Bill's Blog

It was such a nice start to Winter Break yesterday. In the morning, we made a big pancake breakfast for Oliver and his friends who slept over the house. I love a house full of young people and seeing my children developing strong friendships. In the afternoon, Owen and I went for a bike ride along the canal. It was an extremely clear, blue-sky sunny day with comfortable temperatures. We could bike without gloves and a jacket which is unusual for late December. It became cloudy in the late afternoon. Today I see the forecast is for temps in the high 40s with rain coming in the afternoon. 😦

Nadia hosted a gingerbread cookie-making afternoon and I ate too many cookies. Ocean loves doing crafts and baking and decorating the cookies was right up her alley. She, unfortunately, fell today on the steps of the clinic while getting her booster shot. She injured her knee and was limping around yesterday.. I hope it is not too serious.

I think at international school educators and leaders were looking forward to Friday, December 17. International schools have a longer Christmas/New Year’s break than national schools and December 17 was the day for many international schools that marked the last day of school. This is so families have enough time to return to their home countries which involve international travel. COVID has complicated travel with border closures, quarantines, fewer scheduled flights and the possibility always of not passing a PCR test and being stuck abroad. For some countries like China, international school educators basically have been stuck in the country for two years now. They can leave, but they are not sure if they can return. We’ve been fortunate in Uzbekistan with mostly open borders and light or no quarantine measures. Many friends have successfully gone home and back. However, sometimes it depends on the situation in their home countries. We have 24 days of Winter Break starting from today, December 18, until we come back on Monday, January 10. I will be working throughout the break, but with flexible hours scheduled around family time.

The big news this week was the arrival of our eldest son Owen. He flew from Marquette, Michigan, transiting through Chicago and Istanbul to land in Tashkent early Tuesday (3:00 AM). It was a milestone for Nadia and me as parents, the first time one of our children returns from university. The advent of the internet has changed communication since I left my home for university. We were able to talk to Owen almost every day or at least text with him over our family Telegram group. He has been recovering over jet lag this week and enjoying being spoiled by mom.

My biggest joy in life right now is spending time with my family. It is such a perk to work in education and have your children attend the same school. We are forming a varsity “B” team to develop some of the grade 10 players and it gives me the opportunity to coach Oliver. I am working on his fundamentals. He has a pretty good instinct for the game having played a lot of soccer and he is fast, aggressive and strong which makes him a pretty good player. He needs to add the basic fundamentals of basketball (shooting form, footwork, boxing out, pivoting, etc.) to really make a difference on the varsity team over the next two years.

I also got to chaperone the grade 10 students on their first field trip in 2 years! We took the kids to Joy Bowling Club and everyone had a good time. Tashkent is really inexpensive and we had to laugh to rent about 10 lanes for an hour and shoes, it only cost $60. Bowling is a fun winter family activity and I’ll be taking the family a couple of times during this break. Oliver scored 126 and that was your high score ever! He finished third overall, only being defeated by two teacher-chaperones. Hugo claims it is a “fluke” but we’ll see when we hold the Christmas Tournament.

To end this blog post, I am always looking for those small moments in life that often get overlooked. Earlier this week I was working in the spare bedroom and it was getting late and I laid down for a bit. I was joined by my daughter Ocean who came in to say good night and our dog Obi was nestled at our feet. It gave me a feeling of comfort and completeness, listening to my daughter’s breathing and have Obi sitting on my feet.

The highlight of the weekend was my daughter starting her basketball season. At our school, there are teams for middle school (grades 6-7), junior varsity (grades 8-9) and varsity (grades 10-12). Ocean is one of the top players on her junior varsity team. They opened the season with a pair of exhibition games against local schools They lost both games but in the second game, Ocean scored 2 baskets and a free throw. Oliver didn’t make the Varsity A team, but we are having a developmental squad Varsity B and hope to get some games this season as well.

Friday night I had a board dinner at the chair’s home which was really nice. On Saturday we had the big New Years’ party for all faculty. We rented Retro Milly restaurant for ourselves. Everyone had a good time with an entertainer MC and two singers. We found time to walk Obi in the afternoon. Nadia is shown in front of the Sacred Heart Cathedral (Polish church) and we took a selfie at the party.

Wednesday December 8 was a national holiday in Uzbekistan. Uzbeks recognize the anniversary of the completion of the constitution. The mid-week break was nice and I took advantage of the day to spend some much-needed time reconnecting with my wife and getting started on our Christmas shopping. We were impressed with the development of Shevchenko Street near the city center. There are loads of new restaurants, cafes, shops and businesses that make it quite a pleasant experience. We ate lunch as Socials, stopped for coffee at Tim’s and did some shopping at a variety of stores on the street and around the city. The Samarkand Darvoza, a large mall, was starting to put up the giant New Year’s tree (Uzbeks don’t use the word Christmas and call it New Year) even though they have all of the symbols of the secular aspects of Christmas.

One of the challenges of living in Tashkent is the poor and unsafe driving of the majority of drivers. I made a little hobby of photographing the traffic accidents, most occurring in the large, disorganized intersections. It seems like almost every day I encounter accidents when I am driving around.

We all had a laugh on Wednesday night. We sold our basketball hoop to friends because students at the nearby school are hanging out in front of our house and there is too much litter and noise. For the first couple of years here, the hoop was used by the mahalla kids and much appreciated. But lately, students from School 175 which is close by to our house, come over and play after school and during breaks. Anyway, we removed the hoop and stand from our front verge and were trying to figure out how to move it to our friend’s house. I then remembered Yandex (the Uber of Uzbekistan) has cargo trucks that you can call at a moments notice. So as you can see, within a few minutes, a truck came to our home and we were able to load it and take it away. The service cost $12, which is quite the reasonable cost. I wonder if Uber has cargo service.

I love having a dog, especially one as active and cariñoso as Obi. One of the big benefits of having a dog is that it gets me out walking every day. It doesn’t matter what the weather, Obi always wants to go out and when he gives me those eyes and posters me enough, even though I might not feel like it, I end up taking him out. I wonder how many extra kilometers I’ve put in over a year. It also gives me the chance to explore the city and see things that I normally would not.

One of my favorite buildings in Tashkent is the former Lenin Museum which is today called the State History Museum of Uzbekistan. I have never gone inside, which I have to do, but the architecture is fabulous. It has elements of the classic Soviet Brutalist style, lots of concrete and geometric shapes. The architect did pay homage to the culture of Central Asia and included pandzharas which are lattice works traditionally put on mosques and other buildings to regulate heat by providing shade and openings for breezes and including beautiful decorative patterns. I like how city officials are highlighting this with the night lighting. I noticed on one side they have an art gallery which was open. I loved finding these old postcards of the building when it was part of the USSR on this website. I also learned that there was an Uzbek SSR flag. The red represents the “revolutionary struggle of the working masses” and the white stripes cotton and the blue stripe the Amu Dayra and irrigation.

I often run or walk along the Ankhor Canal and see a group playing badminton. The weather has been so warm lately that people are still playing in the evenings in December.

Nadia hosted a Christmas Cookie exchange last night at our house. I was running around the city on Friday and Saturday picking up supplies for the event including spices and honey for the mulled wine. The Mirabod Bazaar always has a wide selection of these things and I think to myself the many years markets were set up in Uzbekistan selling to travelers on the Silk Road. The Uzbeks love Christmas and of course, there was a big tree at the entrance to the bazaar.

The Tashkent International School Cross Country Team finished the season yesterday at the Tashkent Botanical Gardens. We invited two local public schools and two international schools to compete. It was our first in-person meet in 24 months due to the pandemic. I really enjoyed coaching the team this year as I needed to get back into distance running. So for me personally, it forced me to run three times per week. It was also satisfying to see the growth of the students as they pushed themselves. Oliver and Ocean came to the competitions and some of the practices and I hope to get both of them to run more next year. Ocean placed second in the middle school girls’ race and Oliver finished in the middle of the pack of the high school boys.

It was a nice Sunday as I tried to spend as much time with the family as possible. Oliver, Ocean and I visited the recently opened Depo Mall in the south western part of Tashkent. It is the largest mall yet in the city and from the outside, looked like America which pleased Oliver. Most of the stores have not opened yet and many looked like they were looking for occupants. We splurged in the evening and ordered a Sushi Time meal. Nadia’s back is bothering her again and we were trying to cheer her up.

We talked with Owen this morning. He is visiting my Uncle Jack in Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving and will go to NYC to visit friends. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving this week! I put together this video of the race featuring highlights of Oliver and Ocean.

The weeks are flying by as we are heading towards December and Winter Break. Nadia caught a bad cold/flu this week and combined with hurting her back, she was in rough shape. Our dog Obi also had some stomach trouble which warranted a trip to the vet. Dr. Ksenija’s office is always busy as she is an excellent doctor. Obi received some medicine and an IV to replace fluids. Ocean was so patient with the little guy…

The bonus of the snowfall on Wednesday is that it cleared the air from the dust storm earlier in the month. I snapped the photo below from our balcony and it was good to see clear skies again. Mornings have been between -5 and -8 C but it warms up during the day. It is -3 as I write this at 7:00 AM.

I always get excited at the first snowfall of the year! It started snowing during our cross country running practice before school and continued to about noon. We finished with 4 inches (12cm) of snow for the day. It was wet, heavy snow and combined with many leaves still being on trees in mid-November, branches all over the city, including our campus fell. The students loved playing in the snow, especially those from tropical countries or expatriates coming from the tropics. I made an announcement warning people to be careful under the trees on our campus.

Snow makes the city look better and it is sticking around with cool temperatures all week. Climate change is affecting Tashkent’s weather with less snow and rain and hotter temperatures throughout the year. I don’t like these long-term trends and for now, it is OK, but I worry about what the city’s climate will be 10-20 years in the future. With increasing air pollution, excessive water use (irrigation, faulty canal system) and deforestation, trends are for a lower quality of life unless officials take steps to rectify the situation.

Oliver finished his soccer season this past weekend. Our school hosted the tournament with the top four teams from the city league playing. Ollie’s team lost the semifinals 1-2 to put them in Sunday’s consolation (third-place) game. They defeated Westminster International School 2-0. I put together a video of Ollie’s play above. He ended up enjoying the experience and improved through the year. He even scored a goal and played both defense and striker. His strengths are his effort, coachability and physical presence. He needs to work on his foot skills and understanding the game more.

The weather is turning cooler and snow is expected this week. After last week’s dust storm and this week’s cold front, it feels like winter is almost here. The last of the autumn colors are showing. Yesterday we had a cross country running training at the Tashkent Botanical Gardens and it was quite beautiful with the setting sun. We are getting close to the winter solstice with sunrise at 7:12 AM today and sunset at 5:02 PM. I forgot how nice the gardens are and I wish Tashkent had more areas with trees and wilderness.

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Earlier this autumn I visited the Carlsberg Uzbekistan Brewery. Carlsberg is one of the largest beer companies in the world. They were founded in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1847 and have become a multinational corporation. They own some beers I am familiar with including Lav of Serbia and the Russian Baltika and the international Tuborg. They came to Uzbekistan over 10 years ago and produce Sarbast here in Uzbekistan. The Uzbek government uses this strategy to develop industries. They make a deal with an international company that brings the expertise and equipment and uses the relationship to develop local capacity. You can see this with General Motors Chevrolet and other companies.

We walked above the factory floor as you can see in the photos above. I am always impressed with the distinct pieces of machinery that are necessary for assembly line production. There were a few workers monitoring the process, making sure the bottles kept moving. It was loud and we wore headphones. After viewing the factory floor, we had a reception in a conference room followed by dinner in their outdoor beer garden. The food and beer were delicious and we enjoyed a karaoke competition. I highly recommend during the warmer months in Tashkent to make dinner reservations for a fun-filled evening. I was impressed by the professionalism and attention to detail by management.

I particularly like the Sarbast Unfiltered. It is a pilsner-style, lighter beer and the unfiltered aspect gives it a richer taste. I also sampled some others and liked the Baltika Zero shandy. This is a non-alcoholic fruity beer that is also light and has a subtle sweetness. Sarbast translates from Uzbek to “free” in English.