February 15, 2013

Despite an initial inertia on my part, I did make it to the Zumba class and found that Laira was already there along with three other women. Naoe repeated the same choreography from two weeks ago and although I found a bit easier to follow it, I just wished she had introduced at least one new number to spice things up.

During the break, Laira struck a conversation with Jamila, a consultant, about the cheaper places to buy fashionable threads with Laira affirming that she just followed the sales ads and bought things for herself and daughters at unusually high discounts. Jamila opined that buying things from the States was the way to go since even with the high shipping charges the quality was much higher than anything purchased here.

Jamila answered a query of mine as I had wondered for quite some time how the numerous boutiques in the area could afford to stay in business since people making an average salary of $200.00 to 300.00 could never afford to set foot inside. She responded by saying she knew quite a few of these boutique owners and had been told their clientele consisted of mafia-type guys and prostitutes. I no longer have to wonder about this one.

I asked Naoe to let me know when she has some free time so we can practice the choreography separately so that when I get to the States I’m better prepared to take the certification classes for Zumba. She informed me she’s taking ballroom dancing on Saturdays with a woman named Maria. Perhaps I can go one day and take a look at what does.

I went back home and concentrated on working on my new presentation on academic vocabulary and on finishing the application for the conference this summer. I emailed the completed form to both Anna and Jennifer while also adding a few more details as to how the workshop would be run.

Umed, from Dushanbe, emailed to say he was ready to get on Skype so I could help him with the process of completing his application for the same conference. We spoke for a while and he decided he wants to present a poster, but was unsure as to the actual content of it. I asked him a few questions to help him along the way without actually feeding him any answers. He promised to work on completing the application and will send it to me for review before submitting to the embassy in Dushanbe.