This morning's helicopter ride was a success, after some drama in the airport because it was a full, 11-passenger flight, the weight limit is 15kg per person, and some people were over capacity. The guy who's in charge of checking people in for the helicopter -- no idea who he works for or what the rest of his job is -- was being very severe. Mehrafruz, Oistamo and Jamshed met me at the airport (and the driver, whose name I forget) and we drove first to the Serena to drop off my suitcase, then to a pharmacy to get some cough syrup, and finally to the office. By then it was lunchtime so Jamshed, Mehrafruz, this lovely older guy Mike (forget his Tajik name but he lives in Staten Island and goes by Mike in the States), and the driver went out to lunch. Jamshed made a special request for the music to be the Scorpions, who did "Dust in the Wind," and are apparently both German and very popular in Tajikistan. Not my cup of tea.
After lunch we did real work, going through and pretty much finishing the performance monitoring plan and making very good headway on the work plan, as well. Tomorrow I'm going to give a presentation on working with USAID and then I'll spend the rest of the day working on some of other documents we have to get ready.
My cough was bad again today after dying down last night, and despite last night being my first solid unaided night's sleep of the trip. Now I've got a headache, to boot, which is mild to the point of not noticing except if I squeeze my eyes shut or look left or right. I did manage to get my hands on some robitussin-equivalent, which I guess helped with the cough. Will take some more tomorrow and hope for the best. But it has phenylephrine in it so definitely not touching it so near bed. The other syrup they got me is apparently just straight ephedrine, which, again, not touching with a 10-foot pole at 8 PM.
Khorog is beautiful right now. It's cold but not very cold. The poplars, which are everywhere, are in full fall orange-and-yellow blast, and it's late enough in the year that the mountains have serious snow caps. On Sunday I'll take some of the day off and hopefully get to walk around and see some sights, even if it's just ones I've already seen. A trip across the Panj is looking likely for Monday afternoon.
I like the PE staff a lot, they're very easy to work with and very friendly. Oistamo, Mehrafruz and I just got dinner (inconsistent Oxford comma use! but I'm not editing it) at a funny restaurant in a basement but done up to look like a pleasure garden, with lattice work overhead and fake grape vines and grapes hanging down, a pool and tree and walls painted withe a bucolic scene.
One other thing to report: Saw a new fruit today. Skin smooth like an apple and yellow like a schoolbus. Flesh dark orange and in texture seemed to be like a plum, but there are seeds instead of a pit. I didn't touch any because I'm immunocompromised and would prefer to avoid admitting any more strange microbes than strictly necessary.
Now I'm gonna do a bit more work, finish unpacking, and call it a night.
After lunch we did real work, going through and pretty much finishing the performance monitoring plan and making very good headway on the work plan, as well. Tomorrow I'm going to give a presentation on working with USAID and then I'll spend the rest of the day working on some of other documents we have to get ready.
My cough was bad again today after dying down last night, and despite last night being my first solid unaided night's sleep of the trip. Now I've got a headache, to boot, which is mild to the point of not noticing except if I squeeze my eyes shut or look left or right. I did manage to get my hands on some robitussin-equivalent, which I guess helped with the cough. Will take some more tomorrow and hope for the best. But it has phenylephrine in it so definitely not touching it so near bed. The other syrup they got me is apparently just straight ephedrine, which, again, not touching with a 10-foot pole at 8 PM.
Khorog is beautiful right now. It's cold but not very cold. The poplars, which are everywhere, are in full fall orange-and-yellow blast, and it's late enough in the year that the mountains have serious snow caps. On Sunday I'll take some of the day off and hopefully get to walk around and see some sights, even if it's just ones I've already seen. A trip across the Panj is looking likely for Monday afternoon.
I like the PE staff a lot, they're very easy to work with and very friendly. Oistamo, Mehrafruz and I just got dinner (inconsistent Oxford comma use! but I'm not editing it) at a funny restaurant in a basement but done up to look like a pleasure garden, with lattice work overhead and fake grape vines and grapes hanging down, a pool and tree and walls painted withe a bucolic scene.
One other thing to report: Saw a new fruit today. Skin smooth like an apple and yellow like a schoolbus. Flesh dark orange and in texture seemed to be like a plum, but there are seeds instead of a pit. I didn't touch any because I'm immunocompromised and would prefer to avoid admitting any more strange microbes than strictly necessary.
Now I'm gonna do a bit more work, finish unpacking, and call it a night.
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