The temperature is well below zero outside, the windows are so cold you can't see through them because of the ice trees covering them and electricity is a laughable thought. Farida (my language helper) and I (...and her mother and two brothers) are crowded around the light of one candle as I try to make some headway into the Tajik language. We're surprisingly warm despite the freezing air thanks to a marvellous invention called a sandali. This is a table with a shallow pit below. In the centre of the pit hot coals are placed. You sit with your feet on a bar under the table which warms you up like magic. (It is necessary to be careful not to stretch your legs too far and end up spending the next few hours with your feet in a bucket of cold water due to burns from the coals.) Nevertheless, the offer of hot tea is still a very welcome one.
And I somehow managed to learn Tajik! I have a Tajik lesson every weekday with the girl who lives next door (and the rest of her family who like to join in). The electricity situation is a whole lot better now but we were on 30 mins of electrity a night for a long time. This would mean I would often be there for the last 15 mins of light before we were plunged into darkness. The mother would calmly hunt around for the matches in the dark, light the candle and we'd carry on as normal. No problem. For the last week we've been blessed with almost constant electrity during the day which is amazing and makes Tajik lessons in the evening much easier and less uninviting.
I can now fend for myself in the bazaar when buying potatoes, carrots, apples etc. For a very unknown reason I started talking French to a lady I was trying to buy some sandals from yesterday. I have no idea where that came from. She just smiled and nodded at my gobbledigook. Took me a few seconds standing there frozen to get my mind back into Tajik again. Other than that I'm doing fine!
