Let’s talk about eating!

The food, for the most part, is pretty tasty! But, it’s almost all carbs and fats. I can’t keep up, especially with how much my host family insists on feeding me! Breakfast is a whole spread: tea, naan, another kind of naan, sometimes a third kind of naan, cookies (that they either spread with butter or dunk in their tea), chocolates, hardboiled eggs, and whatever breakfast dish my host mother cooks that day. A few days ago, I only ate one of the two hardboiled eggs given to me at breakfast. My host mother said, “You can eat the other with lunch.” Silly me, I thought that egg would be a main component of the next meal. Nope. I was given a huge plate of potatoes with two chunks of meat on top and a small dish of salaad shirazi (tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions). I ate the salad and fought through to finish that entire potato dish, but then I still had to eat that damn egg. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but I saw death coming for me. Somehow, I’m getting away with only eating two meals a day (probably because I’m still going to bed around 8). 

It’s not a surprise that the food is different here, but the way I eat here is different, too. When I eat breakfast in the States, I multitask; I have to be watching the news, or getting dressed, or packing my bag for the day, or reading, or doing anything, really, at the same time.  When I eat breakfast in Dushanbe, I don’t do anything other than eat breakfast. After I’m done eating, I usually still have my tea to finish, and every day I have to restrain myself from getting up and carrying it around with me while I do other things. I just sit and drink. It feels weird. But I’m getting used to it!

That’s enough for now. Stay tuned for a post about my trip to the bazaar!