November 15, 2012

I had a terrible congestion and no amount of Advil was helping it go away. I managed to do one load of laundry and then got properly dressed to go and do the grocery shopping needed in preparation for the housewarming party on Saturday. It wasn’t as cold as I had expected and I felt suffocatingly hot in my sweatshirt and coat as I walked to the Beta store to exchange money, buy a rotisserie chicken and other accoutrements for the event. I got to the store at the right time to find the pumpkin-filled samsis I so much like and took the last five on the tray still piping hot from the oven. Since I spent over 2500 soms in groceries, the store issue me a ticket to the local cinema which I think I’ll give to Zarina.

A rotisserie chicken here costs 480.00 soms or over ten dollars, so I wonder how many families can afford to buy it although the business seems to be thriving. I didn’t want to bother cutting up and cooking a bird for the event, so it was worth it. I returned to the flat carrying my heavy shopping bag and after having a couple of the samsis for lunch, proceeded to the Osh Bazaar to get the fresh ingredients needed for the chicken fricassee and the salad.

Back at the apartment, I settled down to finish my expense report and sent it to my RELO for preliminary approval. She shot back that I was out of compliance with the procedures needed to get approval since I was requesting it after I had incurred said expenses. She sent me a link to the handbook for me to review the rules. It seems as if she’s asking for prior approval even for obtaining photocopying and lamination services. I was dejected and in no mood for plowing through the manual to find out how to do it properly. I even think I’m willing to absorb the expenses and not deal with the bureaucratic process.

Instead, I got to watch two great films that had been sitting in my laptop for ages. One was “Friends with Benefits”, a cute but predictable comedy and then “Goya’s Ghosts” where Javier Bardem does an excellent job impersonating a priest living in Spain during the inquisition and subsequent to the French Revolution. I had never heard of this film and need to do a bit of research to determine in what year it was filmed.

I emailed Zarina asking her if she had any idea how many people from the school were coming to the party as I needed to know before deciding how much food to cook, but I got no reply by the end of the day.