An introduction to a member of my host family and then some ramblings

I really enjoy talking with my host father, and not just because I find his accent easier to understand than my host mother’s. Every time I’ve had a conversation with him, he’s told me about the medicinal properties of whatever food he happens to be eating at the time. Is your blood pressure too high? Eat eight dried apricots a day. Does your stomach hurt? Eat kharbuza. (I’m not exactly sure what that is in English. It looks like honeydew, but it’s way more delicious.) Almonds are good for headaches, and so on.

Today he also told me about how much his family enjoys having guests, which is good news for me! Then somehow we ended up talking about social security in Tajikistan and America. How exactly we got to that point, I can’t remember. It wasn’t the most in depth conversation, nor the most fluid, but it was really cool to be able to talk about a subject like that in Persian. The least impressive part is that I kept forgetting the word for social security and had to ask my host father what it was multiple times. Here is a snippet of our talk translated into English:

Me: What are we talking about?

Host father: Social security.

Me: Social security. Social security. Social security. Social security. Social security.

A little odd, huh? My host father and host sister (host niece?) who was also in the room laughed at me. Speaking of which! I’m even more of a weirdo here than I am in the States, apparently. For example, I was taking a walk with the same host sister, and we ran into a group of her friends on the way back to the house. They asked who I was, where I was from, whatever. I answered them, and then something happened but I don’t know what, but they just started giggling! When my host sister and I got back, I asked her, “Are the things I do strange? Am I strange?” And she just said yes and laughed again. Sometimes I’m aware that what I’m doing or saying is out of the ordinary, sometimes not. That’s one of the “not” times. I’ve got lots to learn over the next three months!

Now that I’ve been here almost a week, I’m beginning to understand where I am. I’m pretty sure it’s Tajikistan.

I’ve been neglecting my goal to blog in Farsi too. I’m supposed to write a short essay about my experiences in Tajikistan so far, so I’ll post that when I get to it!