#khatlon

I have safely arrived in Qurghonteppa, my placement city, where I will be working for the next ten months. Woo! Well, more like nine at this point. It's an hour or so from Dushanbe, and is about 45 minutes from the border with Afghanistan, so it's in the south of the country. 

Qurghonteppa (aka QT) is a very conservative and quaint city, although it's supposed to be the third or fourth biggest in Tajikistan and is the capital of the Khatlon Province. Even though it's the fourth biggest, the population is estimated to be 85,000 people (oh Wikipedia... how I love thee). 

Some photos of my city!

I'm not allowed to walk outside by myself after night as I am a girl, which is interesting, since I'm so used to walking around at midnight at Tufts. Here, I'm in the house by 18:00. I was out until 22:00 one night for dinner with a friend, so her husband and she had to walk me home. So different from the states! 

My apartment is lovely, though I'm not really independent, since my landlady is always around, asking me where I'm going etc. and bringing me leftover food all of the time (#win). When I was out until 22:00, my landlady kind of machine gun questioned me on where I'd been, who I'd been with, etc. Another landlady episode: I walked into my apartment one day to find that my landlady had cleaned the place spotless. Needless to say, I kind of freaked out to myself (I'm not a big fan of my stuff being touched). I guess this is what happens when you're an unmarried girl living in Tajikistan... It's kind of nice, since it makes me feel loved, even though it kind of makes me feel like I'm back at, oh you know, boarding school. But hey, cultural immersion, right? :) 

Oh, another thing: she speaks no English. Communication has been hilarious at best, stressful at worst. Looots of hand gestures. Empty nodding. And some drawing. Whelp!