driven

Yesterday I was out with a client looking at a site that is on the outskirts of town. On the way back, the client stops the car, gets out and hands me the keys. He then has me drive to his factory. After going around his factory for a bit, he has me drive us back to the office. So I got to drive a Matiz! Not just any Matiz mind you, it was one given to him by none other than the President himself. I almost got pulled over on the way back to the office because I was driving a bit fast as I passed a few militsia. He tells me, 'Don't worry, the President gave me the car." I've now driven in 4 countries: USA, Spain, Emirates and Uzbekistan.

For those who haven't visited Uzbekistan (what are you waiting for?), the country is populated by Daewoo cars. There is a Daewoo factory in the Ferghana Valley that supplies the country. It is incredibly expensive to import foreign cars because of import duties, so everyone drives a Daewoo or an old Soviet car. At one time the cars were relatively cheap, but the value of the UZS was realigned and the prices went up dramatically. People can essentially choose between the Matiz (pictured below) or the larger Nexia sedan. You also see quite a few of the older model Ticos and the Damas micro-vans driving around. If you can read Russian, you can build your own Matiz on the UZ-Daewoo website.


The Daewoo Matiz - photo from uzdaewoo.ru

bishkek revisited

I was in Bishkek for the past few days for work. After a few months away, I looked at the city with new eyes. It looked much nicer than the dirty city I spent the summer in thanks to a fresh coat of snow. It was also good to see some great friends and visit some old hangouts.

Elections took place on Sunday in Kyrgyzstan. The OSCE seemed to be all over the place watching out for any type of funny business. The elections for parliament were being watched carefully for an indication of what may follow in the presidential election that is just eight months away. Kyrgyzstan is seen as Central Asia's best hope for democracy to take root. The West has poured a lot of money into the country trying to prop it up and create stability. The United States pays a healthy sum of money to use the Bishkek airport as an airbase to support operations in the region. The country, nonetheless, has remained poor. People are unemployed and don't see the situation improving. Over the past year, pick-pocketing has given way to beatings. Most of the expats I know in Bishkek (both male and female) have been attacked at one time or another. People are watching President Akayev to see if he will relinquish control and to see if Ukraine's orange revolution will spill over into Kyrgyzstan.


Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan at night on Feb. 24, 2005

do you hear the beat?

The drums of war are beating again in the United States. The lead up to the Iraq War seems to be repeating itself, only this time with Iran and possibly Syria in the crosshairs.

Ponder this:

For the dialogue we have substituted the communique: 'This is the truth,' we say. 'You can discuss it as much as you want; we aren't interested. But in a few years there'll be the police who will show you we are right.'

-The Fall page 45

to work and back

So I had an adventure getting to work and back yesterday. As I walk to where I usually catch a taxi, I had to laugh at what I saw happen... although it was a little freaky as it happened. Yesterday morning it was snowing pretty heavily. The snow was very wet and the roads were icy. I was walking behind a woman and in front of us we watched as a Damas on the other side of the road lost control. It was trying to stop and let someone off. As it lost control it started sliding toward our side of the road. It all kind of happened in slow motion (and it really wasn't moving that fast). It started to spin and come toward us. When it finally came to a rest, it was sitting in front of us perfectly facing the other direction as if it had been going that way the whole time. A young man got out laughing uncomfortably and we all kind of looked at each other and smiled. It was as if the driver had been trying to do a crazy drop off, but we all knew he wasn't.

This isn't where the story ends though. With the Damas back on its way (and out of my way) I waited for a taxi. Two men, one middle aged and one older, came up and waited alongside me. A taxi came shortly thereafter and we all piled in. The middle age man seemed excited to be getting in the taxi and having us all join him. Once inside I realized why. The whole car smelled of weed. The two men were completely high. It was actually pretty funny because the conversation was so random. After a slower than usual drive because of the weather, I finally arrived at work and wished them well as they departed.

The ride home was not nearly that nice. I took a taxi that already had a passenger in the front seat. The driver agreed to take me for 800; a fair price. I had a weird feeling when I got in though. The passenger was giving my a creepy vibe and I could tell he was friends with the driver. He tried to start talking to me in Russian. I don't think his Russian was much better than mine. He started asking me questions and for my phone number because he wanted to come over to my house and drink. At this point I started playing dumb and saying in Russian that I didn't understand. I was starting to feel a bit uneasy. Before I got to my house I told the driver to stop near a store that I shop at often in case there was a problem and since I didn't really want to let them know where I lived. I hand them 800 and the passenger starts saying that it isn't enough and trying to say it won't even pay for the gas. Not in the mood to argue I open the door and get out and the guy tries to drive away before I get out. The door closes on its own and I walk away as they drive off in an erratic manner honking the horn. Once they are out of sight, I turn around and actually start walking toward my house. Taxis here can be really, really sketchy. Luckily this is first time I've really had to deal with it and nothing bad happened.

we don't need no stinkin' accreditation

Living in Uzbekistan isn't as simple as just having a visa. No, you need a local registration stamp that displays your local address. You also need to get accredited at the national level. Up until recently, accreditation was handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). On New Years Day the task of issuing accreditation was shifted to the Ministry of Justice (MOJ). Also on New Years Day, everyone's accreditation stamp expired. Every foreigner had to get an HIV test and reregister with the MOJ, but the MOJ doesn't seem to want to issue the new stamps. This wasn't really an issue for the most part and people just went about their business without them. I had a few questions at the airport about where my new stamp was so I told them that the purpose of my trip was to get it. The second time I just showed my local registration and they never even asked. Now, things are starting to get interesting though. Most people are here on short term visas that are expiring and the MFA no longer wants to issue new visas to people who aren't accredited. People are starting to get told that they will have to leave. Some are already here illegally without visas.

On January 28, Uzbekistan's President threatened to crack down on western aid groups. It is claimed that many groups are encouraging political dissent and are operating outside of their declared scope. The speech seems to have been inspired by the events in that took place in Ukraine and to a lesser extent Georgia.

See a connection?

What does all this mean to me? Not a whole lot. I have a year long, multiple entry visa. My accreditation expired like everyone else's, but my local registration allows me to get around just fine. I applied a month and a half ago for new accreditation, but have yet to hear anything. On the bright side, the country director for my project may have to leave.

voice work

After my New Years Eve public singing debut (a story for another time), my vocal cords were once again called into action. This time to play the role of 'man'. I spent yesterday evening helping friends record English dialogues for their TOEFL classes. The dialogues in the TOEFL guide are really quite random and ask questions that left us all scratching our heads. If you are a native English speaker and have some free time to kill, check out the TOEFL website. Play with some of the practice questions and see how well you do. For better or worse, most non-English speakers are learning English with the guides put out for this test.