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Nov. 17th, 2003 03:29 pmOh my, it's been a really full 24 hours.
The Iftor:
The iftor was remarkably boring and uncomfortable and I'm not really sure if my hosts liked the cookies because I gave them to them and they took the box into the kitchen and never brought them out to eat. They also didn't converse in Russian, which was good practice for me, but was also exhausting. It is funny, becuase the changist was so dynamic at the conservatory, but at home he really didn't have that much to say. Plus he and Malika opa and Kamilla opa are old friends, so they spent a lot of time reminiscing about the old days and forgot about me - they even said so. It was nice to hear their reminiscings about music, but then another one of their friends came in and started complaining about her troubles buying a house and legal issues and it made me uncomfortable and I really didn't have anything to say. So I spent much of the evening uncomfortable and also wondering if I'd brought the wrong thing with the cookies, since they never brought them out to the table - I've never had that happen here before. Then after we left, they gave Kamilla a bag with bread and norin in it to take home with her (because she brought bread for them). Once we got to the metro Kamilla opened the bag and realized that they'd tossed in 3 of my cookies in with the norin (meat and homemade noodles) and the bread. so we fished them out and dusted the noodles off of them and Malika, Kamilla and Farangiz (Malika's daughter) all got to at least try my cookies. They liked them alot and assuaged my doubts as to whether I'd insulted my hosts by bringing the wrong thing.
Then I got up this morning and went to observe rehearsal - it was remarkably casual because Salohiddin aka said that he was leaving for Samaqand for the day, but that he wanted to get them started on their rehearsal. They played through Sarvti Kalon and then started in on a new portion of the melody (which resembles a tanovar). Salohiddin aka left, and the rehearsal continued, sort of. The biggest problem is that Nurddin, the gijakist (and S. aka's student, I think) was the only one who really knew the new melody. He showed it to the changist who is a leader in the group and the changist tried to teach it to the plucked string players who were there, but it was pretty chaotic and the group really wasn't focusing. (Nice to know that it's not just in American music schools that rehearsals disintigrate when faculty isn't present). At about 11:30 they said to me that they wanted to catch the noon concert which was part of the Zulfia dance competition because an excellent maqomist would be performing. Unfortunately the hall was completely filled and all though the guys in the ensemble tried to tell me to go find a seat for myself, I didn't want to. I felt uncomfortable and had to leave for my uzbek lesson soon anyway. On the way home I got to talk some more with Nurddin, since he was on his way to send a telegraph to his mom in Namangan. I have a feeling that he is going to be my friend - he's the clown of the maqomist group and he has a very open heart. Turns out this is his first year in Tashkent, since he went to uchilish in Namangan - he misses his mom a lot.
Then I had my Uzbek lesson - I made broccoli and cheese sauce for lunch and fed some to Ruslan aka, my teacher. He thought I had done something weird and dyed broccoli. I kept telling him "eb kuring" meaning try some, and he kept telling me that he really didn't like cauliflower. I kept telling him that this was not cauliflower (svetnaya kapusta) but broccoli (broccoli kapusta). He finally tried some and lo and behold he liked it. But then again, I don't particularily like cauliflower, but broccoli is one of my favorite vegetables. Then the tax inspector knocked on my door again - it was a little upsetting because I don't have good connections with my land lady here. It means that I'm going to have to call Mahbuba again and remind her to tell the landlady to pay her taxes, otherwise these guys will keep on bothering me.
The Iftor:
The iftor was remarkably boring and uncomfortable and I'm not really sure if my hosts liked the cookies because I gave them to them and they took the box into the kitchen and never brought them out to eat. They also didn't converse in Russian, which was good practice for me, but was also exhausting. It is funny, becuase the changist was so dynamic at the conservatory, but at home he really didn't have that much to say. Plus he and Malika opa and Kamilla opa are old friends, so they spent a lot of time reminiscing about the old days and forgot about me - they even said so. It was nice to hear their reminiscings about music, but then another one of their friends came in and started complaining about her troubles buying a house and legal issues and it made me uncomfortable and I really didn't have anything to say. So I spent much of the evening uncomfortable and also wondering if I'd brought the wrong thing with the cookies, since they never brought them out to the table - I've never had that happen here before. Then after we left, they gave Kamilla a bag with bread and norin in it to take home with her (because she brought bread for them). Once we got to the metro Kamilla opened the bag and realized that they'd tossed in 3 of my cookies in with the norin (meat and homemade noodles) and the bread. so we fished them out and dusted the noodles off of them and Malika, Kamilla and Farangiz (Malika's daughter) all got to at least try my cookies. They liked them alot and assuaged my doubts as to whether I'd insulted my hosts by bringing the wrong thing.
Then I got up this morning and went to observe rehearsal - it was remarkably casual because Salohiddin aka said that he was leaving for Samaqand for the day, but that he wanted to get them started on their rehearsal. They played through Sarvti Kalon and then started in on a new portion of the melody (which resembles a tanovar). Salohiddin aka left, and the rehearsal continued, sort of. The biggest problem is that Nurddin, the gijakist (and S. aka's student, I think) was the only one who really knew the new melody. He showed it to the changist who is a leader in the group and the changist tried to teach it to the plucked string players who were there, but it was pretty chaotic and the group really wasn't focusing. (Nice to know that it's not just in American music schools that rehearsals disintigrate when faculty isn't present). At about 11:30 they said to me that they wanted to catch the noon concert which was part of the Zulfia dance competition because an excellent maqomist would be performing. Unfortunately the hall was completely filled and all though the guys in the ensemble tried to tell me to go find a seat for myself, I didn't want to. I felt uncomfortable and had to leave for my uzbek lesson soon anyway. On the way home I got to talk some more with Nurddin, since he was on his way to send a telegraph to his mom in Namangan. I have a feeling that he is going to be my friend - he's the clown of the maqomist group and he has a very open heart. Turns out this is his first year in Tashkent, since he went to uchilish in Namangan - he misses his mom a lot.
Then I had my Uzbek lesson - I made broccoli and cheese sauce for lunch and fed some to Ruslan aka, my teacher. He thought I had done something weird and dyed broccoli. I kept telling him "eb kuring" meaning try some, and he kept telling me that he really didn't like cauliflower. I kept telling him that this was not cauliflower (svetnaya kapusta) but broccoli (broccoli kapusta). He finally tried some and lo and behold he liked it. But then again, I don't particularily like cauliflower, but broccoli is one of my favorite vegetables. Then the tax inspector knocked on my door again - it was a little upsetting because I don't have good connections with my land lady here. It means that I'm going to have to call Mahbuba again and remind her to tell the landlady to pay her taxes, otherwise these guys will keep on bothering me.
