Arriving in Bukhara (Buxoro) this week provided another opportunity to observe and reflect on the society and culture of Uzbekistan–but also its economy. The streets are bustling, the bazaar is full of both people and wares, and restaurants seem to be full in the evenings. But these can’t be really accurate indicators, because from passing […]
Month: May 2022
The Little Things
The past week has been incredible. From my longest plane ride to date, to seeing the the sights and learning a new language, the whole trip has been a blast. The longer I’m here, the more I notice the little things I wouldn’t have anticipated. A series of examples: Tea cups are poured half full, […]
The Past Few Days in Uzbekistan
The past few days have been an absolute blur. So, here is a smattering of my thoughts and reflections from the past few days. Arriving into Tashkent late at night and driving to the hotel, I was struck by the similarities of the streets, driving, and kind of stores to San Salvador. Coupled with the […]
Uchinchi Renessans? Limits and Opportunities of Social, Economic, and Cultural Rebirth
Touring through both cityscapes and rural areas of contemporary Uzbekistan, one cannot ignore the vast and dramatic changes that have taken place in recent years. For those who have been here before or who long know how development and change take, some changes are more surprising (and welcome) than others. Even for those of us […]
The big orchard
This photo shows mulberry trees denuded of their new growth. It is silkworm raising season in Uzbekistan, and we saw many of these on our way through the countryside near Samarkand to visit an orchard at Jomboy. Occasionally we saw men cutting down the newly grown switches with their young leaves, or bundling them and […]
Samarqand #1
First segment in Samarqand is already almost done! Crazy how fast the time flew. The first day we flew into Tashkent and then drove via Jizzax to Samarqand (and had some delicious somsa and shashlyk next to beautiful hills!) Registan is truly beautiful – inside it was like a whole other world. But the best […]
The Politics of Tea in Samarkand
While tea may be seen as a simple point of hospitality, like with many kinds of food and drink, the presentation and delivery of shared spaces is full of nonverbal cues and actions that indicate more than what can be expected in words alone. (Test post).
We made it to Samarqand
The IU study abroad group survived a day of flying on Turkish airlines, and a very early morning arrival in Tashkent. After a suprisingly pleasant hotel, with some sleep and a good breakfast, we took what turned out to be a long and bumpy minibus ride from Tashkent to Samarqand. It was a good opportunity […]