Pamir

Whew! I am in Pamir, and this is the first chance I've gotten to use the internet in a long while. I also haven't taken a shower in many days, maybe 3? And there are only outhouses here! No indoor toilets! It is surprisingly difficult to use an outhouse, I want to write a whole post on outhouses. And some outhouses are better than others, I will write about it when I have more time.

I found something out last night that shocked me: Tajikistan has not had post mail since the fall of the Soviet Union! They sort of have post now, but it is very unreliable. My boss and his family told me the only way to really send things is through DHL or FedEx, which is very expensive. I once sent a manila envelope through FedEx to Germany, and it cost $100! He said if you send something through the mail, people will not get it. His daughter who translates for me is 19, so she does not know what it was like before the Soviet Union, and seemed confused by my assertion that mail is necessary for a country. She told me she does not receive mail in the apartment complex they live in. I guess no one receives mail! She told me people get electric and gas bills from the company directly, meaning the companies hand deliver the bills themselves.

That being said, it is no wonder I have had such a hard time finding postcards! I actually just found some 10 minutes ago when I ran into some guys from Oxford, UK buying some near the internet cafe I am in right now. I will probably send them from Germany though. I bought some Tajik stamps just for the hell of it anyway. Also, they gave me the postcards in an envelope, and the envelope is from the Soviet Union!! It has a copyright of 1992, and says CCCP on it. It is in Russian though, so I can't read the writing, but those facts probably mean it is from the USSR. Ha, I guess people here don't make envelopes anymore because they don't send mail!