Bill's Blog

I had a really nice autumn Saturday! As I am getting older, I appreciate the smaller things in life and my highlight was cooking breakfast for my son Oliver. I made my specialty, bacon and eggs. He has a soccer tournament this weekend and GAMEDAY in the Kralovec house is always a special event. My parents used to make us a hearty breakfast on the day we had a game. I continue that tradition. Oliver’s friend Hugo slept over. It was appropriate that the USA versus Mexico World Cup Qualifying match was on ESPN and the USA won 2-0. Oliver’s team lost 1-2 in the semifinals this morning and will be playing in the third-place game tomorrow. Unfortunately, I was interviewing teacher candidates for a job fair during the game and missed it. Ocean and I did watch the girls soccer game. Tomorrow, I’ll post plenty of videos and photos of Oliver’s game. This is the final tourney of the season as there are no international tournaments this year due to COVID. We are fortunate to play interscholastic sports however within the city, which has been awesome!

I went for my first bike ride in Tashkent since I was struck by a car in June. I rode along the canals because I promised Nadia I would not ride in the city streets anymore. Did 14 kilometers up and down the canal which felt great. As you can see, winter is coming and much of the leaves have fallen. It is supposed to snow on Thursday. On my walk Thursday night with Obi, I saw that the Istiquol Palace was lit up and there was a concert or something going on inside. I love the Soviet brutalist architecture and hope city officials preserve these unusual buildings.

We had such a delightful time this weekend participating in the Samarkand Half Marathon races. Unfortunately, Ocean awoke on Sunday with a headache so she couldn’t run. Nadia and I ran the 10-kilometer race together. This was her first time in two years she ran this distance. We finished in just over 1 hour, but the important thing was she did it. There were probably 2,000 runners in the event and the race was well organized. The 10K course was a full loop with several challenging long, gradually sloping hills. The course went by the famous Registan, and other sites including ancient ruins, mausoleums and mosques.

We had quite a few teachers, students and parents from TIS running in the race. I noticed several corporate sponsors sent teams and we will definitely have more of a presence at the event next year. The temperature was actually perfect to run in and it was nice to be out of the dust cloud for a while. The medals were well-designed with the three dots representing Tamerlane’s (Timur) continents that he conquered (Africa, Asia, Europe). Samarkand was the crown jewel in Timur’s empire.

Our hotel was next to one of the mosques Timur commissioned. His Chinese wife, Bibi Khanum, was the project manager of the construction of the mosque while he was away conquering more land. Legend has it she had an affair with the architect and when Timur found out upon his return, executed the guy and decreed women needed to cover to avoid tempting men. We took some selfies with locals as they were excited to see foreigners back in Samarkand. There were large crowds, but with all of the events taking place outdoors, it was much safer from the threat of the coronavirus.

We were all surprised by the dust storm that arrived in Tashkent on Thursday evening. Usually, we get a notice through government authorities via SMS or the news organizations on Telegram. I think because it was such a rare and unusual meteorological event, we only heard about a cold front coming from Kazakhstan. As described in this Eurasia.net article, the cold air mass caused a temperature inversion. The dirt and dust particles picked up by the high winds did not settle back to the ground and instead, stayed in the atmosphere and finally settled over the city of Tashkent.

 

My air quality monitors were off the charts and the air filters in our home and school were working overtime. As you can see on the surface of our car, everything was covered in dust and the air remained hazy all day Friday and Saturday. We drove south to Samarkand on Saturday morning and it was not until we were 200 kilometers away, that we were out of the dust cloud. This was a rare event, but I do see air pollution being a greater concern in Tashkent and in Central Asia in general. The main causes I think are increased automobile use and construction sites due to the booming economy, the use of coal-fired power plants and climate change causing a drier climate. I see that environmental concerns were first and foremost in President Mirziyoyev’s inauguration speech yesterday, so hopefully actions will be taken to address the problem. 

We had a nice day yesterday driving to Samarkand and settling into the hotel for the 10-kilometer race. Samarkand is one of the ancient cities of the Silk Road and a popular tourist attraction in Uzbekistan. The 4-hour drive was uneventful, thankfully, and the 4-lane highway, despite being uneven in sections, made for good driving. We checked into the hotel and registered for the race, taking in the awesome Registan. There were many people in the city for the race, which is probably welcomed by tour operators here who are recovering from closed borders caused by the pandemic. I noticed French and Russian tourists here in pretty good numbers.

We had a nice dinner with TIS friends at the Palatan Hotel. My lamb and grilled vegetables were of gourmet quality. We are staying at a small hotel next to the BibiKhanum Mosque. Although Samarkand escaped the dust storm, it did not escape the cold front with a temperature of -1C as I write this at 7:00 AM. It will get up to 3C by race time…

We are on Fall Break this week and I took the weekend finish some school projects and catchup with email. We had a really nice final week of school before the vacation. Oliver scored his first goal on Tuesday against Westminster International School in Tashkent as you can see in the video above. He always gives a full effort and listens to the coaches and is earning more playing time. Oliver also grew this autumn and has thinned out, losing his baby fat. Being on the soccer team helps and their team is now 2-1 on the season.

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We drag Ocean to cross country running training as often as possible. She prefers to stay home and play video games and do art instead of sports. She is such a gifted athlete, I hope she catches the enthusiasm to do more sports. I also guilt her into spending time with me and walk with Obi.

The autumn colors are coming out in the city. Like Europe, they are mostly yellow and orange. I miss the reds of North America and Japan. The days have been lovely with warm afternoons, bright sunshine and blue skies. It lifts one mood to be outdoors on days like these.

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I had a couple of Uzbek moments in the past couple of weeks. The first was meeting Ukrainian rap star, Geegun. Nadia and I stayed at the Hilton a couple of weeks ago for a Sunday get-away and I got into the elevator. Geegun was inside with his entourage. All of them kind of looked like him, with beards, shaved heads and dressed like professional entertainers. As the elevator was going up, I heard a loud fart from one of his party. A few seconds later I heard another fart. As the elevators were opening, I turned to them and said, “thank god for the COVID mask I am wearing”. The guys burst out laughing and slapped my back and said America is the best.

Yesterday Ocean and I were relaxing in the living room when we heard the front door bell ring. Three guys showed up with a sheet that had a list of names from the neighborhood and their water bills. I asked where their uniforms were and if they were really from the water company and the guy went into his car and got his water company jacket. After some more discussion, I eventually paid the bill via PayMe, a digital payment system that one can use on their phone. Utilities have a long way to go here as they do not check the water meter but somehow come up with amounts. I imagine they are losing a lot of money and the actual water usage in Tashkent is much higher than we they charge. In a desert country, this will eventually have to change. It is just there is a lack of rule-of-law Uzbekistan in many ways and things such paying taxes and utilities have no transparent process. I think they will eventually get there but it will take time.

Finally, Nadia and I had a special evening at the German Ambassador’s Residence last week. He invited a small group of people who helped with his transition to Tashkent. Ambassador Klinner and his lovely wife Lyubow were gracious hosts. The residence was fabulous, a historic mansion in the north part of the city. Lyubow has excellent taste and the home is spectacular. I felt like we were dining at the White House. The seven-course dinner was quite the experience.

I took Ocean to a reception at the Radisson Blu Hotel for Czech Statehood Day (September 28). The date also marks the feast day of the legendary Bohemian king, Wenceslas. It was hosted by the Czech Embassy here in Tashkent and I receive a lot of invitations to go to these events. The Kralovec family is descended from Bohemian ancestors and my great-grandfather immigrated to America in 1888. It was nice to learn some Czech history, meet some people and most importantly, spend time with my lovely daughter.

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After the reception, we took Obi for a walk in a nearby park near the Tashkent Tower. September evenings are perfect in Tashkent. The park straddles the canal and has a beautiful dome structure to commemorate the victims from World War II. Ocean is so funny and a sweet girl and it was nice to spend the evening with her.

Ocean turned 14 years old last weekend. She invited friends for a sleepover on Saturday and we had a little ceremony on Sunday evening. I was the family Uber driver, shuttling kids around the city. I don’t mind this as it is an opportunity to talk with them and spend time with them. With teenagers, parents need to take what they can get.

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It was a special Saturday for me because for the first time in a long time, I was able to watch one of my children compete in an interscholastic sports event. Due to COVID, we did not have interscholastic sports last year. This year with all of the employees with vaccinations and many of our parents, we are going ahead and offering games within Tashkent. We are still not competing internationally, but it is really nice to have other schools come to play against our students. TIS students also played for the first time on our artificial grass field. Everyone was excited for sports to be back!

Oliver played in the second game of the day as he did not make the varsity A squad. In Central Asia due to the size of schools, we only play 7 aside soccer instead of the full 11. The Varsity A won the first game 4-1 and Oliver’s team lost 1-2. Oliver plays center back on defense. He is still learning the game, especially at the higher level of high school.

September is a month of beautiful weather in Tashkent with warm, sunny days and cool, star-filled nights. Every Saturday morning I lead a training run of the cross country teams. After the run, we usually go to breakfast at Breadly, a nice cafe and bakery with three stores in the city. I loved talking with my wife and daughter who ran with us. She will be one of the top runners on the middle school girls’ team this year.

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It is fascinating to see how Uzbek culture will develop after so many years in the Russian sphere of influence. The Russians have been in Central Asia since the mid-1800s and Uzbekistan has been independent for only 30 years. I am keeping my eye on the slow rise of Islam. The first president of Uzbekistan followed the Soviet model and suppressed expression of religion. The new president is allowing more freedoms, including in the religious sphere. I saw the other day that girls can legally wear headscarves to school. I live in the more Russian side of the city so don’t see many covered women in my neighborhood. However, when I walk my dog near the Samarquand Darvoza, I see many more as you can see in the photos above. I would estimate maybe a 1/4 or 1/3 of women cover their hair. The contrast between secular styles of dress and religious dress is stark, as you can see with the two women waiting for a taxi in the third photo. There are also many mosques being built or renovated around the city. I wonder what it will be like here over the next 20-30 years?

I finish this post with the pop-up stores that appear all over the city. The guy below just parks his Damas under a tree, sets out his groceries and starts to try to make sales, almost like a kids lemonade stand in the USA. I would love to know the economics of these vendors that do not have official stalls in the neighborhood markets and do not have buildings to sell their goods.

My heart was filled with joy watching my son Oliver play soccer this week at practice. Our school is re-starting the interscholastic sports program. We shut things down in March of 2020 right after the basketball season and all last year had limited sports offerings. I forgot how moving it is for a parent to watch their child play a team sport. Oliver made the varsity team as a 10th grader! His strengths are he is a tough, physical defender, good stamina and strong legs. He is still learning football tactics and I look forward to this season to see how he develops as a player. I’ll be blogging a lot about the team this autumn!

I am fascinated by driving culture in Tashkent, or I should say the lack of driving culture in Tashkent. In the USSR and under the first Uzbek president Karimov, few Uzbeks owned cars and there really is a lack of understanding of the dangers of driving. Men are so proud of their ability to own a Chevrolet Spark or Matiz and they act like they are in the Fast and Furious series, racing recklessly around the city. Many cars move as unsafe speeds and their lane changes are haphazard. Intersections especially are dangerous, with cars speeding through yellow/red lights and multiple lanes of cars attempting to make left turns. There is a lot of education and enforcement of traffic laws that needs to happen before Tashkent can be a safe place to drive. One executive of a foreign auto company here in Uzbekistan told me that their employees are not allowed to drive and must have drivers because the high risk of accidents. It is the most dangerous thing about living in Uzbekistan. I am amazed at the number of collisions and accidents I encounter while driving through the city. Literally, every day, I see the aftermath of a collision.

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My wife Nadia and I are celebrating our 22nd wedding anniversary this weekend. We had a delightful evening by the pool last night with Ocean, Asli and Obi. The weather is cooling down and our plov fire pit is a cozy accompaniment to our nights. We had a nice night together and I am so lucky I met Nadia and she said yes.

Patrick Radden Keefe is an engaging storyteller and I really enjoyed his deep dive into the Sackler family. They are infamous as the owners of Purdue Pharma, the company that made Oxycotin, the addictive opiate that ravaged many American families. Keefe starts with the original three brothers in the 1940s and follows three generations of the family up to the present. I was angered at the greed of the family and their behavior reminded me of the HBO series Succession.

The real genius of the family was Arthur Sackler who ran an advertising agency and started the pharmaceutical advertising industry. His key innovation was to market drugs at physicians. His legacy is the American pharmacuetical industry that generates billions of dollars for “Big Pharma”. He bought Purdue Pharma, a small drug company in Connecticut for his two brothers. The brothers were also big into museums and the arts, and donated millions of dollars to universities and art galleries around the world. Keefe told the fascinating story of the three brothers lives, which included multiple marriages, a world-wide empire of businesses and even their own private warehouse and gallery in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Arthur made the bulk of his fortune through Valium and later generations through Oxycontin. Both drugs caused a lot of tragedy and addiction. The family mostly insulated themselves from the reports of the wave of addiction and death caused by Oxycotin the past 20-30 years. It was sickening to know the billions of dollars the family made off of Oxycontin. The law did finally catch up with them, but not before the family used their vast wealth to buy off the Federal Drug Administration and federal judges to avoid jail. They also took out much of the fortune from Purdue Pharma before it went bankrupt. The penalties the company paid to victims was tiny compared to how much wealth individual families members took away from the company. They should be ashamed at what they did and I don’t understand their greed. No one needs billions of dollars to live a happy and productive life. They are a disgusting family. I am also upset at the FDA that they would approve such a strong opiate. They were bought off and cajoled by the Sackler law team and should be ashamed of themselves as well. For many individuals in positions of power, the lure of immense wealth outweighed their ethics.

The family is shamed and many had to leave America. Many of the institutions they donated to are taking their name off their buildings. However, they should have had to give up the vast fortunes derived from oxycontin and in my opinion, many of them should have served jail time. I guess the lesson is if you have enough money and influence, you can get away with starting an epidemic. I would compare the Sacklers to the cartel families like Pablo Escobar, The Cali Cartel and many of the Mexican drug families. To know that your fortune comes from valium and oxycontin, two drugs that are highly addictive, and be able to live with yourself is reprehensible. I may be easy for me to judge them because I never faced the opportunity of generational wealth to look past the harmful consequences on society.

I highly recommend this book if you want to more about one of the single biggest causes of the opiate epidemic in the USA.