Bill's Blog

It was a quiet Sunday with most of the day taken up with errands. People often litter in Uzbekistan and it is the duty of everyone to keep the front of their home facing the street tidy. I swept the street and sidewalk in front of our home and took out the garbage. I watched some of the NCAA basketball tournament and then Nadia and I went shopping. We stopped at the Mirabad and Alay Bazaars as well as the supermarket Korzinka. The evening was spent unpacking groceries and I also had a Zoom call for an upcoming accreditation visit I am leading in two weeks.

There were some celebrations around the city to mark the start of the Navruz holiday. Mahalla centers and shopping malls had entertainment and festive decorations. At the local Korzinka, they were making sumalak in the parking lot for customers. Sumalak is a traditional holiday dish made from wheat grains. It takes a lot of cooking and stirring to get the sweet-tasting pudding. We made sumalak last March on our trip to Karakalpakstan. This year, I purchased the finished product from the local bazaar and we’ll have some this evening.

The city was also giving out free staple foods like rice, flour and vegetable oil. There were long lines at the market all day long at the market. They must do this for Navruz. Nadia also pointed out while we were at Korzinka that there were Roshen chocolates on the shelves. Roshen is a Ukrainian chocolate company. We like the Roshen wafer creme cookies.

I woke up on Friday, March 18 to falling snowflakes shining under the streetlight outside the window. The snow melted by the afternoon, but it was nice to see the white snow on the trees at school. It was a weak winter here in Tashkent over 2021-2022. It snowed in the city on only 3 occasions that I can recall. I don’t think it snowed in January and February! Snow came once in early November, once on Boxing Day and once on Friday. It made for a short ski season at the Amirsoy Resort. According to historical averages I find, it usually snows 30 times from November to March. I sense from what my friends tell me is that global warming is causing a drier, hotter climate in Tashkent and Uzbekistan.

March is historically the month in Tashkent with the most rainfall and this year is exceptional. It has been raining daily for two weeks now. To the point where last week when we had a couple hours of sunshine, the parks were full of dog walkers because everyone has been stuck in their homes. As you can see in the first photos above, water levels in the canals in the city are high and the water displays a brown color from erosion. It feels more like the UK than the sunshine and dryness of our Mediterranean climate. Our Spring Break started with cold, overcast skies this weekend.

Construction and development in the city continue unabated with a dizzyingly amount of projects taking place. Our neighborhood is no exception with the Onix Group building an office/retail building on Sarikol Street with an apartment complex behind. The good news for us is the first store to open will be a nice coffee shop. Illy Coffee, headquartered in Trieste, Italy, brews an excellent cup of coffee. The founder, Francesco Illy, invented an expresso machine in the 1930s and they continue to have cafes and sell coffee equipment all over the world. There is a bit of animosity between Illy and Starbucks. I prefer Illy coffee to Starbucks regarding coffee quality. We visited Trieste in 2011 and I remember the beauty of the seaside port city.

I always wondered why this line of buses was parked along a road near our house. The mystery was solved by a colleague who used to work at the assembly plant behind the buses. He used to be the head of purchasing for Artel, an appliance manufacturer here in Uzbekistan. The buses are for the plant workers. The factory is located on the site of a former trolley yard and our neighborhood in Mirabad, is close to the city center. Artel buses in employees from outside of Tashkent because people living in the city won’t work for the wages they offer. It is cheaper for the company to bus in people from villages surrounding the city rather than pay higher wages to Tashkenters.

I am using this break to get more active and increase my physical fitness. It is difficult for me to exercise as much as I want in the winter due to the cold weather, darkness and busy school and family life. I cycled along the canal and by the Tashkent TV tower yesterday (23 kilometers) and took the photo of the museum above. I am getting tired of the cold weather as with low temperatures hovering close to OC.

Ocean completed her basketball season which was interrupted by the Omicron variant wave. The girls played a game before Christmas break but then when we got back, cocurricular activities and then school was canceled for two weeks by the government. We were able to come back in early March to finish the truncated season. The school arranged a local tournament last week and Ocean’s team finished third. They were competing against local public schools, some specializing in basketball and sport. Women’s sports in Uzbekistan are not developed as much as in the USA.

I was just happy for her to get a team sports experience and compete against other schools. She is not fanatical about sports as I was, but she is naturally a good athlete. I will continue to encourage her to play. I think she can develop into a strong player and hopefully, she’ll take up my coaching offers to improve her fundamentals. Thanks to Coach Doel for his work with the team. The girls learned a lot.

Oliver is starting his volleyball season and in tryouts this week, he made the “A” Varsity Team. He is really good at volleyball as it is popular in Japanese middle schools. He played on the Sabers team in Osaka. There was also an anime show about a volleyball team that he watched as well. He is a good setter and is fundamentally sound. I can’t wait for the games!

Last Saturday Nadia, Ocean and I finally attended a performance in the Alisher Navoi State Academic Bolshoi Theatre (Navoi Theater). Concerts, plays, lectures, exhibitions, etc. are coming back after COVID caused a limited schedule. Things are back in full swing and probably around 25% of the people were wearing masks. As with most things in Uzbekistan, opera here is so affordable with tickets costing 50,000 UZS ($4.50) each and free parking along the side of the theatre. To my amateur eyes and ears, I thought it was an excellent performance with strong voices, colorful costumes, detailed sets, etc. The only difference from a North American or European performance was all the songs were in Russian.

The theatre is one of the iconic landmarks of Tashkent and I really wanted to see it from the inside. The building was constructed in the aftermath of World War II, starting in 1942 and opening to the public in November 1947. The Soviets named the theatre after the Turkic poet and linguist, Alisher Navoi (1441-1501). They were trying to build up the idea of Uzbek culture and identity while bringing European theatre to Central Asia. I wonder what Navoi, a proponent of Turkic language over the dominant Persian language and culture at the time would think of a building named after him holding Russian language performances. The government included Japanese Prisoners of War in the construction of the theatre and there is a monument to their contribution. It seats 1,400 and it was about 2/3 full on this night. The crowd is definitely laid back and it was easy to take video and photos of the performance. I think that is the way to go in modern times to promote opera with the next generation.

I chose Carmen because it is one of the big three most popular operas. We stayed for the end of the second act to listen to the “hits” Habanero and El Toreador arias. I am not a big fan of opera but for a night out once in a while, it was a pleasurable evening. There is something about seeing a live performance and listening to a live orchestra that cannot be replicated at home. Attending classical music events is like time travel. In the late 19th century, this was their NetFlix and it is fascinating to think that we can experience it today. The plot is a bit cheesy, a soldier leaves the military and drops his girlfriend for Carmen, a “gypsy” woman. The music and costumes make up for it and I was thoroughly entertained.

The culmination of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme for students in grade 10 is the Personal Project. This is a year-long passion project that they work on independently from their regular school work. Oliver has always loved fantasy and gaming and his project was to create three new Pokemon characters. The big skill that he learned was working with the software, Adobe Illustrator. Nadia was a superstar mom, supporting Oliver through this as accompanying the project, the IB requires a reflective journal. I was proud of him and watching him interact with the public during the exhibition on Wednesday evening was a highlight of my week.

Oliver’s three characters were Olov (Uzbek for fire), Elderwing (taken from Norse mythology) and Torrtega. Pokemon characters “evolve” and he designed all three evolutions for the three characters for a total of 9 illustrations. The elementary students loved his projects and his cards quickly were scooped up by the enthusiastic kids.

We’ve had an incredible amount of rain this week. Every day it has rained most of the day and night. It will continue to rain all next week too, with 100% chance on Monday and Tuesday and 80% chance the rest of the week until Saturday. We took advantage of the rain to plant 41 trees on our campus. At every school I’ve worked, I always plant trees and TIS is no exception. Our school is known for our park-like setting and I want to build on that strength. The maintenance crew, led by landscaper David Jacobs and Facilities Manager Rashid Suleymanov, purchased and planted some larger trees to put on the side of campus without many trees. The Tashkent summers are long and hot and the trees will cool that side of the school. I also believe big trees calm people and create a better learning environment. One challenge of so many trees is the upkeep, however. Strong winds came in on Wednesday afternoon and a big branch as you see below, cracked when the tree was twisted. The maintenance crew quickly sealed off the area and on Friday, the area was cleared of branches.

International Women’s Day, March 8 is a big deal in the former Soviet bloc and Eastern Europe. It is a national holiday in many countries including Uzbekistan. The socialist government made a big deal of promoting women in the workforce, one of the good aspects of the USSR. The goal was for women to contribute to the good of society outside of their homes and in factories and the front lines, during World War II and beyond. The day is still recognized, although it has more of a Mother’s Day feel to it with all female employees receiving chocolates and flowers from the company. There are many luncheons and parties held in their honor.

I took Ocean this morning to the Compass Mall to meet a friend to watch Uncharted. She was excited to see Tom Holland star and spend time with her friends. We arrived early and had some time to kill so we posed by the Women’s Day displays in the mall. Later on in the day, handsome male models with red bow ties were available to take photos with any women wanting to do so. Ocean also said there was an entertainment show in the parking lot featuring weight lifting and magic with lots of audience participation.

In the afternoon I interviewed a possible chemistry teacher, helped Oliver set up for the Personal Project and coached basketball practice. Our teams have our season-ending tournament this week so I’ll be blogging about some good old March Madness. Sadly international teams will not be visiting, but we will have teams from the city competing. Overall, a good day mixing family and work!

I saw these cool photos in the Gazette.uz today showing the International Women’s Day celebrations through the years in Uzbekistan.

My friend shared a photo of Oliver during this past weekend’s Model United Nations hosted by the British School of Tashkent. Due to COVID restrictions, spectators were not allowed to attend. I’ll be posting about Oliver Personal Project during his exhibition tomorrow night.

The apricot and cherry trees around the city are in full bloom. The air was full of sweetness as I walked Obi around our neighborhood the past couple of days. The weather has been warm and sunny in the first week of March, but has turned rainy this week. It is still above freezing so it the fruits should be OK as they develop during this month.

Sunday is shopping day and Nadia and I usually go to the Mirabad Bazaar to buy fruits and vegetables. There is a wider selection than what you get in the supermarket and it feels good to support the individuals and small businesses. Every vendor specializes and I wonder what it would be like to sell eggs, or spices, or greens everyday for years. They always seem to have a smile on their faces, so it must be a decent living.

Cocurricular events are back at our school as the Omicron variant wave slowly leaves the city. Oliver had a Model United Nations Conference yesterday at the British School of Tashkent and I was not allowed to enter. It was fun helping him with putting on his suit and tie and prepping him for the topics they would be discussing. One of the issues was HIV in the developing world and having lived through the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, I could give him perspective and context.

Ocean’s junior varsity (grade 8 and 9) team played a local school team in our gym. I could see the girls’ fitness levels have been impacted by the pandemic. Ocean needed to take breaks during the game. The school cafeteria has an excellent expresso coffee machine and it was just so nice to connect with other parents again in person. The city dropped all COVID risk mitigation measures and at school, we are lowering some of them as well. Often I give a short video for the community instead of a letter because people find it more entertaining and memorable. Much of my time this week at school was getting the building construction started.

Obi continues to bring us joy and entertainment. We all love having a dog and Obi connects us with each other. Yesterday he fell asleep on Nadia’s lap and it was so funny!

Nadia and I had a really nice social weekend. It started with a Shabbat dinner with our Israeli friends. We laughed a lot and even sang karaoke after a delicious meal! On Saturday we had a glass of wine with one of our Dutch friends. That is one of the nicest aspects of international expatriate life is we make friends with people all over the world.

I visited Akfa University, a new private institution of higher learning in Tashkent last week. Akfa is a large manufacturing company here in Uzbekistan and they produce a wide range of products from building materials to heating, pharmaceuticals and cooling systems. Taking a tour of their massive campus located across from the future international airport, it is obvious they have lots of funding. They are starting with 1,000 students and all programs are in English. They have a school of medicine, business, etc. and most importantly for me and why I was visiting, was their College of Education. They have a bachelor’s degree program in English Language Teaching. I was most surprised that all of the classes are in English which is an indication of the future of Uzbekistan, joining the world economy and leaving the Russian sphere of influence. Their goal is 10,000 students and they are already recruiting internationally and have dormitories. This is one of several universities that are expanding in the city including Webster, Westminster, Amity, etc. I hope there are jobs and careers waiting for these young people upon graduation and that will be the challenge of the government.

It was a gorgeous day with warm temperatures and blue skies on Saturday. I walked Obi in the morning and made a point to check out the Ukrainian Embassy in Tashkent. The embassy is located near others so I am not sure if there was an increased police presence or not, but on a Saturday morning, it was pretty quiet. I furtively snapped a couple of photos. It is an uneasy time in Eastern Europe because of Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. Uzbekistan is a long way from the fighting but as a former Soviet Republic, it is in the news here. Most Uzbeks are generally pro-Russian and they connect Russia with quality, whether it is in schools, consumer products and services. This is much different than the rest of the world. Russian is still the main language in Tashkent, at least for now. The Uzbek government has a good relationship with Russia but they do not share a border and are not as connected as Kazakhstan with Russia.

I think China is a fascinating country and culture. With 1 billion people and going back centuries, Chinese culture has shaped Asia and the world. I have visited Macao, Hong Kong, Beijing and Xian on three trips to the country. Earlier this month I finished reading Red Roulette: An Insider’s Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption and Vengeance in Today’s China by Desmond Shum. It was recommended by The Economist as one of its top books of 2021.

I had two big takeaways from the book. The first is it is staggering to think of the amount of money that was made when China moved from a socialist, government-owned economy to a capitalist one. Shum became wildly rich during this era. This is similar to what happened in Serbia and Russia when state-owned assets were privatized. There is a lot of opportunity for corruption and nepotism in these situations. The second takeaway is the American government experts, led by Bill Clinton at the time thought that facilitating China’s entry into the World Trade Organization and capitalism would lead to a more pluralistic, free-market and eventually even a democracy. They were dead wrong and instead, it was a way for an almost bankrupt Communist Party to strengthen its grip on power and the lives of its citizens.

The author Shum was born in Shanghai and grew up in Hong Kong. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin, so has a good understanding of both Chinese and Western cultures. He walks us through his education and through his wife, of the aristocracy the party. The aristocracy are the descendants of the founding fathers of the Chinese Communist party and current high-ranking party officials. They live a separate life from ordinary Chinese and it was amazing to read of the money they made through their government connections.

I always thought the Chinese were ruthless and Shum thinks that comes from the Communist system. “Chinese are pitted against one another in a rat race and told that only the strong survive. We’re not taught to cooperate.” He also describes the rise of Xi Jinping, who cleared a path to the top by launching thousands of corruption investigations and jailing or firing rivals. I never understand how one man can accumulate so much power. They need everyone around him to believe he is powerful, including the police and military.

Despite becoming fabulously wealthy, Shum’s story is a tragic and sad one. The book opened my eyes to the inner workings of the Chinese Communist Party and how much the West, misunderstands China.

Some of the useful Chinese terms I learned from the book are as follows:

• moutai – The national drink of China, fermented from sorghum and then distilled.
• mishu – powerful personal assistants that control access to their bosses, shape agendas and sway decisions
• guanxi – relationships built over time that people use to increase their business

I also read Lee Child’s first Jack Reacher detective novel, Killing Floor (1997). I often like to read a murder-mystery light book in the evenings to take my mind off of issues at school. It soothes me to read a chapter or two and then think through what happened and speculate on what is coming up in the plot. This was a pretty good book, but nothing spectacular. One of the streaming services made a television series on Jack Reacher, the 6’5″, ex-military policeman, a drifter that in this book, is a freelance detective trying to avenge the death of his brother. It is set in the fictional town south of Atlanta called Margrave, Georgia and by an unbelievable coincidence, Reacher is accused of murder. I don’t want to give too much of the plot but I will tell you it is set around a counterfeit ring. I did learn a bit about how mints print currency.

There was one good quote, “Then we’d grown up together all over the world inside that tight isolated transience that service families create for themselves.” Reacher is describing his army brat childhood where the family moved all over the world. I experience this with my global nomad family. The nuclear family grows tighter when the extended family is far away.

There are 20+ Jack Reacher detective novels that I probably won’t read. They would be a good airplane read, simple, lots of action and a mystery to solve. For this particular one, I got a little tired towards the end.