Temur Square.

It was wonderful to have a house full of family and friends on Christmas Day. My brother and my sister-in-law are visiting from Chicago. My brother Andy came through with some nice gifts for the kids on Christmas morning. Nadia ordered us matching pajamas for the annual photo in front of the tree. I cherish the moments when our three children are together. My son Owen is visiting during his break from his university studies. They really have grown up and it is fascinating to see how they interact with each other. I hope they stay close their entire lives. 

We invited friends over to celebrate Christmas Dinner with us last night. Nadia made chicken paprikash, her Bolivian Christmas corn and cheese salad, and delicious egg nog. I like listening to Christmas music because it reminds me of growing up in the 1970s and 1980s in Caspian with my parents and brothers. We always had plenty of snow and it was a vibrant, small town with St. Cecilia’s Church and the Caspian Community Center as community gathering points. I also remember the Christmas parties the Heikkila family used to host at my grandparents’ house in Caspian. I miss my parents and would love to go back in time and experience Christmas again as a child.

I felt we were creating our own memories for our family. It will be interesting to hear from the kids what they remember about the holidays.  We moved around the world and spent Christmas in other places as well during the Winter Breaks from school.

In the afternoon I took Obi for a long walk in and around Milly Bog (Navoi National Park). It was a beautiful, sunny day although in the shade it was still bitter cold. Christmas is not celebrated here in Uzbekistan and it was a normal Sunday for Uzbeks. They do celebrate New Year’s and official holidays are December 31 through January 3. 

We spent the day in the mountains of the Ugam-Chatkal National Park. The views are always breathtaking and the fresh air and mountain peaks always recharge my soul. As you can see above, it was cold and the overlook of the Charvak Reservoir was chilly. We had lunch at one of the restaurants at Amirsoy Resort. Owen, Oliver and I did some skiing and snowboarding in the afternoon. It has not snowed in awhile so it was quite icy and tough to turn, especially on the upper courses. I took Oliver’s pass and skis and practiced my turning on the lower courses of Oscar. It was great to get out into the fresh air.

We had a lot of fun in the evening. I made “Rock and Roll” grilled cheese sandwiches and we hung out with the kids. Teenagers are up to date with music so they helped me with my playlist. I added the Arctic Monkeys and Beabadoobee to my Winter 2022-2023 Spotify Playlist. Andy takes after my dad and can fix anything so he caulked one of the showers to stop it from leaking. The other interesting occurance was the sandwich maker and toaster both burned out yesterday. We replaced them at Texnomart today.

Today, New Years Eve, I escorted my brother and my sister-in-law to the airport. I was sad to see them go and I appreciated them coming to visit us. It was delightful to have them here for Christmas and I wish they could have stayed longer. We live close to the airport and it was not very crowded in the check-in line.

The best aspect of breaks is time! I have time to connect with my family and think about things other than school. I can exercise more, take care of family finances, spend more time with the kids and my wife, etc. As a school leader, I do need to check in with work-related issues daily, but I have more time for relaxation and family and less time devoted to leading the school. Next week I’ll shift a bit more to school, but for this week I’ve been focusing on recharging my soul.

On our way back from Samarkand, my brother Andy described the landscape perfectly, “post-apocalypse Wisconsin”. We are from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan which is mostly woods and when we drove south to Green Bay or Madison the forests gave way to farmland. The condition of the roads here are rougher than in Wisconsin and the farmhouses are much humbler, hence, the post-apocalypse Wisconsin. Most of the drive goes through agricultural fields but there is a hilly section about 3 hours outside of Tashkent. Andy and I stopped and went for a hike on a section of this journey that was hilly. We could see the white-capped peaks of the Zaamin range in the distance and the foothills reached the main highway between Samarkand and Tashkent. The endless barren rolling hills and gray skies were beautiful and it made for a nice respite from the road. I really wanted to continue walking. It looked like a scene from the Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones and I was waiting for an army to ride up over the next ridge. The hills went on for a long time. I will return with my gravel bike in the spring, but it is a 3-hour drive from Tashkent.

We have been showing Andy and Chantal the best of Tashkent. This included an obligatory trip to Black Star Burger, the Russian fast-food chain owned by rapper “Timati”. He is a Tartar not African and adopted many of the hip-hop music, dress, and video styles for success in the Russian music market. As you can see in the video below, “Road to the Airport” from 2017, he promotes luxury, flashes spending, treats women badly, and copies US hip-hop/pop music.

The burgers are actually pretty good and the novelty is patrons receive black latex gloves to eat their burgers. The burgers have an excess of oil so they are needed.

We also introduced them to Kanishka, the Uzbek leather and clothing store. We discovered another store in the basement of an old Soviet era apartment block. The designers do such a good job of making combining the Soviet esthetic with Western pop culture. They also do this with their stores as you can see in the photo below.

It is nice to have visitors because it turns us into local tourists. We wanted to show my brother Andy and his wife Chantal the famous Tashkent Metro subway system. I am embarrassed that I have not seen any of the stations.

The subway system and stations were very important to the Soviet government. Stalin wanted beautiful underground train stations to celebrate Soviet values and transport workers cheaply and efficiently. The Moscow system was the first and is an architectural and artistic gem. He decided that any city over 1 million people would have a similar system and Tashkent, fortunately, was one of the cities. It was completed in 1977 and every station has a theme that combined Soviet values and Uzbek culture.

We visited 3 stations today and I will certainly visit more to photograph them. The first station was Kosmonavtlar (above), a celebration of the Soviet space program. The attention to detail in the design and materials, the lighting, and the lack of graffiti and advertising made it visually stunning. The trains were full today, Thursday, around 12:00 noon. The Pakhtakor (Grower) station near the soccer stadium has a cotton industry theme as you can see below in the mosaic.

The final station we visited was “Alisher Navoi”, the 15th-century poet, thinker, and statesman. The stations look more like cathedrals than train stations.

Samarkand is one of those exotic names like Babylon, Rome, Carthage, Athens, etc. that ring throughout history. It is one of the three famous Silk Road cities in Uzbekistan and the closest to Tashkent. I am always amazed at visiting places that have such an ancient history. It was captured by Persian King, Cyrus the Great in 550 BC, and Alexander the Great conquered the city in 329 BC. It reached its zenith over 600 years under the reign of Tamerlane, or Timur as he is known here in Uzbekistan from 1360 – 1405. Tamerlane should be more well known in the West as he was the last of the Tartar/Mongolian warriors that basically conquered a land territory ranging from Europe to China. I liked how the Syrian historian Ahmed ibn Arabshah described Timur after he destroyed Damascus, “This Bastard to Lay Waste Azerbaijan and Irak” and he referred to him as “satan” “demon”, “viper”, “despot” and “wicked fool”. Arabshah was right in many ways, Timur and his armies probably killed and enslaved more people than Hitler and Stalin combined. But this happened such a long time ago that today, he is revered as a great leader here in Uzbekistan. The Western name, Tamerlane, comes from “Timur The Lame” which alludes to his arm and leg being crippled during battle.

Samarkand was the capital of his empire and he turned it into the greatest Islamic city of its time. He enslaved artisans, architects, artists, gardeners, etc. to make the city full of huge mosques, madrassas, palaces, lavish gardens, etc. Visiting the city in 2022, 617 years after his death, some of this grandeur still exists, but it would have been awesome to travel back in time and see it then.

We toured the final project he completed before his death, the Bibi Hanum Mosque. The mosque was restored at various times in the past 600 years as it fell into disrepair shortly after Timur died. Besides the size, it is the artistic touch, the Timurid architectural style, that used turquoise (the color of the Turks) shapes and patterns that make it unique and breathtaking. I learned about Kufic script, an ancient Arabic font that you can see in the many buildings in Samarkand. We stayed at the Bibi Hanum Hotel and the first photo below of the dome is taken from our room.

We had a relaxing visit showing my brother and sister-in-law around this beautiful, desert city. Of course we needed to see the famous Registan (sandy place in Persian). This is a central plaza with madrassas (Islamic schools) on three sides that were built after Timur’s death by succeeding Khans. Andy is a coin collector and bought some cool coins from the 1800s and 1700s Russian empire at one of the shops in the Registan. We ate at our favorite restaurant in the city, Platan and had an early night due to their jet lag. We bought some of the famous Samarkand bread at the market.

I highly recommend reading historian Justin Marozzi’s chapter on the city in his book, “Islamic Empires: 15 Cities That Define a Civilization” is an excellent read to understand Timur and his place in history. The chapter on Doha and Dubai really helped me get a better understanding of those cities and I hope to visit other cities featured in his book someday.